A Beautiful Dinner by the Pacific Sunset | Terrazza Hotel Casa del Mar, Santa Monica, CA

By Sophie Gayot

Santa Monica, CA, April 2021

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• GAYOT’s Rating: 15/20
• Cuisine: Italian
• Open: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner daily, Brunch Sat.-Sun.
• Terrazza is on GAYOT’s LA Best Restaurants with a View.

NOTE March 2024: Read the updated article about Terrazza

While Catch, the gourmet restaurant of Hotel Casa del Mar, is temporarily closed due to the health situation, the cuisine of chef Gemma Gray is being served at the hotel bar and lounge Terrazza.

Since Gray is a native of the Iberian Peninsula, cooking in California at a restaurant with an Italian name within a hotel bearing a Spanish one, she has combined with a delightful success tastes and influences from all these places. Her dishes are alluring, elegant, witty, colorful and modern. From my point of view, there is nothing not to like — the winner being the seared Chilean sea bass in a parsley sauce. Ah, I almost forgot (how could I?), the tuna tartare with edamame adding a smooth crunch.

To enhance your evening, start sipping a cocktail at sunset under the tent installed on the boardwalk. Then, move up to Terrazza to admire the sky slowly turning gold with the Santa Monica Pier ferris wheel doing its majestic rotations.