Like many restaurants during the pandemic, Spago in Beverly Hills was in need of additional outdoor dining space. It recently expanded its outdoor dining capacity big time with the 6,500 sq. ft. “Spago L’extérieur”, or what people like me call the “Spago Outdoor Pavilion”.
I had a chance to check it out on a date night and we were impressed with the food and the ambiance!
The Structure
The “pavilion” is a mostly enclosed structure with a clear plastic sheet stretched over it. Some of the sides are open to the outside, but the structure has heating ducts so it doesn’t get too cold.
The ambiance during the day is fine, but it gets much more magical at night with the purple uplighting:
I’d say the only criticism I have of the ambiance was that the potted trees in the middle were dried up and dead. It’s minor, but it was surprising that a place with so much attention to detail couldn’t get someone to water their plants.
The Food
Our only other experience at Spago was with the tasting menu. This time, we ordered off of the menu and we were even more blown away!
One cool thing is that the waiter had looked up our records and knew what we had last time! Good if you need help ordering and can’t remember what you had before.
We started the evening with a half dozen Chilled Oishi & Henderson Bay Oysters.
For our pasta dish, we had the Hand Rolled Garganelli Pasta:
The pasta was cooked perfectly and the sauce was incredible. We could have eaten a whole tub of this for dinner!
For our mains, we had the Halibut and the Pan Roasted Scallops:
Both were cooked perfectly. The Halibut was light and flaky but not dry. The sauces were amazing!
We had two sides, broccolini and mushrooms. Both were excellent.
Dessert
We had two desserts: the cookie cream soufflé and the apple strudel. Both came with a scoop of ice cream.
The strudel was great, but the soufflé was off the charts, served warm with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. If you even remotely like chocolate, get the soufflé! It’s enough for two people, but you may want to get your own!
Cost
The total for our dinner was $329 before tip, but we didn’t have any alcoholic beverages (we did have a non-alcoholic drink called the Cracklin Rosie which was great).
After dinner, we wondered aloud if Spago might be our favorite restaurant in Los Angeles. It’s a tough call with so many great restaurants, but Spago is definitely a contender.
Afterward
The night was young so we wandered through the streets of Beverly Hills. There were a healthy number of people dining outdoors at the restaurants, which was good to see.
You can also window shop or take Instagram photos at famous Beverly Hills locations like Via Rodeo.
Summary
Obviously, we really enjoyed our dinner at Spago in Beverly Hills! It’s the perfect place to celebrate a special occasion… or just go for no particular reason other than the food (if you can afford it). The service is great as well: not too formal.
You still can dine indoors at Spago’s existing dining room, or at their old outdoor patio. Those are perfectly fine. But, if you want a bit of fun and novelty, try the pavillion!
Questions? What do you think of Spago in Beverly Hills? Please comment below. – Brian
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