Located in the heart of Beverly Hills along Canon Drive, Spago is Wolfgang Puck’s flagship restaurant, known for serving California cuisine.
History of the Spago Restaurant
The first Spago location opened in 1982, on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California. The second Spago restaurant opened at The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace, on the Las Vegas Strip in 1992. It was closed in 2017 and re-located to Bellagio in 2018. In 1997, Wolfgang Puck opened a third location on Canon Drive in Beverly Hills.
Our Vist to Spago in Beverly Hills
We added dinner at Spago to our travel itinerary of Attending the 2019 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles & Preparing for the Event along with Our Skiing Adventure at Lake Tahoe (Heavenly) – the Good & the Bad.
So why were we so interested in going to Spago? As I have mentioned in prior posts, I come from a European background, my dad is a French chef and my mom was born and raised in Austria. If you combine the two, you will understand my fascination with Wolfgang Puck. Wolfgang was also born and raised in Austria and is presently the most famous chef. Spago made Wolgang Puck a household name, so I was eager to visit his Flagship restaurant. As an added bonus, the restaurant also attracts celebrities who regularly get photographed leaving dinner, our kids were intrigued by the thought of seeing someone famous.
Spago is located in Beverly Hills, a ways away from our hotel in downtown Los Angeles, so our family of 4 took an Uber to the restaurant. The outside of the restaurant is very inconspicuous, our driver accidentally passed it the first time around.
When visiting a new restaurant, we typically like to arrive before our designated reservation time to allow for cocktails at the bar, before being seated for dinner. We arrived at the restaurant at 5pm, right at opening.
We enjoyed cocktails at a cozy table in the bar area, a glass of champagne for me, an Old Fashioned for my hubs and Shirley Temples for the kids.
The garden terrace of the restaurant can be seen through the wood doors from the bar.
Since we arrived at opening, I was able to take pictures of the restaurant before patrons arrived.
The garden terrace is so quaint and has 2 cozy fireplaces.
Twinkling lights on the trees add to the ambiance of the heated terrace.
The atmosphere of the restaurant is serene and romantic, a great place for date night.
This double sided fireplace is situated between the garden terrace and the main dining room.
A peek inside the main dining room from the terrace.
It appears that managers and staff were having a meeting before opening for dinner. I can already tell I am going to like this place.
We are seated in the main dining room. Seating in the garden terrace is granted by special request when making the reservation. I was unaware of this, and asked to be seated in the terrace. The maître de said she could grant the request but our time would be limited due to another reservation, so instead we chose to sit in the main dining room.
The main dining room has a very decorative tree sculpture situated in the middle of the room, where it can be seen from every angle.
The menu options included either a Taster’s Menu or A La Carte selections. Since we don’t care for Wagyu steak, we chose the A La Carte options.
The menu included a good variety of meat and seafood, several options from which to choose.
The dessert options looked scrumptious as well.
A bread bowl with crackers and rolls was served to us and accompanied by hummus and butter.
For our first course, we chose the Kuluga Caviar with sour cream, egg yolk and creme fraiche. The caviar was excellent, even though the kids hated it.
Our second course came covered in a cloche.
We selected the French Black Truffles with Tagliatelle in a mushroom sauce. It was amazing!
For the main course, I chose the rack of lamb which was perfectly cooked.
And my hubby chose the Black Bass, accompanied by Spanish Chorizo and Littleneck Clams. He raved about the bass and loved his entree choice.
We had a prefect view of the kitchen where all the action happens. Wondering what the kids ate? I’d like to say that my kids have a sophisticated palate but they don’t, they each had a fresh baked brick oven cheese pizza and then complained the bottom was cooked too much 🙄 . My daughter did try the Black Truffles and liked them…so there is hope!
Despite my best efforts to put new foods in front of them, they like plain pasta and their favorite restaurant is Chipotle. This is difficult for me, being raised by a french chef. I was eating escargot and frog legs by the age of 10. Even though my daughter eats only 4 things…she has now decided she is vegetarian, making my serving options even more complicated….I digress 😔
Most top tier restaurants have an EPIC woman’s restroom, which deserves a visit. Spago was no different, had to stop in to check it out.
My Recommendation
Our dinner was fabulous, and we enjoyed our selections and the ambiance immensely. As for the cost? Uh….yea it was very expensive, not gonna lie! Not a place to visit frequently, more of a special occasion destination. By the end of the evening, the restaurant was packed, and no my kids didn’t see anyone famous..much to their dismay.
As a child, my parents dragged me to French restaurants all the time, I didn’t appreciate the experience then, but looking back now, I’m glad they did. Our kids were the only children in the restaurant, and we hope they will remember and cherish the special experience for many years.
Another aspect I really liked about our dinner – I left feeling very satisfied but not stuffed. As I have discussed in How I lost 10 Pounds in 5 Weeks, I am working to lose another 5 pounds and have no interest in regaining my lost weight. I felt good after our meal at Spago.
Have you been to any of Wolgang Puck’s restaurants?
Subscribe to Happy Haute Home to receive every post right to your inbox, and follow along on Pinterest HERE, and Twitter HERE and feel free to pin and tweet your favorite pics from Happy Haute Home.
You can also get daily home decor inspiration by following along on Instagram HERE.
I am not an LA fan, but Spago looks AMAZING!
Hi Joe! I’m not a huge fan of the LA area either, but it does have some hidden gems, and Spago is one of them.
The food looks amazing. I agree with you on exposing kids to different types of cuisine early; we try but it is challenging! Thanks for sharing!
I’m glad to hear I am not the only one having issues getting my kids to eat different foods. Hoping one day their palette will expand..can’t live on pasta forever! Thanks for visiting.
I loveeeee Spago!!
Nice! Have you been to the one in Beverly Hills or another one? We really enjoyed our evening there, very memorable.
BH and Maui!!
Oh WOW! Would love to eat at the one in Maui, I bet that was amazing 🙂
I’m sure I’ll never get to Spago so it was nice to read about your experience! It looks lovely!
You never know! Had our Grammy opportunity not come up, we would not have gone either. Never know what life brings 😉
Wow! Looks fabulous! Thanks for allowing us to dine vicariously with you! <3 <3
Hi Lynn! Hope you have a chance to visit Spago yourself one day! 💖