Aestus

Overpriced. Smallish Portions. Tiny Menu. Service and décor very nice. Food was surprisingly not tasty. I was surprised that my 350 $ bill for 6 people was ridiculous considering the portions. 5 shrimp for the 26 $ shrimp dish. I mean the salad was literally 12 little lettuce gems. I understand portion control. moving on.
Coffee undrinkable.
Dessert was great.

It’s typical overpriced Santa Monica but I’m a fan. It’s also slightly less overpriced than some other recent Santa Monica spots.
The service is top notch, professionals who know what they are doing.
The half chicken was a huge portion, coming with delicious hummus and toast.
The appetizers taste home made and very clean.
The cocktails, while not that strong, were reasonable and creative, in the $ 11 – 13 range.

What a fantastic restaurant! My fiancée and I went last night to celebrate our recent engagement. The service was attentive and the bartender was very knowledgeable about scotches and liqueurs. The waitress was nice (and funny!) she recommended the farmer’s market special pasta which was delicious. My fiancée got the steak and frites– a little fatty, but delicious nonetheless. For appetizers we ordered the octopus and salmon tartare. The staff gave us a complimentary appetizer of fresh raw fish and blackberry cheesecake for dessert. I highly recommend this place!

The service was good, the chopped salad for lunch was a good portion with good selection of leaves, full of yummy turkey and garbanzo beans and salami, and yummy housemade olives. The sauce was creamy but not too heavy and just lightly dressed.

Aestus is a simple yet gorgeous restaurant in Santa Monica, with a modern look overall, a classy bar, and an open kitchen concept. Service here was great as well.
We came for lunch on weekday — wasn’t too busy (unfortunately they were down one kitchen staff when we came so food service was a little slow, but they apologized and it was out of their control anyway so nbd). Lunch choices range from burgers to more exotic things like octopus. Burgers are on the pricier end at $ 16-​$ 18, but options include grass-​fed burgers and albacore. The albacore burger was pretty tasty — comes with fries (but you can ask for brussel sprouts as an alternative; you can also ask for the burger protein style). The octopus was decent, but nothing to wrote home about (there are other places around SM/​Venice that can do it better). Price points overall are high, but quality is set pretty high as well. If you’re looking for a particularly nice lunch spot, Aestus will fulfill your needs. Otherwise, there are many other options around the area.
Street parking is available.

I’ve had my eye on this place for awhile so I was excited to get here last night. I really liked the casual unassuming vibe that was still hip and trendy as soon as walking in. Aestus sits in a nice comfortable space thats big enough but still delivers a nice intimate atmosphere. We all started with cocktails that were good. My extra dirty martini could have had more olive brine but I didn’t mind. Starters chosen were marinated olives, eggplant caponata, grilled octopus and a board of various cheeses accompanied by toasted buttered artisan bread. Loved them all with just a comment regarding the octopus which was very good but looked nothing like the nice portion served in a photo posted on Unilocal.It came in small chunks with the dish mostly dominated by salted potatoes. Mains were the peads & barnetts pork chop (nice tasty portion but rather fatty), grilled branzino (our friend loved it) and housemade tagliatelle bolognese (one of the better ones I’ve had in awhile). We ended our meal sharing the lemon panna cotta, blackberry cobbler and chocolate cake amongst the 4 of us, which was crazy good and gone in seconds. Final comment to end our great dining experience here … the restaurant got pretty full and busy by 7pm but service was solid and on point throughout the night.

Thanks to Unilocal Weekly «Charcuterie Rules Everything Around Me» for recommending this place. My GF and I love Charcuterie so we had to give this place a try. Brought my GF here for a night out on a Saturday night. We were in the Santa Monica area the entire day so we had reservations at 530pm right when they opened. We were lucky to find metered parking across the street. Its free after 6pm on Saturdays so we only had to put in $ 0.50. If you don’t find street parking, there are parking structures all over (usually free for the 1^st 90min and $ 1 one hour after — which should be enough for your meal unless you are really feasting).
We were greeted and seated right away. Surprisingly, some tables were already occupied right at opening. The décor and ambiance is nice. I like that the kitchen is open so you can see all the action.
Charcuterie Board — five house made selections: The «five house made selections» isn’t really descriptive and doesn’t help at all but you gotta trust the reviews and photos. The Charcuterie was incredible. I hate Charcuterie’s with stale bread the this one was grilled and buttered. Out board came with Salami, Proscuitto, Sausage, Pheasant Terrine and Duck Rillette. All of them were amazing. I also enjoyed the pickles and olives.
Octopus — salted potatoes, eggplant, aji verde: Incredible. The octopus was extremely tender but had a nice bite to it. The aji verde was OH SO GOOD. Dip everything in it!
Brussels Sprouts — oro blanco, pear mostarda: This one was meh. The brussels sprouts lacked color and flavor. Pretty bland. We had to use the aji verde here.
The food and service here were great. Really nice atmosphere. Would definitely recommend and would come back.

As soon as I found out that Chef Andrew Betita took over as chef, Aestus jumped to the top of my list. He last was at MB Post and Fishing with Dynamite, then the Bazaar before working for Chef Lefevre.
I expected for some reason a more inventive menu, but the only unique and exciting dish was the adobo chicken fritters, inspired by the chef’s Filipino uncle. It didn’t have a strong adobo flavor and reminded me of the croquettes at the Bazaar. Other than that, I left it to my friend to select based on the recommendations from our server because nothing really stood out to me.
Service was great when the restaurant was empty, but as soon as the restaurant filled up, service slowed down and we waited a long while for a couple of our main dishes. Based on the price we paid for dinner, I would have expected the great service to remain consistent throughout the evening.
The three-​hour dinner consisted well-​made «safe» dishes such as the ever so popular octopus, housemade charcuterie board, smoked salmon dip housemade tagliatelle. All perfectly seasoned, except the English pea risotto. It was the worst risotto I’ve ever tasted after having risotto in Milan and recently at Officine Brera. It’s a simple dish, but I can now see how it can be difficult to execute. My favorite dish of the evening was the grilled branzino.
Dessert didn’t meet my expectations. We went with the lemon panna cotta-​ish dish, lemon posset, and the chocolate chip cookie with cinnamon milk which tasted like regular milk. I couldn’t believe I saw a chocolate chip cookie as a dessert. I thought it was a joke. It didn’t seem to fit this kind of restaurant. Maybe they don’t have a pastry chef.
There’s valet parking in front of the restaurant or metered street parking. The scene was older Westsiders, with an adult contemporary music soundtrack over dinner. It was a good dinner, but I’m not in any rush to come back. Compared to Tar & Roses, this restaurant is expensive and didn’t meet my expectations for food and service.

One place I like to go to eat fresh is Aestus in Downtown Santa Monica. This relatively new restaurant serves a super-​small menu of farm-​to-​table dishes ranging from burrata to pork rilettes, marinated olives, smoked trout, parsnip soup, grass-​fed cheeseburgers, squid ink capellini, vegetables and charcuterie. They also have salads with interesting additions like cauliflower, beans and pecans.
At a company holiday lunch, I ordered the Brussels sprouts and the wedge fries. The Brussels sprouts come piping hot in a skillet with a sweet & sour glaze. I love Brussels sprouts, and have generally never met a Brussels sprout I didn’t enjoy, but this one was especially delicious. And the portion size was huge, so I ate my veggies and got super full.
The wedge fries come with a chive crème fraîche dipping sauce which was absolutely to die for. I wish I had buckets of this sauce. But then that would defeat the purpose of eating healthy. The potatoes were cooked well — crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I’m drooling just writing this post. This meal of giant proportions will set you back only $ 12 at lunch and you’ll be full all day.
There are plenty of healthy options for dining that aren’t as obvious, such as at a restaurant like Aestus. There’s no need to blow your money on boring and over-​priced Whole Foods every day when there are great restaurants down the street serving yummy veggies, carbs and proteins.

Aestus is pretty and appetizing but just didn’t quite hit the spot.
We made a reservation for Valentines’ Day and were quite happy that they were able to accommodate us an hour earlier than our reservation.
First thing we noticed is just how loud the background noise was. The kitchen is open — you can see the chefs at work and most parties had 4 or more people. That all probably added to the background noise. I find myself having to raise my voice several times to have a conversation with my date.
The staff was very friendly and frequently came around to refill the water.
However, the food simply didn’t hit the spot.
We started with the appetizer:
— Charcuterie Board $ 22 — The vague description of «selection of house made items» did not prepare us for the random collection of bread, salami, hummus, olive, and other cuts of meat that were way too greasy for our stomach. To be frank, that may have ruined my appetite for the entrée.
Entrée:
— fire-​roasted chicken $ 24 and it came with hummus, cucumber raita, grilled bread on the side. The grilled bread was similar (same?) as the bread that came with the Charcuterie Board. The chicken was good — the skin was crispy and the meat relatively juicy. But once you get deep into the white meat region, it was a bit dry.
— peads & barnetts pork chop $ 28 with glageolets ragout, baby carrots, and mustard on the side.
The pork chop was quality meat. It smelled amazing but the flavor just didn’t pop out enough for me. I almost wanted to add soy sauce or something to give it more of a kick. By all means, it was a quality dish… I just had better.
Most disappointing was the end of the night, I had used an app to pre-​paid the dinner via credit card. So instead of getting the bill, the waitress was suppose to bring a paid for receipt. I was hoping that would surprise my date… well, it didn’t work out.
Aestus makes quality dish and props to the chef for his unique blend of flavors. However, Aestus can easily be overlooked as just another in the middle of the pack of Santa Monica’s highly competitive fine-​dining environment,

This is a small and trendy restaurant. The service was on point.
The menu is limited but it doesn’t matter because everything is farm fresh.
I loved loved loved the burrata appetizer, it comes with this amazing soft toast, delicious!
The steak tartare was okay I think the chef could improve it.
The Parra deli ragu was delicious!
Over all everyone loved their meal and we are looking forward to going back.

Casual and intimate restaurant with a warm neighborhood feel!
Tuesday Happy Hour with a group of friends, when one of them says lets go to Aestus (she lives around the corner). She calls ahead to ask if they can accommodate a group of 5 – 6 people ( Unilocal’s online reservations only allows up to 4 people). Host says they have availability.
We head on over and are immediately seated next to the open kitchen at a table that can easily accommodate up to 6 people (although we started at 4, our group did grow to 6).
Décor is simple, but the ambiance is relaxing with dim lighting and open areas. Not too loud (well, our group might have ruined that). Definitely could see this being a good date spot.
Wine:
Friend ordered a bottle of Sancerre for the table. YES! This was wonderful and a few more were purchased as the evening wore on.
Menu: Smaller selection of small plates & seasonal items.
Starters:
Olives
Cheese plate: Good selection of 4 cheeses, but small portions.
Entrée:
skate wing «piccata»: VERY GOOD. I don’t think I’ve had skate wing before (its a Ray with a mild taste). The skate wing was prepared lightly breaded and appeared pan seared. Its was light, yet flakey. Sauce was provided on the side (which I prefer). I would have liked a little more sauce, artichokes & capers, since the skate wing was simply prepared.
Service was Fantastic (they were very patient with our group).
Great dinner and I would return.

Me and my boys ran up a bill here on Saturday night! Amazing experience all around.
Loved the atmosphere. Hip and trendy, but not over the top. Relaxing open air. Same with the kitchen being right there.
Owner was cool, helped with the wine. I brought an 82 Lynch-​Bages and he opened it perfectly. He hooked me up with a nice wine recommendation for the second bottle.
Food was awesome. Chef Alex knows his stuff, and is a cool dude. I chopped it up with him for a bit. Squid ink capellini is stunning. Grilled lamb chops — fantastic. Accompanied by a delicious apricot purée and carrots. And the beef tartare was out of this world. Amazing texture, slight horseradish spice and a runny egg yolk. Man I could’ve eaten two servings of that by myself. Flat iron steak is bomb, so tender and flavorful.
We had other stuff but frankly I forget haha. We started with the special pork cheek fritters that wowed me. I should add that they have an excellent drink selection as well. The bartender made me a tight gin martini. Nice scotch selection as well.

I tried Aestus for lunch a couple of days ago when I was in Santa Monica for work. It was recommended to me by one of my friends from work who claimed that it was very good. Aestus is located on Wilshire Blvd very close to the 3^rd street promenade so it’s metered street parking at lunch time. At the peak lunch hour the place was about half full. The décor of the place is modern with a long bar to the left, tables to the right and an open kitchen straight down. I was seated on one of the two person tables in the front which was both good and bad. Good as it was well lit and airy and bad because I was stuck next to two females on their lunch date talking about their boyfriend problems.
Anyway perusing the menu I found that this was like a tapas or small dishes place with most of the dishes in the $ 15-​$ 20 range. The hostess also gave me the DineLA lunch menu which was two dishes for $ 20. For the first dish I got the smoked trout ($ 10) and for the second dish my server recommended the burrata & avocado tartine ($ 13) so I got that. Both the dishes had some things in common. Both were beautifully presented. The plating was top notch which makes the dishes very appealing. Sadly they lacked seasoning and tasted bland. I’ve faced this in other similar trendy places where they take a conscious decision to go really low on seasoning, but that does not work for me as I find the food tasteless.
The smoked trout came with four pieces of toasted bread which looked great, but were not correctly toasted so had a limp soft center. However this dish would have tasted a lot better with a beer but as I was on work I skipped that. The burrata & avocado tartine ($ 13) was basically a slice of toasted bread topped with a layer or avocado and burrata (cheese). Again the bread was not toasted correctly so did not have a good crunch. There was way too much avocado dumped on the bread which completely masked the burrata and made the overall dish feel very heavy. It also tasted very unidirectional. A little spice and a squeeze of lemon would have elevated this boring avocado toast. There is no way that I will get this again.
I also felt that service could have been better. The servers at some of these modern hipster places manage to always be available without hovering which was not the case here. To be clear I was checked on once but they have to be benchmarked against similar places and they definitely fell short in in my opinion. Pricewise I felt that Aestus was a touch cheaper that other small dish places. DineLA provided a 15% discount but limited the dishes that I could try. I should have skipped that and got the squid ink pasta and millet pudding that Unilocalers have been raving about which would have given me a more positive feel about this place.
It is evident that a lot of thought has gone into this place right from its design and ambiance to the contents of the menu and food presentation. It is the actual food that is just a notch below similar places. If I’m in the area I may come back but my first experience does not leave me wanting to return in a hurry.

Saturdate a la carte amidst Summer DineLA week. Best decision. Plus, we’re rebels. Let’s start with the drinks. Marissa Grasmick, formerly of The Varnish in dtla, brought her A-​game to Aestus. Love the fresh simplicity and ingredients of her cocktails. I chose her favorite drink, the Trinidad Sour (rye, orgeat, angostura bitters, lemon), and I’m hooked. Also tasted the ward 8 (bourbon, grenadine, lemon), smooth and delish!
To start, we had the five handmade selections of the charcuterie board (duck pâté, pork rillets, smoked duck, boudin blanc, paprika cured ham) and it was spot on and perfect with a dash of fresh mustard seeds and grilled bread. The char of the bread was perfectly paired with stracciatella di burrata. I’d say it was the best burrata and grilled shishito peppers combo I’ve ever tasted.
The man had the steak, med rare, of course. Cooked and seasoned to perfection, the grass fed flat iron steak with sunchokes, spinach, and mushrooms was the winner for the night. I delighted myself with the popular squid ink capellini. The protein of the dish was red crab cooked in pomodoro sauce with basil. Definitely something new, fresh, and unique for the taste buds.
We ended our night sharing millet pudding, Chef Alex Ageneau’s grandmother’s dessert recipe. Our gorgeously kind waitress sold it to me as she listed the components of the dessert, pistachio crisps, cranberry coulis, and of course, millet pudding. The light, yet creamy texture of the vanilla millet pudding served as the pefect base for the tangy cranberry, balanced with the crunchy texture of the pistachio crisps. I’d order this again in a heartbeat. So good. From start to finish, fresh and tasty ingredients that left me wanting more. I’d love to try other dishes on the menu. Aestus is a SM winner!

Aey Aestus! Had my eye on you since January…
* CMP — Grilled blackened bread = soft bread
* DRK — Ginger soda = so gingery & fizzy, comes with steel straw
* DRK — Ward 8 [bourbon, house grenadine, lemon] = dining companion loved it
** APP — Beef Tartare w/​smoked beets & horseradish = ermahgerd, sooo good!
* APP — Hamachi Crudo w/​yuzu, cucumber, seaweed = fresh citrusy appetizer
** GET — Squid Ink Capellini w/​red crab, pomodoro, basil = really hearty dish, the crab was amazing, the pomodoro basil and perfectly cooked capellini was a winner (hearty portion too!)
** GET — Alaskan Halibut w/​tomatoes, fennel, basil = delicately perfect halibut cooked with slight crunch on outside, soft melty «meat» on inside… those tomatoes were excellent too
** GET — Chocolate Ganache = oh SO good! Raspberry compote was just right-​not overly sweet at all, balanced well with that slight-​bitter chocolate ganache
* YES — Friendly & fast service by Melissa
* YES — Open kitchen layout, always love that; clean simple décor
* YES — Full bar area with seating
* YES — Booth seating for large parties available; good for dates, groups, friends
* YES — Ambiance got quite festive/​loud by the end of our dining
* YES — Good DineLA menu offered
* MEH — T’were a strong paint smell when entering… not sure if they recently touched up but my sensitive nose smelt it all throughout dinner…
* WOA (words of advice):
— Street meter parking
— Takes reservations & credit cards

My husband was introduced to this place by someone he had a lunch meeting with, who is friendly with the owner. He liked it so much that he told me we needed to go there for dinner together stat. Our return trip was satisfying to say the least!
For drinks, I ordered the rose which was great, and my husband order the old-​fashioned, which was spot on for him.
To start, we ordered the pea soup as a starter, which we love so much that we tried re-​create it at home a few days later (we didn’t quite nail it like Aestus, but A for effort, right?). My husband ordered the squid ink cappellini, which he also loved, though I was a bigger fan of my dish, which was the lamb. The lamb was perfectly cooked and SO flavorful, I was pained to have to even share any with my husband [juuuuust kidding babe, if you’re reading this ;)]
The waitress was also really sweet and attentive. The bar was packed, there must have been some sort of happy hour while we were there.
Overall, we loved Aestus and we are looking forward to returning!

The best thing at this cool new joint is the charcuterie board for a mere $ 22. Our waitress said that the chef here had extensive meat/​charcuterie training before he became head chef so naturally we had to check out his knowledge, and it was a great decision. Beautiful terrines, lovely pieces of sausage, and the tangy mustard that went well with everything. Of course we had to order the cheese plate with it. If we had stopped there, we would’ve been happy campers but our party was a group of foodies who don’t like to stop when they’re full.
The Hamachi Crudo was the biggest disappointment of the night; it was just bland. But the beef tartare, whose taste more than made up for its lack of attractiveness, was wonderful. The beets in it were perfect. The ricotta agnolotti was delicious and lush, and the squid ink pasta was ERRYTHANG. We shared all the plates and loved the variety of it all. Finally, the strawberry consomé dessert was the perfect way to end the night.
The service was a tad haphazard; we didn’t have the same server twice, but the cocktails were phenomenal. Love the minimalist décor and the exposed kitchen. I caught the Chef looking over at our table several times to make sure everything was ok with the group who ordered all that food and drink.
Overall, great night!

I came to Aestus to indulge a craving of wine served with eclectic meats and cheeses. I was somewhat disappointed by the variation of meats on their charcuterie board. I’ve been on the hunt for a good charcuterie after closing of Waterloo & City, this place definitely does not come close.
The other dishes served here were tasty, but not good enough to lure me back here!

I had high hopes for Aestus, espeically after reading all the glowing reviews from fellow Unilocalers.
We made reservations for a Wednesday night and were joined by another couple. At 7:30 every table was already full, so reservations are a must. The atmosphere is lively without being overwhelming or loud and we immediately noticed the open kitchen, which is the star of the show.
I tasted a couple different wines by the glass, and was really impressed with everything I tried.
We shared several dishes family style. The roasted carrots were good but nothing exciting. Halibut with english peas, chorizo and meyer lemon was the favorite dish of the night. The fish was tender and moist and the peas and chorizo brought a burst of flavor.
Flat iron steak was quite chewy and not our favorite, but I did enjoy the sunchokes, spinach and mushrooms that were with it.
Squid ink crab capellini with crab tasted mostly of the pomodoro.
We were not intrigued by the desserts so ended things there. I’d like to give it another try in a couple weeks and try a few different things.