la famiglia italian restaurant

great for lunch or dinner!. service is fast and the staff are very friendly and are helpful pairing the wines with the foods. the mussels in the tomatosauceare exceptional having just the right tang. the pizzas are made to order and the fish is cooked just to the right flakiness. i recommend giving it a try, you won't leave hungry!

terrible dining experience. the starter salad was insultingly small. there were five of us dining and each of us were equally disappointed with our entrees. the lasagna was very similar to a can of chef boyardee ravioli. the chicken fettuccini was incredibly bland and the chicken tasted as though it was thawed from a bag and never seasoned. the margherita pizza had little to nosauceon it and was also incredibly bland. the veal was a special menu item. thesaucethat the veal was served in was mostly red pepper and olive oil. it was painful to eat and impossible to finish. and the only dish at the table that was fair was te lamb which was also a special. the salad it was served over was very fresh and the lamb was not anything to brag about but was definitely not as bad as all of the other dishes. overall, this was a serious disappointment to our entire family and i personally do not understand how this place could ever get a good review from anyone if this is the normal state of the food served.

one of the best italian restaurants i have ever been to. i have eaten in italian restaurants all across the country. i would rate this in the top 3 of all the ones i have eaten in. the redsaucewas outstanding. the chicken parmisian was so tender you didn't even need a knife to cut it. i also tried the fettuccine alfredo and the pizza and they were both fantastic.

the bread was good. my friends in destin had recommended this spot..but not really sure why.
the service was outstanding...but the food quality does not compare with food
in the old country....my friend ordered a veal dish that was tough and had been
pre-cooked ...so glad i did not get it as the mushroomsaucewas not tasty. i had
the lobster ravioli......the vodkasaucewas terrible...$30.00 for a small
non-descript salad, one glass of wine and a dish i would never order again.
the bread was warm and the olive oil was well seasoned.
wish we had gone to the olive garden..unlimited salad and bread sticks and
consistent quality.

la famiglia makes terrific redsaucedishes that aren't overcooked or sweet.  their lasagna is pretty simple stuff, but full of rich fulfilling comfort food flavor.

simply awful.. something has changed since we ate here two years ago. "eggplant parmesan" was a disgusting soupy mess of blandsaucecovering bitter slivers of naked eggplant. pasta was overcooked cheap spaghetti in asaucechef boyardee might have made. will not be returning.

let down from other online reviews. we went to la famiglia on a sunday at the harbor location after reading so many glowing reviews on another site. we were quite let down. the salad was strangely missing any truly green lettuce and did not look fresh (see photo). in addition it was an up-charge with the entree (it being included was marked through on the menu, so at one time it was). it was definitely not worth the additional expense. another family member's caesar salad did have better dressing, but still looked more yellow than green. pastas were better than salads, but not worth the drive from the 30a area, and certainly not anything more memorable than chain italian. perhaps we caught them on a bad day. the alfredosaucewas a highlight, but overall i left wondering how people were able to write so many glowing reviews after a mediocre meal. the good news is that staff were earnest and service was overall good, even with a translation problem related to a dressing request.

the service was a 4 out of 10. the waiter visited our table twice. never offered me a drink and when i incorrectly asked for a cup of wine in lieu of a glass of wine he looked at me like i was from mars. i ordered the chicken vesuvio and it was too spicy for my personal taste. i'm from chicago and had vesuvio plenty of times but never with crushed peppers do i tried it. when i told the waiter it was too spicy for my taste he simply said that's vesuvio.... that's how it's made and how we make it. never showed any compassion for me the customer. pizza for kids? not. the pizza is about 18"in diameter. what kid eats all of that? asked for a cesar salad with my vesuvio instead of the house salad. waiter said that i would needb to but a whole salad entirely or have cesarsauceon my house salad. i'm confused by that. is it the extra effort to sort out the lettuce that they couldn't swap the salads? just seems like they didn't care about our experience. i give it a 1 star. don't recommend this place considering the other great restaurants in destin.

go elsewhere. we were looking for some good italian food and thought we would give this place a try. we should have eaten elsewhere. it took us about 5 minutes to get a table when half of the restaurant was empty. we were not offered drinks, i had to ask for them 3 times. one of the dishes we ordered they were out of and the food had no taste. we have had better redsauceat domino's pizza and better pizza from a frozen totino's pizza. then at the end of the meal, we heard the waiter give the table next to us specials....wow, would have been nice to have the same option. need i say the service sucks.. way too over priced for what you get....if you are reading this....save your money and eat elsewhere!!!

returned again this year. good service this visit. i had spaghetti bolognese (average) and hubby had gnocchi with sephaniasauce(parm, garlic, sausage) ( excellent). we finished the meal with cannoli (excellent).


-----24 sep, 2012-----

good food. service a little slow but they were packed on a sunday night. would go back again when in the mood for italian.

best italian in destin!. we happened upon la famiglia on the internet when looking for a good place to grab a pizza while in destin. after reading all the great reviews, we decided to try it out for ourselves. we ordered the bruschetta, caprese salad and the pepperoni pizza. the bruschetta was okay, but the pizza was so fresh and probably the best we've ever had. we actually went back on our last night in destin and had it again! there are many pasta dishes on the menu that i wish i had tried, maybe next time! also, the bread dippingsauceis so addicting! we will definitely be coming back next time we are in town!

this place is the real thing! the calamari was light and flaky. the manicotti with whitesaucewas smooth and creamy. and the kids loved the pizza (thin crust!). definitely will go back next time we're in town.

shocked!! great itailian!!!. first off, where you have traveled is not relevant to whether or not the next guy is going to like his meal here. i spent 2 years in italy (in naples and in aviano) and i have found the food at la familglia to be just as good, if not better than some places ive ate at it in italy. i have always been very happy with my food here. the dishes here are authentic italian-very hearty, rustic, rich. and, lol..clearly owned by a tony soprano godfather looking guy in a black suit..very, very interesting touch.

and like many family owned italian restaurants, you are pretty much eating inside a tiny house turned into a restaurant. i wish they would move to a more comfortable location, but this just adds to the authenticity i guess..and oh yah,,i agree with the previous posters, our service was pretty good. we asked them to substitute a tomatoesaucefor a whitesauceon a dish and they were totally happy to do so..and it tasted great!! you cant even do that at the olive garden.

and oddly enough, yes..our waiter was kind of a red neck. very out of place but it didnt matter because the food was good as was her service.

eat there!!

outstanding authentic italian cuisine. we were so impressed with our lasagna and pizza that we went to la famiglia's restaurant twice during our one week vacation! the tomatosaucewas exceptional, and the really thin crust pizza was delicious. the salads were less than extraordinary. the prices were reasonable for the area. the service was mostly friendly, but inconsistent. we waited a long time for refills, and couldn't find anyone to bring us our bill when we were ready to leave. all in all, the experience was very positive. we will definitely return to la famiglia. 4 out of 5 stars.

not sure why the rating was low food was outstanding! server was great, not just authentic italian but amazing flavor. from the olive oil dippingsauceto the calamari appetizer. dinner of seafood mixed lasagna was the best i ever had. please try this. one great italian restauraunt.