The creamy pesto fettuccini at Miceli’s pairs well with garlic toast and an extra dirty martini. (photo by Tabor Brewster)

Picture a quintessential Italian restaurant. Not a restaurant that you would find in Italy, but a restaurant somewhere stateside that serves Italian food as we Americans know and love. Red and white checkered tablecloths, pizza on a hot sheet of metal, crooner classics à la Dean Martin, leather wraparound booths, the unmistakable smell of garlic roasting and a menu slightly larger than the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

You might be thinking of Miceli’s.

A fixture just off Hollywood Boulevard since 1949, Miceli’s is Hollywood’s oldest Italian restaurant.

The restaurant was opened by Carmen and Sylvia Miceli, a first-generation American couple with Sicilian and Ukrainian roots, respectively. Years before Hollywood Boulevard became famous for the Walk of Fame, the Micelis became famous for their pizzas.

According to their son Frank – who now owns and operates the business with his brother Joe – Miceli’s was the first pizzeria on the West Coast … “allegedly.”

“Pizza was not a featured item [in most restaurants]. There were places that had pizza on the menu, but as an afterthought,” Miceli said. “So in 1949, pizza became a staple. And there were people lined up all over the place coming into the restaurant.”

After initial success, Carmen Miceli, a World War II veteran with an eclectic taste, continued to add to the restaurant’s bold image – adding a 200-year-old stained glass window here, a Tiffany lamp there and a plethora of furniture from another classic Hollywood restaurant – the Pig ‘n Whistle – after it burned down in 1956.

“My father was very into architectural salvage. He loved style,” Miceli said. “He salvaged the Pig ‘n Whistle. He salvaged a Hollywood icon and brought it to Miceli’s.”

Today, every inch of the restaurant’s sprawling, multi-level dining room is decorated with some kind of Italian bric-a-brac. Oil paintings give way to exposed brick, and hundreds of fiasco wine bottles in straw baskets hang from the ornate wooden ceiling. Dining in Miceli’s almost feels like you’re in the Hollywood set of an idealized Italian restaurant – which makes sense, because in some ways, it is. Miceli’s has been seen in films like “The Terminator” and in series including “Dexter.” According to Miceli, the pizza chef at the restaurant’s former Beverly Hills location – once found on La Cienega’s “Restaurant Row” – taught Lucille Ball how to toss pies for a famous “I Love Lucy” bit. Name a celebrity, and there’s probably a story about them dining at Miceli’s, several times. Next to the front door there’s a mural of Frank Sinatra (a regular), and the pizza evidently piqued the interest of at least three presidents (hint: 35, 37 and 40).

While plenty of restaurants in Los Angeles are known for their longevity and A-list clientele, what really sets Miceli’s apart is the music. For Miceli’s, the word restaurant feels like a misnomer. A better description might be a piano bar and entertainment venue that also happens to serve great Italian food. That’s because in between jotting down orders, slinging pizzas and trying not to spill martinis, the waiters join the piano player to belt out a jazz standard.

“All of me, why not take all of me?” our exceptionally talented waitress Roxie crooned, as the doughy strips of garlic toast on the table seemed to convey the same message.

“Can’t you see I’m no good without you?”

Before the song was over, the garlic toast vanished.

According to Miceli, the tradition started organically when the restaurant had a jukebox, and everyone – customers, waiters, even kitchen staff – would sing along.

When the restaurant opened its Universal City location around 1980, management decided to put an ad out seeking singing servers.

“We had 250 people audition,” Miceli said.

He added that today, the restaurant has no problem finding singing servers. In fact, it’s usually the other way around. In Los Angeles – a city where the most talented entertainers are often found behind a bar counter, in a kitchen or traversing a dining room – Miceli’s musical prerequisite for hiring is a match made in heaven.

“I just interviewed a girl last night who is interested in working at Miceli’s because she sings. She works at another restaurant right now. She says ‘yeah it’s great, I work at this other restaurant, yeah I make tips, but what would be really neat about Miceli’s is, not only could I be making tips, but I could be practicing what I want to do,’” Miceli said. “This is nothing against any of our servers – I personally hope they leave, I hope they go somewhere, I hope they make it big.”

Several of the front-of-house alumni have done just that. Actors, Broadway stars, even a “Miss California” have cut their teeth at Miceli’s.

Even when the waiters are busy, well, operating a restaurant, there is still plenty of entertainment to be found in the longtime piano player, Brian, who Miceli describes as a “musical prodigy.”

“Brian is, in some form or another, a savant,” Miceli said. “He’s brilliant … If you asked him to play your favorite song … and you walk in 10 years later and he sees you, he will play your favorite tune, and I wish I could make that up.”

As I sipped my dirty martini – which, by the way, was served extra dirty, ice cold and with a sidecar containing about an entire other martini – Brian effortlessly mixed a cocktail of well-known melodies from different musical genres. “Fly Me to the Moon” became “That’s Amore,” before transforming into “The Pink Panther Theme” and eventually “Happy Birthday” (it was not my birthday, but I’ll take it). When Brian noticed watchful eyes, he took the performance a step further – lifting his feet up to rest atop the grand piano, playing with one hand while juggling a glass full of water, even seemingly falling asleep and snoring at the keyboard while the song continued. Brian is a one-man-show. And yes, he takes requests.

Although the Italian staple has been open for 76 years, much of it has remained the same, Miceli said. Of course, the building has undergone renovations and the menu has occasionally been updated through the years, but everything about Miceli’s just feels “classic,” including the food.

The creamy pesto fettuccini is hearty and robust – comforting like a warm home-cooked meal on a cold night. The creaminess of the sauce balances the bitterness of the basil and garlic well, and makes for an excellent spread for any leftover garlic toast. The same can be said for Miceli’s marinara – a simple combination of tomatoes, garlic and onions made in-house and found on many menu items. On the half and half spaghetti and ravioli, it’s a treat – once again evoking childhood memories of Italian food many of us grew up eating.

With rising costs, wage increases and a restaurant industry reeling with the long-lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the future of Miceli’s is uncertain, Miceli said. While many longtime Los Angeles restaurants have closed in the past year, Miceli hopes that a loyal customer base will continue to support the local, family-owned restaurant.

“I can’t compete price wise with Dominoes, I don’t have their buying power. I can’t compete with the Olive Garden, I don’t have their buying power,” Miceli said. “People walk in a lot of times, especially in Hollywood – people walking the boulevard – and they … look at the menu and they go ‘oh yeah that place around the corner was less expensive.’ They go to the place around the corner and they’re sitting at a plastic table, on plastic chairs and eating plastic food … and that’s a really difficult thing to compete with.”

Throughout its history, the restaurant has had its own share of tough times, closing two of its locations, but the locations in Hollywood and Universal City have persevered. Beyond the classic Italian dishes, inviting atmosphere and friendly staff, Miceli’s is a true Los Angeles experience – one that represents the unique character of a city built on the art of entertaining.

“Support the Miceli’s restaurants of the world,” Miceli said. “Support the places as opposed to going to franchises that are all over the place … Go help out the small business as opposed to the conglomerate. We need the help. It’s a screwy climate out there right now. And small businesses need the help.”

Miceli’s is located at 1646 N. Las Palmas Ave. in Hollywood and 3655 Cahuenga Blvd. in Universal City.

For information, to make a reservation and to order pickup or delivery, visit micelis.restaurant.