There's a new restaurant in Santa Monica, in what used to be the Rocca space. Three on Fourth is a tapas restaurant featuring dishes influenced by three regions of the world: America, Europe, and Japan, and three types of alcoholic beverages: beer, wine, and sake. The restaurant may need to be a little more evocative with this theme, because I didn't realize it until reading about the restaurant post-dining, and was a little confused about how the menu was arranged, as it looks like a secret code , with strange symbols designating the different pages of the menu.
Apparently, each menu is supposed to compliment either wine, beer, or sake. It would have been nice to know that because it may have changed my order. I hope that my salad was meant to go with wine, because that's what I ordered!
The decor is modern, with lots of dark wood and really low lighting . It wasn't crowded when we went, but it was dark enough that you would probably feel alone even if every table were full.
The wine list was well chosen, but many of the wines were on the pricy side (for me, at least) and I would have appreciated a few more wines in the $40-50 range and a few in the $30-40 range to round out the list and make it more accessible.
J. ordered this bowtie "macaroni" and cheese with pancetta. It was, as you can see, very cheesy. And very good. I think I prefer prosciutto in my mac & cheese to pancetta but I wouldn't say no to another bowl of this if and when we go back.
I ordered a grilled pear salad with mozzarella. It was really good. I was in the mood for something light and this was perfect. Grilled pears don't taste all that different from just-plain pears, I found. The mozzarella was fresh and delicious.
Z. had a warm goat cheese salad. The goat cheese was herbed and came on some kind of toasted bread. She will have to tell you if it was good or not, because I did not taste it.
For dessert, vanilla ice cream with warm pear compote, as I recall. Having just come off of eating pear, I didn't have any of this, but I believe from the oohs and aahs, that this was delicious.
I ordered mochi instead and it was very good. My chocolate mochi had real chocolate chunks in it. I was a little confused though, because there were several different flavors on the menu, yet I was not given a choice. The flavors I was given were probably the ones I would have chosen, but still ... why have a selection of flavors if they are just going to choose for you? Once my plate arrived, the server was also unsure of what flavors he was giving me. When I inquired whether a green mochi was green tea, he said it was green apple. I thought that was very interesting--I hadn't seen that on the menu. It turned out to be green tea after all. Which was fine, but don't get me all excited about a new flavor of mochi I have never tried before!
I give the server some slack though, because he was really nice and I feel like he had just started not too long ago. Once he learns the menu a little better, it will be no sweat.
Apparently, each menu is supposed to compliment either wine, beer, or sake. It would have been nice to know that because it may have changed my order. I hope that my salad was meant to go with wine, because that's what I ordered!
The decor is modern, with lots of dark wood and really low lighting . It wasn't crowded when we went, but it was dark enough that you would probably feel alone even if every table were full.
The wine list was well chosen, but many of the wines were on the pricy side (for me, at least) and I would have appreciated a few more wines in the $40-50 range and a few in the $30-40 range to round out the list and make it more accessible.
J. ordered this bowtie "macaroni" and cheese with pancetta. It was, as you can see, very cheesy. And very good. I think I prefer prosciutto in my mac & cheese to pancetta but I wouldn't say no to another bowl of this if and when we go back.
I ordered a grilled pear salad with mozzarella. It was really good. I was in the mood for something light and this was perfect. Grilled pears don't taste all that different from just-plain pears, I found. The mozzarella was fresh and delicious.
Z. had a warm goat cheese salad. The goat cheese was herbed and came on some kind of toasted bread. She will have to tell you if it was good or not, because I did not taste it.
For dessert, vanilla ice cream with warm pear compote, as I recall. Having just come off of eating pear, I didn't have any of this, but I believe from the oohs and aahs, that this was delicious.
I ordered mochi instead and it was very good. My chocolate mochi had real chocolate chunks in it. I was a little confused though, because there were several different flavors on the menu, yet I was not given a choice. The flavors I was given were probably the ones I would have chosen, but still ... why have a selection of flavors if they are just going to choose for you? Once my plate arrived, the server was also unsure of what flavors he was giving me. When I inquired whether a green mochi was green tea, he said it was green apple. I thought that was very interesting--I hadn't seen that on the menu. It turned out to be green tea after all. Which was fine, but don't get me all excited about a new flavor of mochi I have never tried before!
I give the server some slack though, because he was really nice and I feel like he had just started not too long ago. Once he learns the menu a little better, it will be no sweat.
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PS: I got my camera today! So hopefully I will have more beautiful food pictures from now on!