prosciutto, rapini, garlic, and extra virgin olive oil.
On the corner of 7th Street and Grand Avenue, just past the corporate buildings and string of drug stores, stands a marble-floored Los Angeles attraction, Bottega Louie. The historic, 100-year-old building turned restaurant boasts an above average 11,000 ratings on Yelp, making it one of the highest-rated restaurants on the crowd-sourced review website.
Maybe it is the grandiose interior, the earl grey macaroons or the 12-foot long pastry counter that brings in tourists from across the world. According to Benjamin Smith, the restaurant manager at the famous spot, a lot of the hype from the restaurant now comes from social media.
Smith spoke on the condition of anonymity so as to not jeopardize his relationship with the owners and requested that his name be changed.
“For as long as I’ve been in restaurants, I’ve seen the growth of cells phones being used on a daily basis and people using the Internet to find out where to go,” Smith says in a phone interview. “People can just go to sites like Yelp. And this has definitely helped with business at Bottega Louie.”
This cell phone trend is hard to miss when walking into the downtown restaurant. Whether it’s of the numerous macaroon trees, the purple petal cakes or kitchen separated only by a glass wall, customers and tourists alike are taking to social media to share their favorite parts of the iconic Zagat-rated spot.
“Some employees like to jump in pictures, you know like ‘photobomb,’” says Smith, chuckling. “I’d say about 80 percent of our customers take pictures of their food.”
In fact, TimeOut’s online magazine published an article titled, "The L.A. Restaurants that are Instagram All-Stars."" Bottega Louie was placed in their #2 spot along with the caption, “There is nothing ugly about Bottega Louie’s macaroons. Nothing.”
With their claim to fame in the social media department, it only makes sense that Bottega Louie works to stay on top of their game. Their Yelp page has 11,632 reviews and 15,492 photos. Their Instagram account has 35,000 followers. The hashtage #bottegalouie has over 58,000 photos. Their Facebook page has 233,919 check-ins and 44,517 likes. No matter the platform — Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook — Bottega Louie has made its mark.
Yelp user Nicole Y. from Cupertino, CA shared her experience at Bottega Louie saying, “This place is AWESOME from the classy ambience to the macaroons to the delicious food!!!! I came here for brunch with my friend and we had a little bit of a wait. Once we were seated we were attended to frequently. Our waiter was SO NICE.”
While some may find the incessant use of phones and social media a little annoying, Smith says that he and the other employees agree, it’s fun to watch and it doesn’t interfere with business at all.
“Once someone walked into the kitchen with a camera but that’s so rare,” says Smith. “Other than that, it doesn’t really interfere with business.”
For Smith and the rest of the staff at Bottega, social media is just a perk. Their success, he says, comes from the quality and the display of their food.
“Our chef has been with us a short while and he’s done some amazing things with visual display of food,” says Smith. “We’re also doing exciting things in the market with our chocolates. And our macaroons, they even sell themselves.”
So while it may be social media and word of mouth that brings people from around the world into this self-titled “gourmet market, patisserie and café,” it seems to be the food and the experience that makes them stay.
“You know it’s really simple but I like our pepperoni pizza,” says Smith. “This is the honest-to-god truth: I think we have the best pizza in the city. There was this place in Beverly Hills that I thought had the best but I was wrong. With the thin crust and the right amount of cheese, it tastes like a real European pizza.”