The restaurant’s name (translated literally, to do nothing) invokes the Italian art of, well, getting by without doing much, but Antonio Guberti, who opened Far Niente more than two decades ago, obviously has done a great deal, since this gem continues to draw crowds to downtown Glendale for the sprawling menu bolstered by a sheet of “additional offerings” and a litany of daily specials that are both printed and recited. Bring a group if you want to make a dent, and be grateful for the half portions, which encourage variety. Start with a salad of crunchy Belgian endive, enriched with candied walnuts, crumbled Maytag blue cheese, a light chardonnay dressing and radicchio “wings.” For seafood, caciucco livornese, in a spicy tomato sauce, is loaded with lobster, plump shrimp, bay scallops, clams, calamari and mussels. Fettuccine Cardinal Mahony, a fitting tribute to a local legend, boasts lobster meat, bay scallops and flat noodles, all lavished in cognac cream tomato sauce. Looking for something heartier? Consider the calamari steak, three slabs of squid sautéed in lemon, butter and garlic sauce until golden on the outside. Squeeze on some more lemon to make the tender cephalopod really sing. The central dining room is clubbier, with dark blue carpets, a pressed-tin ceiling and mottled yellow walls that sport framed Impressionist reproductions; the other room has rust-colored walls and an open-kitchen lined with copper pots. It’s all about options at Far Niente, and that’s something.

Indivia con formaggio e noci (Belgian endive salad)
Caciucco livornese (lobster, shrimp, bay scallops, clams, calamari, mussels)
Fettuccine Cardinal Mahony (lobster and bay scallops in a cognac tomato cream sauce
Calamari steak (squid in lemon butter garlic sauce)
view full menu here

A pair of four-tops face bustling Brand Boulevard and enjoy the only natural light in the central dining room. More interested in an intimate evening? Sink into the round, high-top booth in the room’s northeast corner.

Far Niente sits a few doors down from the historic Alex Theatre. Combine your meal with a trip to this Art Deco pleasure palace, which opened in 1925 as a vaudeville venue and cinema and continues to host classic movies and musical performances.

Mon. 11:30 AM–9 PM; Tues.–Thurs. 11:30 AM–9:30 PM;
Fri. 11:30 AM–10 PM; Sat. 5 PM–10 PM; Sun. 5 PM–9 PM

$18 (angel hair pasta) to $36 (New York filet with mushrooms)