The Italian-inspired kitchen Pasta Viva officially opened the doors of its Huntington Beach, Calif. location on Aug. 29. To celebrate, the restaurant gave their first 100 guests a free pasta dish and held a ribbon-cutting ceremony later in the day. This ceremony included a live DJ and giveaways, including a grand prize of free pasta for a year.
Pasta Viva prides itself on clean and fresh ingredients. They make sure to bring authentic Italian tastes and flavors to customers with ingredients imported from Italy. The ingredients for their pasta, for instance, are simple: eggs, milk and flour, avoiding things like seed oil. Those who visit the location can actually see the freshly made pasta that is hung around the restaurant in view of customers.
Pasta Viva offers an abundance of themed pasta options that customers can choose from, such as The Gladiator, which is a bolognese and meatball dish, or The Godfather, which is a filet mignon, mushroom and garlic pasta. The Huntington Beach location also offers its own exclusive item called the Wavemaker — a bolognese calabrian chili hot honey pasta. This spicy dish is sure to warm up beach goers after a nice day in the water.
For those who do not like pasta, Pasta Viva also offers a variety of focaccia sandwiches. The focaccia bread is made daily in house, making it deliciously fresh and warm when served. Like the pasta, these sandwiches also have fun names, like the Emperor Focaccia — a filet mignon and truffle burrata cream sandwich. Although the filet mignon makes this dish one of the more expensive items, it is definitely worth a purchase for those willing to spend some extra money for the filet mignon’s buttery tenderness.
Customers with a sweet tooth may be enticed by the restaurant’s Nutella Sweet Focaccia Sandwich, Limoncello Cookies, Tiramisu Obsession and Closer Chocolate Pasta. The chocolate pasta is certainly the more intriguing option — made with warm chocolate fettuccine, pistachio cream and feuilletine crunchies.
With so many of the dishes well-loved by those who frequent the Irvine location, the new restaurant faces the challenge of bringing and keeping their own loyal customer base. Luckily, the official opening was a hopeful start for the Huntington Beach location, as customers and locals poured in, hoping to get their taste of the free and fresh pasta.
The opening itself was a charming experience, with helpful staff members that were eager to talk to guests and answer their questions. Milan Kolenicka, the new Director of Operations for the Huntington Beach location, was one of the smiling faces guests were sure to see at the opening. His positive attitude, along with the rest of the staff, helped shape this restaurant’s welcoming and hospitable atmosphere.
When describing what makes Pasta Viva special, Kolenicka highlighted the care and passion that is put into their food and service. Kolenicka emphasized the restaurant’s passion for quality foods by explaining how the restaurant imports their cheese wheels.
Many might be unaware, but most parmesan is not certified. Authentically known as Parmigiano Reggiano, this cheese only has three ingredients, which are milk, salt and rennet. However, many of the knockoff cheeses — which are commonly used in the United States — contain other ingredients. Knockoffs made within the European Union are actually illegal offshoots of parmesan, since the exclusive right to make it only belongs to various provinces in Italy. Even then, this stipulation does not stop imitations, making it rare to get authentic Parmigiano Reggiano. The process to create certified Parmigiano Reggiano is also very tedious and long.
“It was a 900 year old tradition that was started by Italian monks. Each wheel is about 80 to 90 pounds. They use about 148 gallons of milk for each wheel and each wheel is aged 24 months,” Kolenicka told New University.
The cheese is also checked for quality throughout the 24 months it is aged.
“The cheesemakers, they actually, during the process, they have special hammers that they use to knock on the wheel and they listen, actually listen, [to the cheese],” Kolenicka said.
For all this work, these cheese wheels typically only last the restaurant a week. To Pasta Viva, however, it is worth it to bring quality foods to the general public. This passion to bring true Italian cuisine to Orange County can be traced back to the story of its creation.
European brother and sister, Dessi Sarabosing and Boris Mitrev, created Pasta Viva in hopes of bringing others the love, connection and culture that food brought them at home. The values that blossom from this beautiful story of family are ingrained in the Pasta Viva culture. It is the something special that differentiates this restaurant from the others and makes it not only a place to visit, but one to come back to.
The pace of Pasta Viva’s openings has been fast, with the first location opening in Irvine off MacArthur Boulevard in late January. Pasta Viva is also set to open two more locations: one in Mission Viejo and another in Irvine. This will make Pasta Viva a collection of four restaurants in Orange County, showing their current commitment to expansion.
Their success may be in part due to Pasta Viva’s online presence on social media. With over 16,000 followers on Instagram and over 13,500 views on their post for the Huntington Beach opening, Pasta Viva has been able to garner a large online audience. Their marketing strategies include fun short videos, limited time deals and emphasizing their quality and simple ingredients. Pasta Viva’s social media has not only brought in customers from around Orange County, but has also made the restaurant a tourist destination for those who travel to the area.
The new Irvine location, which will be off Sand Canyon Avenue, may bring in its fair share of UC Irvine students given its close proximity to campus, affordable prices, quality Italian foods and, of course, welcoming and kind staff. For those who do decide to try Pasta Viva, they may be persuaded to come back, just like many, to try every variety of dishes they have.
Kelly Saenz is an Arts & Entertainment Intern for the summer 2026 quarter. She can be reached at saenzkm@uci.edu.
Edited by Travis Foley and Elizabeth Gregg.
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