Celebrity Favorite Italian Restaurant Ago Closes in West Hollywood After 21 Years

Ago Restaurant, the 21-year-old restaurant near the corner of La Cienega and Melrose closed last Saturday. After losing its lease, Ago’s landlord plans to revamp the interior and introduce its own unnamed Italian restaurant in summer 2020.

Ago’s current and former ownership boasts some of the biggest names in entertainment. Chef/partner Agostino Sciandri opened the restaurant in 1998 with Robert DeNiro, along with actor Christopher Walken, director Ridley Scott, and disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein to name a few. Agostini’s presence in Los Angeles goes back decades, he also developed the menu at Toscana in Brentwood.

Ago’s was a regular draw for celebrities and became a designated power lunch spot filled with industry types throughout the decades, according to restaurant blog Toddrickallen.

The section of WeHo is completely transformed from Ago’s debut 21 years ago. Over the last five years, the same street corner is now dominated by staples like E.P. & L.P., and Rosaline. This section even took a recent youthful turn after installing Joe & The Juice and the highly Instagrammable Croft Alley. Ago’s other longstanding neighbors were Fig & Olive, along with legendary chef Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne’s Lucque’s, which celebrated 21 years in 2019.

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