Drago Centro

What Drago Centro does

Drago Centro is a single-location authentic Italian and Sicilian restaurant located in Downtown Los Angeles' Financial District at 525 S. Flower Street. The restaurant was founded in 2014 by Executive Chef and owner Celestino Drago and operates with a team of approximately 11 employees, offering lunch Monday through Friday, dinner Monday through Saturday, and daily bar service. The venue combines a main dining room with four named private event spaces (Flower Room, Vault Room, Glass Box, and Garden Room), making private events an explicit second revenue vertical alongside dine-in F&B.

Name

Drago Centro

Legal name

Drago Centro

Website

https://dragocentro.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Drago Centro is an upscale authentic Italian and Sicilian restaurant in Downtown Los Angeles' Financial District, founded in 2014 by Executive Chef Celestino Drago, serving downtown diners, business professionals, and private event clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Italian Fine Dining Restaurant

NAICS

Full-Service Restaurants (722511), Restaurants and Other Eating Places (72251)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Retail-Eating Places (5812)

akta.pro primary industry

Special Occasion & Destination Restaurants (THAFACAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

VIP, Executive Dining & Hospitality Suites Catering (THAHAKAI)

Keywords

• Italian fine dining
• Sicilian cuisine restaurant
• Private event dining
• Downtown LA restaurant
• House-made pasta

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles, California

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Dine-in Food and Beverage Sales: Revenue from full-service Italian dining including house-made pastas, steaks, seafood, and desserts, paired with curated wine list and craft cocktails. Lunch service Mon-Fri 11:30AM-2:30PM, dinner service Mon-Sat 5PM-10PM, bar service extending to 10PM.
2. Private Events and Catering: Revenue from private dining events across five distinct event spaces: The Flower Room (10-16 guests), The Vault Room (26-55 guests), The Glass Box (55 guests), and The Garden Room (78-110 guests). Booked through Special Events Director Betty Cardenas.
3. Online Ordering and Takeout: Revenue from food and bar menu takeout orders via ToastTab platform. Bar food includes social hour items, pizzas, sliders, and charcuterie boards.
4. Gift Cards: Gift card sales through ToastTab platform for gifting occasions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Drago Centro is a full-service authentic Italian Sicilian restaurant in Downtown Los Angeles' Financial District serving lunch, dinner, and bar service with house-made pastas, premium steaks, seafood, and desserts. The restaurant also operates four distinct private event spaces (The Flower Room, The Vault Room, The Glass Box, and The Garden Room) accommodating 10-110 guests, supported by online ordering and gift card sales via ToastTab and reservations through OpenTable.

Product overview

Drago Centro is an authentic Italian Sicilian restaurant in Downtown Los Angeles's Financial District, operating as a single unified dining establishment. The core product is its full-service Italian restaurant offering lunch, dinner, bar, and dessert experiences crafted by Executive Chef Celestino Drago. Supporting services include private event spaces (The Flower Room, The Glass Box, The Vault Room, and The Garden Room), online ordering and gift cards via Toast Tab, OpenTable reservations, and special events coordination. The restaurant also hosts live jazz performances and participates in DineLA Restaurant Week. No modular or platform-based architecture exists—this is a traditional restaurant operation with direct-to-consumer service delivery.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Dinner Service Full-service dinner experience Monday-Saturday 5PM-10PM featuring contemporary Italian Sicilian cuisine including house-made pastas, steaks, seafood, and elegant desserts curated by Executive Chef Celestino Drago.
• Lunch Service Weekday lunch dining Monday-Friday 11:30AM-2:30PM offering Italian antipasti, primi piatti, and secondi piatti options targeted at Downtown LA Financial District professionals.
• Bar Menu and Social Hour Bar food offerings including fried calamari, Kobe beef sliders, handcrafted pizzas, charcuterie boards, and truffle parmesan fries, with social hour 3-5PM and bar service extending to 10PM.
• Cocktails and Beverage Program Handcrafted cocktail menu featuring house signature drinks such as Venezia, Smokey Oaxacano, and Tiramisu Martini, plus craft beers and N/A mocktails paired with a curated Italian and California wine list.
• Wine List Curated wine selection by the glass featuring Italian wines including Champagne, Franciacorta, Prosecco, Tuscan reds, and California wines, plus digestifs and espresso.
• Dessert Menu Sweet conclusion offerings including Tiramisu a Sfera, Valrhona Chocolate Soufflé, Pistachio Semifreddo, and assorted house-made gelati and sorbetti priced $12-$16.
• Private Event Spaces Four distinct private and semi-private event spaces: The Flower Room (intimate dining for 10-16 guests), The Vault Room (demonstration kitchen for 26-55 guests), The Glass Box (cocktail venue with skylights for up to 55 guests), and The Garden Room (indoor garden for 78-110 guests).
• Special Events and Catering Coordination Tailored hospitality services for private events, corporate functions, rehearsal dinners, and celebrations coordinated by Special Events Director Betty Cardenas across all event spaces.
• Gift Cards Digital and physical gift card offerings available for purchase through the ToastTab platform for gifting occasions.
• Online Ordering and Takeout Direct food ordering and takeout service via the ToastTab platform, allowing customers to order from the full menu for pickup. Alcohol is not included on takeout orders.
• Restaurant Reservations Table reservation service integrated with OpenTable for booking lunch and dinner seating, with reservation details used by the restaurant solely for operational fulfillment.
• Live Jazz Performances Weekly live jazz music performances in the bar area featuring local musicians paired with the cocktail and bar food menu, driving off-peak evening traffic.
• DineLA Prix Fixe Menu Seasonal Restaurant Week prix fixe menu featuring multi-course Italian dining at a set price point during DineLA programming periods.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• OpenTablecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorOpenTable serves as the primary third-party reservation platform for Drago Centro. Reservations made through OpenTable are governed by its privacy policy, with Drago Centro receiving reservation details solely for operational fulfillment.
• ToastTabcoreTechnology or IntegrationToastTab provides the online ordering platform and gift card system for Drago Centro. Customers can order food and bar items for takeout, purchase gift cards, and make dining reservations through the ToastTab platform.
• OrphmediaminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerOrphmedia LLC is credited as the website designer and developer for dragocentro.com, providing the digital presence and online brand experience.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Jon & Vinny's: Multi-location LA Italian restaurant from Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo. Comparable on Italian cuisine and house-made pastas, though positioned slightly more accessibly on price - useful lower-tier benchmark.
• Osteria Mozza: Nancy Silverton's flagship upscale Italian restaurant in Los Angeles. Directly comparable as a chef-driven, full-service Italian fine-dining concept with house-made pastas, a serious Italian wine program, and similar check sizes.
• Il Pastaio: Upscale Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills known for people-watching patio dining. Comparable on Italian cuisine, upscale positioning, and LA geographic market.
• Sotto: Steve Samson's upscale Southern Italian restaurant in Mid-City LA. Directly comparable on Italian cuisine focus, house-made pastas, and upscale pricing tier.
• Bestia: Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gergis's Downtown LA Italian restaurant. Directly comparable on geography (DTLA), Italian menu with house-made pastas and charcuterie, upscale pricing, and event/private dining offerings.
• Chi SPACCA: Nancy Silverton's Italian-influenced meat-focused restaurant on Melrose. Directly comparable as a chef-driven, high-end LA Italian concept with comparable check sizes and a similar cult following.
• Republique: Margarita Manzke's full-service upscale restaurant on LA's Miracle Mile. Comparable as a chef-driven, full-service LA fine-dining concept with private event spaces and similar check sizes.
• Rossoblu: Downtown LA Italian restaurant from Chef Steve Samson focused on regional Italian cuisine. Direct competitor on geography, cuisine focus (regional Italian), and price point.
• Cecconi's: Italian restaurant in West Hollywood known for its patio and celebrity clientele. Directly comparable as a full-service upscale Italian concept with similar check sizes and a strong private-event business.
• Maude Restaurant: Curtis Stone's chef-driven tasting-menu restaurant in Beverly Hills. Directly comparable as a single-location, chef-owner-led, upscale fine-dining concept with similar check sizes and event capabilities.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/DragoCentro2014
• Instagraminstagram.com/dragocentro
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/drago-centro

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Drago Centro