Very nice option in Sherman Oaks. A little bit of a lot of different choices on the menu. The Airline chicken is 5*. Really good table service. Very clean bathrooms, thanks for that. It's very loud in the main dining room. We sat in the high tops near the bar. read more

Stanley's Restaurant - American Near Me - Los Angeles, California

I've been a regular here for a long time, so this experience was honestly shocking. I placed an online order for my family (over $100 for four meals), and THREE of the dishes arrived undercooked and tasted terrible. Completely unacceptable, especially from a place I've trusted and ordered from often. What made it worse was how this was handled. I called to let them know, expecting at least some level of concern or basic customer service. Instead, I spoke with the manager, Louis, who was incredibly rude, dismissive, and unprofessional. He talked over me the entire time, showed zero accountability, and told me there was nothing he could do--not even a small credit or partial refund (I wasn't even asking for much, just $15 as a gesture). The complete lack of concern for both food quality and customer experience is really disappointing. It's one thing to make a mistake-things happen. But the way this was handled guarantees I won't be coming back. Really unfortunate, because this used to be one of my go-to spots. read more

We gave it a try for the first time. Nice place indeed. It wasn't that busy at all for a Saturday evening. Maybe 1/3 was occupied. As we all know, the first impression you get when you go into a restaurant, and they have a so-called "hostess," is that you, as a guest, are greeted with a welcoming smile or at least with some interest or a few words. But I had the impression that the young girl who was supposed to be the hostess either didn't have enough training, was not in the mood to at least try to be a little bit more outgoing and friendly, or she didn't know the basics of common manners. Not a good impression for the first few minutes to encounter some snooty young girl as welcome personnel. Nevertheless, after we walked to a table/booth, she just put the menus down and left without a word. Lovely. Shortly after that, a very nice and friendly young staff member asked us what we'd like to drink. After a while, our waitress came by with our drinks and asked us if we were ready to order. She seemed quite nice and friendly. My spouse ordered the tuna melt with fries, and I had the half chicken with mac-n-cheese and some vegetables. We also received some very good warm bread with a soft inside and nice crispiness outside before our meal was served. Very good. Many restaurants should take an example from that. We didn't have to wait too long for our food, which we kind of expected because the place wasn't that busy anyway. My spouse loved his dish, and I must say it was one of the best roasted chickens I have had for a long time. The seasoning and the crisp skin on it were outstanding. Also, the mac-n-cheese was delicious. Not as heavy and oily as many are in some places. The vegetables were nicely roasted and had a nice bite. At the time we were done eating, the restaurant was quite empty--maybe 4 or 5 other tables with customers. Lots of staff were there for sure. That is why we were a bit at odds that we didn't see much of our waitress anymore. Only once did she come by and ask us how the food was. Then, after we ate, we couldn't see her at all. I had to ask a busboy to please bring me a box for my leftovers. Then we waited again to see the waitress so we could pay. We were sitting there for quite some time patiently. Then I finally had to ask another staff member that we would like to pay. The "hostess" swept by and put the bill on the table without saying anything, of course. Then our waitress came over after a few minutes to collect the payment. Shortly after, we were done with that. She was very friendly, but in general, for the little business going on while we were there, and with that many staff members, we did expect to have a bit more attention from our server. There was no reason to let us sit there for so long to finish up. As said, the food was fantastic, and the staff was very friendly except for the hostess (I know, the irony). Just paying a little more attention to customers, especially when it is not busy, would be advisable. read more

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Great food, cocktails, and service. I came here for a private event with about 40 people and had a great experience overall. I ordered the salmon (so good) and sampled several sides, most of which were excellent. Standouts included the waffle sweet potato fries, saffron rice, a sweet potato purée topped with vegetables, and the guacamole and salsa, which were solid starters. The classic mashed potatoes were the only miss for me; not bad, just a bit under-seasoned to my taste. The staff was friendly and efficient throughout the event. The only minor hiccup was that we didn't initially receive serving spoons for any of the sides and had to ask a couple of times, but given the pace of service and the size of the group, it was understandable. Otherwise, no complaints at all--servers and valet were both very kind. The burger and chicken kebab skewers looked great, but I was very happy with my salmon choice. Parking was easy, with valet available or metered street parking until 8 PM. The space is moderately lit and not ideal for large parties since we were seated in booths, but it still worked well enough, and there was a small area set aside for the speaker. Although, they had a mic, it was still pretty hard to hear. While it's not somewhere I'd rush back to on my own, I'd happily attend another event here. Overall, a really enjoyable experience! read more

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I've known the owner / impresario of Stanley's Restaurant since high school. His first iteration of Stanley's was on Ventura Blvd. for thirty years, of which I ate there over fifty times and his second iteration of Stanley's is on Van Nuys Blvd. where I ate today for the first time. All visits to this amazing diner-cafe have been delicious. Their salads are great, their sandwiches are great and mains are wonderful. It's safe to say, that I've had everything on their menu at least twice (their meatloaf being my fav). This lunch, I had their famous Cobb Salad so chock full of "good stuff" I woofed it down like it was my last meal. On this day, Stanley's was packed to overflowing which made me proud of the great work Greg has done in his given profession. BRAVO!!!!! read more

Always the best. Sunday chicken pot pie is amazing. Great burgers and cocktails. Fantastic Happy Hour. read more

When I first moved to Los Angeles nearly 40 years ago, Stanley's (at its original location) was THE place to be on weekend nights. The top singles scene in the SFV, a great staff of bartenders (RIP Kirk), and a menu of very decent American comfort food. Last night, holiday weekend aside, it was a shadow of its former self, with a staff that seemed annoyed to be working, forgettable food, and a crowd that mostly seemed like THEY had been there for 40 years, and were living in memories of the good old days. We took 2 seats at the far end of the bar because a major portion of the center section needed cleaning -- that area would remain unaddressed for the duration of our time there, even as we were leaving. One thing I always liked at Stanley's was their Patty Melt, which was always well-made and satisfying -- but it's gone from the menu now. Ah well. I wasn't super hungry, so I ordered their wings ("drumettes"), which are dressed with a "sweet & spicy" sauce that trades the Buffalo standard for a more Asian flavor. The portion is generous (10 drumettes), and the accompanying Ranch Dressing had a good deal more flavor than one would expect -- but, while I liked the spice level in the sauce, the sweet notes wore out their welcome halfway through. It's not that they were bad (in fact, the wings were served extra crispy, exactly as I'd requested), but I lost interest in the flavor. My wife ordered the Chinese Chicken Salad, which Stanley's could have once put up against Wolfgang Puck's version at Chinois with at least a 50% chance of winning the battle. Nowadays, it's a very large bowl of lettuce with a minuscule amount of chicken and other fixin's. I realize restaurants are challenged right now by rising costs they have to meet without pricing themselves out of business -- perhaps using a smaller serving dish with less lettuce so that the chicken and other ingredients aren't buried would be a reasonable solution. In the end, you can get a serviceable meal at Stanley's; just don't expect to come away feeling like you had a great meal. I think those days may be gone. read more

Stanley's Restaurant - Sweet & Spicy Drumettes - American Near Me - Los Angeles, California

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Great portions for the price. Chicken pesto and chicken piccata was absolutely delicious. Sided with Complementary bread, these dishes were top tier. Service was great, my server was good vibes like the ambiance. Nice and comfortable place to have a date. Cheers. read more

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My daughter and son-in-love treated me to a delicious meal at Stanley's Restaurant. It seems to be a neighborhood eatery. From the moment that we walked in, I felt welcomed. The atmosphere reminded me of the sitcom "Cheers". Our server Llenelle was a gem. All the workers that we encountered were great. The food was delightful. The brussel sprouts appetizer was on point. We all enjoyed everything that was set before us. The portions were generous enough that we were able to take food home. I will definitely come back to Stanley's! read more

My mom is in town visiting so I had to take her to my favorite restaurant Stanley's. She thought the interior was so cute! booths were super comfy. The staff greeted us and complimented my moms outfit (so she was extra happy) Our server had the best personality! genuine, sweet and fun! she brought me two passion fruit unsweetened iced teas out at a time (cos she knows I drink a lot hahaha) the were perfectly full of ice like I love. Our food came out exceptionally flawless. the salmon is my fav salmon in the world. (and I've eaten salmon all over the world at thousands of restaurants) I stand by this statement! my absolute favorite! the Caesar salad has so much flavor and is the best Caesar in LA. The Mac n cheese is soooooooo gooooood! the bread and butter to start is always so warm and delicious! My mom loved it and already asked to go again before she goes back home. thank you for a great experience! read more

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The bartenders and servers are all excellent. Food is great with plenty of specials for even more variety. I highly recommend! read more

As warm and welcoming as ever, I enjoyed visiting the "new" to me location recently. Effortless California casual vibe is harder to create than you'd think! Happy this is here. Drinks and food are always fairly priced and consistently good. read more

Always great... Chinese chicken salad is my favorite I've been going to Stanley's probably for over 30 years and the Chinese chicken salad has not changed one little bit. The portions are the same and it's great to always come back to something you love. read more

A throw-back to the velvet lounges of the fifties, this place is our cozy go-to, almost weekly. With a beautiful shiny bar, lovely old-timey cocktails, and delicious home-made food at a reasonable price, my husband and I sit on our regular royal-blue settees like old movie stars, watching the world go by. It gets busy and bustling, so go early at night. For you jocks, there are also TVs showing sport (yawn). Badabing, badaboom! read more

I've been going to/ordering take out from Stanley's for years. Today I ordered meatloaf from them through door dash...and the photo below shows the meatloaf they sent - it's completely burned. They should not be serving this. Unfortunately I only got a partial refund from DoorDash...but Stanley's needs to do better. I won't be ordering from them a gain. read more

Stanley's Restaurant - 2 pieces of burnt meatloaf. - American Near Me - Los Angeles, California

A nice neighborhood restaurant. Love the comfy ambiance. Everything I've had here was delicious from the famous pink grapefruit salad to the turkey burger to the grilled artichoke. Parking is sometimes tricky but it's worth the effort. read more

Could be my fav new local spot! Great service, food fresh & delish! Trout-so good, ask for sauce on the side! Sweet potato fries so good! Lentil soup excellent! Bread so good! The only thing I wouldn't get again was the kids quesadillas. Way too cheesy!! Crispy chicken sandwich also good read more

The portion of the salad was large. The bread was very good. The salad and dessert were mediocre. The location is good. Street parking was a nightmare. read more

The food was worse than usual. Turkey Meatloaf was dry and came in a small portion. What actually prompted me to write this review was the server. When he brought me coffee that wasn't hot, I politely asked if he could heat it for me and his response was, "it's hot." I simply asked if he could heat it for me. What would be the proper response? If I were in his position I think I would say, "Sorry. I'll take care of this for you." Maybe I'm stuck in the past! Won't be coming back to Stanley's. P.S. good ambiance:) read more

Delicious food, great atmosphere, great service and very reasonable prices. Definitely my go'to for get togethers.

The chicken drum stick wings here are the best. Can't find them anywhere else and they nail it every time.

Hadn't been to Stanley's in many years. Met some friends there for dinner and it was just as expected. I ordered my favorite, Chinese Chicken Salad, and it was delicious! Plenty of shredded chicken, crisp lettuce, almonds etc. I was hesitant as i had read a couple negative reviews. But the chicken salad is as good as I remember! Will def go back sooner just for that dish! The service was fast and she checked in on our table frequently. read more

The food we ordered was surprisingly good. We had the Stanley burger with cous cous on the side - a little too sweet for our liking. We also ordered the NY steak with roasted (actually burnt and cold) veggies and shoe string potatoes- nice and crunchy. Next was the Chicken Caesar salad - pretty good. Service needs work. When we got the steak, the waiter did not ask if we wanted any sauce, so we had to wait til someone came around just ask for steak sauce. Complimentary bread is free but the next round is not and butter seems to be a rare commodity - perhaps they should be more fast in service so the customers don't have to eat bread while they wait. Asking for water is a challenge. Seems like all of them avoid you in the eyes, so you may have to wave your arns around to get their attention. Overall, food was 7/10 and service was 4/10. In spite of the experience, we tipped. read more

Stanley's is a great place to go if you don't know what you want. They have a little bit of everything; from fantastic salads, burgers and pizza to delicious entrees. I don't think I've ever had anything I didn't like, but Amy's Grapefruit Salad is one of my all time faves. read more

My group of 3 went on a Sunday at 11:30am. Menu is extensive with breakfast & lunch items. Be sure to ask for their special menus. We ordered French toast & Huevos Rancheros. Food was very tasty. Portions were large. Total cost (food, 1 tea drink, tax, tip) was about $25-$30 per person. Service was friendly & satisfactory. Facility was clean. Free parking on several nearby streets & Valet Parking are available. I would return to try other entrees. read more

The food is great however parking is an absolute nightmare. It took me 25 minutes of circling around the block several times until I found a spot because valet parking was full. For this reason alone, I think I will never go again even though the food was excellent. read more

We were here on Monday for dinner. Seated quickly as it wasnt to busy. It's a nice location with friendly staff. Parking is tough valet or street parking. Food was good and dessert. only reason not 5 stars it's because it felt very rushed. We had just ordered appetizers and server came back and asked "what do you want as entree." Everything we ordered came out at the same time so table full of food and not enough space. Yes. We probably will be back or order to go. read more

Stanley's Restaurant - Angus New York Steak - American Near Me - Los Angeles, California

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Very nice small place I like the colors inside we sat in a booth. It was very cozy and nice. We were there for a birthday celebration. food was good, portion size is good. Server was nice professional but I think they were a little understaffed, but I was OK. read more

What a joke. I ordered pickup, paid for extra bread and butter, and they only gave me three butters. On top of that, when I asked for two tiny dressing containers, the employee refused and acted like it was too much. We even left a tip on a pickup order, and still got rude, petty service. To make it worse, they won't take credit cards over the phone because of "scams," making ordering a headache. This place is cheap, disrespectful, and not worth your money. Never again. read more

I love Stanley's Cobb salad! Unfortunately, I was disappointed that when I asked to pay for an additional half basket of bread I was denied. Prices and carbs are soaring, and if I were to purchase that additional basket of bread I would've felt I had to finish it. The waitress said even if I gave you half a basket I'd have to charge you the full basket. I'm not cheap I can afford the $4 basket, however it's the principle. Why pay for something I don't need. It would've gone a long way if she charged me $2 and given me a half a basket of bread. In this climate when prices are too high and people trying to be healthy, you couldn't have just done a nice thing. read more

Had the salmon salad for lunch today and it was delicious. Waitress was great. We sat outside, and other that the table being wobbly, everything was excellent. I wish the parking situation was better, but there isn't much anyone can do about that. read more

Absolute delight of a dining experience. Adding this to my weekly take out plan fsss ‍ read more

Stanley's Restaurant - American Near Me - Los Angeles, California

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Portions are huge, food is delicious, I know it gets busy, but honestly, it's so worth it. Just make a reservation if you're going on a Friday or Saturday night. read more

Expensive. I understand the area and that they are south of the boulevard but geez, I stopped goin here just recently because prices are way too high and there are PLENTY of other restaurants in the area with same type of food and even better tasting with better lower prices!!! Their service is lacking as well. Ambiance is clean and decor is normal nothing to talk about. LOWER PRICES!!!!!!!! read more

Alright. Time to adjust my review. Stanley's needs to up their game. We order take out about once a week and dine in about twice a month and while some food items are still good enough like the Chinese chicken salad and burgers, certain staples are declining like the guacamole and chips rancid chips three time in one month. The guacamole not fresh at all like it used to be. Sweet potato fries soggy for take out and dine in. Zucchini noodles, were perfection until recently. Tuna melt!! Soggy. dine in and take out. These are items I have been ordering since the old location. A lot has changed. read more

Oh how the mighty have fallen. I remember Stanley's from before they moved. Used to be pretty good. This was definitely NOT that! The ambiance is that of a diner, rather than the kinda upscale Boulevard eatery that it used to be. The food was a on the down side of mediocre. The bread was great! Nice and hot. Stingy on foil packets of butter... not even nice butter lol. But still, it was good! That's where good stopped though. We sent back the back the appetizers as they were TERRIBLE! The mac and cheese was liquidy and flavorless and the calamari was absolutely disgusting! Tasted like old dead fish. I only had a tiny bite after my friend asked me to taste it. She'd had a couple of bites. I spit it out Blech! We both had salads, which we decided we'd try. They weren't awful, but weren't great either. Service wasn't great either... Needless to say, we won't be back! Edit: And we both had stomach issues later that night. So.... yeah... read more

Decent food good service casual eating we won their Saturday night for dinner. We enjoyed it.

Made reservations for Saturday night for a party of 9. We were immediately seated. The entire staff were wonderful including our waitress Sam and Martin, who assisted Sam. We started off with some appetizers- chicken wings and calamari. These items were my favorite. The chicken was flavorful, well seasoned and extremely juicy. The calamari was also delicious. Lightly fried and well seasoned. Unfortunately, the rest of the meal was not too great. I ordered the fried chicken sandwich. It was not only over cooked but actually burned to the point where I could not even break off a piece of chicken with my teeth. Although the staff was nice enough to remake it, by the time I got the replacement chicken, my entire party had finished their dinner. We also ordered a steak with mashed potatoes. We ordered it well done. It arrived to our table rare. When we showed it to our waitress, she immediately apologized and took the steak back to have it recooked. Unbeknownst to us, they took the very steak we had already cut open and simply put it back in the oven or on the stove. When we got it back, it was so dry - practically inedible. They should have refired a new steak. The cheese pizza was quite bland and the ratio of crust to cheese (and sauce if there even was any) was off. The burger was okay. Not bad but not great. I'm not sure what happened on this evening. We started off so well with the appetizers and it just went downhill from there. I really appreciate the wonderful service and staff, but was very disappointed with the food. Maybe it could have been good but seems like the food was made in a haste and without care. read more

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Stanley's - on Van Nuys Blvd., Sherman Oaks Amy's grapefruit salad is amazing! - fresh delicious and healthy! Butter lettuce with shredded cooked chicken, fresh ripe grapefruit slices, cashews and avocado with a delicious light citrus sesame dressing. Your mouth will get a workout with all the chewing, but every last bite is so satisfying! The Lentil soup (garnished with parsley)is delicious with vegetables and lentils at a beautiful temperature - nice and hot. The sourdough bread also amazing and goes great with a lentil soup. Nice chew - nice crust! Really good sourdough! So many places have mediocre sourdough. I also had the "Cool as a Cucumber" martini. That was really good and it paired really nicely with Amy's grapefruit salad. I love that the salad didn't come out until I was finished with my soup. Make sure with the salad you give it a good stir with your fork has a lot of the delicious dressing is on the bottom of the bowl. read more

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Used to eat at Stanley's often but moved out of Sherman Oaks and visit less frequently now. Was in the area and returned for a once favorite Amy's Grapefruit Salad. Still like the flavor but the pulled chicken in IMHO is overcooked and dry. The thing that prompted me to write a review though was that I ordered a bottle of sparkling water. The waitress automatically poured it into a glass for me without asking. Whatever cleaner they used affected the taste of the water. I told the waitress, she told the manager and they said they would address it ... and either use less or change it. That's it. They never offered to remove the charge. So in essence I paid $6.50 for a bottle of water that I left half of in the glass that she poured. May seem silly to complain but a good manager would have removed the charge. Food ... ok. Husband's chicken was grilled and much more tender but he said he would not go back again. Ambience ... super weird. Loved the old restaurant before you moved. Never could figure this location's decor out. Service ... not bad, but perhaps in the future, ask the customer if they would like you to pour their drink. And definitely look at what you are using to clean your dishes. My honest two cents. read more