Update! Right after I posted a deserved two-star review late last night, I started getting unintelligible direct messages on Yelp attacking me for destroying "businesses" from someone claiming to have eaten at this restaurant last night. I don't know about you, but the messages seem to me to be the whining of an owner or manager at this restaurant, as they were the only restaurant I reviewed yesterday. So while the food and experience merited an original two stars, the fact that this restaurant is berating ME for their ineptitude has resulted in me pulling back the second star. Please feel free to read the messages which I am posting now too. Remainder of substantive review from yesterday's meal is below.
Today we had a reservation for four. It took about 15 minutes to get bread and another 10 for someone to come take our drink order - who was the bartender. The drinks - including water - took another 20 minutes to arrive. The second the drinks came we ordered three appetizers and a salad, unsure when someone would next come around.
A short while later, a woman came by, unaware anyone had taken our appetizer and drink order. We told her they had taken our appetizer order and we placed our entree order with her. One hour and twenty minutes after we sat down, our first food arrived, and it was our entrees. They had never even bothered to put in our appetizer order (still not quite sure what happened). I flagged down a tall, slender bald gentleman who had been greeting tables - but seemed to miss ours - repeatedly. I started to explain to him the issue and he barely let me get through it - but never came back to the table to apologize. He sent his waitress (who hadn't taken our appetizer order - and his bartender - who did take the appetizer order hit never put it in - but never himself apologized).
But, he was very close with the table next to us and spent a lot of time chatting with them, so while no apology for our crappy dining experience was forthcoming, I got more of an up close view of his rear end than I needed or wanted for the price of our dinner. Completely unacceptable and off-putting. Ultimately, no one offered us anything for the inconvenience. They simply asked us if we still wanted appetizers, and we decided we wanted two of the four appetizers given that we were starving and it was an hour and a half into us sitting down for dinner. I made it abundantly clear they should not show up on the bill - and the only bright spot of the meal is that they were smart enough not to argue the point.
Now for the food. The bread rolls that came out at the beginning were not warm and too hard. The butter for the bread, however, was perfect. For entrees, we had the mussels, The New York steak, the branzino and the salmon. Our appetizers were a Caesar salad and tuna tartare. First, the mussels were small and disappointing. Two better places in the Valley for mussels are Black Market and Firefly (when/if it reopens). The steak was fine - but nothing memorable - and after I ordered a substitute of mashed potatoes they also managed to mess that up. Personally, the Entrana at Lala's is comparable, if not better. The branzino and salmon were again - fine. Nothing you couldn't get up and down Ventura Boulevard at any other restaurant.
Maybe this was simply problems symptomatic of a brand new restaurant, and maybe I will give them another shot in six months. But, nothing has me rushing back. read more