3 /5 Elizabeth Wong: The good. Cool casual sports bar with a relaxed yet upscale vibe....love the angel wings when you enter, the tasteful but offbeat original artwork, even a mural of the Lakers hidden out of view until you approach the bar ..even an original in the ladies restroom. Plenty of places for cool selfie.
The grilled ribeye. 5/5 My mom asked for medium rare, and it came perfectly medium rare. It was the size of the platter, bigger than my moms head. It might have been sitting under a heat lamp, bec it was warm, not hot off the grill. But it was a steak with nice marbling and fat, so she was happy, though she noted the temp being just warm.
Our server Wendy brought us complimentary nachos. This was a lovely surprise. Thank you. 5/5 for the freebie. We liked the corn, the pickles and the bbq sauce on the nachos, kitchen sink toppings, a shame the chips we ate were all stale. 3/5
The mango mocktail, with the taijin dipped on a side of the rim...nicely sour from the lemonade....its a pretty drink, but its served in an orange juice-type glass that doesnt impress or excite. Wish it were served in a bigger glass (and chilled) to accommodate more ice. The mocktail drinks were warm, so had to wait until until the few cubes did its work. But mom liked her drink, so the mango mocktail put a smile on her face, she liked the flavor and that it was warmish. 4/5
The music. I personally liked having a nice long leisurely lunch with my mom...listening to her but also to some great music on a good sound system...Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac, Earth Wind & Fire... We were there at 1 pm to 3 pm with no checkins or refills but we werent rushed either. 5/5 for the music and the unhurried pace. Thanks!
The cons. The regular baked potato that came with the ribeye was a good size, with plenty of sour cream and chives. The iffy part was the skin, hard and tough. The potato itself was not fluffy or hot whatsoever...it wasnt cold...but just tepid. Again probably sitting under a heat lamp.
The blueberry mocktail. Not a balanced drink, too sweet for my taste and again tepid in an underwhelming glass, with too few ice cubes. A warm sweet albeit pretty drink...you have to blow bubbles at the bottom in order to mix the drink, which was fun...but hard to forgive the presentati9n and the tepid temp... ugh. 1/5
Tried to order the beef rib, but was told it takes six hours and wasnt ready at 1:30 pm in the afternoon. SAD. so I was encouraged to try the bahn mi sandwich instead...wish I had listened. I wanted to try the bbq straightup. The tri tip was lean, so on the dry side. A small container of thick bbq sauce, which had a great taste but was really thick sauce.. kinda jelly gooey-like it had the plopped out of a bottle quality. Hmmmm. You get about four thick slices of tri tip along with a small clutch of dill pickle rounds...and a smallish slab of corn bread 3/5, also dry but had a nice corn flavor. It was all kinda skimpy and stingy in presentation...again for a bbq place, it just felt ungenerous. I did like the smoke on the tri tip... not overwhelmingly smoked, but subtle...ultimately though...I couldnt eat it as dry as it was, doggy bag it to doctor it up at home. 2/5
Service. We were warmly greeted by a young guy. Our server Wendy took about 15 minutes to find us and kindly answered questions ...Wendy was lovely and cheerful...but she looked to be the only server working the entire place. So allowances and we were sitting at the front of the restaurant while the 6 to 8 other diners were seated near the bar and the entrance to the kitchen. A large spacious dining area was practically empty. And only 2 people walked in during the entire time we were there. Sad on a lovely warm sunny Monday afternoon. But we had fun and just enjoyed chilling in this very comfortable open space watching football and taking selfies with the cool Lakers mural.
