1 /5 Isabel Yanes: Unfortunately my experience at Epique left much to be desired and I wouldn’t recommend coming here. I read reviews beforehand and thought maybe other people just had bad experiences, but having gone myself I now understand that the issue is a lack of attention to detail in multiple areas of the business.
While the interior is absolutely stunning, it is very cramped with seating and the live music is pushed up right against dinner tables, so its claustrophobic, even when youre at the front. The waitstaff is overworked, with too many tables assigned to each waiter, and not many speak English well.
The menu doesnt have thorough descriptions of what each dish actually includes, leading me to believe this restaurant caters to Armenians more than Americans. I also got this impression from looking around the room and hearing people speak almost exclusively Armenian. Items such as bread/lavash and water arent included, but they dont communicate this and assume you want it for an extra charge. Even when we asked for regular tap water, they would only bring us a bottle of branded still water. Having been to another Armenian restaurant in the area that did the same thing, I assume its a cultural expectation to serve bottled water despite LA having perfectly safe, drinkable tap water.
While I could look past the cultural differences and even appreciate the “close-as-family” environment, the real kicker for me was the poorly executed dishes and the long wait time to receive everything, from drinks to food to the check. We were there for over 2 hours because our waiter was too busy helping other tables and another waiter took over at one point to try to help, but also was too busy.
We first ordered the Halloumi with Honey, which was extremely over baked, with the honey having completely hardened into candy and the cheese tough and dry. For the main meal, we had the Udoli Tolma, which was under seasoned and small portioned, though the texture of the lamb was nice. We also got the Ghavurma Areni, which was deliciously seasoned, but the lamb was super tough and the vegetables were mush with no texture at all, despite the menu labeling them grilled vegetables. These dishes should never have left the kitchen in these conditions.
While this place might be a hit with local Armenians, I dont think this is a restaurant for everyone to enjoy if they dont make changes in the space to accommodate every type of customer. An easy place to start is to include more information on the menu and offer tap water as an option. I believe its a state requirement anyways, so might as well do it anyways before it becomes a bigger problem.



