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As I mentioned, we were comped a meal to try out the new restaurant at the Hotel Angeleno called “West”. We had a very enjoyable meal and attempted to view it with a critical eye, probably more so than most meals we have.

Some of my general observations:

Setting/Decor
The hotel and restaurant are very modern, but not in a sterile or over the top way. We were looking around the in room and decided that it has a clean style, like The Standard, but is much warmer. I think that little touches such as the subtly brown carpet keep the dining room from feeling too stark.

The chairs were comfortable and the music was both well selected and well volume controlled.

Of course, the big selling feature of West is its view. The restaurant is on the 17th floor and there aren’t any buildings nearby to compete with the landscape. We arrived right around 7:30 and watched the sun dip behind the Santa Monica Mountains. The view will be nicer in the winter months when the sun travels south and you will be able to watch it disappear into the ocean.

Service
The service was a bit of a mixed bag. I was curious if we would be treated differently since it was known that we were there to review the restaurant. I certainly hope that what we got wasn’t the best that West has to offer.

Some of the low-lights:

• After we finished our bottle of water half way through the meal, there was no offer of a replacement when it was cleared and when I did ask for more water, she seemed suprised
• Utensils were cleared and replenished sporadicly. Everything disappeared after the first course, except for one of my forks, then we stared at the second course for a while before my wife’s fork came. Everything was cleared after the second course, then steak knives came out before the pasta came out. I wasn’t sure if that meant that the steak was coming out. It wasn’t. It’s not a huge deal, but it made the meal feel a little chaotic and I really dislike it when there is food on the table but no (polite) way to eat it.
• When I finished my first glass of wine, there was no offer for a second glass (halfway through the meal)
• Our coffee and tea didn’t arrive until we had nearly finished the dessert (after we slowed down and asked our server and a couple of bussers).

There were some highlights though:

• Our server accurately advised us on how much food to order. We were sharing dishes and wanted to sample from the different menus, we had no idea about the portion size
• The bus service was noticeably good. Plates were cleared politely and our table cleaned
• The expediters presented the food and were very friendly. I was disappointed that the server did not stop by soon after the courses came to check on things though

One more small thing, the servers crowded around table next to us, I assumed that it was someone who either works there or is involved with the restaurant. At one time there were three servers standing around the table, and it looked more like a scene at Chili’s than a high end restaurant.

Food
The ingredients were notably high quality. Starting with the olive oil, cheese and olives served with the bread and continuing through the meal through to our seasonal peaches in the tart tartan.

The menu is broken in to sections, the Anitpasti, Crudo, Small Plates, Large Plates, plus sides and dessert. I think that the menu most resembles Il Grano, which is a mile or two away, on Santa Monica Blvd. Similar price, cuisine and flavors — and both offer Crudo as a highlight.

We ordered one dish from each menu (except that we had two sides and two desserts). This is what we would normally order, even if we were footing the bill. I assume that we could have ordered much more, just to taste things, but that isn’t really how we eat and wouldn’t be an accurate review.

So, the generalities being said, let’s get to the meal:

Mushroom Crostini ($5): Roasted mushrooms, on top of a soft slice of bread, topped with mozzerella (?) then broiled, probably in a salamander. Really good flavor, the smokiness of the mushrooms came through, part of the bread was burnt. Not quite what I expected, but good, wasn’t sure what I expected.

Fluke, Meyer Lemon, Hot Peppers & Sea Salt ($13): Thinly sliced raw fluke, topped with lemon, peppers and salt. The lemon on the fish was a combo of lemon juice and some lemon zest. The zest was a bit deep and there were some little bitter balls of rind floating around.

The fish was fresh and delicious, fluke is a mild fish anyway and it was sliced extremely thin, so the flavor was even more muted. Great dish, but the price was a bit steep for the amount of fish. We shared the fluke and probably could have each finished a whole order.

Porcini Gnocchi with Baby Spinach and Mushroom Cream ($13): This was probably the star of the evening. The gnocchi were much softer than my wife or I are used to. I should mention that before I met my wife, I never had gnocchi. My wife has a life long history of gnocchi consumption and production, in part due to here Croation ancestry. She and her grandmother used to make gnocchi at home and the consistency was key, batches of potatoes were often thrown out if the starch content wasn’t right.

That being said, the sauce was top notch, one of the best I have had. I liked the soft dumplings, but I think I would like to try the sauce with a little bit firmer gnocchi.

The chef also sent out a Short Rib Ravioli which was an interesting filling for pasta. The flavor worked well, but it was a bit odd cutting into the ravioli and then having to cut through the meat. The ravioli pasta was on the firm side, in contrast to the gnocchi.

When the chef stopped by the table later on, he did say that he makes the gnocchi intentionally soft. I think it may also have something to do with the mushrooms in the gnocchi dough, they do tend to release moisture.

I know it sounds like a mixed review, but I would definitely order the gnocchi again, and I thought that the servig size was right on.

Skillet Seared Petite Filet Mignon with a Peppercorn Crust ($29): As I said earlier, we ordered what we would normally order. We actually don’t eat too much steak, but when we do, it is usually filet mignon. Yes, I know that it’s not the traditional guage of a steakhouse, that filet is lean and doesn’t have the fatty goodness of a porterhouse (which was also on the menu). Anyway, the filet was delicious. Again, the quality of the ingredients showed themselves.

West uses 21 day aged angus. If that means something to you, great. If that doesn’t mean anything to you, I can tell you that the meat had a nice texture and even the filet had great flavor.

The filet also came with three sauces, we dabbed a bit of the wine sauce on the meat and it was nice, but not too remarkable.

Dessert: After all of that, we did manage to finish two desserts. At first, we were just going to order one since we were pretty full, but with a little prodding by our waitress, we ended up with two. The Molten Chocolate Cake was as rich as the name implies. There were dollops of fresh cream and bits of mint on the plate which offset the heavy chocolate nicely. I think we both thought we would have a bite or two of the cake, but we polished it off.

The other dessert was a peach tart tartan. The peaches exploded with freshness. Also, I believe that the skin was left on the fruit? It was a nice touch. I am mixed on tart tartans. Sometimes they are a bit too doughy for me. This dish focused on the fruit though, and that’s what I like.

The Verdict So it all comes down to: Would I spend my own money to eat at West? Well I did spend a small amount of my own money, we tipped the waitress and valet (on top of the $4 valet charge). That aside, I would answer with a qualified “yes”.

Qualified because the service was ok, the portions were small and while the ambiance is comfortable, there is that hint of sterility and slight arrogance in the modern design. Oh, and I almost forgot, my wife came back from thre restroom a bit disgusted, apparently the towels had run out and were thrown around the sink. Gross. Now, to offset those remarks, the food is excellent, the ingredients are top shelf and the menu variety has something for everyone without veering towards the mundane.

We did chat with Chef Josh after the meal for a bit. He has an obvious passion for his food and we saw him visiting a few other tables throughout the night, something that I always admire in a chef.

West is definitely a place to take a date or someone from out of town. The wow factor of the view is actually unique in this town of street level restaurants. Be prepared to shell out upwards of $100/person for a modest meal though.

I would like to go back to the lounge and much some appetizers, enjoy the view and have a mini carafe of wine or two (or three).

By Jonah (see more of his posts). Jonah is the founder of la.foodblogging and also created Digesty, a food blog aggregator and Cheww.com, a spam free foodblog search engine.