Some DineLA reviews for your weekend
Friday, February 1, 2008 14:20DineLA will be taking the night off on Saturday, but fires up again on Sunday. A few more reviews have rolled in, with mixed moods.
- More controversy at Tiara, where Franklin Avenue tried to have lunch on Sunday. “We specified the Dine L.A. menu when we made reservations and the person on the other end took a note of it and acknowledged our request. The only waiter there took our order off the Dine L.A. menu, only to return twenty minutes later to say that they were not serving the Dine L.A. menu on weekends.” Previous Tiara switchup here.
- Gourmet Pigs is putting in time, with their third review, this time lunch at Asia de Cuba. “All in all the food was good, but service sucked.”
- Shihfan feels that Simon did not showcase their best menu.
- Food GPS may return to Patina for dinner, but points out that they have a regular business lunch for $25 that isn’t too different from the $22 DineLA menu.
- Chowhound schmamo tries Patina, however, and gives it a “Boo, boo, boo, boo, boo” sparking a debate of what DineLA menus should be
- Chowhound vinosnob finds Abode to be very busy, enjoys the food, but finds the portions on the small side.
- Chowhound MeAndroo enjoys some hearty steaks at Nick & Stef’s, with complaints only about the coat check.
Overall, reviews are trending towards disappointment. Is this because of diners’ unreasonable expectations, or restaurants skimping on their offerings?
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.
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KT says:
February 1st, 2008 at 2:28 pm
I wasn’t disappointed with Grace, although our bill turned out to be a lot higher than the DineLA price after all was said and done, but that was our own fault.
I’ll be posting my review soon.
Jonah says:
February 1st, 2008 at 4:57 pm
KT- It does seem like people are happy with Grace, looking forward to your write up.
MaxMillion says:
February 3rd, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Jonah, you ask “…or [are] restaurants skimping on their offerings?”
Save some exhaustive research, I would venture to say, “Yes, but of course!”
Restaurateurs still have to keep their eye on the bottom line.
Surely they must devise a menu that falls within the DineLA dollar parameters while maintaining their necessary profit margin.
Perhaps a good comparison is the ‘Sunday Suppers at Lucques’. This cut-price evening has its purpose, but it in no way compares with the superb a la carte experience one can enjoy during the rest of the week.
We first tried Lucques for luncheon during a set-price DineLA week. Then we tried the Sunday supper and on both those occasions we were not blown away.
It was only when we returned in 2006, on a standard evening, that we saw the pure excellence that Suzanne Goin and her staff are capable of when you pay full price for your a la carte meal.
Moral to this story: you get what you pay for.
KT’s review of Grace demonstrates this well. When they supplemented the basic DineLA menu with additional choices, they enjoyed a rich and satisfying meal. And paid fair price for that experience.
Jonah says:
February 4th, 2008 at 8:42 am
@Max - I had a similar experience at Lucques Sunday Supper, good but not great.
It looks like for the DineLA offerings, it depends on where you go. We tried Ruth’s Chris and got a great deal (review coming), but not all menus look like bargains.
I think it depends on how the restaurant approaches DineLA Restaurant Week. Some of them are investing in getting new customers, some are trying to still make a profit with a lower priced menu.