American

Liberty Grill

A couple friends came into town yesterday for business. After an exhausting flight, and an even more exhausting day of meetings and running around, they were pretty wiped out by the time we were to meet up for dinner. They repeated (several times) that they had nothing to eat but a Burger King Jr. Whopper and some handy snacks. They wanted dinner at a nice restaurant that costs about $20 or less, serves American style cuisine, and is located within a few miles of their hotel in downtown. Times like this, I really am glad I’m a foodblogger. I suggested Liberty Grill, a fairly new restaurant.

Liberty Grill opened about a year and a half ago to mixed reviews. Diners complained about the lack of originality in the menu, the high prices, the service, etc. You name it, someone has complained about it. Yet this restaurant won the 2007 Best New Restaurant by L.A. Downtown News and does have a few fans. From what I heard, some of the issues have been resolved. Thus, I figured it was safe to bring my out-of-town friends.

We started off with Katie ‘n’ Megan’s Mac & Cheese Bites ($9). In addition to just being fans of mac and cheese, one of the friends’ names happen to be Katie, so we had to order it. Her name is in the dish! It turned out to be quite good. Basically, imagine your typical macaroni and cheese scooped up in a ball, rolled around in a light batter and breadcrumbs, and then deep fried. I had previously heard that this dish was way too greasy and unappealing. All I can say is anything deep fried probably will be a little greasy and won’t be good for you, but it sure tasted great going down. That was all we cared about. We also liked that there was a little dish of marinara sauce for us to dip the “bites” in.

For our main entrees, I went with the BBQ Pork Sandwich ($12.50), Katie opted for the Pasta Pomodoro with Grilled Chicken ($15.50), and our friend, Deanna, chose the Liberty Grill’s Sloppy Joe ($11.50). We all agreed that our food tasted good, but it just didn’t seem like they were anything to rave about. The pulled pork tasted similar to others I’ve had. As I was eating it, I did realize that Liberty Grill gave a hearty portion of pork even though it didn’t really look any different from pork sandwiches at other restaurants. Liberty Grill also gave a very generous portion of angel hair pasta in the pasta pomodoro, topped with halved chicken breasts. Of all of our entrees, Deanna’s turned out to be the most surprising one. Her sloppy joe was made with Liberty Grill’s Denver Chili. This was clearly noted in the menu. Nevertheless, we were still shocked that there were beans in her sloppy joe. None of us had ever heard of beans in sloppy joes before, so this was a first for us. On the plus side, Deanna did say she enjoyed her meal.

Now I will say that while we had a lovely time at Liberty Grill, I do understand some of the complaints other diners have had. For instance, pricing. I saw an ad on the table for their pomegranate martini. I happened to have been watching Take Home Chef on TLC earlier in the afternoon, and they had made one. I was thus influenced into ordering one. When the bill came, I was a bit surprised to find that the martini was $11, almost as much as my dinner. Had I known, I would have just gone home and made my own. The signature entrees also might make a dent in someone’s wallet. There also aren’t too many choices. While the dessert menu looked extremely tempting with a standard New York Cheesecake and one of my personal weaknesses, the Red Velvet Cake, the $8.50 for each dessert was a complete turnoff. Liberty Grill is a very affordable restaurant if you know what to order. I recommend a visit to this quaint little restaurant, but keep in mind that it’s a fairly boring menu with some overpriced items. For downtown LA though, it is reasonably priced.

Miscellaneous:

One last misconception I’d like to clarify, the service. I don’t know if the staff changed or what, but everyone there was very courteous and professional. We had no problems whatsoever. The food arrived fairly quickly. Our waitress was friendly and smiled every time she came to our table. I noticed good service at the other tables as well.

Also, even though I heard there was valet parking next to the restaurant, it turned out to be just a vacant parking lot. We parked the car ourselves, and there was an ample amount of spaces. In fact, if we were really wild and crazy, we probably could have done a donut in that parking lot and still not hit the few parked cars that were there.

Liberty Grill
1037 S. Flower Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015
Phone: (213) 746-3400
Fax: (213) 746-3404

Lunch: Monday - Friday: 11:00am - 4:00pm
Dinner:Monday-Thursday: 4:00-9:00pm, Friday-Saturday 4:00-10:00pm

By Pauline (see more of her posts).

© 2008 la.foodblogging.