West Restaurant and Lounge - 17th Floor Dining

I booked reservations at West last weekend for a birthday celebration and was so looking forward to good food and service, but alas, it did not deliver.

My first visit at West was for a CMYE event where we were treated to a 10 course tasting menu. It was pretty damn amazing and the crispy egg was off the charts. 

However, last Saturday, the food was short of impressive. 

I had been raving about the crispy egg forever to my friends and was so disappointed to find out that it was no longer on the menu! WHAT?! Apparently, they switched chefs, and I guess the egg was his signature dish. *sad face*

So, we asked the waitress what she recommended and she said the loup de mer was bomb, which is European seabass. 

It sounded good, so 4 of us ordered it. 

And what a letdown!

Loup de mer with ratte potato and truflle: Presentation was boring, skin was on, and it just looked like it was slapped on there without care. I didn't think it had much flavor, so I switched my dish with my bf's. 

loup de mer

Beef fillet with red wine onions, gem lettuce, and short rib ravioli: This is the dish I swapped my fish for. It wasn't much better, but at least it had more flavor. Beef was too chewy for me. Presentation was whatevers. 

beef fillet

Hanger steak with English peas, tamworth bacon, and twice baked potato: Best dish out of the 3. Beef was cooked well, and the peas were a nice touch. Presentation looked more appealing than the others. 

hanger steak

My friends had mixed reviews on their dishes, but the overall consensus at the table was blah. No flavor, cold cheese for the cheddar cheese brûlée, and too expensive. 

On a positive note, the pear-tinis are delicious! Sweet with a nice pear flavor. At $12 a pop, they are totally worth it, albeit a tad small. 

pear-tini

In terms of service, it seemed our waitress was lacking in experience. She was nice enough, but she kept forgetting people's drinks, not filling water glasses, and she charged us for the "free" popcorn that we got for checking in on Foursquare and Yelp. 

Considering each popcorn was $8, and we got 4 of them for the table, that's $32 extra that we had to pay. 

Also, she mentioned valet parking would be free for everyone in the group since I had a "preferred" diners card, but it wasn't. 

In fact, the valet guy was pretty rude about it and wouldn't even give me my card back until they pulled my car up. Wtf. So, everyone else in the party had to pay the $7 charge. 

Please have the valet and the servers coordinate to make sure this does not happen again. 

We did get a 15% discount off the food bill (not alcohol) because of said card, but it was still pretty expensive for the quality of food we received. 

I wish Chef Matt was still working here! Had I known he left, I probably wouldn't have dined here. 

3 stars overall for decent service, good views, tasty drinks, and subpar food.

3***

West Restaurant and Lounge at Hotel Angeleno
170 N Church Ln
Los Angeles, CA 90049
(310) 481-7878

Yelp Tasting Menu at WEST Restaurant and Lounge

I'm still full from the 11 course feast we enjoyed last night. The CMs and entire staff at WEST organized a stellar event and I'm so happy I got to be a part of it.

We started off with drinks in the lounge where I met some cool Yelpers. I really liked the Across the Universe martini which had hints of blackberry and was topped off with a mint. 

Right before 7 pm, we headed to the dining area and sat at the best tables. The manager had reserved all the tables next to the windows for us. Woohoo! We get to dine and enjoy the view.

Here's what we ate:

Sunchoke soup with brown butter powder and truffle: AMAZING!! My second favorite of the evening. The flavors were delicious and I liked the presentation in a small cup.

Roasted baby beet with triple creme goat cheese and beet caramel: A big chunk of cheese surrounded by beets and sitting atop caramel. Quite tasty, cheese lovers would dig this dish.

Seared foie gras with quince jam and ginger bread: Generous portion of foie gras sitting on top of quince ham. Nice flavors, but I didn't really like it.

Braised pork cheek with crispy potato and apple mustard: Pork lovers will dig this dish! Cooked perfectly and had a nice balance with the apple mustard.

Crispy egg with bacon jam and arugula: OMFG, this dish was the best one of the night! Poached egg that's been battered and deep fried. Need I say more?

Orange sorbet with pop rocks and lemon cream: Such an original concept! I loved it! The pop rocks really brought back some fond childhood memories. Who doesn't love the feel of pop rocks in their mouth?

Stuffed quail with brussels sprouts, chanterelle and pancetta: MMM MMM GOOD. I loved the brussels!! The quail was cooked perfectly as well and very tasty. 

Lobster macaroni with sundried tomato and lobster foam: Was really excited for this dish, but it was too salty. I did like the chunks of lobster though.

Braised short rib with parsnip puree, shallots and radish; Yummmy, loved this dish as well. Very tender and the parsnip puree was delish. 

Seared scallop with raisin puree and rainbow cauliflower: This one was okay, the cauliflowers were my favorite part of this dish. Scallops were too salty and I didn't really care for the raisin puree. 

For dessert we had dulce de leche, chocolate aero, caramel ice cream and popcorn. I liked the ice cream and chocolate aero. Aero was fluffy and light as air! 

We ended the evening with chocolate truffles. Loved it!

I'm definitely coming back especially since we all got preferred dining cards. Thanks, WEST and big kudos to Chef Matthew Woolf! Service was spot on as well. We really did dine like kings and queens.


WEST Restaurant and Lounge
Hotel Angeleno
170 N Church Lane
Los Angeles, CA 90049