Magnolia

My husband, our family and I visited Mognolia this afternoon, the food, drinks, and perfect service was quite impeccable. We like to send a special thanks to Michelle and Noah. BIG HUGS!


SEE YA SOON

Michael & Jeff Loupe

Had a really great time at Magnolia. Our waiter made the night.....and the Key Lime pie was unforgettable.

First of all it was hell driving down WeHo from the south bay area. When we arrived they had only one valet guy working so we had to wait a while out in the cold.

We made reservations through Yelp so it was easy getting seated...although they weren't super busy the night that we went. Our waiter was just wonderful and I feel horrible for not remembering his name.

Some of the appetizers were a bit on the pricey side. We were going to order crab cakes but he told us it was only 2 small pieces for $13. We finally opted for the sweet potato fries and brussels sprouts (although my roast chicken came with brussels sprouts).

Speaking of....my roast chicken was amazing, perfectly crisp and so moist & tasty. My friends ordered the grilled salmon, steak frites and scallops. I had a small bite of everything and they were all good. My favorite of course was the roast chicken.

Our desserts were the ice cream sandwich oatmeal cookies and key lime pie. On the menu, they downplayed the key lime pie and didn't mention anywhere that it was infused with lavender. After having a bite of it, I was seriously in heaven. MUST TRY!

The bill came to about $200 for the 4 of us....which included a few glasses of male, unlimited refills of coffee and tip.

*RECOMMENDED*

MAYbe 2.5 stars! DineLA FAIL.

we got a nice big booth for our party of 7 and they were so nice to us even though half our party was 30 minutes late, but the food is where the dinner went downhill!

appetizers
---burrata w/ articoke crostini.. this was NOT a crostini.. the bread wasn't even crispy or toasted so the cheese just sogged it up
---green bean salad.. it was exactly that, no frills
entrees
---the seared halibut had a GREAT sear! but one side of my fish was over cooked!
---the sweet potato gnocchi was SUCH A SAD PORTION.. i think there were 6 pieces on my roomie's plate. it was lacking in texture & missing the chestnuts!
desserts
---mint ice cream sandwich.. the ice cream was good but the chocolate chip cookie was so hard i could barely break into it!
---blueberry cobbler.. sour MEH

the waiter was nice and split our bill even though we had 7 credit cards!!
NOTE: they've got a back patio area if you are interested!

PARKING: its 5 dollar valet so just look for free parking in the neighborhood streets behind the restaurant or at a metered spot.

Went there before going to the Pantages, and while on Sunset it's only a short walk away from the theater.

As we walked in three ladies were leaving and I shared I had never been and asked how the place was and they enthusiastically said "amazing," and very good it was.

From the burgers to lobster ravioli everyone enjoyed their food, the waitstaff was worthy of a 20% tip and the atmosphere nice; while not crowded at 6 when we got there, it filled up when we left at 7:30.

The only downside was that they didn't have as many salad dressings as one of our party asked for, but we'll be telling friends about Magnolia for the next time they go to the Pantages.

Always pass by Magnolia and have been to pretty much every spot that surrounds Magnolia, somehow missing this place entirely. It's a really nice space and is bigger inside than it looks from the outside. There's also a room in the back with a huge table that you could have a private dinner party or something at, I would imagine. Or if you're super famous and need your privacy some all of your adoring fans and stalkers, but I wouldn't know about those kind of problems, plus I imagine a super famous person is probably not reading Yelp reviews.

It was an unusually hot night in January, gotta love LA, so we opted for a seat outside. Our server was very nice and attentive. I wasn't super into the main entrée options, so I opted for the tuna tartar with taro chips and the mac and cheese appetizers. Both were very good and good-sized portions as well. My husband ordered the steak sandwich, which actually looked pretty good and I'm not a sandwich person, though I am known to occasionally woof down a fluffer nutter with reckless abandon. He did say that it was over cooked and missing a bit of steak, but there was a hanger steak option, so maybe you'd be better off going that route.

All in all it's a nice option if you're in the area, or going for a movie at the Arc Light. They also advertised a weekend brunch there, so maybe that's worth checking out. As far as parking, they have valet, but we found a metered spot right across the street.

Not sure it's a place I would necessarily crave, but then again I crave everything that kills me, but it's a great option for the area for sure and the service was worth coming back for.

Good American bistro food all around!

The braised short rib was super tender! I loved it! Probably too heavy for lunch though, more for dinner I'd say.
Lobster ravioli, on point! Loved the creamy sauce on top.

I am not a chicken when it comes to turkey burgers. I will pretty much dive straight into any patty that is put in front of me, but I especially enjoy it when it's a juicy, seasoned one with some kind of salty-esque aftertaste and dripping in accoutrements! The turkey burger at Magnolia was all that and a heaping of French fries! I had gone on a hike earlier, so this protein power lunch really gave me that boost of energy I needed to tackle more of the day. I felt good and my mouth and body were content!

And yeah, there were celebs there too.

I had my surprise birthday dinner here last night!!!!! Thanks to all the sexy mofos that came out. *kisses!
Sneaky little bastards! Lying to me. hahahaha. I was so ecstatic to see everyone though!!!

Place itself:
Very chill.
Nice.
Good service.
Our waitress looked like Mona - Ross' gf from Friends? No one knows who she is apparently!!!! :P
Good food.
No issues overall except for the brownie/chocolate cookie incident and the chairs.

We had a long table. One side was a cushioned bench (booth?) and the other side were chairs. I am unsure if this is how they wanted the chairs but they kind of slumped in? It made me so conscious of my butt. Made me feel like it was bigger than it already was but no worries. It was still comfy.

I had the seared ahi tuna with wasabi mashed potatoes and tried bites of the fried chicken special, turkey burger, lobster ravioli and apple crisp dessert (of course with a beer).

Tuna was good, especially when I had a bite of it with the wasabi mashed potatoes. I generally don't like wasabi mashed potatoes but it was good together. Fried chicken was really good and the lobster ravioli was YUMMMMMY. I definitely want to come back again, get the lobster ravioli and a glass of wine, and then go see a show at the Arclight. Sounds like a plan to me!

Apple crisp was good too. The topping/crust (which is my fave part) was REALLY good and it came with a side of ice cream and fruit. Mmmmm. Oh. The turkey burger was a bit dry but I guess it's pretty darn good and moist if you get it with mushrooms so don't forget the shrooms man!

One of my girlies ordered the brownie something dessert and she said it was more like a cookie than a brownie? I think it was a different type of brownie but I dunno. All I know is she did not seem very satisfied. I guess we'll know not to get that next time.

Valet was $7!!!! What do you really expect on Sunset though right? I was still wow'ed though. 7 bucks!?

All in all it was a great dinner and I had a wonderful time. Cute place, good food, and loved ones around. Who can ask for a better surprise?

:)

I had a lovely lunch at Magnolia with Katie B and Christina Y on Friday... We sat in the back patio. The weather was perfect that day and our waiter was awesome. Christina went with the Ahi tuna special, Katie had a turkey burger, and I had the Cobb Salad. At first, I was jealous of their sandwiches but one bite of my Cobb and I knew I chose well too... it had just the right balance of organic grilled chicken, bacon, Bleu cheese, hard boiled egg, and avocado. I know there are lots and lots of restaurants that I have yet to check-out in LA, but I would happily return to Magnolia.

Oh, and I can't leave out our celeb siting: Samantha Ronson and American Idol judge Carrie Ann Inaba. And yes, we overheard them talking about someone they know that "didn't do any coke when she was pregnant." Nice, right?!

#Hollywood #restaurant #food #lawsuit #customer #glass #bleeding

Before i go into my 1 star review, I have to point out that our server was fantastic. My friends and I frequent this place. Unfortunately, this will be the last time.

We were all enjoying our food, when my friend pulled a chard of glass out of his mouth while eating his French Fries. I took the piece of glass and calmly showed it to our server.

Alexandra Feld, the General Manager came over to our table a few minutes later from the back of the house. When she approached the table she said "Who had the plastic in their food?"
"Glass..." I replied and pointed to my friend, who was still patting his bloody tounge from biting into it.
"No, it was a piece of plastic." She replied, "and our Chef doesn't know how it got in the fries as the fryer would have melted everything. I'm sorry that happened and I will take that plate off the check."

My 3 friends and I sat in somewhat of a shock as she turns and walks back into the back of the house.

As a former manager and restaurant owner I am thinking... "Is she stupid?!?!?" Any decent manager with common sense would know that: (1) Restaurants get sued over things like this and there are 4 witnesses (including the server) who held the chard of glass in their hands; (2) Approaching the table to coldly argue that the victim/customer is wrong and suggesting that the glass just magically appeared, is just SHAMEFUL customer service; (3) Offering minimal compensation or even plain apathy for a life-threatening situation suggests that this GM really doesn't care about her job, doesn't care to keep customers and certainly has no loyalty to her owners. I believe this is grounds for immediate termination.

Moreover, I later found out that her "Chef" Eric Key, who suggested that "everything would have melted in the fryer" wasn't even in the kitchen or in the restaurant when the food was made. Is it impossible for glass to break in a kitchen?? Certainly not! But having an inexperienced cook give a defensive response to this situation, putting the Chef's reputation on the line, also suggests that he/she is careless (as they are the one responsible for the glass ending up in the food) and that he/she has no loyalty to the owners or to the chef. This person should also be terminated.

Had my friend swallowed the glass aka "sharp piece of plastic" he would have needed to be rushed to the hospital to prevent serious internal bleeding. I am sorry, but no matter how it got there... You don't handle broken glass situations like this lightly. SHAMEFUL!!