The-Fuck-it-Market!

Any other night would be a great night to head out to The Grove on Fairfax and have something nice to eat at the Farmers Market… But tonight… not so much!  Little Miss what looking to do some shopping catch some dinner at the farmers market. We arrived and mingled through the different shops, checkin’ out this, and, a, that, and, this, and, ah… You know what I’m saying. Ladies shoppin’.

The vibe at The Grove is very nostalgic, between the music and the people, it's like your in every Christmas movie before the romantic scene.  It gives me the butterflies… especially around Christmas time (Yup! All warm and fuzzy!).

Now I haven’t eaten in a few hours and neither has she, so my ass is hungry. I look at her and I say, “Hey, how about this.. I’m tired and hungry, and my ass wants to sit down and get served… like… by a server. I don’t’ wana have to hunt for my food… Sound good?”.  Wish granted!

As we cross street to The Grove I notice the Marmalade Cafe – Google pin dropped and we are in. The hosts’ are very nice as we enter into their Halloween themed lair. It feels like The Haunted Mansion. It’s pretty cool lookin’. We slip into our high arching booths and are handed menus. The menu looks great… and the service… the service… the…

Yea we fucking left...

It was about 12 to 15 minutes and no server. Screw that, I’m hungry. No one even looked at us as we walked out. Oh well… may be next time. At this point our blood sugar levels were dropping' like it was hot.. We headed over to the farmers market with spears and daggers in hand hunting for a place too eat. Practically clawing at each other, we finally decide on Phil’s Deli. It looked like your classic diner setting with a counter.

We scan the menu. She goes French toast with sausage, and I go the safe, double bacon cheeseburger route. Can’t possibly screw that up… Right! They don’t serve regular sodas… so I settle for the diet Dr. Pepper – Don’t worry – I’ll be ok. It’s a Friday night and the people are a-buzzing. It is not too packed and where we were eating there were only 2 other people (should have been a sign).  The only other 2 popular restaurants there had packed lines of people at them: one Mexican restaurant, and a Brazilian BBQ place that always has a line. At this point there was no way we were going to wait for food. In the words of my girlfriend's father Randy, “If it’s not busy, it’s probably not worth waiting for!”. Right Again!

We get our food; it was so bad I couldn’t even take pictures. I mean, it looked like we expected it to look… like diner food. Staving and tired, she digs in… I dig in… She loves it! I… am confused. It had happened… someone fucked up a double bacon cheeseburger.  Her French toast was perfect. It laid on her plate like 4 pillows on top of a bed. Sprinkled with powdered sugar in a way that makes you want to drizzle syrup over it – In slow motion. Mine: like hand picked frozen Costco hamburger patties – over cooked and as tasteless as a piece of paper. The bacon… couldn’t taste it. The cheese… who knows. The fries… survivable, but I still couldn’t finish any of it. I didn’t even take the rest home for the dog. I love my dog, I wouldn’t do that to him. At this point I am looking around for another place to hopefully salvage the rest of my evening.

There was a place that I remembered that had good New Orleans style food called the Gumbo Pot. They always had the best gumbo and jambalaya. So how could I go wrong? I’ll show you.

I got there and decided to get creative.  The girlfriend was getting tried so the food was ordered to go. I got the hush puppies, the soft shell crab po’boy sandwich and a side of seafood gumbo. That ordered, we got to listen to the lovely (yikes) karaoke they had in the open area. The atmosphere was great; too bad, I had to go. After 10 minutes of watching beautiful desserts going out and singers destroy classic rock tunes, my food was bagged and ready to go.

On the way out we hit Bennett’s ice cream parlor and had a scoop of chocolate junkie ice cream in a waffle cone. This was my only win for the evening and it was delicious! This was just what I needed.

15 minutes later we arrived home and I have-at the rest of my meal. I open it up… and I’m ready for my reward. I dig in to the hush puppies and they are… crunchy as all hell. I am by no means a food expert. I recorded the taste as being something my mouth didn’t want to have in it. So, moving on... Next, the side of gumbo. As always, it was great… not amazing, but just want I wanted. Now, time for the sandwich. It visually looked like something was wrong. I took a bite and it started out great, but then the taste of lemon started to crumple my face like a piece of foil.

Inside were slices of lemon, with the peal, just like a tomato. WHAT? A LEMON!!! It made my whole face cringe the second I tasted it. The first thing that jumped into my head was Gordon Ramsay on Hell’s Kitchen throwing in on the floor and saying, “What the SHIT is that! Are you trying to fucking kill me?!”

“Fuck it! My mouth and I give up!”

I threw in the towel. So I only ate the rest of the gumbo, which I knew was a safe bet. It seems the lovely karaoke from the farmers market got in to my po’boy sandwich, leaving me to deal with the out come.

Every time I‘ve been to The Grove and the Farmers Market I have had a great time. Please don’t let me spoil any future plans. Go, and have fun. I was there and ate at the Mexican restaurant 2 weeks ago. It was great. Thus proving my theory that horrible reviews comes from bad experiences. It is not always about bad food.

Or… Maybe it was my fault for getting creative with the ordering, and not just sticking with the stuff I knew was good. Low blood sugar can make you order horrible things.

If there was anything I could have learned from this experience it was to, trust your instincts.

 And in my case, especially since mine is bigger than my brain, “Go With Your Gut!” 


Remember no guts no glory! MEAT ME!

Follow @meatmeblog



Thank you,
Sean Rice

Back to Basix with Buddy!!! - Basix Café

So today I was so cutely woken up by Mr. Buddy. Buddy is always the first one up and our household. Knowing that I had gone to sleep at 3:30 am I knew if I was getting up to walk him, I was getting breakfast at the same time. Boom! 2 birds, 1 stone! Done.

Once Buddy has his mindset on something there is pretty much no changing it! So off to Basix Café we go. As soon as were out the front gate Buddy's instinct tells him to attack a couch. And in West Hollywood, if are going to put a couch on the side walk at least make it look good and make sure your creative!

Now Basix is one of those places that can change depending on what day of the week and time you go. Don’t think moody girlfriend kind of change... think game day Dodger Stadium kind of change. Its either packed on a Sunday morning with a 30 – 40 minute wait, or like our Tuesday morning. No one there, a hand full of chatty tables, and that’s it.

There are also 3 different types of vibes to this place. Which I think is really nice depending on who your company is. They have the in doors… its nice, have a conversation, like a coffee shop. The front patio… its loud, lots of cars, and people watching is great; for an evening or bloody mary’s on a Sunday… with pets (just like Church). Or... you have the side patio (sorry no drinks), pets allowed near a side street… also quiet. It says "tropical island motif" (just a little).

We decided to go with the side patio. No one around to attack or bark at… Good Boy! Yes! He looks cute but he is afraid of everything... even awnings and table umbrellas. The servers here are always very attentive and never leave you hangin'.  The restaurant is what I would call “straight friendly”. I really don't have a P.C. way of saying it. We all call it “Gay Town”, and the straight are just as welcome!

 I am even starting to feel as if they love me here. Now every time I come here they always offer you a bowl of water for you fury companion. If they don’t... just ask and they would be more than glad to help you.

Now what to order… There really isn’t a bad item on the menu. This restaurant has a lot of healthy options (wait keep reading) but they also have a lot of dishes that favor taste over calories. It’s the morning. I have had 6 hours of sleep and I need something to energize me. So the Egg White Power Omelet is what I am going to have… but I will have hold the spinach and onions (see power gone). I am left with the egg whites, sausage, bacon (apple wood smoked by the way), and cheese. For the sides... I requested the potatoes and the english muffins.

The waiter arrives with my diet coke and water. I order, and away he goes as if fiercely walking down a fashion runway… I love it! When a server takes your order to the kitchen with that much confidence, it really makes me feel like I ordered the right thing.

So as I wait for my food I see an Anderson Cooper look-a-like running down the street and talking to some kids. In one of the photos it even looks like Jack from Lost stopped by... just to see if anyone needed a doctor. It kinda felt like I was watching breaking news of the earthquake in Haiti (God bless them). Except it was West Hollywood and very awkward. You see… people don’t run in this city unless their jogging, it ruins their side walk presence. Secondly, you never see kids on the street, or in this town… EVER. It is as rare as seeing Jesus walk up and down the streets (by the way there is a man who looks and dresses just like Jesus, who walks... up and down... the streets).

Yea! Buddy waggs his tail. Foods here! And he’s not getting any! Sorry Bud!  It looks like perfection. Everything is placed exactly where it belongs. The muffins are crispy and soft at the same time. The potatoes have just enough spices to hit the spot and the omelet is like a loaded freight train headed right for my stomach. Pure bliss bite... after bite. I love it… but wait... its missing something… “Tap-a-fucking-tio”!!!  Hot sauce! It needs hot sauce!

Now here is the deal with Tapatio at this place. They don’t “carry” it. For some reason they don’t. But… If you ask, the'll bitch a little, and then the'll go get it from the valet guys because they keep a little bottle of Tapatio in their valet stand! God Bless Them!

This time I didn't ask, I was just too hungry. So don't get me wrong it is still amazingly good. Now that I am loaded all up like a big rig, for a little over $14 with tip, they send me... and Buddy... a-packin’.

It’s time for the dreaded walk up the hill, but luckily... I have the dog to pull me. Thanks Buddy!

So what did I learn from my experience…

All you need is good service, good food, and good company! It sounds to me like they got it right, by going back... to the Basix (wink)… so MEAT ME!

You can find out more about Basix Café at

http://www.basixcafe.com/

8333 Santa Monica Blvd.

West Hollywood, CA 90069

Follow @meatmeblog

Thank you

Sean Rice

aka MEAT ME!

Baseball Playoffs & the “BIG BLUE" – Baby Blues BBQ

My hands start shaken’ as I handed the menu back to the waitress. I realized how much food I just ordered. The food here is not only good it’s the greatest BBQ on the west coast if not the world. I have poked all around this city for the best BBQ and it was non other than my girl friends father Randy (the greatest cook and BBQ Master I know) who introduced me to Baby Blues BBQ. Its not just where to go for BBQ... It's  the Mecca for BBQ.  Randy's motto was always, "If it isn’t busy, then its probably not worth waiting for."

There is a fine art to BBQ. For those of you who think BBQ is throwing a piece of meat over a fire and serving it… your wrong. Don’t worry! It’s not your fault. For some reason when barbeque migrated from the South to the West it didn’t get translated correctly (Kinda what happen to Pizza from the East). BBQ originated in the south. Back in the day it was so hot during the summers that it made no sense to cook in the house. So they brought cooking outside, and it was then that BBQ was born.

A lot of places claim they have “The Best Bar-B-Que” in Los Angeles. Be careful! 90% of these places are false advertising.  There is a big difference between barbeque and grilling. Grilling is laying meat over an open flame or heated charcoals for a few minutes. Barbeque is a very long slow process; in some cases it can even take days. First you might marinade some meat for several hours. Then you might rub the meat down with special seasonings and slowly smoke the meat at a low temperature for several hours. Then some places might slap some barbeque sauce on it and then flash the grill with it. The result is usually the best tasting meat your mouth has ever tasted. One way to tell if a place is serving true barbeque… Ask them how long they cook their meat? That should answer their question.

Barbeque is a true religion to a lot of people and worth traveling half way around the world for.  Once a man came in and ordered some ribs, had a few bites, and then got on his cell phone. He called his friend from Toronto, told him to get on the next plane to LA (he’d pay for it), cause he need him to try some of the best barbecue he'd ever tasted. The very next day they met up and feasted. Once a woman in labor stopped by to pick up some ribs on her way to the hospital. These stories are just as serious as the barbeque itself. I Shit you not!

In fact, on the wall, they have a framed picture of “The Most Interesting Man in the World!”… Its that fuckin’ serious people!!! If a place puts a picture of that man on the wall… their not fuckin’ around.

There is one item on their menu that will in fact, blow you away. Its "the" BEEF RIB. The marbling of this meat is often compared to that of rare stones you might find in Italy. Weighing in at just over a pound it’s a mouth full to swallow. They rub their ribs with over 20 different spices and smoke them over apple and hickory for several hours. If you have a bucket list, that should definitely be at the top! I don’t’ think I could die knowing I missed out. 

The Big Blue I ordered came with 3 pieces of meat and to fixin’s (sides). I got the beef ribs, the Memphis style spare ribs, and the tiger shrimp. For my sides I went with the “4-cheese” mac and cheese and the seasoned fries. Once this behemoth arrived I was determined to finish it. It immediately put me into a Viking Warrior state of mind, its hard not to resist.

Baby Blues BBQ’s makes all of their own sauces. I don’t even know where to start with these. They have Sweet, BBQ, XXX, Hot, and Sweet Chili Pepper Vinegar. Everyone likes to do his or her own thing. I highly recommend mixing the XXX with the BBQ and you got your self the perfect sauce to smother your meat in!!!

As soon as I finish the beef rib and a few shrimp my eyes watered as I start to question my existence. Now realizing that my stomach has now become the size of my eyes. I can only take a few more bites of the spare ribs as I find myself once again defeated by this ferocious meal! As I look at the bright side I have something to take home and eat later. At this stage, I can no longer see over the hill of paper towels created from rubbing down my battle fingers.  They even have a place to wash your hands at the bar so you never miss out on the action.

I look across the way and see another mans half eaten pie. I now realize that I am delirious and, as good as a desert my sound, it would only put me closer to digesting the rest of this meal horizontally. “In a box to go!” I said. He replied, “Are you sure?” Believe it or not… I paused and actually thought I might eat more… but no… I can’t. I mentally slap myself in the face and ask for the check.

Over time I have had everything on the menu (except for the salads of course), and till this day it still takes me a good 20 minutes to figure out what I would like to order. With my hand over my heart I will continue to bring you play-by-plays of this glorious restaurant. I pledge to cover everything on this action packed menu…  Just to prove to you how “fucking good” this place really is.

May you never go hungry and forever MEAT ME!!!

You can check out Baby Blues at

http://www.babybluesbbq.com/

They have locations in Venice, Hollywood, San Francisco, and Philly.

Long Live the King of Bar-B-Que!!!

If I had a restaurant of the Month this would be it!!! So do your stomach a favor and go down there today. You owe it to yourself to eat food this good!!!

P.S. Readers I challenge you to recommend a better BBQ spot! Mention a place in the comments section and I will check it out. If your spot is better I’ll have you featured in that review. Hell, if you wanna fly me out of Los Angeles. "I'll do it!"

Meat, Love and BBQ,

Sean Rice

aka MEAT ME

'BLACK SWAN SAUSAGE" - Chili Addiction

Today is Sunday, and in the fall in America it is usually associated with Football. Being the fantasy football owner that I am (and by no means am I any good) that can only go with 2 things, Hot Dogs and Chili. There are tons of places in LA that serve all types of this quintessential American meal. I have found this place  and I believe it dives way deeper into all the possibilities a Chili Cheese dog can be and more. I bring you Chili Addiction. The name pretty much says it all.

Now off the bat, I don’t want to confuse anyone. They don’t serve Black Swan Sausage, I just finished watching the movie and there were way to many parallels between that movie and my day. 

After the excitement of last night’s meal (or lack there of), the Misses decided to join me for some football food. Chili Addiction was not too crowded, but I give it about 6 months before I’ll see a line all the way to the Beverly Center. I could see this especially if they ever got some TV’s in there to watch some football (Hint, Hint). Unfortunately, their place is not very big (crowd boooo’s). So I would understand why they don’t have TV’s… get ‘em in, feed ‘em, and get ’em out.

But if there is a line to order, no worries, there are enough options and chili combinations on the menu to keep you deciding for a while.… Short line today, so I had to make it quick. I told the wonderful man behind the counter that I like ground beef chili. I also like the bean chili so I was thinking of getting a hot dog with each. He so kindly started to explain the different chilies… but being the ADD person that I am. I went right to the item on the menu in black bold italics that said Triple Truffle Blackout. It had Caramelized Onions, Homemade Truffle Aioli, Homemade Truffle Mustard, and Asiago Cheese.  Poor guy, I interrupted him “All that chili stuff you just told me about… is that on the website?”  He replied, “Yea!”, I said, “Good, I’ll have this one, and I am also gonna have…”

He stopped me right there. He said, ”Wait that’s the Triple Truffle its HUGE. Why don’t you have that and if your still hungry later, get something else!” This man saved my life and room in my fridge. My lady also got the Coney Island for us to share.

Now let me explain something. As many restaurants as I have been to. I have never familiarized myself with the term “Truffle”. Since I was little kid I associated truffle with the mental picture of a ballerina’s tutu (don’t ask me why, it just did). My sisters wore tutu’s, and I wanted nothing to do with that. So I have never eaten anything that had to do with truffle (I know I am weird, don’t ask me why).

So now that I got that out of the way, the bill came to about $48 bucks. I’m a sucker for a cool T-shirt so subtract $10, for 3 dogs and a soda, and you got yourself a deal. They have a lot to offer and they make everything home made and I mean everything. They even make their own ice cream and have a fridge that just sold their different kinds of chili. They are constantly coming out with new kinds of chili’s so who knows how many they actually have (It says more than 70 on the wall).  That’s serious fuckin’ dedication!

All the employees of Chili Addiction are very, very helpful. They love to geek out on anything and everything CHILI! And that’s just the type of people I wanna be ordering from. The atmosphere is great.

In COMING!!! Here comes the food, it was literally looked like he brought me half of a pool tube. This sausage was huge. We shared the Coney Island Dog with Main Line Chili, Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese, their fantastic homemade Yellow Mustard, and raw onion. My girl also got herself a Truffle Dog.

The Truffle Dog was awesome, just fitting that thing in my mouth was half the fun. It tasted like culture and tons of flavors exploding everywhere in my mouth. I felt if I had a giant beer next to me I’d feel like I was at Oktoberfest in Germany.  The “shared” Coney Island Dog was a roller coaster. I was having a hard time getting off of it… Yes, I did share, but it was hard.

When I started to think about the over all experience I realized that there was a lot going on there. It was hard to take it all in. Literally. I was left speechless when I walked out the door. My girl and I did a lot of eye rolling and starring. Ahh…. Ummm…. Yea… Absolutely. I was so full, I don’t think there was enough blood left in my brain, for me to come up with something to say. So at least I had time to think about it.

At home I had the movie Black Swan left over from Netflix, so my love my made dinner and we cuddled up to that. It too ended with a lot of ohh’s… hum’s…. and what the fucks. Once again at the end we stared at each other... speechless. 

Then It Hit Me!

Just because you have nothing to say doesn’t mean that it’s bad. The movie was amazing…  and so was the food.

So on certain one-of-a-kind occasions the best thing you can say… is saying absolutely nothing at all _ _ _ _  _ _!

BONUS WARNING! You may be over whelmed. But there is a plus to this… You get to come back and try something else the next time! Win… Win… I could spend forever reviewing this place.  Businesses like this are so smart. They keep adding new things, taking things away and bringing things back. Keeping the menu fresh keeps people coming back for more.

You can check out Chili Addiction at

http://www.chiliaddiction.com

Please note they are vegan friendly and are closed on Monday (Probably to make more chili).

They are located at:

408 N. La Cienega Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90048

After thoughts & Thanks:

Its somewhat amazing how you can spend all day wondering how things are going to work out and some how they just do. For instance all of the thoughts in my head have to be configured in a way that convey what it is that I am trying to tell you. I have to put those thoughts into words and then those words into an order that help you understand what exactly it is that I am trying to say.  Its pretty amazing to stop and think that we actually do that.

I have always been a visual person so communicating with people through words is new and very hard for me. It’s like learning a new language all over again.  I have always communicated through music, acting, and art. So everyday this blog is like mentally walking through a dark cave with a flash-light. I get to explore and find out new things about myself everyday, and I can only thank you for that. I appreciate your patience with my grammar.

So, Thank you!

MEAT ME

Sean Rice

Follow @meatmeblog

“The spices in those beans actually have medicinal purposes… they work as an anti-flatulent!” “Really… Is that soooooo.” - Rosa Mexicano

Yea! That lasted all the way to their front door. I couldn’t believe that a really nice restaurant would make such a claim, let alone, tell you about it. Ok… but for the sake of not spicing up a story, this was the waitresses’ claim, and she did say anti-gas. Whatever that’s worth, but to me its all the same.

It’s Saturday night, which means it’s date night with my better half. Since my work and this blog has been taking up a lot of my time, I agreed to not' turn the evening into a restaurant review. That too only lasted until the first appetizer arrived. She could see it in my eyes… it was killing me not saying anything about the service and not commenting on my thoughts about the food. I even ordered simple items on the menu, knowing I wasn’t looking for anything special other than our time together (I think I can add +10 brownie points to my score board for that).

I think it was getting harder for her not saying anything, knowing even she is getting really into this.

So we arrive at Rosa Mexicano on Sunset. It was her decision, I insisted she pick, and it came down to Rosco’s Chicken and Waffles or… Rosa Mexicano. Being that we were both dress up, Mexican it was. And from that moment forward the night got even more awkward.

We arrived, parked in the lower structure and elevated our selves to the restaurant. It had a beautiful entrance, lovely lighting, and loud thumping house music. Didn’t seem like it fit, but I’m never quick to judge. I like to get into it a bit, before I decide, if I like it or not.

“Yes, 2 please… No we don’t have reservations.”  Of course all those poshy places on Sunset can’t have someone just walk into their restaurant without making them feel like homeless off the street.  All the empty tables were booked so we were sat outside. Right under the VIP house music speaker section. We sat, I opened my menu, she worded something to me, I couldn't hear her, and at that point the waitress arrived. Surprise,  I asked to be moved to the EMPTY back section of the restaurant WHERE NO ONE WAS SEATED!!! (and it was quiet) I mean come on restaurant hostess… is it really that much more work for a server to walk 8 more feet to serve us. And why the hell would you not have servers for every section of a restaurant on the main Sunset Strip, Saturday night… at 8pm to be exact!  I worked restaurants for 5 years, I have a right to bitch.

So we get moved. Fantastic! We can now restart this awkward night. (buzzer sound) WRONG! I look over and the manager, and our lovely waitress, is yelling at each other for moving us.

So its safe to say, make reservations at this place, and no body gets hurt. But hey! We could hear each other and that’s all that mattered. For now…

Time to order… Our server informed us that they were known for their table-side guacamole service, their enchiladas and their butter fly red snapper. The miss’s had the beef enchilada and I have the chicken, we started with the guacamole. There was a big dilemma with the spiciness of the guacamole.  Should we go medium… we usually go spicy… they can add jalapenos on the side… but its really not that spicy when you order spicy… so screw it, MAKE THAT SHIT HOT! We’ll take it!

So the guacamole maker (I don’t know if these people have an official name, so no disrespect) came by and whipped us up some GUAC! He also added 2 sides of salsa and our custom jalapenos.  Ummm, it was nice and creamy guacamole. It had just the right amount of salt and lemon. But guess what… Not one God Damn ounce of spice. I mean nothing; the minerals in my ice water had more kick than this guacamole.  So we added the salsas and it turned out to still be pretty good.

At this point she looks at me and says, “Are you sure you don’t want to write about this place?”. I laughed, “Sure what else could possibly make this more interesting!”. With a slight turn of the head and boom… Across the way, some women is standing up running around panicking, because someone spilled red wine all over her nice Gucci bag. Good heavens how on earth could that happen. By the look on her face, you would of thought her husband was shot in the face by her server. Nope, just wine. But like my girly said, “If you can’t afford to fix it, you probably shouldn’t buy it.” Well said. She may have been implying that I am paying for dinner, and maybe desert, but nun the less I always have her back.

The food has arrived; at this point I am ready for anything. Her beef dish is in a dark sauce… mine a light green, sprinkled with cheese and cilantro. All accompanied by a bowl of black beans and rice. I take a bite, she takes a bite, and we looked at each other in disbelief. Holy shit, this stuff… is… AMAZING. I couldn’t believe what I had tasted. I had no idea how to even describe it. We had never had enchiladas this good or even flavored this way.

Its like all the weird shit that happened before, didn’t matter. Now… shit just got real! It was all about this masterpiece that came from the kitchen. The waitress stopped by an asked. “Is everything ok?’, I said “No, I need you to tell me what this is because my mouth is confused!”… She smiled and explained.

In her beef enchilada they use peppers, nuts and chocolate in the mole. “CHOCOLATE!!!” It was fuckin’ chocolate. I couldn’t f-in believe it. It was so, so, good. I had no idea. Mine was traditional green sauce with chihuahua cheese and grilled chicken. The beans were with tapas and queso fresco. With that super special medicinal… anti-gas… beans… Ok, whatever you say Jack! (I am still passing gas from that meal 8 hours later.) The rice, was a brown rice, seasoned with mustard which resulted in a yellow color. All in all, the food was quite good.  In a month or two I may want to go back again and try and be surprised by something else on the menu (sorry I didn’t have my camera so my photos do this beautiful food absolutely no justice).

After having consumed our individual art pieces we chatted about desert… And we chatted, and chatted. Should we have the deep-fried ice cream, should we go somewhere else, what was on the menu… Who knew. Our waitress, GONE! Never saw her again. I’d say we sat there for a good 20 minutes or so, (in a full room of people, mind you by this time, the tables were full) and nothing. Nada. Not even a peep. She had in fact magically disappeared! We had to ask a random server for our check. At this time I was reminded that we had also ordered Plátanos Fritos. Which I would have loved to have told you about, but WE NEVER GOT IT!!! So we paid and we left.  Really just out of frustration…

I feel restaurant owners have no idea how much bad service hurts them. It is 50% of the experience if not more. If your customers have to flip out just to get your good food, what’s it worth to them? Especially when it’s really pricy!

I lived next to Crazy Rock’n Sushi (which I can’t wait to 
do a write up on, one of my fav’s) and had been going there since the day they opened. I used to go there everyday. I did the math and I was spending about $1,000 a month on their food. Their sushi was always amazingly fresh, large portions, and tasty. But, I had to wait 45 minutes for a Bud Light. One day I slammed my empty bottle up on the sushi bar after the waiter (who was super busy) looked at me for the 8^th time, without my beer. I looked at the owner and said, “What the fuck do I have to do for a fucking beer? I come here everyday, I spend over $1,000.00 on your delicious food, I shouldn’t have to fight for it. Figure it out cause I’m not coming back for a week!”. I stormed out. James the owner and I were good friends, but he didn’t know this was the case because I never said anything.

I feel bad now. Tonight I should have told the manager, I said nothing and now no one will know that people may never get to taste their delicious food. I even tipped the server… screw them. How are they going to know that they fucked up if I leave them $10 tip!  I left the wrong message for both parties.

When I came back to the sushi restaurant a week later he had 2 more people serving on each shift, and a service button at each table.  It worked! Now I have to wait 20 to 30 minures just to get a seat at a table… but its worth it. Because I know once I sit down, I am going to enjoy amazing food. That’s what good service is all about.

I would love to give Rosa Mexicano a second chance. Something was way off about tonight, maybe with the whole city. We went to Pavilions to grab some cookies and ice cream, there were 3 cop cars out front and inside 10 broken bottles of wine and destroyed shelves. Felt bad for the guy who had to clean it up.

So remember. Speak up! Be Honest! And if the service sucks MEAT ME!!!


You can visit Rosa Mexicano locations on their website at
http://www.rosamexicano.com/Locations/LosAngelesCA/tabid/325/Default.aspx

Sean Rice

The bar at this place is amazing and would be lovely for a pre-night drink to get the evening started. Not to mention the ladies looked to be dressed at their best gentlemen (Wink)! Enjoy!

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