Cafe Med

Doesn't Recommend

Jeremy B.

Joined 2 months ago

I went there on a Saturday for lunch; it wasn't overly packed...

The waiter began with a rude tasteless description of the menu (tall, balding Italian guy). When we asked him for 2 minutes, he scoffed and walked away. Then, when he came back we put in our order. THIRTY FIVE minutes later, our food was still not there and three tables around us that got there after us had already received their food. We asked the server to check on our order but he disappeared, then we asked a busboy, and finally the hostess. FIFTEEN minutes later, they bring our food and still, the waiter brings it out in a rude manner. No apologies...NOTHING. Neither my friend or I complained or said anything but it seems like that's how they work. Not only that, they didn't check on us ONCE to see if we needed anything (drinks etc) and when we did ask for a refill they kept forgetting. Before I left, I went to the hostess and said "I have to tell you that we're very disappointed with our experience today - the service was pretty terrible (or nonexistent)" - she smiled at me and said "thank you, bye!"

From start to end, terrible experience!

Recommends

SJ90069

Joined 2 years ago

Yummy and nice ambiance. I like to go there for lunch. I try to do during the week so it's less crowded and the waitresses and waiters can attend to you more. Also less noisy.

Food is great, classic. I enjoy big portion salads. They also have a great wine selection and one of the waiters (didn't get his name) knows all about wine.

Get a table outside if you can!

Recommends

ChiMike

Joined 3 years ago

All Around Wonderful. The food and wine did not disappoint. The location and style were both very attractive. The service - not the best, but not terrible. One nice feature, you an modify your meal to get half pasta, half salad. Both food and wine by the glass are reasonably priced. A new favorite when in L.A.!

Recommends

jpwilson19

Joined 4 years ago

OH PLEASE. These people complaining about the 20% service charge obviously don't tip that much; 20% is pretty standard here in LA. The reason why they charge is probably because most Italians stiff the wait staff. If you were reasonable tippers, you wouldn't even write such a sordid review. My Uncle owns an Italian restaurant in New York and when our cousins came from Italy they even stiffed the wait staff in his own restaurant!!!

When American's go to Italy they always double tip the staff, and obviously 5% here is all you want to pay.

GO CAFE MED!

Doesn't Recommend

Susan24

Joined 4 years ago

Not worth the money. Recommended by the hotel but we were so disappointed.

Food was cold, badly prepared and staff unfriendly.

Also because we had accents, we were charged 20% service charge for 2 people!!!!!

Doesn't Recommend

crisss

Joined 5 years ago

Got charged for service just because we have accents!!!. We are Italians and we, therefore, have an accent. We have been to Cafe Med in the past and this never happened, but it did the last two times, so I will never return there. The waiter (who was rude and really not attentive to us) charged us the service. I told him I have never seen that in 20 years in LA. He said they do that during summer season. Ok, I went there on October 4...looks to me like Summer is over...plus nowhere in the menu was indicated that the service was included. I am sure it was because he believed we were tourists. This is discrimination to Italians in an Italian place!!!! Ridicolous. NEVER AGAIN THERE>

Recommends

lbctx

Joined 5 years ago

Great experience!. Cafe Med is on a busy corner location along Sunset Plaza. You'll find loads of parking just behind restaurant, which is definitely a plus in this area. Choose a seat on the patio if possible; you won't be disappointed with the people watching. (One caveat: there was a VERY close traffic call in the intersection and we realized, while smelling the burned tire rubber, that in the event of an actual accident, the patio wouldn't be protected from flying debris or sliding vehicles. Such is the case with all outdoor cafes; this one is just on an extremely busy street.)

The menu was filled with interesting choices, from salads to sandwiches to pizza to pasta to meat/chicken/seafood entrees. (With prices ranging from $10 to $30, there's something for every budget.) We selected the fried calamari appetizer to share, followed by separate entrees of grilled prawns and grilled salmon. As we waited, we enjoyed biscuit-like bread with a wonderfully fruity olive oil and a lovely dry riesling.

The tender, crispy calamari was served with an excellent light red, almost pink, marinara that accented rather than overpowered. The prawns were huge, split like lobsters, and served on a bed of crunchy greens. The salmon was very simply served with a tasty side of fresh corn and tomatoes. In all dishes, the quality of the ingredients spoke for themselves.

We finished with a light and airy tiramisu that more than fulfilled its "pick me up" translation. Delicious!

Total tab for everything was a very reasonable $80. The value received was well worth the price.

The location's ambiance and excellent service enhanced one of the best dining experiences during our week in LA. We plan to return to Cafe Med on our next visit.

Doesn't Recommend

mkcardriver

Joined 5 years ago

Poor Service. After pouring wine for the LA Wine Fest at The Raleigh Studios, 8 of us,(two being winemakers and related winery employees) had dinner, which was good overall. I got the Raviolis with Lobster and Corn which I couldn't quite taste. What our whole table couldn't help but notice was that our server or busser's were quite fast to take orders, serve food and clear table, but we had to ask for water which okay BUT it was never refilled. We were never offered sparkling water as apposed to tap, two of us had hot tea and was never offered to have our teapot refilled. And to top it off, we brought all our own wine, offered the wine to our server, and left the remaining bottles of wine for the staff to enjoy and was still charge full corkage. I understand LA is not a wine making region but usually we are not fully charge for corkage or the fee is waved. We had full meals, lots of deserts and some bar drinks for 8 top. I asked for a wine list because we usually purchase wine too but one never arrived. I don't know if our Italian nice handsome waiter was pre-occupied. All I can say is two wineries from Central Coast will not return to Cafe MED and will not recommend it to the rest of Winery Owners/Makers the next time we bring our wine to the LA area for the public to enjoy.

Recommends

foodie114

Joined 5 years ago

More expensive than nearby restaurants. The food was pretty good, but overall it was overpriced compared to restaurants like Le Petit Four, which is down the street and has the same, maybe even better, quality food.

Recommends

juanmore

Joined 6 years ago

Decent pizzas and pasta dishes. This might not be a comprehensive review of the place since we only had an ok Caesar salad that had more of the white hearts than the green leafs of the romaine, the Margherita that was a cheese pizza with a small garnish of basil chiffonade (NO TOMATOES), and two pasta dishes. I though the pizza crust would have been baked better or crisper, since they have an old wood pizza oven. But it was a bit soft, just ok. I had the veal tortelloni w/prosciutto and peas in a cream sauce, which rivaled something from OliveGarden (the price too, that made it ok). My wife had the spaghetti w/pesto, good, would be better if they did not smother the fresh al dente pasta w/sauce. Remember, Italians feel that the pasta al dente is the central part of the dish and not the sauce. Nice location for a night out, the place is clean and great free parking in the rear. Since it is an open kitchen you can see and hear the Spanish speaking cooks and they can get a bit loud; I speak Spanish and some of the things these guys were talking about, ahi guey (if you know what I mean)! Next time I'll try something from the Secondi section of the menu and I'll write about that.