Cafe Del Rey

Fantastic food and good views!

by weho333 at Citysearch

My mom was in town recently and she and her friends wanted to eat on the water somewhere. Randomly chose this restaurant because they were doing DINE LA. Thank god I found it!

What a gem of a find. A bit difficult to locate for those not super familiar with Marina Del Rey, but once found, you are in luck. Huge restaurant with big windows facing the calm marina with boats aplenty to gaze at.

Food is fantastic and service very professional. We went during brunch hours and they had a good band providing background music.

Had a stellar soup and perfectly cooked Mahi Mahi lunch.

And leave room for dessert! Parfait par exelenance!

• Pros: Great service
• Cons: A bit hard to find for non natives

Disappointed at the lack of information!

by uclafoodie at Citysearch

I was at Cafe Del Rey today and this was my first time there so I was really excited. Sadly that excitement fizzled into disappointment.

Ordered the Mahi Mahi and turns out the sauce with veggies underneath also had big chunks of bacon.

My husband and I don't eat pork and I wish they would have a descriptive menu mentioning that the entree has bacon/pork.

I had mentioned that to the waiter upon sitting down and he did point a few items that would not be suitable so that was great. But when the Mahi Mahi arrived with the bacon I was kinda upset. THe menu didn't say it and the waiter wasn't aware as well of the bacon in the entree.

When the restaurant's General Manager stopped by I was thinking that he would be more apologetic and perhaps throw in something complimentary. He wasn't too warm and fuzzy.

I think Cafe Del Rey needs to have better description of the ingredients for people who may have dietary limitations. This is a normal practice at most restaurants and/or better educate their waiters as well.

Service was slow too...

:(

• Pros: Nice Location
• Cons: Slow Service and attention to customer needs'

Sad to see our Sushi gone, but the food is still good!

by walthowe at Citysearch

My wife recently decided to take me to Cafe del Rey, to celebrate my birthday. It had been quite some time since we had eaten there, since we no longer live in LA. We both had fond memories of the beautiful marina view and the exquisite Asian inspired food. Initially, we were a little reluctant to stay, when we found out that after years of serving sushi and various dishes with exotic Asian flavors, Cafe del Rey now serves a Mediterranean inspired menu (as if CA needs another). Our server (a kind jovial fellow named Nick) manged to talk us into staying, as he insured us the food was still top notch. My wife and I were very impressed by his meticulous knowledge of both the menu and the wine list, as he was able to answer in detail all of our questions. We took his recommendation for appetizers and ordered the squash Agnolotti and the Truffle Pizza. The appetizers were amazingly good and each one was packed with flavor. For the main course, my wife ordered the Mahi-Mahi and I took his recommendation and ordered the Lamb Chops. When the food arrived we both marveled at how beautiful the presentation was. The only con was the portion size of the Lamb Chops. Three tiny chops for thirty some odd dollars, left me feeling a little short changed. Nevertheless, the combination of the succulent Lamb and roasted pepper hummus cheered me up immediately. My wife raved about her Mahi-Mahi, which came with a hand made celery root ravioli and green and white asparagus. The dish could have used a little more asparagus, but the fish was cooked perfectly and the flavors worked pretty well together. For dessert, our server sent us a chocolate cake with a candle in it for my birthday (free of charge). The cake was rich, decadent and a good end to a good meal. Kudos, to our server Nick for convincing us to stay and to the service staff at Cafe del Rey for a great birthday experience!

• Pros: Excellent Service
• Cons: Food is a tad bit overpriced

Can't Tell How the Food Was

by ashin220 at Citysearch

My girlfriend and I headed over to Cafe Del Rey, seeing how they seemd to haved received fairly good reviews. The hostess was pleasant and since we had made a reservation, we were seated immediately. On the way in, the manager greeted us with a smile. We hadn't realized that Sunday was a Prix Fixe brunch only. No matter, we decided the food on the menu looked tasty enough. We waited to be served, then we waited and then we waited some more. After 30minutes we were still sitting there with our menus only. Two other tables had gotten up and left before us and we were fed up as well. We walked out never knowing who our server was. The manager didn't try to stop us, I figured he knew why everyone was leaving.

• Pros: will never know
• Cons: never got to order our food

Lacking flavor, value and service

by happydj001 at Citysearch

Last Saturday my husband and I went to Café Del Rey (CDL) for the first time. We are both foodies, and make a habit of trying different restaurants.

Since I am not comfortable with valets driving my car, we parked about 2 blocks West at the public lot for $2. We arrived at CDL shortly after 6pm. As we came to the front, we saw the billboard outside listing the 'happy hour specials'. Stepping inside we were greeted by a foul sewage smell near the hostess podium (the bathrooms were off to the left).

We were there for dinner, but thought we would take in an appetizer and drink at the bar before being seated to take advantage of the specials.

We sat down in the bar booth (comfy), and the waitress brought us our menus "we are out of corona, and ugly duckling chardonnay" she said. Seems silly that a bar would run out of Corona? I ordered a happy hour mixed drink (can't remember name) and my husband ordered another cocktail, and the calamari. She returned 5 mins later, and told us they were out of the alcohol that supplied my drink. I ordered the jolly rancher (not my first choice, but feeling adventurous!)

The calamari arrived, it contained aprox 12 greasy, quarter size 'O's on a pretty plate, with a mayo saucey sidecar. We were BOTH hungry from our workouts that morning, so we proceeded to order more from the happy hour menu: 6 oysters and the shrimp cocktail. The oysters were the size of a silver dollar, the meat inside smaller than a dime (how cute?). The shrimp cocktail contained 5 (2-biter) shrimp, and run-of-the mill cocktail sauce. Still we were hungry, and at this point decided to eat our dinner in the bar, so we ordered: Truffle pizza (10 inch diameter) $26, 2 chopped salads (each portion came out to roughly cup of chopped veggies), 2 lentil soups (each portion was about 1/2 cup). Normally I am not a stickler on portions but these were rediculously small so it was hard not to take note.

So after 3 smaaaall cocktails each, 6 tiny plates of food, and $141 (incl tip), we left, knowing there is no way we would be back.

I've had better calamari and pizza at the local Italian joint (allejos), minus the fancy plate. The chopped veggie salad at C&O down the street tastes better AND you get about 500% more, for the same price. I can buy the same size, same quality shrimp at TJs for the same price but 400% more, and why even bother with oysters that size?? The lentil soup was good, but nothing exceptional, they just pureed the lentils.

The waitress was ok, but gave us both the feeling that she was doing us a favor by serving us.

The view of the marina from the DINNER table windows (which you are not allowed to sit at if you are enjoying happy hour) is beautiful. There was a guitar player in the bar that was very talented, and we made sure to tip him on the way out.

Hard to imagine how this place stays in business...Possibly the unknowing tourists from the Ritz next door.

For locals, there are too many other restaurants in this area that are substantially all-around better for under $100 (for two).

• Pros: The view
• Cons: Everything else