The Parlor

Recommends

Brandi Fowler

Joined 6 years ago

Citysearch Editorial Review. Like the original in Santa Monica, this Hollywood sports bar features much of the same experience that its fans have come to love … along with 20 beers on tap. While you won't find sports memorabilia plastered on the walls here, there are still dozens of flat screen TVs (more than 50) and three huge HD projectors that make for the ultimate game-watching hub. Not to be outdone by its beach town sibling, the menu is also as jam-packed with comfort food faves like buffalo wings, loaded nachos, grilled lamb lollipops and ten different types of sliders.

Doesn't Recommend

JT00

Joined 3 years ago

lacking "sole". Last night my friends and i went to watch the UFC fights, have a few drinks and dinner. We ordered the grilled artichoke as an appetizer. It arrived quickly and looked great but upon tearing into the the leaves we discovered that they were still so hard that no matter how much we tried we could only get a very small amount of "meat" from the leaves. I've had plenty of artichokes and this one was very undercooked and yet somehow still managed to be very soggy and wet. (made even more noticeable because we didn't receive sideplates or napkins until about half way thru eating it so there was a good amount of artichoke "juice" all over our table and our hands) Our server was very nice so i'm not going to blame her for this as it should be management's policy that these things are delivered to the table as soon as someone places an order. That way when the food arrives the customer can start eating...at least that's how they do it at every restaurant I've ever worked..

So this leads me to the real reason for this review. When we ordered the artichoke we asked to keep a menu so that we could order meals when another friend arrived. When we were finally ready to order i decided on the "sole" entree. Our server politely informed us that they had since switched over to the "condensed game menu", flipped the paper menu over and apologized for the mistake. I looked at the new and "very" condensed menu and there was nothing I wanted from that menu. I wanted fish which is the only meat that I eat. She said she would check with the kitchen and see if they would still make it for me. At this point the place was only slightly busy with people drinking and very little food being ordered so I was fairly sure that she was gonna come back to our table and say no problem. Boy was i wrong with that assumption. She said NO they wouldn't make it and again asked if there was anything else i'd like to order. I said no. I was a bit annoyed but fine with it.. I figured i'd just eat somewhere else later on.

But a few minutes later I see what appeared to be the chef looking very bored, leaning against a wall near the kitchen, chatting with the manager for at least a good 10 minutes, if not more. A few minutes later this same chef was walking around the restaurant perusing the tables (most of which had no food on them) Now every time i saw her and her clean white chef outfit my stomach turned and grumbled. I was hungry and now very bitter. Just to be sure i wasn't mistaken, which i knew i wasn't, i asked our server if that was the indeed the chef. she confirmed that it was. i then asked if that was the same chef who was too busy to make my fish. she said yes but then added that there was a whole team of people in the kitchen. wrong answer...now i was even more upset...so the chef is bored and there is a whole team that must be just as bored back there and none of them can make a hungry customer a fish dinner? our server then said that it was the managers decision to deny me my fish...

Now everyone knows (at least I do) that during any sporting event servers should be pushing food because the kitchen slows down while people are focused on the game/fight and not thinking about ordering food. I could have it all wrong and maybe the management was just being really kind to their kitchen staff and wants them to be able to stand around and enjoy the games/fights at work?

she also informed us that they were going to be having their 'grand opening' this week and they'll have everything available and worked out then....after this experience i seriously doubt that i'll ever "attempt" to eat there again. what ever happened to make the customer happy and give them a great dining experience and let us fix our mistake (as the menu should've been taken away from our table before they condensed it)