Edendale Grill

08/17/09

Horrible

by vevonb at Citysearch

This place is HORRIBLE. The crowd is loud and drunk, and the food is REALLY bad. My friend got sick from it. I do not recommend it at all.

• Pros: None
• Cons: Loud with bad food

10/14/08

A Big Disappointment

by SilverLakeNewbie at Citysearch

I want to love Edendale. I've been there at least a half a dozen times. It has a great vibe and SHOULD be a Silver Lake gem. Unfortunately, the food is average AT BEST, the service is mediocre, and it is way, way over priced.

The last time I was there--and I do mean last--I had a cocktail, ordered a Caesar with grilled shrimp and a glass of wine. The lettuce was bitter, there were maybe 3 medium sized shrimp, and the wine stunk. It would be almost ok if the bill didn't come to $42. Yes, $42. $12 for a glass of wine that tasted like it came from a $6 bottle, $6 for 3 grilled shrimp, and $12 - $14 for bitter lettuce. (The balance was for the drink.)

Now before you think "Ah, another long time Silver Lake Bohemian complaining about prices," I have no problem paying $42 for that amount of food if it's worth it. Even if some of that money goes towards maintaining the atmosphere. But in this case, about 95% of the bill went towards that atmosphere. Tough to swallow.

After I ate, I went through the menu. At the Edendale, in Silver Lake, they had a $32 steak on the menu. Fantastic! IF it tastes like a $32 steak. But considering the chef couldn't pick decent greens, I can't imagine the steak was going to be on par with one at , say, Maestros. (Only an unfair comparison if you're not charging close to Beverly Hills' prices.)

I really want this place to succeed. It could be a great neighborhood staple. In fact, I went to the manager the next day to let her know about my experience and told her how much I hope they turn things around. She was pleasant, took my number and, well, that was the last of it. Guess I care more about their business than they do. Hopefully the next owner will hire a decent chef.

• Pros: Ambience
• Cons: Food, wine, Bartenders focused more on glass polishing than serving drinks

06/28/08

Excellent locale & mood.

by asp811 at Citysearch

This is a great venue, and I always feel like I've arrived at a special place when I go there. I guess I've been lucky. The half dozen times I've eaten here I've had no problem. The food has always been great. My only complaint is that the menu seems to be limited. It used to have a broader set of choices, that have been slimmed down over time. I don't know why. The service was average, a little on the slow side, but not enough for it to be an issue. I usually ask the server what is good that evening and that may be why I've been spared the experiences that others have pointed out here. I had a mixed seafood dish that was outstanding, as recommended by our server. After dinner we went to the bar area, which is quite attractive, and enjoyed a couple of cocktails before we drew our evening to a close.

• Pros: Excellent ambience, cool bar space, good food.
• Cons: Lack luster service, limited menu options.

04/05/08

Cool place, not worth the abuse - Manager needs to go!

by viesteves at Citysearch

My boyfriend and I had 8:30 reservations here last night. The "hostess" (who we came to find was the manager playing hostess) told us to wait at the bar and that she would come get us. When the clock read 9:00, I went back to inquire about our table. After ignoring me for 5 minutes in favor of something on the computer screen, she finally asked how she could help me (um, I checked in with you 30 minutes ago) - she casually said, "Oh, your table is ready when you are." Confused, I told her she'd told us to wait at the bar and she cut me off: "Yeah, I was coming to get you right now." We brought over our wine bottle from the bar and had to wait for the table to be set (apparently it WASN'T ready). She didn't show concern that we were being seated 30 minutes late, nor did she take our wine to the table. Still, we wanted to enjoy dinner so we let it slide.

Our waiter was great, but overwhelmed. Our appetizer was lukewarm, and the entrees took 50 minutes. He was apologetic and we were patient, but 50 minutes is pushing it. When nicely asked him to see what he could do to make it right, and he got the manager to comp our appetizer ($9). We were not looking for a free meal - we wanted to see if they cared to make it better and give us reason to come back. Instead, the manager came over to ask if there was a problem. When we gave her the rundown of our night, she got defensive and said "I don't need you to tell me how to do my job. I suggest you take your business elsewhere." Oh, and she claimed the clock is 10 minutes ahead (so we were only sat 20 minutes late, not 30 - much better).

It's a shame - the food was good, the space is great, but the manager was awful. I would have preferred if she ignored us entirely than to come argue with us at our table - we had no intention of causing a fuss (just of not coming back).

Finally, they need to hire a REAL HOSTESS who knows how to acknowledge guests, seat people, honor reservations, and be polite!!

• Pros: Beautiful space, food was good, bar is great
• Cons: Terrible manager picked a fight with us, slow service, reservations mean nothing

03/27/08

A wonderful dinner

by michele_inla at Citysearch

I ate at this restaurant a few years ago and it was just OK. But my husband and I ate there recently and the food was fabulous. The service was also excellent. Nice adaptive reuse of the old firestation building, and a good vibe with the restaurant full of people. I was even tempted into a fancy martini and desser!

01/21/08

Eat well, served bad

by gina_jones at Citysearch

If you want a great meal but bad service go here! I thought it was great to book a reservation and STILL wait 20 minutes because the hostess had to greet her friends at the bar before seating us. Great calamari, bad bad bad service. It's like being in abusive relationship, because Silverlake just keeps on coming back.

• Pros: Good food, good bartender, outside patio for smokers
• Cons: The servers, the hostess

01/21/08

No longer the place to go

by socajas at Citysearch

To be honest, I used to love this place. I still think the bar is great and the atmosphere is very relaxed and hip. The restaurant, however, has turned to junk. I have eaten at Edendale close to 20 times. Over the past year, it has become progressively worse. Sunday brunch last October was less than average when my food was cold and I had to ask for coffee three times. Before the holidays, my boyfriend were sitting out on the patio for dinner and the heater went out. No big deal, right? Well, it took 20 minutes to get it replaced. That same night, we ordered our meals (the menu has totally changed and is about half of what it used to be) and the meals came before the salads. Then, I ordered a Pinot Noir with my steak and it arrived at the end of my meal. I had about given up on Edendale, but decided to give it one last try last night. Bad idea. My food was pretty good, but others at the table were very unhappy. The service was very average and the Manager was just "blah". It was no surprise that the dining room was empty. I hope they get thier act together and take it back to where it used to be. I just wont eat there until it gets fixed.

• Pros: Bar and Atmosphere
• Cons: Restaurant, food, service

11/15/07

cool bar, horrible restaurant

by banoo73 at Citysearch

They are so phenomenally rude at this restaurant, it's like a joke. I am eight months pregnant, it was a tuesday night at 9pm, and a colleague and I came in for a late dinner. The place was practically empty. After I had to beg the hostess to pay attention to me, and asked her to sit down for dinner, she rolled her eyes and said "it's gonna be a while." It was like I walked into her living room and took a dump on her sofa. Then we payed a lot for mediocre food. The bar is attractive and bumpin' but the restaurant is hell on earth. Avoid it!

11/14/07

Wildly inconsistant food and service.

by coprock at Citysearch

I have eaten two meals at this restaurant in the same week. One was quite good and the other dreadful. The hostess was rude and made us wait 20 minutes for a table in an empty restaurant. Oddly, she felt compelled to take our name and then quickly forgot. Her attitude was that she was doing us a favor to sit us after 20 minutes of waiting in an empty restaurant. The quality of food of my first meal was excellent. I ordered the same meal last night, the meat was tough and overdone. We waited 40 minutes for our meal, again in an empty restaurant.

Unless you like this sort of experience, I suggest you find another restaurant.

10/16/07

Drinks Only, Eat Somewhere Else...

by lulu74 at Citysearch

The Edendale Grill has all the makings of a great restaurant - historical location, beautiful bar, outdoor dining amist twinkling lights....and then... it all comes to a screeching halt. The food, the service, the experience - all so bad you'd think you were on hidden camera. You can't really blame the wait staff, management clearly doesn't hire enough servers for each shift. And you'd think for the amount of money they charge, they could afford some extra help. Service aside, at the heart of a great restaurant is the food - and the food here is surprisingly bad, I mean really bad, I'm talking - chef must be on craaack - bad. I live close so I find myself giving the place another try, always hoping it will get better. But it never does, it just seems to get worse. I can go to any other similarly ranged restaurant (i.e. Blairs across the street) and pay $35-40 for an entree that will come out delicious, hot, and as expected. At Endendale you're paying top price for slop - food with no care or thought put into it, thrown onto a plate and if you're luckly moderately warm. Save yourself the trouble - consider Edendale a watering hole only, and keep away from the food menu.

• Pros: Bar Atmosphere, Outdoor Seating
• Cons: The Food, The Service