10/19/09

Pretentious and not neighborly

by anna nonamous

This place is so pretentious they are alienating their local neighbors. There is no reason for the attitutde as the food might be considered passable. I had the worst dining experience I have ever had in 5 years of living in Santa Monica. The way the managment treats certain guests differently than others they should be ashamed! Do NOT spend your money or time supporting this type of local business. At least I will not!

• Cons: horrible manangement

07/27/09

Our Server Rocked!

by thansmann

Our server, Brianna, was AWESOME! Prior to being seated and before knowing who our server would be, I saw her descretely walk after a customer who inadvertently left their credit card behind. I thought, HOW NICE! I loved seeing the extra effort to accomodate the customer, since customer service and appreciation is completely lacking these days. Not sure how R&D's mgmt felt about it, but Brianna deserves the trustworthy server of the year award. As well, she was very pleasant, personable, professional, knew the menu, and repeatedly checked on our table's needs. We had the Filet Mignon and Meatloaf entrees...both were delicious!

• Pros: Food, service, diverse clientele
• Cons: Very busy popular/place...long wait for table

06/14/09

GO SOMEWHERE ELSE! Unless you like to be treated like dirt!

by AliL

This was our first time here, there is always a line but since it was after the lunch rush we figured we would be safe to finally try it WHAT A MISTAKE!

After waiting for a table when the place was half empty we sat down for a late lunch. It seems the waiters will not seat you so we had to wait until the hostess decided to come over. The waiter didnt even tell her someone was waiting - of course the bartender offered to let us sit at the bar - no thanks we would like a table. Finally the hostess who seemed to be annoyed to do her job came over and sat us, no apology just huffed.

We ordered a salad and a cocktail to start and waited for another friend to join. The seared tuna salad was good but for the price was TINY! For $18 I expect more than a tiny thing of seared tuna and a small pile of greens!!! Houston's portions are double this!! We were eating but the waitress was so rude and mad that we had the nerve to wait for a friend to order more food, hello the place was half empty so we were not taking up a table from someone else. She checked on us about 10 times until I asked to her to stop asking us if we wanted to order more food as we had not even finished our salad yet - at least three different people tried to remove our plates while we were eating!! Be careful if you put your fork down they will grab your plate so they can get you the heck out of there!

Our friend came about 15 minutes later and we ordered two entrees between the three of us to share - of course this made the waitress really mad! How dare we split something! We even ordered another round of drinks considering how much they cost she should have been happy! PS the burger and other entrees dont come with any sides like at Houston's but they ask you what you want with it - and then have the nerve to charge you! Very sketchy!!!!!!!! Who serves a burger with no sides for $14!!!

The food then took another 25 minutes to come - hello the place was half empty why did it take so long!

When we complained to a manager about our watiress and how rude she was the gross guy starting coming on to us and made sexual comments! We noted our bill was over $100 for lunch for three of us and we did not appreciate being treated so poorly - he leered down my friend's blouse and made a disgusting comment - she was not wearing anything low cut but he was standing and she was sitting so it was easy for him to look down her shirt - disgusting!

We were so disgusted by his behavior I went out to get cash to pay the bill so he didnt have any of our information.

I recommend single girls stay far away from this place! The waitresses have a serious attitude problem and if you see a bald guy run as he is using his position as a manager to try and pick up girls - this is supposed to be a nice place to eat I dont expect the managers to be making sexual comments to guests!!!!! DONT BOTHER EATING HERE THERE ARE PLENTY OF PLACES WITHIN TWO BLOCKS THAT ARE BETTER!! Go to Cafe Montana or Blue Plate - at least you dont feel violated by the staff at those places!

• Pros: NONE
• Cons: rude staff, creepy manager, tiny portions, overpriced

05/13/09

DONT EAT HERE UNLESS YOU WANT FOOD POSIONING!!!

by KatO

AWFUL!!RUDE STAFF - EGGS WERE NOT COOKED - DONT EAT HERE! NOT WORTH THE INSANELY LONG WAIT!

First of all our wait was almost 40 minutes over the quote - all the hostess did was snap rudely at us! The bar area where you wait is so packed you get knocked into constantly! This setup is awful - the poor people who eat at the bar or the tables next to the bar are crushed by people waiting - not pleasant at all!!

We finally sat - the waitress who greeted us only wanted to take our drink order, we said we were starving and wanted to order –she was so annoyed and rude but we insisted she took our order as we already waited over 1.5 hours! The waitress told us the potato salad came out fast for a starter. We all dug in - only to find out it had pieces of bacon in it - they go through the trouble of telling you one of the dressings has bacon in it why not the potato salad? I cried as I have not eaten bacon in 30 years for religious reasons. Their response was I should have told them - they were annoyed and rude!!! They tell you on the menu that a dressing has bacon why not the potato salad then? We also ordered a grilled tuna salad to start but it came with our dinner not before!

Next came out my omelet - it WAS ONLY HALF COOKED - WHO EATS HALF COOKED EGG OMELETS? I was disgusted - the waitress we pulled over said it was the chef's preparation and if I didnt like it I should have ordered it well done - hello I have never heard of asking for your eggs to be cooked so you dont get sick! Who eats uncooked omelets? GROSS!

They did us a favor and didnt charge us for the potato salad- oh wow since I never would have ordered it - didnt charge for the uncooked eggs - wow how nice to not charge us for food I couldnt eat - and they left off our soda drinks saving us a few dollars - as far as I was concerned they should have not charged us after all the disasters! What a waste of 3 hours of my life!

I WILL NEVER EVER EAT HERE! I was shocked at the how rude the staff was - this place is over rated and overpriced! You are better off eating at home than being abused by rude staff and get sick from undercooked food!

• Pros: Location - otherwise NONE
• Cons: RUDE STAFF! UNDERCOOKED FOOD! Long waits! Overpriced!

05/06/09

Great hamburger; smallish drinks

by Opinion8d

The ambience was bright, our waiter pleasant but totally forgetful (we had to nag to get water, and then nag multiple times to get our glasses refilled). We ordered a burger and chopped salad to share and enjoyed both. For dessert, the carrot cake was okay. Good food overall and good experience overall.

• Pros: really juicy hamburger; fries were good
• Cons: some of the specialty drinks were tiny; crowded

04/27/09

Have you ever had your omelet ooze raw egg juice??

by bunnynose

I have to give this place 1 star for a few reasons. First this is the second time in a row I have been there and the food took over 20 minutes and they were not busy at all. Second, today my omelet was SO undercooked, raw egg juice oozed out. (After waiting 25 minutes for it to come!!) I was starving but I sent it back anyway. I think they microwaved it and gave it back to me. STILL undercooked! Now here is the reason for my wasting time on this site: The manager said she was sorry but then said they make their omelet's "medium rare!" This was so insulting! I have had it 2 other times before and all of it was cooked. Since when does anyone cook eggs "medium rare." They comped the meal but I still tipped and then I had to leave the restaurant and FIND ANOTHER PLACE to have lunch with only 10 minutes left in my lunch break. R&D has gone down hill. It used to be a great place to eat but the management was HORRIBLE and it's clearly trickled down to even the food!

• Pros: Nice decor
• Cons: Food took 25 minutes, NASTY, manager was AWEFUL!!

04/20/09

Great food, great scene, great service!

by JMAdance04

I absolutely LOVE this place! I have taken friends, family and visitors here. It's a perfect place to get a unique meal, tasty drink and excellent service. The atmosphere is fun and busy, but the tables and lighting give it a romantic feel. They always say its going to be a long wait, but I've never waited more the 15 minutes. It's absolutely fabulous and I recommend it to anyone!!

• Pros: Atmosphere, food and service
• Cons: Expensive drinks, no reservations

04/03/09

Ok food, mediocre service

by ms67

Waited an hour and a half for a table (we were told an hour max), got a rare steak when we ordered medium, could only order 1 drink per person, manager was not friendly, bartender was not friendly.

Avoiding this restaurant like the plague.

• Pros: Location, no problem with parking
• Cons: Long wait for a table, unfriendly bartenders

03/06/09

Not worth the hype

by JonathanRG

I really do not understand why everybody is going crazy about this place. The atmosphere of the place is pretty good and if you are a single guy trying to meet women then i might be your spot. The food itself is nothing to write home about. I have been back several times trying to find something i really enjoyed. The only thing worth mentioning is the veggie burger. The rest of the food is bland and lacks substance. Do not see myself coming back to soon unless i am craving a veggie burger.

02/08/09

Santa Monica's New Trusty Hot Spot!

by kbmalibu

R & D is definitely the happening bar/restaurant in Santa Monica. The wine selection is fun and drinks are great with fresh fruit juices at the bar. The food is reasonably priced and pretty good. Love the chicken meatball spaghetti and the roast chicken... not down with the meatloaf. Great place to take some friends for a happening buzzing spot. Food comes out pretty fast... the only downer is the long wait if you come during prime dinner hour.

• Pros: Great atmosphere, popular, good food, reasonably priced, great service
• Cons: Can get busy