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Bistrotek
Rating Details »
Category: American (New) [Edit]
Neighborhood: Westchester / LAX8639 Lincoln Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90045
(310) 645-0400
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Valet, Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Good for:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
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27 reviews for Bistrotek
My girlfriend and I have had dinner at Bistrotek on three occasions in the past 6 weeks.
We entered through the back through the lobby. Decor reminded us of the 'Standard Hotel'. Cinderblock walls, industrial light fixtures, 50's kitchen chairs and tea towels as napkins all complimented the design motif. Campy men's restroom all ties in.
She had a salad... I forget which one... but she loved it and she raved about the salmon! It came with a slice of sweet potato pie that was very tasty (or this may have accompanied her meal on our second visit - sorry!) Anyway she tried to copy it for our thanksgiving dinner and stuffed it up but you know what they say about 'imitation'...
I had the burger as appetizer (young slim waiter couldn't believe it - I told him to wait 15 years) and the mahi mahi. Both were very good.
The chocolate mousse was delicious.
The drink prices were inexpensive. Her St. Pauligirl (from Hamburg) non alcoholic beer was $3.69. Service was friendly and attentive.
Afterwards we played a couple of games of pool (free - leave DS with hotel front desk and pick up the balls)
Second and third times were also very good in food and service.
Third time we sat at the bar and had burgers on Monday night. There were about 35 people in the restaurant as we left at 8pm. I had the marscapone grilled cheese sandwich for dessert which was a little disappointing. The nutella overpowered the cheese though I was unsure if there was any cheese in there at all. Mentioned it to friendly bartender but as all the evidence was in my stomach, I had no case! May have to experiment further with this one.
Well worth a visit - unique to this area.
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I'm reading all these reviews on here and I guess Bistrotek must have closed and reopened and adjusted their menu.
We had dinner there on a week night and I was surprised to see the restaurant so small. The ambiance was mediocre, it was like the designers were trying to be cool but everything just didn't mesh.
The menu was quite affordable, the highest price entree's were around $20+.
I ordered the seabass and my husband ordered the steak. The seabass was seared served with asparagus and I asked for mash potato instead of the fingerling potatoes it came with. Seabass when fresh and cooked properly should be as soft and smooth as butter. It should just melt in your mouth. This was tough and chewy and boney. I was quite disappointed. The mash potato was okay as well as the asparagus.
My husband said he's steak was alright, average he said.
The service was average. So all in all this restaurant is average.
Will I go back? Doubt it. Nothing about Bistrotek was exciting, not the ambiance, not the menu, not the service.
For the price there are a lot more exciting places to eat in L.A.
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This is unfortunate because the food was good, or at least my breakfast was (I didn't have dinner while staying at the hotel).
My oatmeal and mixed fruit platter were great, but the service was horrible. While I was waiting for my check one couple left without their food since it took too long, two other tables wanted their bills, and some had not yet ordered.
It wasn't neglect, just an understaffed restaurant. If you have lots of time, come eat, if not head elsewhere.
My husband and I went here for dinner when it first opened and loved it. We had the specials (I had an ono dish, and my husband had a seafood pasta) and they were definitely delicious. The bread they served while we waited was simple and tasty. We had the panna cotta for dessert and it was phenomenal. We went there for brunch a few months back (I had the French toast, my husband had the chicken sandwich) and it was above average. His chicken sandwich was really tasty and my French toast was made with brioche and served with honey pecan butter-yum!
So, we thought we would go again for brunch this weekend and were disappointed. I tried the French toast again--only this time, it seemed to be made with the pre-sliced bread, not the brioche. It was decent, but it was something I could make at home. My husband had an egg with turkey sausage plate. Again, I wouldn't say it was bad, it was just kind of boring. I don't know if we went on an off day or if they changed chefs, but we were not as impressed as before. If you want a decent breakfast in the area, I would opt for KJ's Diner in the future.
*** CLOSED now for dinner ... breakfast and lunch ONLY. ;( ***
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1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
9/17/2008
hmm, it's always rewarding to ret'n to one
of your 4-star restaurants and receive a
4-star experience… Read more »
Bistrotek has been closed for months now. They are only open for breakfast, and it's not really that full service-y and is more for hotel guests now. The food was always a bit too expensive there and they never really caught on with locals the way the poolside bar did. It was too dark and hard to find within the hotel at Bistrotek. It never really felt like a "real" restaurant.
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It tries to be high class and expensive but the food just isn't up to the level or quality of that.
The price of the food is too expensive for what you get or will taste
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Close to airport - good food although based on 1 of 1 visits. I didn't find it, 'scary' - as I'm not that easily intimidated. Service could be a bit more efficient but wasn't that bad on the night we went in. I'll go back for another whirl.
V
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Great food, good atmosphere - though a bit over priced for sharing a parking lot with a CVS.
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Bistrotek is the adjoining restaurant next to the svelte black Standard off Lincoln in-between a run-down shopping center and construction dust. The front of the restaurant is a large brick blockade with very small windows to distance itself from its un-hip surroundings and a fire door that serves as the entrance. The front looks like the entrance of a closed nightclub as it is desolate during the day.
Their vegetarian panini is good but the bread was the best part of the sandwich. It was not only fresh, but very crusty. The warm and fresh vegetables tasted as good as any Italian restaurant can prepare vegetables bathed in oil. The side salad came with a delicious amount of vinigrette glazed over the leaves. They were out of gazpacho. The arnold palmer was perfect; it's all about the fresh and fructose-free lemonade.
Simple, modern-style places ought to look impeccable. The lack of atmosphere and the sunlight that shined through the few windows made this place more noticeably flawed than it would have been at night. I was noticing the water marks on the glasses that were bouncing off the small stream of natural light.
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Boring food, heavy sauces. The only reason I gave it two stars instead of one is that it's fairly cheap. Service was terrible. The place was almost empty and our waiter was very slow. When he finally did come over he acted frantic, as if he'd been hurrying around dealing with a full restaurant. Certainly not worth the $10 valet fee we paid.
I must say I really enjoyed myself at this restaurant. The moment I walked in I was promptly greeted. It was great. The decor of the restaurant is nice. You definitely want to check this restaurant out when its dark...that's when you get the full feel of the place. Now, I must admit if you aren't really looking for the place or know EXACTLY where it is...you will pass it up (like my friend did). lol.....she called me and was like "where is this place?!?!?!
The Very French martini is delicious! one of the best I've ever tasted. For my appetizer I ordered the crab cake with fennel slaw. It was delicious! My friend ordered the fried tomatos....it was ok...lacked flavor but still a nice presentation.
For our entrees she ordered the chicken dumpling soup and I ordered the Mahi Mahi with white beans and kale. Not a usual combination for mahi mahi but it was delish none the less.
Mind you...by now, I'm drinking my second French martini...did I mention how good this drink was?!? *smile*
For dessert...a simple brownie a la mode....I took a couple spoonfuls of that and was NOT impressed!
But overall...I enjoyed my dinner....ambiance was awesome!!!
Service excellent and my food was good!
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This restaurant just opened up recently so I feel they may still need some tweaking but at least they're starting from a good place. I went here for dineLA and loved my chicken entree and mascarpone grilled cheese sandwich dessert but wasn't crazy about the "shrimp cocktail" as it was flavorless and lukewarm. Portions were small but don't know if that was just for dineLA.
I like how there is a long table apart from the bar for cocktailers while the rest of the room is reserved for diners. I don't like how the front door of the restaurant doesn't close by itself so would just stand open letting the chilly night air in.
Regarding the important stuff, the manager, Michael, says they're going to expand their current cocktail menu to include more sugary concoctions like a peach martini and a chocolate chip martini as well as a Manhattan and margarita. Their beer list will also be expanded to include Belgian trippel ales and a chocolate stout.
On the weeknights I went the crowd seemed of the afterwork variety with some students (probably from OTIS design school and LMU) mixed in. Low-key, casual.
I might return for cocktails and dessert but don't know about having an actual meal here. We'll see.
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Food is whatever. I had hopes for this place since everything in this hood is lame. But this place can be added to the lame list. Too bad
i agree with another review that the stuff look nice on the plate but once tasted it had no flavor - canned food flavor.
for the burgers you are better off across the street at tompkins square ( and i didnt even rate that place very well)
Came here with CoC for dinner as part of restaurant week. We all enjoyed our food a lot and I thought it was a bargain at $25 for the caliber of food we received. I had the split pea soup which came with a ham hock croquette that I thought was awesome! Then the chicken entree which was perfectly salty. I personally found the mascarpone cheese sandwich a bit too heavy as a dessert for one person, but my dining companions seemed to enjoy it.
Not quite 5star worthy yet as they are a brand new restaurant and it shows. They have a few kinks with that door that wouldn't stay shut and the ambigous entryway - where is the official entrance to this place anyways? But I thought the service was solid, parking is plentiful right out front. And I would definitely come back with coworkers for drinks or an expensed meal.
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This restaurant fell right in the middle - he had the scrumptious dish and she had the blah dish. We do agree that the ambiance is nice, and that should account for something - so if we could give it an extra half-star we would!
The menu is small, but definitely sufficient. They are going for the quality over quantity, and we like that. The pork chop was probably one of the best he'd ever eaten - it was cooked perfectly and very tasty. The green beans were an excellent side. She ordered the Custom Burger medium well, and it came out redder than Christmas ribbon on the clearance rack! We know bloody is a statement, but wow, they took it to the next level. It was scrumptious though, and the build-your-own concept rules. The asparagus was drenched in lemon, which seems to appear on every dish on the menu. We're all for lemon, but toward the end of the meal, it was a little overkill. raves from around the table hailed from the onion rings - they're excellent. And several other diners were checking out our plates enviously as well.
They seemed to have ironed out all the problems with the service. We were well attended to and the waitress was nice. No complaints!
The drinks are yummy! The French Martini was perfect.
All in all, we'd say its a good place to grab a bite. They do seem to be trying awfully hard though. But hey - the effort is appreciated!
All Style -- No Substance
Fine if you want to hang out in a cool environment - just don't eat the food. The dishes look fabulous on the plate -- but what a shock when we took our first bites
I had the Chicken Cobb Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing which looked so delicious on the plate. But - oh the stunner when I had my first mouthful and discovered the dressing was the standard out-of-a-jar low-end gummy stuff. A few more tentative bites revealed that instead of "blue cheese crumbles" there were lots of huge grape-sized clumps of terribly mediocre cheese (definitely not blue cheese). The chicken chunks barely registered as chicken flavor in my mouth because they were dry and salty. So salty, in fact, that the salt overwhelmed even blue cheese flavor. Kiss of death - a bunch of the "romaine lettuce" bits were actually chopped up bottom-ends of several heads of romaine. I rarely leave salad uneaten - but had to say a quick goodbye to their blue-cheesy, salty, soupy mess. ugh
Sweetheart went for the Fried Chicken Sandwich with French Fries. Again - looked absolutely delectable on the plate: glistening golden fried chicken with a side basket of pretty paprika-sprinkled fries. But -- one bite into the fried chicken & it turns out the batter included way too many dried herbs that totally overpowered the flavor of the chicken. Imagine eating crunchy dried oregano with a little dash of chicken. And the lovely fries? Totally soggy & limp - no satisfying crunch. Even worse, the pretty paprika turned out to be a spice mix that totally overwhelmed any potato flavor left in the limp fries.
Nearby I saw a gorgeous plate of pan-seared salmon get delivered to a woman who, after her first bite grimaced & pushed the plate away. Another couple (wearing many pounds of "healthy appetite") walked out of the restaurant leaving half of a beautifully laid out club sandwich and the whole basket of fries. Now when "ample-figured" folk won't finish their food either - you gotta wonder.
Whoever is cooking needs to get a partner with taste buds. Or maybe go back to being a food stylist for photo shoots. Nobody should have to eat these dishes, but they sure would look gorgeous in a magazine....
So -- two stars for the "look"; zero stars for the taste.
part of the equally contemporary custom hotel, it's a trendy little resto with bar. we had a promo coupon so came here for lunch. the interior design is nice--casual but contemporary chic. they had tennis on the flatscreen and tube skylights which brought in some natural light.
the food, however, was meh. the bf had the huevos rancheros, which was nice-looking and standard with black beans and salsa. my fried chicken sandwich with avocado was bland. the avocado was good, but there was no seasoning whatsoever on the chicken. i also had a basket of fried onions (onion rings au naturel) which were good, but a tad undercooked. i think our server was feeling rushed to get our food out. service was fine. seems like a nice place for drinks and some appetizers, if you're staying at the hotel.
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This place was a big surprise. Off-beat look (sort of "trendy-on-the-cheap"), pleasant people working there, good service... but the important thing was the food. EXCELLENT. Good soft bread to start out. I had the burger with smoked gouda and pancetta (you can also build your own burger) - great meat, really good bun. Fiance had some kinda fish - don't like fish, but he couldn't stop talking about it.
We will definitely be there again!
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Thank goodness for the Monthly Mailer, peep's! I opened mine up to find a buy one get one free coupon!!! I've checked out the hotel, but had never had anything to eat here...until tonight!
I had the fried chicken sandwich with a basket of friend onions. YUMMY! Over kill for a heart attack! Fried onions had too much seasoned salt on it. Making me poor glass after glass of jar water that was placed on my table. My waitress did not write the order down and even repeated back twice to mess up twice. Felt bad having to correct her. She seemed struck in awe when she saw my coupon. She had to go to the manager to price fix the receipt. One would think with all the old folks having dinner up in this black trying hard to be hip and trendy place that it was coupon night in Westchester. Girlfriend, better learn the system now!
Have to say the pool bar Hopscotch is way happening on a Sunday night. Not a whole lot of sexy peep's, but plenty of peep's swimming and boozing it up! Must be a hot spot bar. Wait until the heat is on. This bar is going to be slammed!
Back to the food. I call it Bar Bistro food. My husband had the burger with crispy bacon and swiss cheese. We thought for a bar/hotel place the food was decent, not super yummy, just decent. He thought the Fat Tire beer for $5 was the deal of the day for a hotel place. I agree the drinks are not super duper in price to kill your night out. Service was little lacking, price on booze good, burger and chicken sandwich decent and parking was easy in the back and FREE!!!! Nice ;-)
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Service (or lack there-of) made this diner's experience at Bistrotek one I'd like to forget. It started off great- got a table right away and the manager said if there was anything we needed, to call him.
Took the waiter ten minutes to come get our drink order and it was NOT a busy night. He took another ten minutes to bring the drinks and said they ran out of ice, so that was the explanation for the hold-up.
The menuis grossly overpriced for the area (Westchester is NOT mid-town NYC) and lacks true originality. It also seemed a bit heavy for the typical LA-crowd. The burger I ordered "medium well" came out dripping with blood and barely warmed. The waiter took the burger back, but it took another 15 minutes to get it returned and, it still was not cooked through. In the meantime- we were not offered another chance to order a beverage and forget about getting any bread or munchies while we waited.
When the burger came out barely looking like it had been recooked the second time, we asked the waiter to give us our bill and we were going to leave. (My dinner date didn't touch his food, because he was waiting for me and we were still going to pay full price for everything, mind you.) That's when the manager came over and tried to fight us on the fact we wanted to leave. He took everything personally and became combative and defensive, rather than apologetic and/or cool about it. I normally never complain at restaurants, but honestly, waiting 20 minutes for a drink and getting a burger where the patty was practically still mooing, wasn't my idea of a good night out~ so we just wanted to leave in peace and this guy wasn't going to let us. (Obviously, that made us even more uncomfortable...) We kept saying we just wanted to pay the bill and go somewhere else and for the manager to drop it, but he insisted on comping the meal and making us feel like we were a-holes because we didn't want to stick around.
My date and I hit Taco Bell across the street and seriously, had like- the best chalupas ever, so save your time and money and skip Bistrotek altogether.
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This hotel is GREAT but the restaurant is just OK. Not awful, but plenty of other better places to eat for the price. The ambience is very cold and the wait staff is not very attentive and knowledgeable. But going here for the pool bar is great.
Went there with my Mom and had a great meal. They had just changed their menu... and let me tell you, it was great. Everything there is made really healthy. The portions are great sizes. There wasn't anything that we go that we didn't like. Try the gnoochi!
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"BIG" Disappointment, took wife out for date, and was pretty excited on trying this place out. The food was terrible and it literally took 25 minutes to get our check. I do hope this place does better, may try again without my wife she won't go back.
YIKES!! I have no idea what has happened here, or if we just came on an 'off' night (Sunday, 6:30 pm) but this was THE creepiest restaurant I have been to in years. There was some type of punk/goth/whatever thing going on in the parking lot and on the rooftop of the low building in back which contributed to the atmosphere before we even walked through the door. Then, when we did, a cold chill went down our spines. There were 2 guys at the bar, and an older couple (with the coupon for a free entree with purchase, no doubt (we had one too)) at a table and that was it. The room had such a cold feeling (not temperature) that, combined with the big empty stark room make us run, not walk, for the door. So this isn't a full review in that we didn't actually eat there, but then again we haven't walked out of a restaurant for maybe 20 years. Enter at your own risk. We ended up going sort of across the street to Little Italy's Kitchen, which was fine.
Upscale diner, serving a twist on American classics. The Ahi Tuna Noodle casserole with homemade potato chips on top was delish! And the lobster pot pie that comes with the surf & turf was a cozy delight. The manager Michael was very friendly and gracious. He greeted us when we sat down and check in with us a few times during the meal. We were a party of 7 and everyone enjoyed themselves as well as their food. I will be going back for sure and I would recommend it to a friend.
Simply amazing
