Restoration Kitchen & Wine

Beyond heartbroken!!! Last night my wife and I decided to dine at Restoration and as always had impeccable service courtesy of Bobby(I think is his name). The food as always was on point and delicious. The ambiance was awesome and incredible. Bobby always remembers what type of wines I prefer and showed me a few samples to begin with. He is awesome!
But then Bobby told us the unfortunate news that April 26th will be their last day open and that Restoration will be closing its doors and being sold to bring in Japanese barbecue chicken. Which is too bad because we're vegetarian.
So if you can, please go dine there before they close their doors! They will be sorely missed!

Parking : you have parking up and down the street I was fortunate enough to hat a parking spot in front of the location
Service: we were greeted at the door immediately, we were welcomed as soon as we walked in. We were sat at the bar (our choice) once we sat we were informed of all the amazing wines that they served we got tasting of what was on the menu and we were left to choose what we wanted let me tell you everything we were offered was amazing
Overall experience: I will definitely recommend this place to anyone and everyone food menu is to die for steamed mussels come on now. We met the owner who was absolutely amazing I will definitely be going back to enjoy everything this gem has to offer and I truly suggest you all get a taste of the place !!!

A friend and I were looking for a cute dinner spot for a weeknight catch-up. We both wanted to go somewhere local and so found this spot! The food was just okay and portions were huge, but the service was really great. I also love the historic location, so that's hard to beat. I hope they improve the food for the future. I want to like this place more and I'd only ever come back if I was in the area. Quick rundown of what we ordered below:

Jamon Charcuterie Plate: enjoyed the jamón, warm bread, apricots, and nuts. Wished there was another variety of cheese cuz there was only 1 (I think?). The house made mustard didn't pair well with the board even though it tasted nice.

Wedge Salad: HUGE! Probably better to share if you have 3 or 4 people, but me and my friend definitely couldn't finish it. Wish we asked for the dressing on the side because there was too much. It tasted too salty overall because there was too much of the fried shallots, dressing, and pork belly.

Bolognese: pretty tasty but also over salted. I appreciated the large portion, but if it was less salty then we definitely would have cleaned up the plate. This dish almost hit the mark though.

Strawberry shortcake dessert: normally I would skip dessert but I needed something to cleanse my palette from the salty dishes...it was pretty good overall, but nothing mind blowing!

Service: very attentive and friendly staff. Pretty knowledgeable about the drink menu which was nice.

Ambience: inside was really cute and I appreciate the atmosphere - it was exactly what we were looking for. I liked their little bar area with TVs in the back...there's a little bit of everything for everyone here, and it all still feels laid back and welcoming.

I still recommend giving this place a try but most of their stars are awarded more for service, ambiance, and a nice drink menu.

WOW! The food at this restaurant is wonderful! The atmosphere is very vibrant. Reservations are recommended.

This is our first time trying out this place and after reading the rave reviews we were excited to do date night here. We didn't make a reservation so we sat at the bar, but that was fine with us.

Firstly, the service sucked. The service was SO slow. There were people who came in after us and got their meal before us. I tried to flag down this server who just looked at me, said he'd be back and then decided to make small talk with other customers and totally forgot about us. It took a long time for us to find a server who would give us our bill. And once we paid, we immediately left and will not be back.

Now for the food:

Bahn Mi ($17) - There's pork marinated in a Vietnamese seasonings and pickled vegetables all wrapped in a soft baguette bun. For $17 you get almost half a baguette with a bunch of fries, which is too expensive. The meal was good - the pork wasn't overcooked, it was very flavorful, the bun was soft, and the veggies were seasoned well and fresh. The fries were pretty weak, and I wish I could have changed it to a salad instead.

My husband got their Steak Frites ($29.50) - A filet mignon with garlic parmesan fries and creamy horseradish sauce. When this dish came, it was literally only meat and fries. The fries weren't even good - They weren't even warm to the touch, and the parmesan did nothing for the taste of them. The filet mignon didn't look like it was medium rare - but when he ate it, it was tender. But it was also bland, and it was advertised as coming with horseradish sauce, which wasn't anywhere on the chopping board the meal came on.

You know, I thought his filet was decent, but it didn't look medium rare as shown in my pictures - maybe I just think of medium rare as being more pink in the middle instead of brown.

It's been a long since I've updated our review, and thankfully, I am going to for our experience last night!

First off, I recommend making a reservation. This place is small and quaint. It seats about 40 people inside and about 10 or 15 outside. There's a 8 seater table in the middle of the restaurant that is sometimes used for a communal type of situation but around it there are smaller tables placed together for a table of 4 or pulled apart for a table of 2. You get the idea.

Now, the menu is really specialized in what they can do and nothing extensive. Don't think you've got 1000 options coming here. There are pretty common items like a hamburger, chicken sandwich, salads, flatbreads, and pasta. They've got an option of meats, sauce, and two sides. Honestly, it's a little hit-and-miss for us. We've had the bolognese, sausage pasta, mushroom flatbread, mussels, and filet. I do not recommend the sausage pasta - it wasn't what we were expecting but the added mushrooms was a great touch. The mushroom flatbread is okay but I'm not an arugula fan and it's all over the top of it. I had the filet last night and while well seasoned, it was overcooked. It came out more of a medium or medium well rather than the medium rare. The kitchen was running a little behind, so I imagine it was busy.

I REALLY recommend their bolognese because it's over pappardelle pasta and near perfect.

Also, take a glance over the bar to the chalk board and see what wines are on special. It's worth the look because we had quilt last night -- and honestly? That was worth adventuring into this place on it's own.

Service was really good but I could tell they were a little behind and short staffed. It's fine because I appreciate supporting a smaller business.

Amazing food and lovely service! Was immediately greeted with a welcoming smile from Bobby who proceeded to give us outstanding personalized food and wine recommendations. We had the scallops (on lobster risotto -- oh my!) and the bolognese with in-house ground rib-eye (another oh my!). We love big bold reds and he recommended a delicious cab sauv from Priest Ranch (which is rarely seen on a restaurant wine list), and it was well priced to boot! We usually are not dessert people, but when he said strawberry shortcake made with a homemade biscuit -- Southern style -- I was sold. It was truly just like my grandmother's. The ambiance is super cozy, reminds me of NYC. You should definitely make a reservation. We will definitely come here again!

Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the Bahn Mi but the flavors were great! Everything was tender and rich in both meat and vegetables. Too much fries though in my opinion. Would've preferred the Bahn Mi to be bigger and less fries.
Beet Salad is one of my favorite salads and if I see it in the menu, I always get it. Overall it was great. Right amount of cheese and walnuts. However I did feel that the vinaigrette was a bit too sour.
The shop is really cute and it's definitely better to have a reservation. Gets really crowded especially on weekends.
Service was decent to be honest. Seems like there's a lot of regulars and they get serviced quick but others had to wait. We had to wait quite a bit for the food but that was understandable since there was a lot of people.

This restaurant is great. The personalized service and friendly staff are nothing short of amazing. The food was great. The ambiance was quaint. The waiter paired a great wine with the food we ordered. Top notch. If ever in Downtown Torrance, you have to stop by restoration Kitchen.

How have I lived in Torrance for as long as I have and not been to this restaurant?

I kid you not, we literally ordered everything off the menu with the exception of the pork buns. Here is my honest review of the place.

Atmosphere, we sat outside so nothing special. It's maybe a 15x20 seating space with maybe 10 outdoor tables.

Service- started off slow but then the experience became exceptionally well. They really took care of us once we were ready to order

Food- my favorite topic. As stated before, we ordered almost 95% of the menu. We really wanted to try everything. I should have taken more pictures for you, but here were our favorites: wings, flatbread, garlic shrimp, short rib pontine fries and Brussels sprouts. Everything else was still very good but if you order any of the items I just mentioned, you'll be stoked. The only item we ordered that wasn't as great as we hoped was the bolognese pasta. It wasn't terrible, but didn't stand out.

I feel like the biggest struggle for most kitchens is finding a good balanced flavor that isn't too rich but still incredibly flavorful and this place nailed it.

Overall- I would absolutely recommend this place. Wouldn't think twice sending anyone here as a recommendation. I didn't get a chance to walk inside but from outside looking in, it did look cozy and classy. Would try and get a table inside next time to get the full experience.