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Los Angeles: Ca' Brea

346-348 LaBrea Avenue , Phone: (323) 938-2863

Reviewed by: teachick from CA, review #1834

When: 2006

Overpriced wine, tasteless sauces, no knowledge of bar drinks, and to top it off, the valet gave me back my car with an empty gas tank!

I ate at Ca'Brea for the second time last evening. I was looking forward to good wines, authentic Northern Italian dishes, and a good Amaro as a digestivo after my meal. Other than our very attentive waiter, I was very disappointed...

The food was so-so, though the beef medallions with a mushroom sauce was so utterly tasteless, I was astounded. Also, our one bottle of Acacia Pinot Noir, which is generally set at a very reasonable price and is a Napa Valley wine, was a whopping $50!

Then, at the end of the meal I asked for my Amaro. I knew they had them as I had had one once before during my previous visit to the restaurant. My waiter said they did not have them. He even went to the bar to double check and asked the bartender, who also had not even HEARD of them and swore they did not have them as well.

Then, just as I walked up to order something else, I saw not one, but THREE different Amaros on the top shelf of the bar! I, the customer, had to explain to the bartender, who was not Italian, that they did, indeed, have what they had sworn they did not. He said no one ever orders them. The waiter said the same. I guess that makes them invisible?

After a three and a half hour dinner, my friend and I went outside to retrieve our cars from the valet. I noticed my car was right in front of the door. It's a tiny parking lot but it was RIGHT up front and had a great view of incoming cars. And then I also found, AFTER I had paid the valet fee and given a generous tip, that most of my gas was gone! They had obviously used my car as the car to hang out in with the engine running so they could listen to music. Either that or they drove it. After over three hours they had eaten up the little gas I had left. My digital reader in my car said I had 60 miles left worth of gas when I gave it to them. It was down to under 35 when I got it back. The empty gas tank light was even on! So, I paid THEM to use my car!

Needless to say, I will never go back there again.

This review is the opinion of a Slow Travel member and not of slowtrav.com.

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