G. Charles here to give you another lowdown on the latest in L.A. cuisine...
Cafe Was is the new Ivan Kane joint in town. Now arguably I am not
Ivan Kane's demographic, so his nightclubs have never held any allure
for me, but I have known him to be a pretty polished
kind of guy who likes to do things big! So, when some friends of mine
invited me along for a Sunday brunch at CAFE WAS, I opted
in. Ivan's restaurant is very well appointed and reminds me a bit of
what the restaurant love child of Disney's GOLDEN HORSESHOE REVUE and THE
HAUNTED MANSION would
look like.
Here's what I liked about the place: I found the service to be friendly. I liked the decor. I liked my food.
Here's what I did not like:
We raked up a very large bill.
This included all five of us ordering the $15 "bottomless" brunch
cocktails. Our bill for food and bev came out to over $250. And the
waiter, as he was setting down the bill, told us the bartender was
cutting us off on our "bottomless" brunch cocktails. So I guess we
found the bottom (Blogger's Note: there was no reason to cut us off.
We weren't being rude or disorderly. In fact, we are a bunch of
middle-aged adults who know how to handle ourselves properly.
Our waiter was training a new waitstaff
employee. So we rarely saw our actual waiter. Except for when he took
our order, cut us off at the bar, and came out to apologize for taking
30 minutes (actual time, not exaggerated) to get us the continental
breakfast that we ordered for the entire table to share.
On my second trip to Cafe Was (with family), we parked on the street, right in front.
When we came into the restaurant (four of us for lunch), I asked the
host, the waiter and the bartender, if they would make change for TWO
DOLLARS, so I could feed the parking meter outside. ALL OF THEM
REFUSED TO MAKE CHANGE FOR ME. They told me that they don't have any
change! The bartender even told me that they round up to the dollar,
so there isn't any change! Then, he told me to go two doors down and
ask for quarters at a coffeeshop. Which I ended up having to do.
Thankfully the employee at the coffee place was able to pull two bucks
worth of quarters out of her tip jar. So I gave her $3 back.
On my second trip, I ordered the continental again and asked for
grapefruit juice. The glass of "juice" they brought me was so bad that
it tasted like lemon juice. I actually think it was lemon juice, with
a tiny bit of grapefruit juice that they had left over. When I
questioned my waitress about it, she seemed to be expecting this from
me. She brought me OJ instead and told me that I was certain to like
it better. She was right. Perhaps she should have brought OJ instead
when she discovered that the grapefruit juice was actually lemon
juice? Or at the very least, come back to my table and asked if I
wouldn't prefer something other than the lemon juice the bartender was
eager to pour for me.
So...upon review of the above pro/con list, it appears as though my
con list surpasses the pros. Good service is more than JUST friendly
service, and Cafe Was did not offer that to me and my guests on either
of the two times I went there.
Good atmosphere is important, but it doesn't make up for walking
two doors down to get quarters, or for being cut off at the bar.
I
did like the steak and eggs I ate on my first trip there. And the
continental breakfasts that I had were delicious too. But this is Los
Angeles, and I can get really good food at a number of places.
Sorry to be such a wet blanket on this one, but this is what I
thought of the place. I'd be interested to hear back from HIH readers
who've been to CAFE WAS. Like I say, the food was good, and my
friends still love going there. But I don't think I'll be back anytime
soon.
- G.
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