Mendocino Farms — Restaurant in Culver City

A great place to grab a quick bite, Mendocino Farms offers a la carte sandwiches and salads made with locally sourced ingredients. My favorites are:

Kurobuta Pork Belly Banh Mi: The pork belly is caramelized and has minimal to almost no fat. The housemade pickled daikon & carrots help cut through the richness of the meat. Jalapeño adds a nice bite and the cucumbers a cooling effect.

Vegan Dosa: A different approach to a Masala Dosa, this one is wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla, or as I call it a Mexican Roti. Similar flavors are at play with coconut curried cauliflower mash and Tamarind and mint chutney. Braised jackfruit adds a meaty texture and fills out this vegan dish to make it filling.

Kale Caesar: A salad that doesn't feel like punishment. Hearty kale is mixed with tender butter lettuce and crisp romaine. The lemon Parmesan vinaigrette packs flavor without weighing this salad down. Crispy wheatberries, red onions, grape tomatoes, and avocado add dimension. Add chicken if you need extra protein.

PB3: this one is on the secret menu and only occasionally available. Gooey, crunchy, salty, sweet this is the holy grail of a peanut butter sandwich. It has house made peanut butter, bacon, crispy apples, caramelized bananas and honey roasted almonds all on panini grilled bread. It's decadent, it's messy, and elusive but if it's available it will not dissapoint.

Also any sandwich can be made into a salad, ask for their dressing recommendation. They have yet to fail me. Call ahead or visit their website for their sides and soup selection. Everything is made fresh so running out of an item is a possibility. If you are dead set on getting something and its later in the day it's worthy calling ahead.

Beverages include craft beer, Puck's made with real sugar sodas, lemonade, juice and milk for the children's menu.

Indoor seating is limited, large groups may need to split. There is outdoor seating but it is shared with the...

My Ranking:

peruvian steak ($13.95) on potato roll plus Avocado ($1.75). STOLE the show. Was our absolute favorite. The potato roll which tasted like brioche, was topped with a flavorful and juicy sauced up steak. The avocado was not needed and kind of made the sandwich mushy.

pork belly ciabatta bahn mi ($12.65) - an Asian American fusion bahn min. Not quite a bahn Mi but extremely fresh tasting and amazing sauce. The thick pickled carrots and radishes were a nice touch.

not so fried chicken sandwhich ($11.75) - lightly breaded chicken with a generous portion of lightly dressed coleslaw on ciabatta. Was voluminous in size and tasted quite fresh.

Thai mango salad with ramen noodles with Thai almond dressing ($14.30) - tasted like a unique an elevated Asian chicken salad. The mango was quite sour but didn't detract from the taste. The noodles were a nice carb addition to the salad. A lighter healthier option than the other sandwich options.

Chimichurri steak & bacon on a sesame roll ($13.90) - the sesame roll was too crunchy/hard/dry. Personally a very plain sandwich compared to the other choices. Flavors were straightforward as it tasted like Chimichurri, steak, and bacon.

Chimichurri steak & Shishito bowl ($15.10) - the pickled red onions were a great touch. Flavor was there, overall a very enjoyable and hearty bowl. Compared to the others the only downfall was the steak was a bit tough, some of the shishito peppers altered from bitter to spicy (although surprisingly the bitter paired with the slightly sour mainly sweet pickled red onions and lemon was still quite tasty). Overall a very delicious & hearty bowl, just other items out ranked it.

Love Mendocino for their taste but sometimes it can get a tad oily would get again for sure :)

The Culver City location has free 30 min parking in the garage and also a round about behind the restaurant for quick pick...

I love Mendocino Farm food! But tonight, I didn’t enjoy it as much because of the service and atmosphere of the Marina Del Rey, CA restaurant my husband and I ate at around 6 pm. The table we chose had crumbs of food so I asked one of the staff, who was engaged in conversation with two others, to please clean our chosen table. She did with one spray from her cleaning bottle and a quick wipe and went back to her co-workers who continued chatting. I felt she could have spent more time cleaning because the empty table next to us also had crumbs, and looking down on the floor, I also then noticed the floor had napkins and crumbs of food all over the area. I was about to sit down when I saw crumbs in my chair. None of the staff saw me (or cared enough to look?) when I got a napkin to wipe my chair clean. I felt I couldn’t interrupt their ongoing conversation. When my husband’s November to Remember sandwich came, it was NOT put together stacked and kept together with a stick as the picture by the cashier showed. See my photo. The presentation was just not up to par. I had ordered the Thai fried chicken sandwich and tomato basil soup and quickly ate that up because I didn’t feel like staying longer lest I notice other things that would NOT add to my enjoyment of dinner. I don’t expect Mendocino to be like a fine dining place but neither is it fast food. I’ve seen cleaner and more attentive McDonalds staff whose price is...