Velvet Lounge — Restaurant in Culver City

I really wanted to like this place. And I really wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt when the experience wasn’t optimal throughout the night. But our experience just went from bad to worse and really doesn’t deserve more than 2 stars - which I don’t believe I’ve ever given before.

Let’s start with the positives: the ambience is great. It’s loud and bustling - we were there on a Saturday night, it was busy, there was live music (a pianist and a saxophonist), the bar was popular and busy, you get the picture. The place looks great - a nicely decorated boutique hotel with an almost art deco-like style.

Several of the dishes we had also were quite good, including one of the best onion soups I’ve had in a long time.

But where it all fell down was the service. Our waiter seemed very absent-minded. He was also quite busy, and seemed to have to cover a lot of tables. We first ordered drinks, naming them. He looked at us slightly confused, seemingly not recognizing the names, so we pointed them out on the menu.

When they arrived, one of them was the wrong drink and we had to send it back. It can happen.

A window near our table was open and it was a chilly, windy night, resulting in a very unpleasant draft. We had to ask to have the window closed twice.

When our appetizers arrived, I had ordered the (excellent) onion soup, which didn’t come with a spoon, and we had to work to flag someone down to get me one.

The mussels were good (an odd combination with goat cheese that really worked), although several of them had stayed closed, which isn’t the greatest thing to serve.

We then waited for our entrees for 35 minutes, and when they arrived, they got my entree wrong. This was surprising, since the waiter had repeated our order back to us and he definitely repeated it back correctly. They gave me a (more expensive) wagyu steak instead of the burger I had ordered, and I decided to keep it since I didn’t want to wait even longer and be out of sync with my dining partner. The steak was pretty tasty.

They apologized for the mistake and offered us free dessert. We decided to share a slice of chocolate cake, which took quite a while to come out (and was delicious), so after we finished we were ready to pay and leave, but it took a very long time for us to be able to flag down our waiter, among other things because there was an issue with the check of the table next to us and it took quite a while to get resolved.

After we had asked for the check, it took more than 10 minutes and we still hadn’t gotten it, after which I had just lost my patience and asked to speak to a manager. The manager came over and apologized, and explained that they had a large private event running which had been challenging. While I can appreciate that that’s challenging (and it confirmed the fact that our waiter seemed spread thin), it isn’t a great excuse - don’t accept reservations from guests you can’t ensure will have a good experience if you’re running a large event. I made this comment to the manager, to which she replied that the reservations had all already been accepted when they decided to take the private event on last-minute, which… yeah.

She did comp my entree and got us the check quickly, at which point we were able to leave, but it really left a bad taste and an overall poor experience. Too bad - the atmosphere and the food were deserving of more.

Several tables around us were visibly unhappy with the service/wait time. I guess they just overextended themselves, which lead to a series of unfortunate event. I feel bad for mentioning/complaining about small things like not getting a spoon with my soup - something that can easily happen and is really not a big deal. But that night it was clearly part of a pattern of lack of attentiveness or attention to detail that made this an experience I’d rather...

The staff were on point. The hostess was friendly, and the server was attentive, sweet, and kind.

The place is beautiful. I’ve been coming to the Culver Hotel for 2 decades and I love the decor.

The tea was good. 5/5 They had a selection of 2 blacks, 3 greens, and 3 herbals. You chose one to start, you could get extra water once you finished your pot, or you could get a new tea. I chose the earl grey and then I mixed the green with mint. My mom had the jasmine green, and her friend had the passionate pear green. We all enjoyed our teas. My mom like warmed milk in her tea, so the server had some steamer for us.

The food was hit and miss. 3/5 The berries and cream were okay. The strawberries looked ripe, but weren’t very sweet. The scones were good, but very small. They came with whipped cream (not clotted cream) and jam on the side. The desserts were a mix of excellent and okay. I loved the tiramisus, especially the passionfruit. My mom loved the lemon macaron. Some of the cakes were. Little dry, and some of the mini cheesecakes, didn’t have as much flavor as I would have expected. The sandwiches were okay. The cucumber, cream cheese, and basil was great. The game and cheese croissant was yummy, but I wish it had been warm. The egg salad wasn’t that flavorful. The lobster roll was the cold version; I only like hot rolls, but my mom loved this one. (Each person got one small scone, 4 finger sandwiches, and 3 mini desserts (1 macaron, 1 tiramisu (they call it this, but it tastes like a layered mini cake), 1 cheesecake). These are 1-2 bites each.

This was listed on DineLA. When you make a reservation through OpenTable, it’s listed as an event. Thus it is prepaid with no refunds. You are told that once you book it, you cannot make adjustments through OpenTable, only by calling the restaurant. For high tea it is $45/person. There were three of us, so it was $135, but this is a prepaid event, so, there is a 4% service charge ($5.40), a 20% gratuity ($27.00), and 10.25% tax ($17.15). Total$184.56 (~ $61.75/person)

Overall: 3.5-4 /5

It’s nice for a west side high tea and a beautiful hotel, but it’s not the best high tea I’ve been to. I don’t need a fancy high tea, but if you’re going to call it high tea- a British thing- at least have clotted cream. I’d have liked bigger/more scones, and more finger sandwiches...

Updated review on Oct 13, 2023 - 4 Stars

I first visited for dinner when they reopened and enjoyed the live music and authentic French ambiance.

I returned to Lillie's recently for their $15 prix-fixe Dine LA lunch special - one entrée and a fresh chocolate chip cookie. My wife and I sat in the sunny courtyard with our dog and started with six oysters from the happy hour menu. The oysters tasted fresh but were on the small side, just as I remembered from dinner.

For my entrée, the smash burger overflowed with flavor reminiscent of In-N-Out burger. However, the chicken sandwich lacked sauce and was bland in comparison. Both entrees arrived artfully plated on fine French dinnerware, elevating the overall experience. The warm chocolate cookie was the perfect sweet finale fresh from the oven.

Between the patio seating, prompt service, and premium touches, Lillie's $15 lunch special meet expectations.

Original review - 5 Stars Lillie's Bistro is a French bistro located in the heart of downtown Culver City, right at the first floor of the historic Culver Hotel. There's an underground parking lot with free 60-minute parking.

These days, I rarely order drinks in restaurants because they are mostly over-priced water down alcohol drinks. My wife & I made an exception because it was our anniversary. And, these drinks are legit! They are delicious with the proper amount of alcohol.

We ordered half a dozen oysters, burrata, and steak frites. And all of them met and beat our expectations. The waiters were attentive and friendly. My only minor complaint is that they could organize a bit better. When our oysters came, there weren't any proper utensils came with the dish. And when the waiter came back, he gave us only one spoon when there were two sauces.

The live band & performance started at 7pm. It's a cozy restaurant and the live music really brought the place to...