Bourbon Steak by Michael Mina — Restaurant in Glendale

We decided to celebrate my promotion with nice dinner at our long forgotten. When we went on OpenTable to make a reservation we saw we had pur pick of times, at 6p on a Friday night. This should have been our red flag but decided why not? We were immediately greeted and a minute later we were off to be seated. The hostess offered to switch our napkins for the darker ones. She immediately returned. We sat at our table for a moment and were greeted by our waiter's assistant. He offered waters and waters brought along with menues. We sat for at least seven minutes before our waiter, Oscar, came to check in and take our drink order. Our drinks arrived, delicious per usual and our waters get refilled. We place our order and off we go. The caesar salad arrives, light on the garlic strurssle; the beef tartar arrives, sans egg yet, the bone marrow we ordered was no where to be seen. If you have ever had the tartar and bone marrow together, you know. After a bite of the tartar and watching my fiance finish the caesar, Oscar makes an appearance to see how everything is. I let him know it had been 7 minutes since we received the food in front of us and were still waiting on a portion of the course. He apologized and said he'd send a manager over. At this point Angela came over, apologized, stated she would look into the issue. As soon as she left our table our bone marrow came out. When we finished our appetizers, it was the most bizarre experience. The server assistant came and refilled our waters and placed an extra butter knife and fork in front of my fiance and myself. No more than 30 seconds later he came out and placed another set of flatware. On our table for 2, we had enough flatware for a party of 5. At this point, we've come to terms with this is not the restaurant it once was. The empasis on steps of service and guest experience, are gone. The level of service provided would embarrass a shift supervisor at Black Angus.

Our waiter came by and looked at the flatware on the table, didn't say a word and simply cleared it off the table and set it with appropriate utinsels. One look at the steak, you could instantly tell it spent some time in holding / staging / heatlamp area, the bernaise topper was solidified and what should have been a perfect medium rare had lost all signs of pinkness. The brussel sprouts were an absolute salt bomb, however kudos for a passable potato puree.

After we had finished what we could, the assistant came by and boxed our leftovers and awkwardly left the boxes on the table. Without saying a word, our server came by our table, placed the boxes in a brown bag and walked away. Oscar came back with a token and stated we would be able to retrieve our food from the hostess stand when we left. He offered dessert, he went on about a chocolate lava cake, with two scoops of ice cream, luxardo cherries and a cookie crisp. This was an easy yes.

Then what arrived...The Bourbon Steak 24k gold Sundae. Which, while a great sundae, was absolutely not what was described. At this point, we ask for the check, they removed the bone marrow, paid our bill and proceeded to the host stand.

When we handed our token to one of the hostesses, she asked what it was for. This is comical, embarassing and unfortunately a direct reflection of what management has allowed to occur. We let her know it's for our food.

This used to be a go to standard. Service was typically impeccable, some servers even gettong 50 to 100 percet tips on bills. Sadly, the luster is gone and good enough has become good enough. Minus the closing interaction with Moss, theres no reason to come here. The server's don't care enough to properly describe menu offerings and put in orders correctly, assistants don't care enough to keep waters full and management either doesn't know or worse, doesn't care. The interaction with the servers was disingenuous and sterile while the conversation with management appeared to set the night in the right direction it proved to be nothing more than the appearance of motion instead of accountability...

I visited Bourbon Steak House with a friend, eager to indulge in what we'd heard would be a top-tier burger experience. The price point—around $150 for two burgers, a couple of sides, and two drinks—certainly suggested we were in for excellent food and service. Unfortunately, our experience was marred by multiple lapses in both categories.

From the outset, we had straightforward needs: two different burgers, a duck spring roll, crispy potatoes, a Negroni for myself, and a Michalada-style beer for my friend. Since I don't like mustard and mayo, I was specific in asking for the sauces to be served on the side—a simple request, I presumed, that wouldn’t be difficult to honor.

Our meal's issues began as soon as the burgers arrived. Immediately, I saw that my burger had sauce on it, contradicting my explicit instructions for it to be served separately. Our bartender, Finn, assured me the burgers were correct. But as I lifted the bun, I saw the mustard aioli I'd specifically asked to avoid. My friend found his burger to be quite dry and lacking the peppercorn sauce and Dijon that were supposed to be included. Finn did offer to replace my burger, but I declined because waiting another 20 minutes for food was not part of our evening plans.

Given the cost of our meal—around $150—it seemed reasonable to expect that any mistakes would be swiftly and graciously rectified. When these issues arose, we thought a small discount would be a reasonable way for the restaurant to acknowledge the oversights. Astonishingly, not only was no discount offered, but Finn also became argumentative when questioned about this. His defense was that he had offered to replace the burger, seemingly oblivious to the idea that at this price point, the service should have been spot-on from the beginning.

Frustrated, we asked to speak to the manager, Lauren. Rather than resolving the situation, she exacerbated it by treating us as though we were trying to scam a free meal. Her comment that "our burgers only take 2 seconds to make" was not only baffling but also unacceptable. A $30 burger, part of a $150 meal, should require a lot more care and time than "2 seconds" to prepare.

The ordeal didn't end after we left the restaurant. Lauren actually called me minutes later to continue arguing her point, talking over me as if I needed to be educated on how a restaurant functions. I had to remind her that she was not my grade school teacher and that I deserved the same level of respect she would expect as a customer.

In summary, our high expectations for Bourbon Steak House were not met, leaving us feeling disrespected and unheard. Any food errors might have been forgivable, but coupled with the glaring lapses in customer service, especially at this price point, the overall experience was unacceptable. Therefore, I cannot recommend this establishment and will be taking my...

I am a huge huge fan of this place. Sadly, because of Covid, we were stuck in Germany for the past two years and could not go. However, it's been a tradition with two dear friends to always take them for the happy hour the moment we come back. This helps us not to get to bed in the afternoon - deadly for jet lag - and was always a treat for two dear friends who usually can't go - it's simply over their budget.

So I made a reservation for 5pm happy hour on their website, stated in comments we were coming for the very same (you get seated in the bar or on the patio and not in the restaurant which is perfectly fine for us), checked in with the front lady "we are here for the happy hour" - and being led to the restaurant, which was far too fancy for the friends.

Worse, this time they saved money and insisted it was their treat. Disaster: no more happy hour. No one bothered to told us - and I really wanted to leave. Our friends insisted we stay. I know, our meal was severely over their budget but we did not want to hurt their pride because, after all the years, they finally wanted to invite us.

I stayed on water and we all skipped the starter to limited the damage. We eventually had a good time and the food was excellent as always - I had a bit of bad luck as I am allergic to certain greens and that include cucumber. I made sure the waiter knew - and still my burger had them. I did not want to make a fuss to spoil their show - it meant so much to them - even further, and ate what I could eat, which was OK.

The service was immaculate, but being told that instead of happy hour prices we were upgraded to stay in the restaurant with the bar menu and get a free treat of fries really did not go well with me.

I am sorry, but I was very disappointed, particularly since this is the end of a ten year tradition and possibly 50 visits for the same reason.

Until few moments I was tempted not to post this. I sent it to Michael Mina and the restaurant Manager Chris instead. The response I got was less than impressive. After all, it was my fault ;-) I will not go again.

THAT was a previous five star review. Went with friends and enjoyed the happy hour. "Snacks" are 50% off - duck fat fries, honey glazed Brussel​ sprouts, brie & honey, lamp lollipops, burgers - the works.

They did definitely exceed my expectations - and yes, I would not only come back but do a detour any time.

I would come early though, as with the start of the (absolutely wonderful) live jazz music, the conversation between the four of us became...