The Proper Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in La Cañada Flintridge

After being openly insulted by the night shift small-man smal- minded uninformed Napoleonic General Manager Saturday August 29th in front of my neighbor and fellow Detective whom I had brought to The Proper to continue a quiet conversation and to experience what has always been tasty food I returned home and telephoned the restaurant to attempt to inform the manager of the actual language and provisions in the American With Disabilities Act, namely that there is no such provision relating to my handling of my service dog while in the restaurant which that could "cost the restaurant their license".

What transpired in the telephone conversation cemented my assumption that this little man has very little real Hospitality Industry experience and certainly no people skills when representing the owners who have put so much into developing The Proper.

The service animal who accompanies me everywhere is a hand-signal-trained, absolute professional that has been in The Proper with me many times before, even been introduced to Brady the owner. This animal is extraordinarily clean, had just been professionally groomed, is silent when working with me, lays on my feet under the table as trained to do and keeps a very close watch on me at all times as is her job. This training and behavior ensures that her presence in any public place meets all requirements of the ADA.

Speaking to the "Manager" by telephone I inquired what in the ADA did he think gave him the right to be so insulting, in front of another guest? He responded saying some woman had come in the week before with a bird which she insisted was a service animal and something about his father had been a Marine therefore my having described the level of training my service dog has and that we had just recently returned from working in Afghanistan did not impress him.

I attempted to read the ADA language addressing The Proper handling of service animals in restaurants to him but apparently knowing and following the Act was not his objective at all. There are only a very few provisions in the Act which establish the guidelines for which a service animal can be prohibited, primarily involving hygiene, disobedience or defecation. None of these were at issue.

To those whose health and or safety are protected by valued, trained professional service animals and to those who are accustomed to being treated well The Proper may not be The Proper choice. Certainly I and no one I pay for will ever be...

Great food, great staff, amazing ambiance and really nice owners. This is not a quiet restaurant. Go there to laugh, celebrate and have a good time.

90% of the 100 or so meals we have had there have been impeccable. If I had one minor critique it would be that sometimes plating could be better. The sauces are occasionally inconsistant, and not needed? They make a amazing fried chicken. Don't use the butter sauce that comes with it, I'm not a fan... That fried chicken is the absolute best friend chicken I have ever had without it. Crispy, light, Tender, juicy, flavorful. Amazing... I dream about it with a good crispy light (not doughy) waffle and a blended pure vermont maple & butter syrup... But that's not how it comes. A girl can wish... lol. My favorite dishes: -Fried chicken -Cauliflower Hummus ask for less bread (it's good but too much) and more of those farm to table veggies -Short ribs -Deviled eggs -Crab balls -The home made soups ( They are all delicious,!!!) -All their salads -The salmon the amazing brussel sprouts Enjoy... P.s. The drinks are very good. Reservations...

My wife, Sara, and I dined at The Proper last night. It was our first time there. I had very recently become aware of it on Yelp. We were treated very well by our server, Connor, and by another man, whose name we do not know. He probably was an assistant manager. We asked him about the history and the décor of the restaurant. He offered to have the owner stop by our table to answer questions he was more in a position to address. The owner, Rick, did come by and we had nice chat. Rick and his staff are terrific folks. And we really enjoyed the food. Sara had the chicken piccata and I had the jambalaya pasta. We enjoyed a bottle of Sonoma Cutrer chardonnay and the warm butter toffee cake for dessert. It was an all-around terrific evening. Sara wants to try the miso salmon next time and I will probably order the blackened shrimp tacos. Another thing that’s a plus is that we don’t eat red meat or pork - we’re fish and fowl only – and there are many items on The Proper’s menu that we can eat. And we may elect to dine in the bar on our next visit, which is really cool...