Restaurant Calla — Restaurant in Lake Charles

Went on a Wednesday for dinner at about 6:30pm. First time going and we really enjoyed it!

Location: away from the primary area of LC. Next to the Bekery. A really nice neighborhood with apartments and small businesses. Parking onsite is free but limited with most parking available on the Roadside or behind the Bekery.

Atmosphere: very clean, modern and airy. Mostly table seating (indoor, outside balcony, and bar seating available). The restaurant is actually on the second floor (when you walk in, walk straight to the back & turn right- there's an elevator there). They dimmed the lights as the sun set. Good lighting (overhead and table top). Attire is mostly business casual. A good place for socializing, date or special occasion. Not really for kids.

Service: Very friendly. They seemed short staffed but handled it well. Kept refills going and boxed up leftovers.

Food: absolutely delicious. We couldn't decide what we liked most- it was all spot on! We ordered the loaded fries appetizer, hanger steak with mac & cheese, and the lamb. All of it was seasoned very well, cooked to request, and tasted fresh. This place definitely feels passionate about their food!

Menu: appetizers included fries, bread, Deviled eggs, shrimp, chips, bone marrow tartare, blue crab Benedict, fried oysters, etc. which ranged $7.50-$35. Salads were about $13.50-$19. Burgers, chicken/pork sandwich $17. Entrees of lamb, steak, mushroom & truffle pasta, short ribs, fish, quail, shrimp & grits ranging $24-$63. Sides included asparagus, mac & cheese, Brussel sprouts, & veggies ranging $9.50-$11.50. The most expensive entree was a 14oz ribeye for $63; cheapest was 1 quail or the shrimp & grits for $24.

Price: I would assume the average person spends $50-60 per person here if buying an entree & side & drink.

Overall, a really refreshing, great tasting dining experience. I would definitely rank this as one of the best...

The food was delicious and the service was great, so I'll explain why I gave 3 stars....I looked at the menu days before our reservation and was immediately drawn to the mushroom and TRUFFLE pasta with scallops. After we sat down and chatted with our server, she informed me that they we're out of scallops. No big deal, as they allowed me to substitute with other seafood options. However, when our food arrived, my pasta was WITHOUT truffles. I informed the server and the chef came to our table. He explained that they were out of truffles because they were not in season. I have a couple issues with this....Firstly, summer truffles ARE in season from early May to September. Secondly, if you're out of truffles, fine, but tell the server ahead of time or take the dish off the menu! You shouldn't serve a dish called 'mushroom and truffle pasta' without the truffles! Period. And then, you still charge the customer the same price without the truffles....really?! For me, the truffles were the main appeal of the dish, as you don't come across those often. It just felt like "oh well, they won't notice." And maybe an uneducated diner might not notice, but either way, that's not fair to the customer. The only reason I didn't raise more of an issue about it at the time was because I had just proposed to my fiancée before dinner and I didn't want the mood to turn because of our food. With all that being said, our food was delicious. The fried oysters were amazing, flavorful, and full of textures. The short rib was tasty and tender. My pasta was great too...the sauce was packed full of flavor and umami, yet was light and balanced. Only bad thing was the missing truffles. Our server was great. She was polite, prompt and kind. She also made up for the mishap with a free dessert. The atmosphere was soft, intimate and inviting. I would have liked to give 5 stars but...

First, let me start by: I really wanted to like this place…

Unfortunately, as you can see in the picture: that didn’t work out.

Our outing started out nice for my birthday brunch, but half way through my “chefs choice” omelette I was in for a rude awakening.

I was pretty grossed out at what I found in my omelette (dark hair) and even more so at the conflict resolution between my server (Mary) and the Chef’s resolve.

Firstly, we brought this up very calmly and kindly to our server and asked her if she could please take the plate away and she was apologetic (and SUPER soft spoken).

I asked her as a alternative to the situation if she could bring just a new side of pulled pork and avocado sauce (the filling of the “chefs choice” omelette).

I was extremely shocked (and even more grossed out) when she came back and said “chef inspected for more hairs and said it was clear and replated it for you”. 😳

I was really confused as to why they would replate the same omelette I was grossed out by and found the hair in and try to pass it off as okay.

I was simply asking for a “new side of the pulled pork” I don’t know where that got lost in translation…

When I asked our server (Mary) for the check, my girlfriend noticed she charged us for a pulled pork sandwich ($16) when we ordered a $22 chef choice omelette. We brought it up to her and she mentioned she wrote a sandwich when she first took the order. Very confusing and seems avoidant on behalf the management here. I figured a manager or even the chef would have tried to come out and resolve or at least be apologetic about the unwanted hair in my food.

Sucks that this was my birthday brunch experience. Unfortunately, we won’t be coming back...