Bar Americano — Restaurant in Los Angeles

We were excited to try this place out as we are Lakers season tix holders and are tired of the LA Live options. The atmosphere is great! The food we ordered was actually good or had potential, except the Ceasar salad. It may have been ok when it was first made, but as we sat for 25 minutes after ordering without our server even coming by and asking if we needed another drink watching several tables around us that ordered way after us get their food, I finally flagged her down. I asked why the salad wasn't brought out yet, and she basically said, oh I thought you'd wanted everything at once. Obviously, this server has very little experience and wasn't trained properly. As a former restaurant owner, server/bartender myself and trainer, I told her, almost everyone wants soup/salad/appetizers 1st. And I wanted to tell her, it's not impressive to not write orders down because most servers get something wrong, but I refrained from schooling her. But she should ALWAYS ask how the guest wants the food to come out, especially when they order several items. The Ceasar salad was wilted, warm, tasteless and really an embarrassing item. You should just take it off the menu if your staff can't make it how you created it and if it's going to sit in the back to become mush. But the dressing itself was tasteless, absolutely no hint of poblanoes or a proper Ceaser dressing. So that was a disappointing beginning of our meal. And I was right, the server who thinks it's impressive to not write down details of an order, got our order wrong. We clearly ordered a half baguette and she even asked twice, so a full or half and we both said, half, but we got a full and we're charged for a full. Despite this mistake, the hot pastrami baguette was really good. We also ordered the pastrami Flatbread. It has potential but was a soggy mess. I had to eat the toppings and throw away the wet n soggy crust. Again, this is poor execution, not bad taste. One thing as a former chef, I'd suggest not putting super thick slices of tomatoes on the bottom. Also, crisp up the pastrami a bit because maybe it was also contributing to the sogginess. You should also maybe bake the Flatbread to a more crisp state, then top it. But again, it probably sat in the back waiting for other items as nothing on it was hot or even warm, my added egg on top was cooked to death, hard yolk, also weird a chef or cook would serve that. Flavors were there, but poorly executed, so so soggy flatbread. We ordered a side of fries, which were the best thing we had. They were hot, crispy, not greasy and perfect. The side of fried chicken had good flavor, but the breading was all falling off. As a seasoned fried chicken fryer, I will tell you, this is from excessive moisture before frying. You guys gotta start over on the breading process. What you're doing is not right. After I brine my chicken, I dry it and if I dip in egg batter or a batter of some type, I will still dip the pieces of chicken in a little flour and sit them on a wire rack and let them dry out a bit either on the counter for 15-20 min if I'm ready to fry or in a fridge, then I let the chicken sit for 15 min so I don't try to deep fry super cold chicken. But your breading has to be dry, needs a bit of time to dry out before you fry in oil or all your breading will fall off, which is what happens to your chicken. I read a few other reviews with the same complaint. The last thing that was super odd and uncomfortable was that when you pay, the server just brings you this credit card machine. No check, just a total. I am never going to feel comfortable paying $100+ bill without seeing it, even if it was $25, I want to see my check. This is obnoxious and honestly a very unethical way to ask diners to pay. You're put in an uncomfortable situation and even when we asked for the check the server acted like we were the obnoxious ones! As long as this is how you run this business, I won't be coming back to give it another try. It's just wrong, and I know others must...

I never leave reviews but this was a weird racist experience. Everything seemed fine until the waitress gave me the check as soon as I finished eating and while still drinking my half full glass of beer. They asked everybody around me if they wanted something else multiple times except me. There were people chilling at their tables since before I got there. It became clear to me that they thought I couldn’t afford something more or that I simply wouldn’t have payed for my meal. That’s when all my doubts came to a sense... the whole time I was eating I felt observed as if they had to keep an eye on me. I didn’t wanna think about the worst scenario so I kept a smile on my face the whole time and tried to be positive. I came to this pub because of all the good reviews I read online and this was one of the worst experiences ever. I decided to pay right away even tho I was planning on ordering more since I was waiting for my husband to leave his job at the gallery in front of this pub. I am a person of color born and raised in Milan, Italy and I live in NYC since 4 years. I came to Los Angeles for work. I am well educated and cultured, I speak 4 languages and have a great job. I traveled a lot throughout my life but I never experienced such an obvious stereotyped behavior toward me. Before leaving I spoke to the woman behind the counter that seemed to be the floor manager at the moment and asked her if there was a specific reason of why this happened, she couldn’t say anything constructive nor give me an answer except for a very insignificant “sorry for that” so I just left quietly and disappointed from this world. She just really didn’t want me there and that’s it. I am very tired and exhausted of racism, prejudices and xenophobia and I wasn’t expecting this to happen in The Art District of...

We came to Americano after seeing some stunning photos of their dishes online, expecting a vibrant and diverse menu to match. Unfortunately, the actual selection on their Saturday & Sunday brunch menu was surprisingly limited.

Here’s what they currently offer:

Eggstacy Sandwich - $14 (Soft scrambled eggs, apple-smoked bacon, cheddar, pepper jack, tomato butter lettuce, aioli on a brioche bun)

Breakfast Burrito - $14 (Soft scrambled eggs, roasted potato, Mexican pork chorizo, cheddar, avocado, pico de gallo, flour tortilla - can be a wrap or bowl)

California Rise - $16 (Beef patty, crispy bacon, eggs your way, melted cheddar, garlic aioli on a toasted bun)

Avocado Toast - $14 (Mashed avocado on toasted ciabatta with arugula, tomatoes, pickled onions, feta cheese, sea salt & pepper)

Chilaquiles - $16 (Tortilla chips with salsa verde, diced onion, pickled onion, goat cheese, avocado, two eggs your way)

Huevos Rancheros - $15 (Tostada with refried beans, salsa roja, goat cheese, two eggs your way)

Waffles & Berries -$13 (Waffles with fresh berries, powdered sugar, maple syrup - add fried chicken for +$5)

French Toast & Berries - $13 (Brioche bread with fresh berries, powdered sugar, maple syrup)

While everything we tried was tasty, it felt like the options were too few, especially for a weekend brunch. It’s sad because the ambiance and presentation are great - we just wish there had been more to...