We were lucky to get seated immediately after showing up on a fairly busy Sat during the USC graduation and Mother's Day weekend. I couldn't make reservations online so I assume they didn't have a reservation system.

When you walk in, you get a full view of their bakery section, the delicious macarons and pasties on the right and the open view kitchen on the left. The whole place has a relaxed, modern and fancy-casual feel. It is definitely loud, thanks to the open layout. So you do have to scream into people's ears. The service was very nice but could've been a little more prompt.

We ordered plates to share so we all tasted a bit of everything - the lobster hash, the smoked salmon Benedict, the calamari fritti and the Louis salad. I got an iced matcha green tea latte which was very very good for a matcha lover.

The smoked salmon Benedict was the best of all the food. The salmon had a slight tarty-spicy kick to it which I enjoyed. The hash cake it lay on was also delicious. The hollandaise was well done as was the poached egg. All in all, great recipe.

The lobster hash sounded much better than it was. The hash was delicious. The lobster could've had a little more salt or spice to it as it was pretty bland. The sauce it came in was too liquid and had a yolky taste to it which I didn't particularly love. Some of the greens accompanying the dish were also little bitter for my taste buds. So, a dish that sounded tastier than it was.

The calamari was as expected. Nothing too fancy, nothing too out of the ordinary. It was a nice accompaniment as a smaller plate with 3 other big plates.

The Louis salad was delicious! As a rule, I don't order salads because I don't consider it a full meal. But this salad was a tasty medley of greens, crab, avocadoes and a dressing that got my taste buds singing. It was also a huge portion! Among the four of us, we had a hard time finishing everything.

As a dessert, we first ordered the almond pistachio cherry pastry which deserves an entire star in itself. It looked so so perfect and, if it is even possible, tasted better than it looked! The pistachio jaconde cake was moist and light, the cherry marmalade was perfectly sweet and firm and the almond and pistachio mousse was so so tasty. We cleaned that up!

We then also ordered a limonchello which was a tarty tart with a limonchello curd and limonchello cloud with pralines. Now, as a rule, I'm one of those tart-loving people who complain "not enough lemon, needs more lime..." Well, ladies and gentlemen, not this time! This was so so tarty and just the right level of sweet that I couldn't get enough of it! The tart itself was a little firm and we were so full, I only licked off all the limoncello curd and the cloud. I'm not a fan of pralines, especially when they interfere with my soul-calming experience with limonchello or lemon or lime tartness. So maybe they should get rid of the pralines.

All in all, the food is good but those pastries blew out minds. Come here for the pastries. I wish I could've tried the macarons but we were so full that we could not. So next time it is!