companion — Restaurant in Los Angeles

I never write negative reviews. In fact, this is my first time writing a negative review for any restaurant, and it’s especially disheartening that it’s about Companion—a place I was SO excited to try. I had followed their journey on Instagram for several months and supported them because I thought that stretch of Lincoln needed some love.

This place probably has decent food (which we will never try), but service starts at the top, and the owner of this place, Dakota, provided the worst/most shocking service experience I have ever had.

As someone who closely follows the LA food scene and has spent 12 years on the Westside, I make a point to try new restaurants. Although I’ve since recently moved to Pasadena, my husband and I decided to make the trek to meet friends and finally try Companion. This was no small effort, given the fires raging across LA. Our community was reeling from the Eaton fire, and our friends we were meeting were evacuated due to the Palisades fire. Despite the circumstances, we were excited and wanted to unwind after a tough week.

We arrived at 7:02 pm on 1/10 and checked in with Dakota. She let us know that they didn't have anything right away but said she'd put us on the waitlist and that she would have something for us by 8:15 pm. Dakota also told us to ignore the wait time from the text message confirming our spot as she would be “able to get us in sooner.”

We were not in a rush, so we didn’t mind waiting, and our friends were still on the way. We then asked if we could grab a glass of wine in the meantime, but we were told we could only do so outside. Sitting outdoors wasn’t safe due to the air quality (such a weird suggestion), so we decided to head to Zinque nearby while we waited for our table and our friends.

We returned at 8:20 pm. We never received any communication from them while we were waiting, but it was shortly after 8:15, so we figured they just needed a few minutes to get our table ready. When we approached, Dakota informed us that she couldn’t seat us AT ALL. There was no explanation, no attempt to accommodate us, no apology—just a flat-out dismissal.

Shocked, I reminded her of our previous conversation and how she told us she’d be able to seat us sooner than the wait time listed in our text. Her response? Defensive gaslighting. Dakota snapped, “I know what I said,” when I tried to show her the text. My friend then came over, trying to help, and Dakota snapped at her, “You weren’t here.”

At this point, Dakota made a point to reveal herself as the owner. Her behavior was shockingly unprofessional and aggressive. Rather than apologizing for the mistake or attempting to make things right, she doubled down.

As we left, she had the audacity to say, “You know you shouldn’t speak to me like that; it’s a really hard time for us right now” (regarding the fires). This was both insulting and tone-deaf, especially considering our respective situations. For her to assume we weren’t affected or to imply that we were somehow adding to her own hardship was beyond inappropriate.

I have dined at countless restaurants and was a server myself. I understand how things get busy, new places have growing pains, and mistakes happen. But never in my life have I experienced such a blatant lack of respect and accountability.

Great restaurants succeed on hospitality, and Companion utterly failed here. Dakota’s behavior set a tone of entitlement and disdain that trickled down to the entire experience. So, I say this with all sincerity: best of luck, Dakota—you’re going to need it.

Shoutout to Zinque for welcoming us back to have a wonderful dinner shortly thereafter.

Anyone looking for good Italian in the area - save your money and go to: Scopa, Barrique, Felix, Opsi, Market or Tasting Kitchen all have a similar vibe with FANTASTIC food and ever better service.

Note: I am currently in CT timezone, which is why the timestamp says 9:02 pm in...

Hearing that Companion was founded by the same people behind Gnarwhal coffee and knowing that I love Gnarwhal certainly intrigued me to soon give it a go. They served pastries, sandwiches, and coffee from morning to early afternoon then closed their door for a couple hours before opened again for dinner.

The cozy and gorgeously designed space occupied a spot on Lincoln. It gave me that pretty library/bookstore vibe and somehow just felt so homey. I actually came for the pastries but everything's sold out when I was there around 1, so sandwich it was.

I was apparently tad lucky that I got the last available Porchetta Shoulder sandwich. NGL, the price was more on the higher range, but the generous stuffing and taste fully paid it off. The porchetta was so tender and flavorful, and pairing it to raspberry sauce was genius idea. I really loved how this sandwich felt light and refreshing withi lighter touch of sauce, letting the protein flavor stood out.

Then obviously the coffee was a must, so I went for their latte with almond milk. Gnarwhal coffee never failed me and so did this one, bold and aromatic, just perfect wakeup call for the day.

Learnt my lesson and promised myself to come earlier next time. Besides, really looking forward to spending dinner...

The food was really good. We had a salad, pasta, and chicken Milanese that were all great.

The service was decent, but the food was brought rather quickly and it was hard to get a server’s attention to get wine refills.

The worst part came towards the end of the night. We were at the table for about 90 minutes with three courses and a couple rounds of drinks. The waitress simply dropped the bill as we were finishing up and didn’t even ask if we wanted coffee, dessert, etc. Then a few mins later the hostess came by and said “I’m going to need to close you out now”. I didn’t appreciate being rushed out and being made to feel uncomfortable about it. The right way to handle this would have been to explain that they would be needing the table in a bit, and asking if we’d like anything else before closing out in a few minutes.

The kicker then was that the credit card machine that was thrust in front of me had a minimum tip of 20%, with the other options being 25% and 30%. I was actually pretty offended by this especially after being rushed out the door and being made to feel so unwelcome.

So maybe I’d come back? But don’t really want to anytime soon after the poor treatment at the end of what was a nice dinner...