Damian — Restaurant in Los Angeles

TLDR: (3.5 stars) Amazing food, beautiful interior and outdoor seating… but don’t think the experience lived up to the expectations and price! I’m just gonna go through my experience in chronological order and explain the dishes we ordered.

Personally, I HATED that I had to wait outside until the entire party was present to be seated. I had a reservation made well in advance but I just had to wait outside in the middle of the arts district, facing the parking lot. (There wasn’t even a waiting / lobby area to wait at. Did you expect me to carpool with my entire party?!) The server offered me the drinks menu, but did she expect me to “enjoy” a cocktail or glass or wine in the middle of the parking lot? No thank you.

Anyway, once you can finally walk into the restaurant, you’re greeted with a lovely interior and a beautiful outdoor patio with heaters and everything. The menu is organized well to differentiate the appetizers, sharing plates, main entrees, and desserts.

• Wine selection: DIVERSE. It was lovely to see so many options. Our waiter was quite knowledgeable and was able to recommend a few wines to try. • Shades of Green ($16): I’m personally not a fan of vermouth but my friend loved it. • Olives: I loved them — they were amazing. Only con/surprise was that I didn’t expect to be charged extra for them. I only found out when I got the check. • Ceviche ($25): Really good and fresh, but not mind blowing. It tastes exactly like what you would expect. • Crab Gordita ($19): Pretty good! • Zucchini Tlayuda ($28): AMAZING!! I have never tasted anything like this before! It was really unique and I loved how all the flavors and textures blended together. The crunch of the dried shrimp was really good too. It reminded me of this sautéed dried shrimp side dish that I had in Korea before.

And then there was this super long awkward pause in the middle. I had forgotten that we had ordered our main entree and dessert because I was so full by then… and there was a pause in service long enough where I felt like I had to ask for the check!

• Duck al Pastor ($34): JUICY! The duck was very juicy and flavorful, complemented by a delightful dash of pineapple butter. • Hibiscus Meringue ($14): A MUST!! Mind blowing… the taste and texture is unique. And honestly, it was so fun to eat. • Banana Leaf Flan ($14): YUCK. Honestly I was so disappointed. It just tasted like …???? (Maybe sesame seeds? But not even because I like sesame seeds)

I think I was more annoyed and disappointed about the Banana Leaf Flan because our waiter seriously hyped it up. When he came back to check on us, I told him I didn’t like how it tasted and that it wasn’t what I had expected given his explanation and recommendation. For a high service restaurant, I expected him to take it back or offer a different dessert… but he just kinda brushed it off? I didn’t want to press on and sour the mood for my friends… but honestly, why are you gonna ask about my opinion of the food if you’re not gonna take it into consideration or do something about it.

Will I recommend this place? No, not really. It’s hard to justify the prices for a lot of these dishes. Will I come here again? Yes, unfortunately, because I really did enjoy some of the dishes here. I’ll probably come back to eat the stuff that I liked, but I’ll definitely go back with lower...

Came here for late brunch and made the reservations online. Upon arrival we were seated right away in the patio section which is at the back of the restaurant and it’s actually (almost-fully) covered. Due to its location, sitting in the back patio you will inevitably hear some sawing or some drilling in the neighboring adjacent areas (and oddly, our table was so full of dust on arriving that we had to ask them to wipe it down). 3/5.

Food was Ok, 3/5 - I’ve honestly had much better in Mexico City and elsewhere in LA, so it was a bit disappointing for the price tag. We ordered a few dishes to share, and a few drinks as well: LOBSTER TOSTADA - portion was small - the tostada was so tough to eat - it was on the verge of too thick to be crunchy and it wasn’t quite enjoyable as I’d hope CEVICHE POBLANO - liked the corn, but flavors were lacking a bit and totally overshadowed again by those difficult to eat tostadas that accompanied the dish — by this time I’m really questioning what I’m doing trying to break a tooth trying to chew this finally, CHILAQUILES - more flavorful as they made sure every piece of tortilla is coated with its salsa, but even adding the poached egg and overpriced slices of avocado, it had you expecting a bit more - fyi, there is a spicy kick to them - portion of the chilaquiles were more shareable

DRINKS: 4/5 Expresso - tiny - served in a cute cup and my friend liked it Palo Santo (cucumber, yuzu) very refreshing - light - liked this the best Mandarine (tamarindo, heavy on the ginger) - strong ginger flavor for sure - liked it but in small sips

DESSERT: the Apple Gallete was absolutely delicious and the fruit on top was so heavily flavored that it truly stole the show. 5/5

Parking: you can valet or find street parking - may be somewhat difficult if during busy hours of the day. 3/5

Restrooms: gender neutral with at least 4 individual stalls - fairly clean - but lighting is SO DIM. 2/5

Staff & servers were friendly and they don’t make a point to kick anyone out even if brunch time...

A delicious, upscale dinner in the Arts Districts of DTLA specializing in authentic and elevated Mexican cuisine. It’s right across from one of my all-time favorite restaurants in Los Angeles, Bestia, so I have been meaning to try this place for awhile and I’m very glad that I did. I grew up and moved from San Diego a few years ago to Los Angeles so I am a big fan of Mexican food and have been eating my entire life. Therefore I think I know more than the average diner when it comes to this cuisine so I can say that this food is exceptionally good. Our server, I believe her name was Randy, was very polite and walked us through the entire menu. The manager also stopped by many times to check on us which was very professional and we appreciated it. It can get very busy so I would make reservations and sometimes there is street parking but valet would be the easiest option.

The plates are share size portions so they suggest ordering 4 to 6 different plates for two people. We chose four plates and honestly it was a good amount of food, especially considering we plan to be back. We ordered the Fish Tartare Tostada and it was perfectly crispy and delicious. Next came the Gordita which was a tiny panini type sandwich/torta with blue shrimp. This was one of my favorite dishes of the whole meal, the sauce with it was drinkably good. Next was the Fish Tempura Taco and although very different than fish tacos I’m used to I really enjoyed this one too. Finally came the Carne Asada and it was absolutely wonderful. The sweet potato with it really added to the flavors and every bit of the plate was gone quicker than I expected. For dessert we topped of the meal with their signature dessert: the Hibiscus Meringue with strawberries, which was actually my favorite dish of the meal, I really loved it.

All around a great meal and I plan to be back in the future. The Arts District has many great restaurant options (Manuela is NOT one of them) and now Damian has joined the good list so I would comfortably...