Descanso Restaurant - Los Angeles — Restaurant in Los Angeles

I chose this place because my Abuelita wanted to take me out for father's day, so i decided to find a new fun place. After taking a look at a couple of videos I was convinced: it said Mexican cuisine "a la plancha", so i was expecting something similar to a teppanyaki. The place is beautifully decorated and the bar looks really good (it can fit 36 people i think). We all placed our orders with the very friendly server and waited for the chef to arrive at our table. The chef arrived with a lot of energy, he started with some fire effects and then proceeded to cook our orders. Judging the fact that the chef was executing 1 dish at a time and how much he was sweating, I think he might have been a little nervous or even high. There was no showmanship comparable with any teppanyaki I've ever seen and the dishes were not executed correctly to my opinion. The menu states tacos made from ribeye steak...no way! that was a skirt steak at most! Then he over-heated the tortillas for way too long and garnished the tacos leaving too much water. My Abuelita had to ask for a paper towel to dry her plate so she could enjoy the second taco. The 2 tacos with NO SIDES on the plate, came with a choice of a cup of salad or pozole soup, for the incredible price of $44!!!! My wife had the Huevos Rancheros, the chef finished her order, then proceeded to cook the other two dishes before serving her plate. Her order just sat there getting cold for no apparent reason. I had the Chilaquiles, what a mistake that was! When my dish was ready and I was asked if I wanted the 3 "salsas", I said "yes", imagining i was getting salsa verde, salsa toreada and cream, but with the crema I got a guacamole sauce and Chipotle-mayo.....i am not a fan of mayo, what a mistake. I also ordered a Flight, which are 3x10 ounce margaritas, the flavors were ok but the ice watered down way too quick, for $36 I would expect better and longer lasting ice (no air bubbles and pure water). Oh, and I forgot to mention the two dads at the table waited the longest, by the time our order was ready, everyone else had almost finished eating. Overall, the food was definitely NOT worth the price tag, I would have expected more of a spectacle. I would recommend this for a very fancy date night for the atmosphere, but this is not a place for...

Very promising Mexican restaurant with relatively authentic food.

Michelle, our server was excellent from my standpoint, through and through. She did a great job attending us and demonstrated she really enjoys her job and the food she serves.

I ordered the Mayan taco. Achiote flavored small chicken chunks in a blue corn tortilla. On the side were pickled onions, a smoky salsa and cilantro sprigs. The achiote flavor was good but far too subtle for my taste. I would suggest they shred the chicken which is very commonly done in Yucatán. It would help the chicken absorb the achiote better. The salsa was good and just the right amount of hot. The onions have habanero sauce so I didn’t touch them.

I also tried the red pozole. It’s actually pretty decent. It has small pork chunks and white hominy which are both cooked to perfection. The broth is actually not bad but it kind of misses what a truly authentic broth would have in flavor. The aftertaste isn’t exactly perfect. Something is off. Maybe the preparation of the two chiles you use for pozole isn’t done perfectly.

The octopus taco is very good. The octopus is flavored very well. It also is in a blue corn tortilla.

The tacos have tortillas that are bigger than the street taco ones and they’re hand made.

The cocktail that uses charanda which is a liquor from Michoacán was pretty good as was my espresso martini which is made with mezcal.

I didn’t really like the arroz con leche cheesecake as it was too dry. My mango crème brûlée was amazing. The caramelized sugar wasn’t too well done. It was uneven but if they are aiming for a rustic dish I guess they hit the nail on the head.

The restaurant is gorgeous. It’s spacious and has big windows in front. It’s kind of minimalist. There are a few works of art on the walls. They have a nicely stocked bar and a taco bar. You can eat outside if you like. The music is ok. I’d say too much reggaeton and ska. They do play some decent rock en español.

They have a large parking lot in the rear....

Got food poisoning due to cross-contamination.

My husband and I got food poisoning after dinner last night. As a chef myself, I was able to identify the cause of our symptoms.

First, the cooking process (not the seating) took an unreasonably long time. We arrived at the restaurant on Friday night at 7 PM for our Hibachi-style reservation and were seated right away. However, the cooking took forever—imagine watching your food being prepared for an entire hour.

The chef started by placing all the raw ingredients on the hibachi grill at the same time and cooking everything together. Once an item was fully cooked, they set it aside to wait until all the food was ready so that everyone’s plates could be served together. But think about it—cooking fish and beef at the same time? How could they possibly be done at the same time? My husband ordered ribeye, and his steak was set aside after just five minutes of cooking. This meant that it sat in the temperature danger zone (between 40°F and 140°F) for over 40 minutes before being served.

Additionally, even though the chef was wearing gloves, they repeatedly wiped their hands on a dirty towel hanging from their waist. The towel was visibly filthy. Imagine this: the chef used a spatula to cook vegetables, wiped their gloved hands on the dirty towel, grabbed a knife to cut the cooked beef, wiped their hands again, placed the beef on the plate, grabbed the sauce bottle, and then handled the cooked shrimp before plating it. This was a clear case of cross-contamination.

We ended up paying $250 including tips and pay $22 for an extra hour the chef cooking time lol

So consider before you go. Im from Thailand and actually have a very strong stomach but I it just too...