Dudley Market — Restaurant in Los Angeles

STAY AWAY!!! Dudley doesnt take reservations so we put our name down with the extremely rude hostess (this will be a theme here) told us its "technically" 2 hours but likely 45 minutes because everyone puts their name down then never comes back. We show up 30 minutes later to the hostess not even giving us the time of day to give us an update. We brushed it off as maybe they were busy so we went inside and bought a bottle of wine to share amongst the 4 of us while we wait. Within the following two hours, we proceed to socialize amongst the others waiting and it actually turned into a great time and made some new friends.

After almost 2 hours, we go back to the hostess to ask for an update and we get in an EXTREMELY annoyed and rude tone that there are 6 tables still ahead of us and all of a sudden, she never claims saying 45 minutes! At this point, we are willing to wait it out only to go inside and try to buy another bottle of wine to which we were refused service because we were "too drunk and someone had complained about us (the people we were talking to asked the hostess if we can join their table so no one complained about us). After standing for 2 hours outside, the only thing drunk about me were the soles of my feet crying for help. The manager then comes out to tell us they can "offer some french fries or something" while we wait but they cant serve us because we almost tipped their heater over. A complete and utter lie stemming from this hostess who got offended for us asking for an update (literally her job).

As other reviews state, the customer service here is worse than a jack in the box. It is shocking the owner allows this and I would recommend staying completely away...

great oysters, good wine, our server kept making some strange remarks on my age and on wine prices following up with multiple comments on how they have 90min limit and we need to hurry up when it wasn't even close to 90min. we asked him if we can start out with a glass of chardonnay, but he pointed to house blend and didn't say that we could get a bottle of chardonnay for the table instead of the glass so he didn't even recommend anything when we asked. then i was trying to place an order for the bottle and he said that all bottles are $20 more expensive than the menu price because those are for members. he didn't explain anything about membership at all even after i asked. then he left and ignored us for awhile even though i tried to get his attention and most tables were still open. eventually he came by and i was placing an order for a bottle of wine. he was cracking up at me and then he says with a smirk: "are you drinking too, you look 15!?" eventually we settled that with my ID. then i tried getting some appetizers since we were still waiting on another person, and we were told that they only take whole order per table, no such thing as appetizer is possible unless we order everything at once. waiter came up 3 times in 15 minute span asking when the last person in our party is coming and reminding of 90min limit... eventually they show up, we place an order and the waiter says - you wont be able to order more after this because it will be close to 90 min limit. food and wine and the rest of the staff were lovely, but it was impossible to relax because of how unprofessional our waiter acted and kept us constantly on the edge...

My friend had been raving about Dudley Market as she had been seeing it all over her FYP. With the petite spot amplified by the hype, no wonder reservations were tough. Besides, it’s Venice so weekend was always crowd stealer in the area, which did mean parking could be tough but last weekend was my lucky day!

We needed to wait a bit as our table still wasn’t ready 15 mins passed our reservation time; thankfully our patience bank for the day was still full LOL. The venue gave me the vibe of beach house combined with green house; simply cute and slow.

They’re known for their seafood so we certainly didn’t skip having a couple from their raw section. Our picks were their Peruvian Scallop and Bluefin Tuna Crudo. Served on ice, the scallops were fresh and juicy. Nothing fancy but palatable. I would skip the tuna though as it had that fishy hint a bit and the sauce was just okay to me.

My friend got their Dudley Burger featuring wagyu as the protein and apparently was one of their top sellers despite being well-known for seafood. I went for the fried fish katsu as I wanna go all in with seafood theme. My friend did enjoy hers, though it’s probably tad smaller in size compared to typical burger elsewhere. Thick and tender meat might make it up! I did love my fish burger and prolly my fave dish of the night. The fish was pleasantly crispy, right size of fillet, and the sauce was so flavorful mixing tangy and slightly spicy flavor. We did get fries as additional since it didn’t come with any sides.

Overall it was decent, but prolly not distinctive enough to make...