Electric Owl — Restaurant in Los Angeles

I booked a large party reservation for my boyfriend's 30th bday here. first off... photos online look better than what it actually looks like in person. Since it was a larger party we were given a minimum to spend and I spoke personally with the owner to make sure all the details were right. I was assured by the owner that the music would be hip hop / top 40 but when we arrived they were playing some old school 80s style music that didn't fit the occasion. The owner wasn't there but her husband was who wouldn't change the music and said he couldn't because it's one playlist that couldn't be changed. It was annoying that I was promised something that supposedly was out of their control especially when we agreed to a larger dollar amount for our reservation. The waitstaff was awkward and didn't treat our table as a whole. food orders were taken for only half of the table and the other half was ignored. one half of the table's food came out while the other half watched them eat and we had to call someone over to have our order taken. We ordered anjeo tequila shots ($30 worth) and I'm pretty sure they poured us cheap bottom shelf tequila. anejo is tinded darker and these shots we were given were blanco and nowhere neat smooth especially for $30 shots. To end our night there were tab issues even tho we were paying on one card. Their system separated our tab into a few different tickets due to a QR code ordering system set on the table which the waiter never explained to us. Since our party was larger and we didn't get our orders taken properly some people were confused and must have used the QR to order. The owner's husband wanted us to sort out who ordered what and I refused to do their work. Those technical issues are all on their end and I was offended that I was expected to fix a problem that is 100% their doing. Ultimately it was resolved because I put my foot down. I will never be coming back and I do not recommend this establishment especially for a special occasion. The food isn't...

Yes, PLEASE! That is my reaction if anyone suggests Electric Owl to me in the future for happy hour.

Electric Owl is down Sunset Blvd. from where we live, and its patio area and happy hour seemed pretty nice, so we decided to give it a try. I absolutely loved everything about it!

It was pretty easy to get a reservation around 6pm on a Friday, the happy hour is a good length and goes until 7pm during the week. It was already quite crowded both inside and on the patio spaces, and continued to get increasingly crowded while we were there. Nevertheless, we were quickly seated on the outdoor patio in the back of the restaurant, as requested.

The service throughout our visit was very quick and friendly, with our cocktail drinks coming very shortly after ordering them. Those cocktail drinks were delicious and definitely STRONG, by the way! I loved them! The happy hour deals were pretty good and we loved both the wagyu burger and the hot chicken sandwich that are available for the happy hour menu. For the wagyu burger, it simply melts in your mouth and was cooked perfectly. The chicken sandwich was crunchy, crispy, and definitely a bit spicy, with a delicious sauce drenching the very generously-sized piece of chicken in it. Chef's kiss!!

The atmosphere was wonderful as well - the patio in the back that we were seated at was very tranquil and beautiful with plant-life shielding the outside world and making you feel very far removed from it all. The inside was also cool, with a unique bathroom area that had historic photos of the old Los Angeles street cars that used to criss-cross the street here.

All around, a stellar happy hour experience. The deals were pretty good and the food and drinks all absolutely delicious. I wouldn't mind dining here at a regular time for lunch or dinner either. A...

Maybe I came at the wrong time, but Sunday lunch was not the right time. The food was fine, but my main gripe is about how misleading the menu/service is.

First I ordered a bloody mary and asked for extra olives. The drink menu only has a list of alcohol and some specialty cocktails. No bloody mary is listed but the bartender said sure and asked me what type of Vodka I wanted. The bartender told me it would be $1 extra for just 4 olives. I love my olives, so that extra dollar wasn't the problem. The problem was when I left, they charged me an extra 2 dollars on top of the listed price because, as the bartender explained it, it's a "surcharge" for a mix drink. Nowhere on the menu is it listed that a surcharge applies. I brought this to his attention and he was dismissive as "ya sorry about that."

We ordered a margherita pizza and asked to add pepperoni. Everyone in the world knows that a margherita pizza comes with sauce, mozza, tomato slices and basil. when they brought the pizza out, it was just a plain pizza. I asked where the tomato slices and basil are. The server says, "oh, when the menu says California tomatoes it means the sauce." Then he said that the basil wasn't on there because the "cook said it doesn't pair well with the pepperoni, so he put oregano in it instead." I felt like we were getting gaslit against the common, universal meaning of a margherita pizza. But then for them to make decisions for us (swapping oregano for basil) was just weird.

Like I said, food and atmosphere wasn't that bad, but I'm not gonna come again because the experience wasn't worth a second shot.

Ultimately, the servers did comp the pepperoni, but it's not about the money. It's just that I didn't get what I asked for and the menu wasn't accurate of their food...