Kalaveras — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Stopped by during happy hour for a dear friend’s birthday celebration and had a great experience! Vivid, vibrant cantina vibes with a Dia de Los Muertos theme, lively music, homemade syrups for their drinks, and an eclectic mix of dishes on their menu!

They have a generous happy hour menu weekdays from 3-7pm and the chicken taquitos were a big hit with our party. We also tried the buffalo wings and they were pretty decent except that the sauce was a tad watery for my liking. Everyone loved their drinks - Sex on the Beach, Cucumber Margarita Slushie, Pomegranate Marg - all fresh, beautiful, and delicious!

Off the regular menu we sampled cheese quesadillas and esquite which were both excellent. And they even have a couple of intriguing (and very unexpected!) sushi rolls - so I couldn’t resist trying their Dragon Roll - which has crab, jalapeño, cream cheese, and cucumber inside and comes fried with spicy mayo and teriyaki on top - it also comes with a couple of pieces of shrimp tempura on the side.

The roll is absolutely ENORMOUS!! It could easily feed two (if not three) people! I couldn’t believe how huge it was - it was good but a tad bland so I’m not sure I’d get it again unless I was sharing with people. The shrimp tempura it came with was excellent though and the shrimp inside was very large.

The vibes are seriously cute - such vibrant colors and I loved all the wall art and decor. The space is wide open, they have live music and even had salsa dancing on our visit! There’s table and bar seating and it’s a good marriage of hometown bar vs dance club vibes. Definitely a good time to be had here.

Service was excellent - so friendly and attentive. Prices are what you’d expect for NoHo. Parking is all street parking but I found a nearby space easy enough on a Thursday evening. I think they have some valet parking too possibly. I had fun and would...

I came here for the first time for my birthday. I was really excited to try this place but was quickly turned off. There were 4 of us total and once sat we placed our drink order. Before all of us even got our drink order(only 2 girls had them) these two guys came up to us with a camera and were being very pushy about taking a photo. We were so confused as to what was happening because we could barely hear them and they just kept telling us to pose and to take a picture. We kept telling them no and that we wanted to wait for everyone to get their drink but they just stood there trying to continue to get us to take pictures. Once we all got our drinks we let them take a picture, honestly to just get them to leave us alone. I asked one guy what this was for and he said he would show us in a couple of minutes. I thought they were going to use them for marketing purposes or something but nope they came back to us with the photos in frames and requested $22 for each picture. I told the guy that next time he needs to ask first before doing all that because we were bombarded and we felt extremely uncomfortable. Horrible way to treat customers. Our food came out and it honestly looked better than it tased, not terrible but not worth the price. While there, we saw a lot of people get birthday shots with sparklers, their name on a board and got sang happy birthday to. My friends said they were going to do that for me but it was $75!!! That's insane and highway robbery! The shots were mixed with juice or something and they literally sang for 1 minute, I timed it! $75 for one minute is ridiculous and I would never pay that nor would I expect my friends to. I ordered a shot before we got the bill and the waitress forgot it so I had to flag her down to get it. Definitely...

A Home Run Missed: Dodger Game, Muted !

I stopped by yesterday to catch the Dodgers game with fellow fans. The atmosphere was electric, with nearly every customer sporting LA hats or jerseys. However, the excitement was dampened by one glaring issue: the TV sound was muted.

Despite the unanimous enthusiasm for the game, the staff refused to turn on the sound until multiple customers complained. It seemed like a no-brainer, considering the crowd's clear interest. The delay was frustrating and took away from our overall experience.

However, I want to give a shoutout to our waitress, Brittany, who was an absolute gem! She was attentive, friendly, and went above and beyond to try and get the sound turned on for us. Unfortunately, she was met with resistance from management, which was disappointing to see.

It's clear that Brittany is a customer-centric team player, and I hope they recognizes her efforts. If not for her, our experience would have been even more disappointing.

Food: Great loved it! Service: Brittany was 5/5, but management's response brought it down to 2.5/5 Ambiance: Great for sports fans, with multiple TVs showing the game.

To Kalaveras, I'd suggest being more attentive to your customers' preferences, especially during popular events. Turning on the sound shouldn't require multiple requests. Also, empower your staff, like Brittany, to make decisions that enhance the customer experience.

If you're a sports fan, consider visiting, but be prepared to advocate for the sound. Ask for Brittany, and hope that management is more supportive of their...