LALA'S Argentine Grill - Studio City — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Lala's argentinan grill is a restaurant my family has been wanting to try for a little bit. When we finally got around to it, let's just say the experience was more than underwhelming. Our first impression of the place wasn't all that bad. When you walk in, the ambiance is quite nice. Whoever did the decorating did a very good job. However all of this is shattered as soon as the food arives. The food seems as though it was thrown together without a second thought for plating. Speaking of their plates, for such a classy looking place, their plates look like they were pulled out of a run down diner's cupboard. Now, this could have easily been made up for by the service and the food, but they only made my mood drop faster. Starting off with their service. It wasn't exactly bad per se. The waiters weren't rude to or short with us. But they weren't exactly nice with us either. The interactions with them all felt very stiff and bored. Like they were tired of dealing with us and wanted us out as fast as possible, but didn't want to outwardly show it. Which I get, food service is probably one of the worst lines of work out there. But that isn't exactly something you want to feel when you're eating out. As for the food? We got the Gaucho, Griega salad, and the Ravioles De Cuatros Quesos. Let's start in order.

Gaucho - When asked for well done, it seems like they just throw it on the grill for a minute and call it quits. Of course that could be fine if the flavor made up for the lack of presentation and preparation. It did not. The meat is flavorless, so greasy it reflects the light, and more fat than anything.

Griega - A salad made up of cucumber, tomato, onion, olives, and feta cheese. On paper it sounds like it should be bursting with freshness, but ended up tasting exactly like the bag it most likely came from. Well, that's not all that true, it did have some flavor. Cheese, with hints of stale plastic. I honestly don't know if I should be grateful or not that the bowl they served it to me in didn't actually let me eat much of the food.

Raviolli - There isn't much to say about this plate seeing as there were only about three noodles that ended up being served to the table.

As for our beverages, we got an Arnold Palmer and two mojitos. Now the Arnold Palmer was fine, but it's not that hard to mess up pouring together store bought iced tea and lemonade. The mojitos are a different story altogether. They taste like sparkling water and Rum. Now I don't how other people like their drinks, but I would like them to taste like what I ordered. The music was probably the only good thing...

So when a restaurant says they serve Argentine food, I am highly skeptical. I know Argentine beef. I can tell how long it's been aged. Most Argentine joints I have tried often fall short. Like they want to attract a certain crowd, but don't understand the concept of Argentine cuisine.

Lala's gets it. First warm bread and chimichurri. You can find recipes all over the web about how to make a chimichurri. It isn't a huge secret. But the key (and coveted secret) is how the ingredients are blended. They nailed it. That bread was dunked into the chimichurri and promptly devoured.

We ordered their blood sausage and empanadas for appetizers.

To top it off we had them bring us a Plato Mixto. They bring a small table top BBQ with coals with two grilled Italian sausages, sweetbread, New York steak, skirt steak & a half chicken served with two side orders. We had the Lala's special mashed potatoes, which is a delicious blend of potatoes and carrots, as well as their Champignon mashed potatoes (potatoes covered in a wine white sauce with mushrooms) as the sides.

The price versus the food, service and quality of the place balanced out quite nicely. A great place to eat authentic Argentine cuisine.

Unlike most Argentine restaurants who ask you if you are ill for ordering vegetarian food, Lala's has a bunch of meatless options. Try it....

Great semi formal argentian restaurant with excellent meat dishes. Also good for chicken or salmon. I love this place. For meat it's really excellent. The prices are good. They have gone up a bit but still not bad for LA. The give you bread and chimichurri to start. The portions are goodtu size with your option on sides between rice and salad or fries and salad. The empandas are delicious.Fried with the option of han/cheese or spinach and cheese. The entraña plate/carne asada plate is delicious. Get it with the mushroom wine sauce. Very yummy!. The filet mignon is also very good. The plato mixto for 2 people-skirt steak,chicken,mollejas and Italian sausage is very good. It's enough for 3 people possibly 4. We don't like mollejas we exchange it for chicken. Grilled meat,grilled chicken very tasty lots of food. The studio city location. The interior is modern with colored wine bottles as light fixtures. There's a bar and an outdoor patio. Parking is valet or paid street parking. Somewhat difficult to find street parking but if you park on a side street parking can be found free and walk. Highly recommend....