Marmalade Cafe - Sherman Oaks — Restaurant in Los Angeles

As a longtime customer it honestly pains me to write a negative review - and I want Marmalade to stick around, so I hope this is the sort of thing that helps management keep operations on track!

We had a really underwhelming experience tonight while celebrating my parents' 40th anniversary - which is a huge deal, and they were excited to come to a restaurant they knew and loved. When we were seated, a very kind employee handed us our menus along with a happy hour menu and walked away. We had about five minutes to look at the menus before another employee came by and promptly swiped the happy hour menu off our table, saying, "Sorry, happy hour ended at 6:00." My dad politely asked, "Oh, really? It's our 40th anniversary," and the employee just said, "Sorry" and left. I understand that happy hour ended, but then the employee who originally seated us shouldn't have given us that menu - and the employee who took it away didn't need to be so rude. (BTW, more on him in a sec!)

A very kind server came and took our food and drink orders. We asked her about the happy hour to see if she'd make an exception for the anniversary occasion, and she apologized politely and said they could bring us a special dessert later. At least that was something! We realized after giving our drink orders that the bartender was the same rude employee from earlier - wearing a fedora and a scarf, if management is wondering - and 10-15 minutes went by without our drinks. We saw him standing behind the bar literally doing nothing while we were waiting. The next time our server came by, we told her never mind on the drinks - we didn't want them to come out with the food.

This poor server was the only one waiting tables in the entire establishment, and she must have apologized to us 10 times - for the drinks, then the delay on the food and how she would need to sporadically disappear for long stretches. When we got our food, it was all courses at once (soups with the entrees, when we would have preferred them separate), and there were some inconsistencies - my dad and I ordered the same chicken dish, and his had a lemon but mine didn't. Not a big deal, but weird. We appreciated this server and tipped her well, but she was so stressed out. She admitted to us they had made a poor decision in understaffing the restaurant for the night. Oh, I didn't mention, this was St. Patrick's Day. Like... huh?

Anyway, I've been going to Marmalade Cafe for years. My parents and my husband's parents met there. We've celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, you name it. It's sad to have such a subpar experience on an important occasion, and it was really disappointing for my parents. I hope this review finds its way to the...

I’m going to reveal a bit of snobbery here but I’ve always viewed Marmalade Cafe as a bit of a souped-up Denny’s…not bad for brunch and with fairly basic American options and limited vegetarian options. Well, shut my mouth I was wrong. We headed to Marmalade for dinner one night, just on the strength that they offered the Impossible Burger (super good “meat-like” vegetarian burger) and were pleasantly surprised at how accommodating and good all the options were for my vegetarian and my wife’s gluten free diets.

The menu was a a lot more modern than I remember it being the last time I was there (honestly probably more than a decade ago) and all of the vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options are helpfully labeled right on the menu. They’ve put some thought into this!

They have two, count ‘em TWO types of veggie burgers available (including the aforementioned Impossible Burger which is really tasty though not gluten free.)

Four, count ‘em FOUR of their soups were vegetarian as well. I had a bowl of the split-pea as my main which was very tasty. I didn’t need to embellish it with salt or pepper which often happens with restaurant soups. It was blended smooth and I might have liked it with a little more texture .

My wife had the Grilled Veggie salad which caused her, a true connoisseur of organic, farmers market produce, to say that she was in “grilled vegetable heaven”. It was also served warm which was lovely on a cold-coldish winter night. (Imagine carrots, asparagus, onions, tomatoes, and portobello mushrooms along with lettuce. (And they subbed goat cheese for the feta it normally came with. She loved it.

They also gave paper straws with the beverages…the whole no-plastic straw thing is relatively new and for a fairly mainstream place like Marmalade to offer the more environmentally paper straws…well, we were impressed.

Marmalade, this one visit has reinvented you in our minds and we will definitely be...

Marmalade Café is located on Kester and Ventura where there’s plenty of free meter street parking on Sundays. They do offer valet for I am guessing those busy days but Ventura is a meaty street so not too hard to find parking. The restaurant is super keep and keeps up with its charm. Although

Marmalade Café is a chain restaurant each location has a different vibe correlating with its environment. This place seems very rustic with its French hardwood doors and Greek Iconic columns. It’s certainly an adorable spot from brunch or dinner.

Now my favorite part…….

BREAD PUDDING!!!!!!

Bread pudding is my absolute favorite dessert of all time! Its texture, its flavor, I mean really you can’t go wrong. And Marmalade Café surly proved that! I came here specifically to appease my sweets craving and boy was it satisfied. The behemoth of a bread pudding serving they give is almost offensive and the ice cream on top seals the gluttonous seal. Ohhhh if you are looking for a tasty dessert then this is it.

I also had the NY Cheesecake with an indistinguishable strawberry or raspberry compote. It was super creamy with an overwhelming cake to crust ratio. If you like more cheesecake than graham cracker crust you will be in luck!

Both desserts were MASSIVE, huge enough to be shared individually. Service here is great, our waitress was super friendly! HH begins 3pm-7pm daily with $5 drink specials and on Wednesdays they allow you to bring in your own wine without a corkage fee.

ONLY problem is the drinks here weren’t that great. It could have just been a one-off but certainly worth trying...