Openaire — Restaurant in Los Angeles

When I first heard about this place and checked it out, I had this first inclination to avoid this place at all cost. This was mainly because I'm not too big of a fan of paying a somewhat premium price for simply put, healthier and small portioned dishes. Boy was I so wrong and quick to judge!

After a long day of taking advantage of LA's free museum day, I had reservations for Commissary because I specifically remember my girlfriend mentioning she always wanted to check this place out. It's located in the Line hotel on the second story and it's a pretty cute and intimate venue. For the most part it's a big greenhouse where you sit and dine or just have a drink at the bar. Right outside of the greenhouse is the pool with tons of lounging furniture to just relax and talk with your date or group.

Our visit happened to land on LA dine restaurant week so we were able to get a good sampling of their food for a fairly decent price.

Lavender (4/5): It's essentially a bourbon drink if you're into that stronger stuff. It was definitely a great way to start our dinner and based on the amount of liquor they dumped in this drink, it makes the cost of $14 feel less of a rip-off than you'd normally think.

Gin & Juice w/ Blood Orange (2/5): Don't get me wrong, it was still a good drink, but when someone orders gin & juice I should at least be able to get a hint of the gin! Maybe it was the overwhelming taste of the blood orange, but both of us felt that the cocktail was so weak that I had to pour some of my Lavender in it to give it more of a kick.

Roasted Squash (3/5): Beautiful presentation and looks appetizing at first. I did feel like that the squash was a bit undercooked though... It was even a bit hard to cut up with a knife, let alone once you took a bite of some of the squash. Out of the three options we had for the restaurant week menu though, this was probably the best thing to get/try out.

Veal Short Rib Stew (4/5): To my disappointment, they only gave two pieces of short rib! But my God, did they do an excellent job at cooking them to make them soft and tender... The rest of the stew was alright, and I would have preferred the rice to be a tad bit softer, but hey, it's alright, because that meat made up for what was lacking in the rest of the stew!

Green Curry Eggplant (4/5): My first initial thought when seeing this on the menu, was "yuck!" But, the moment I tried a bite of this, I was immediately sold. The curry reminded me of a green curry you would typically get from a Thai cuisine and it has a bit of a spicy kick to it with each bite. The eggplant was barely noticeable and although the rice was a bit on the undercooked side like it was in the stew, I still think this was an awesome entree! I can only imagine how epic it would be if you replaced the eggplant with short ribs...

Sticky Date Pudding (5/5): Honestly, did not know what to expect when I ordered this for my dessert but everyone that reviewed it seemed to be in love with it. After taking my first bite, it wasn't hard to see why. The pudding itself was sweet but not overwhelming and I didn't notice the date at all. Add in a bit of ice cream with each bite and you'll wish they had given you a bigger portion of this thing!

In the end, I'm actually quite happy to give this place a try and very glad that we happened to check this place out during restaurant week. Would I ever consider coming back here for another dinner? Maybe. It's a very cozy and intimate venue but the portions that you get for the normal prices you pay for seem a bit unproportionate. I will say this though, if we ever do come back, I'll be making sure to order that Sticky Date...

The only redeeming quality of this place is the food and possibly the aesthetic if you are sitting in the right spot . This is one of those places that advertises the aesthetic as the main draw which makes sense because the service is horrendous. I made this reservation 2 weeks in advance for my birthday. They called multiple times the morning of to ensure we were coming and to ensure that we knew that we only had 90 minute. When we arrived (On time), the host again repeated multiple times, we only had 90 minutes because there was a group right after us. I understand they are a busy restaurant but bring up the time limit 3-4 times before we were even seated was a bit annoying. For how bad the service was, we were out of there in 80 minutes because we were freezing. That brings me to my main issue and why I am writing this review.

We were seated outside which is completely reasonable but it was pretty cold low 60s and windy. There were multiple heaters around the outdoor area. There were a few close by so we asked for a heater. The waiter attempted to turn it on, he said it needed propane so we waited. We were freezing so after not receiving one for the first 15 minutes, asked again, we ordered our food, still freezing, no heater so we ask again. Then at that point, I went up to the host stand and asked again. Then they came tried to turn the one near us on, worked on it for a few minutes. So another person in our party said something. But the service people Never actually mentioned to us what was going on, we are halfway through the meal freezing (we asked for hot tea, which they didn’t have.) when we asked for the last time. We just accepted we weren’t going to get it and moved on. The extremely angering thing was that right when we were finishing, they sat another large party next to us, a group of women (we were a mixed group of black women And men), those women asked for a heater and got one within minutes. This is when I was upset about the issue because of how incredibly dismissive and antagonizing this was.

Circling back to the fact that we made a reservation weeks in advance. We were seated in a back corner, that looked like a storage area (folding tables, multiple UNUSED heaters (definitely will get back to that), chairs, etc.). The area we were sat in we

I think the worst of it was the management response which was just a condescending non apology where he just said I’ll speak to the staff about it. Then went back to examine the area that no longer needed assistance. We had already paid and were leaving. I only came up because I was just so shocked that they thought nothing of it when they weren’t serving us properly. For us to ask for heaters for a full 1.5 hours of our reservation and never receive the heaters, for this other table of 8 next to us to ask for one and get one within minutes was infuriating.

I will say read the reviews, the food is decent and the seating area is probably nice if we weren’t stuck in the back unpopulated area barely serviced area but 100% not worth it. The hosts/manager seem like entitled people who think a restaurant that people like because it’s slightly aesthetically pleasing is justifying for them to have poor service. I am more upset about their lack of empathy when I brought up the issue and their blasé attitudes.

I would not recommend this place, the food/aesthetic is not worth...

FIRST OFF: •'MY' experience at "Openaire", does NOT reflect what you may possibly experience. •All the folks that work at Openaire all have good days and bad days. •So, this is just MY opinion at what I observed and what I went through, to make you decide if you want to go there or not. •My review will encompass an array of Categories rated by its pros and cons. ENJOY!

NOTE: ~ indicates pro or favorable|| ~ indicates con or negative|| +/- ~ indicates neither good or bad||

1. Arrival ++ You will take an elevator to the restaurant. Don't miss the inconspicuous front desk because you 'WILL' be too busy paying attention to and being mesmerized by the beautiful and striking outdoor greenhouse structure, décor, and aesthetic.

2. Seating +/- The super sweet and professional front desk attendant says you only have an hour and a half to eat. ??? Which is odd. I get it... IF it's a busy or super packed location you'd want people to come and go. BUT it wasn't packed or crowded. My group of 4 were there trying to savor the city life under the dimly-lit romantic greenhouse. Anyway, that time crunch automatically puts strain on people like me that have to be on time for everything every time. ++ 23rdBUT since it wasn't crowded, my group ended staying for hours at Openaire, laughing it up and having a great time.

3. Aesthetic +++ I recommend reserving an evening dinner as the sun goes down. Very romantic.

4. Server(s) +++ Our server 'Anthony' was beyond professional and awesome. He was attentive and on point the way server's should be, the whole night. Drinks stayed flowing and attention was on high alert with him.

5. Food - The food itself was okay or so-so. I know you are there for the experience but the portions were extremely small. My group of friends barely ate all day to try and save themselves for the fine-dining they were anticipating at Openaire. After the evening Everyone was still hungry. And kinda annoyed by the portion size for such an expensive price.

6. Refreshments -- The tea my girlfriend ordered was atrocious. It had all the seeds and tea remnants in the water. Maybe that's how the tea is supposed to be made for that restaurant. STILL It was still NOT good. And she is huge tea lover.. i recommend NOT getting their Tea.

7. Desserts +/- Desserts were the size of samples for the price of full and complete pies from any other restaurant. Once again I know it's about the atmosphere but the prices did not match the quality and sizing.

8. Wine --- I love to drink wine on special occasion. Several wines we wanted for myself or group, they did not have. Not sure why it'd still be on the menu. But we ended up drinking the not-so-good wine

9. OVERALL ☆☆☆☆ out of 5. Despite its shortcomings and inflated prices for size portions.. the atmosphere and vibe itself is worth it all.. Go for atmosphere NOT the food.

P.S.

Finally,, Anthony.... Great Job my friend, may life bring you success and happiness. Businesses succeed because of people like you and sometimes they have no idea what diamonds they have on their hands because they are too busy trying to be something they are not. You alone saved my night from...