Orsa & Winston — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Just came for the first night of winter dineLA. I’m a fan of Josef Centeno restaurants, having been to Bar Ama, Ama Cita, and Baco Mercat and had been trying to make my way to Orsa and Winston. Saw that the dineLA menu was essentially their five course tasting menu for $65 instead of the usual $85 and they got one Michelin Star last year.

Overall, I left feeling mixed about the food wavering between a few highs and lows, but the dinner mostly staying lukewarmly in the middle. Going in, I had high expectations based on some of the very positive feedback I heard, but also came across some mixed or negative reviews, which may have deterred me from coming previously. If I had to give a rating out of 10, I’d say 7 at most. The Japanese-Italian fusion tasting menu itself seems great for the value at $85 regularly, let alone $65 for dineLA. It really doesn’t get much cheaper than that for fine dining establishments and I think it should be a great entry level, newcomer option or frankly any other outgoing, experienced diners. But the food for me came off as tame, and perhaps it was because of the lower dineLA price point, where they held back on the dishes with some poor execution. And because of that with its supposed Michelin status, at a certain point you’re not really getting a bargain if the food isn’t that enjoyable. I’d rather pay more and get an experience the way it should be so maybe it was an off-night or unlucky for my party and not the same as their regular tasting menu.

First off, the Dungeness crab salad amuse Bouche and kanpachi crudo were fine to start off, nothing too excited, but mildly interesting with the flavor mixtures like black garlic and Calabrian chili for the crudo. Next came one of the best dishes in the caramelized sun choke soup that was like a refined, rich but not heavy cream of mushroom soup. With the milk bread cheese foccacia dipped into it was very fun and delicious to eat.

We also added two snack supplements in the wagyu beef tartar and pumpernickel or rye toast and black truffle hand torn pasta. The tartar was pretty good, definitely not up there though with top tier versions I’ve had at Destroyer and Here’s Looking at You. The hand torn pasta that seemed really good on paper was unfortunately the biggest letdown. It seemed it would be a cool mashup of Asian style hand or knife cut noodles served as an rustic Italian pasta dish, but the pasta was served partly clumping together, the black truffles weren’t fragrant enough and broth/sauce was some poorly emulsified pasta water sauce with not much taste of the yuzu and Parmesan listed on the menu, instead coming off as a mild chicken broth.

Proceeding with the tasting menu, the Satsuki rice porridge that many have lauded for being one of the best and creative OW dishes was a pretty good dish. It’s a cool cross between rice congee and risotto served in a pecorino cream sauce. But again, it felt tame and held back compared to their regular iterations that have Hokkaido uni, ikura, and other seafood options. Perhaps this is due to cut costs for dineLA so be warned. Following the porridge was the washugyu flank steak, which was also pretty good, maybe a little too gristly or stringy the way it was cut but cooked perfectly. Lastly, the chocolate cremoso dessert to finish on a good note was light and not too sweet.

There was a $40 wine pairing with each course and $10 supplement for snacks available. Overall, the wine tastings were interesting and adventurous, most weren’t hits but the dessert sparking wine with a fruity lychee, peach taste was really good.

Service was friendly and knowledgable, not too overbearing.

If you want to check this place out without breaking too much bank, I’ve heard great things about the brunch/lunch options ranging from Japanese dishes like donabe and katsu sandos to smoked...

Worse fine dining experience I have ever had. The food was cold and lacked flavor. In my opinion the wine was cheap and had very, very small pours. Maybe LA just isn't a place for fine dining. Maybe it is Hollywood, all show, and lacks any substance but avoid this place at all cost. If you do go, please don't do the wine paring which I think might be two cups of wine and get a bottle.

I was disappointed to say the least after dining at this restaurant. I visited the restaurant for the first time last night and have to say that I was not only underwhelmed but I felt ripped off. To begin, your sommelier is kind of smug and condescending but we went with the paring anyway. I told him the pours were small and he said they are 2 to 3 ounces each. So with 5 paring if every pour was a 3 ounce pour, however I believe the pours were less than 2 ounces, that would be less than 2 cups for 96 dollars with tax and service fee per person. $96 per person for less than 2 cups of wine seems outrageous. Especially if we are going to be honest I estimate each bottle to be less than 20 USD. Even when we purchased additional cups which we were charged for we did not receive a full cup of wine, instead we were given another 2 ounce pours so I paid an additional $60 for less than one cup of wine. This seems like fraud and rude on your sommelier part.

The service was not very attentive. I had to flag them down on numerous occasions even though the restaurant was practically empty. That may have been why the food was cold. This is the problem with fine dining at subpar restaurants like this one. You pay for something that is supposed to be at least good and maybe great but in I felt I received trash and the poor service. If the food were good I would have been happy

The food was boring, lacked flavor, cold, small and uninteresting. The fried food was cold. None of the food was hot. Warm at best. It was as if the food was prepackaged and sitting out all day waiting to be served as if I were eating at McDonalds. This was definitely the worst fine dining experience that I have ever had. Typically I send thank you notes to people like Thomas Keller but leaving Orsa and Winston I was genuinely upset and disappointed when I left. It was so bad that Ilooked for another restaurant that night.

I had never done this before, but it was so bad that I asked for a refund. They did not respond. Although we I emailed them about a reservation they responded numerous times immediately. Just goes to show what type of people they are. This crapy meal cost me over $643. They include a 20 percent service fee but also encourage tipping . I think the service fee is included because the service and food, in my opinion, are horrible and otherwise they would not get the 20 percent. They they also have a note should you wish to include a tip. Avoid this place please. I never want anyone else to have to experience...

I wanted to wait a month before I wrote this review .

This was not the experience I was hoping for for our 25th anniversary. My wife and I sadly celebrated this occasion with a shockingly under inspired meal.

Am I crazy? You can’t have five fish courses in a row!

By the third serving, I wanted some meat or fish or lamb or chicken or anything besides another piece of fish.

I did not see a lead chef in the kitchen, trying to prepare anything EXTRAORDINARY for a $500 meal.

Very uncreative.

What was I expecting? The French laundry? Apparently. I have never been to a tasting menu restaurant and really expected a special journey…

-Not nearly the case.

I believe the owner/chef was next-door, tending to his other Mexican restaurant.

Our Dinner: Caviar Salmon course Trout course Cod course Sardine course …And another fish course ( which escapes me) - by that by this time I was about to hurl..

Apparently, I’m not sophisticated enough for the Orsa and Winston experience.

Or to be bombarded by fish for every course.

And for the record, I love fish. When I explained to the French headwaiter that I was literally “fished out”, he basically shrugged it off. No explanation no alternative plate just a nice big fat check at the end.

The desert was a chocolate soufflé of some sort? Luke warm piece of chewy bland chocolate something in a soufflé cup. Awful. I mean, if you’ve ever had a real soufflé. I really hated to say that but it’s true.

For the record, my wife is from Sardinia, I am from New York, and we have traveled the world a bit and experienced some pretty incredible meals. …this was far from one of them, and sadly I feel like I’ve been robbed.

But both my family and my wife’s family were in the Restaurant business. That doesn’t make me a critic, I know, but what it does make me, is fully aware of what it takes to provide the experience that I was looking for on this occasion.

I don’t know that Thomas Keller would’ve let things slip out of his control like they did here.

IF THE OWNER WANTS TO INVITE ME BACK TO EXPERIENCE SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY I WILL UPDATE THIS REVIEW PROMPTLY.

I’m here Joe. Looking forward to your response. Based on reviews I am really hoping that this was just an anomaly of an evening.

I want you to be your best. -that is the truth. I want you to be deserving of your Michelin rating.

Frederick Carrion I believe our reservation was around...