Penny Oven — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Cute local spot with a rustic oven . I guess they use this for all of their cooking as all of our dishes came out in cute casserole type dishes. Cheery spot that also sells a lot of fun knick knacks and bottled beverages on top of their offerings. Food was overall good. The shakshuka and cauliflower hash were both very yummy. However we were not a fan of the "Dutch baby" Dutch oven pancake which is basically a baked pancake. This is probably just the type of dish it is and probably fine for what it is but it's gooey and raw and it wasn't for me.

My biggest complaint was the seating. The atmosphere is very cute but I was really turned off by how dirty the seats and tables were left. We went during Saturday lunch time and I guess maybe they were a bit understaffed. There was plenty of seating indoor and outdoor all throughout the restaurant but it took a while to find a place that we could sit, mostly because the tables and chairs weren't clean. Most of the tables even if they were unoccupied still had scraps of food or stains on the table and on the chairs. I think this was after the staff had tried to clean it already, so maybe whoever was doing it just wasn't thorough and didn't notice the water/juice stains and food scraps... We searched and also waited around for someone to clean. Mind you, I'm not talking about an individual seat that someone didn't have time to get to. We are talking about 10 plus seats/tables that were all dirty, which made me think there was just a difference in standard regarding what's ok or not. My husband grabbed a napkin and started wiping off some of the chairs. I was getting ready to ask to convert our order to a takeout order but finally someone came around with a rag to help clean the seats so we finally sat down. We go to public places a lot so I'm certainly not expecting places to be pristine or sterile but this was certainly worse than I was expecting.

Keep in mind it's not like the place is cheap either. I bought orange juice for $5 and it was yummy but it basically came in a kiddie cup about half the size of juices that I get at other places. My husband joked that I was basically paying for the straw, since the straw was obviously much much taller than the cup. But again the food was fine, and we finished everything except the Dutch pancake. My husband joked that the plates were cleaner than the seats. The food was overall yummy but it wasn't that pleasant of an experience because of the other factors. Hopefully it's better...

As you can see from the photo attached. The pancakes are so flat that the bottom separated from in the top during cooking.

I have seen pancakes in various stages of “fluffiness”… But I’ve never seen pancakes so flat that they had no insides .. with tops displaced from the bottoms. Yes… The photo is three pancakes that looks like six because of this displacement issue.

I couldn’t tell if this was an aberration or something that could and would happen again… So I went up and asked the cashier.

I politely said “I am not complaining… Just wondering… Is this typical of the way the pancakes come out …with The top all separated from the bottom”

And her response was “sometimes“. then she just looked squarely at my face challenging me to ask for something more.

No follow up like “I’m sorry we used an old batter .. let me redo them with fresh batter“

or “I’m sorry if that is not to your liking. Would you like some thing else?“.

Nope… just a blank look that defended a level of”we don’t care “ That was reflected in the pancakes that they must have noticed but decided to serve anyway.

This place makes me sad. Sometimes they are good, and sometimes they have inconsistent delivery… Like the day most of the pastries were burnt but they put them out and sold them at full price…taking zero responsibility for the situation (maybe a new baker?).

Enough said. This place could be great… the recipes are quite yummy and innovative… But, as much as I want to love this neighborhood restaurant… the execution and the general malaise and curtness of almost all the employees… Makes it difficult to love.

(Sigh….) I guess in this neighborhood… If you really want innovative food with s staff that seems to take pride in what they put out , I recommend Kitchen Mouse on Figeroa. A little far from this intersection, but today has taught me that it’s...

This Review is not for Penny Oven, but Holi Organic Indian. We wanted to try something close to our home for Indian, and mistakenly neglected to dig deeper to realize the 5 Stars consistent reviews were actually for Penny Oven. I think its worth clarifying... Holi Organic, which is part of the evening transformation of Penny Oven... is not really Indian food. The photos on the site look so good and well photographed! Sadly the actual food was far from authentic and left much to be desired. This isn’t Indian and could be better described as ‘Indian inspired organic’, which is what I felt they should bill it as to lessen expectations. We had the Achar Gobi Aloo and Chicken Tikka Masala which were both... mediocre. The Sambar was so sweet it felt closer to a South East Asian dessert rather than a dish (the taste more resembled Thanksgiving sweet potato mash, was difficult to find the veggies nor daal which is what it’s supposed to be). The Nan was super bready, and according to my 10 yr old daughter - does not taste like nan. We were excited to try this place since it was organic and 1 mile away, but organic should not supersede authenticity. Also, for the price, we simply expected better made, better quality, and more authentic food. It’s priced upper mid, but for the quality and small portions, sadly, we cannot wholeheartedly recommend this place. However, please do note... the staff was great and courteous, the overall place warm and inviting. Penny Oven looks good for - pizza, but not a choice for Indian. Was really hoping to find good Indian fare in Eagle Rock, but we’ll stick with Electric Lotus in...