Pine and Crane DTLA — Restaurant in Los Angeles

A great affordable and chill spot in DTLA with wonderful food? Yes please!

Pine & Crane is focused on Taiwanese food with a variety of options and slight unique spins (so do expect some variations). They also have a variety of both teas/coffee as well as alcoholic beverages. You'll also probably notice when you enter that the front of the restaurant is basically a storefront with lots of snacks and goodies which is super cool. They do have a separate menu for brunch that changes over at 11AM as a heads-up. I've been here a few times, so will be reviewing a variety of the items!

*Minced pork with rice: I actually really like P&C's variation here. One, it's a pretty good sized dish. Love the house daikon pickles and think it's well-seasoned. I mix in the hot sauce that is at the table.

*Panfried Pork Buns: Yes - I do think there are places that do it better. But these are super solid here and tasty. Again, I use the hot sauce to help out a bit (might see a pattern here, :P)

*Dan Dan Noodle: I think it's an okay item here. Super creamy and heavy on the peanuts as a heads-up in case that's not your deal.

*Beef Noodle Soup: Also solid. I think it's a great dish to share between two people (along with one of the appetizers) as it is pretty big. Meat is super tender!

*Dou Has: A good dessert of a mix of sweet potato/taro balls, red bean, and ginger syrup. Not overly sweet. We dug it.

*Sun Moon Lake Cocktail: A refreshing whiskey cocktail (love Toki). Wasn't overly sweet and fit the mood right.

*Hot Tea: Just a note - their tea set is adorbs and has a fun colorful timer that comes along with it. They refill so be sure to take advantage of it! They also provided some simple syrup

*Passion Fruit Shandy: I thought this was ok. I preferred their cocktail but pretty refreshing - a mix of Taiwanese gold beer and passion fruit/green tea. I think a regular shandy is a bit sweeter/brighter but liked the play.

Walk-ins only and no RSVPs here (at least as of August 2023). At least on the weekends, I've noticed that the lines for lunch especially seem to get busy! You order first before picking out a table!

Service is pretty nice although they tend to get pretty busy. You'll need to at least bus silverware/water to your table (saw at least two areas where you can do this inside and outside).

Tables are available both inside and a nice patio area with a variety of seat options. I do think bigger groups may have some seating issues here as I don't usually see big tables although did see a huge work group rent out at least the big table in the back!

Love also the aesthetic. It's nice, soft wood colors that gives off a nice, cozy cafe vibe that is filled with lots of plant life outside.

Parking-wise, there is no dedicated lot, so you'll need to aim for street parking or a lot. I usually tend to find street parking a couple of blocks away.

An easy-to-recommend solid spot. Highly...

Overall: 3.4/5 (dine in)

Pine and Crane is not your typical restaurant set up and has a unique storefront where they have moveable glass panels that gives it an open atmosphere. When you first enter, you get a coffee shop vibe where there's cute things, snacks, and drinkware on display. Outside of this cashier counter area, Pine and Crane has regular indoor and outdoor seating. However, you have to order and pay first before you can be seated at a table. The food does come out pretty quickly, and service was good.

Lays Deep Ridge Chips ($6): They have cool Asian snacks that you might typically see but they were way overpriced. The Lays deep ridge chips are really good and better than the basic ones though.

Eat, Drink, Man, Woman ($15): This was an interesting concoction that's mezcal based mixed with oolong tea, maraschino, gave, pineapple, lemon, and raisin tree tea cordial. My husband and I didn't like this drink and the presentation is unappealing.

Walking on a Mountain Path in Spring ($14): The cocktail was very light with chrysanthemum being the main flavor profile. It also tasted refreshing thanks to the aloe. I think anyone can drink this at any time.

Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken ($13): This is an Americanized version that barely has any pepper flavor and was pretty bland to be honest. Popcorn chicken is also kinda dry and overpriced too.

Shrimp Wontons ($10): I'm sorry but the filling was not good at all. It was also lacking flavor and didn't soak up the red chili oil either. The Royal Asia shrimp wontons that you can get from Costco are way better.

Pan Fried Pork Buns ($12): They made the steam buns way too thick so you might need an extra bite to get to the meat. The filling was okay and had more flavor than the shrimp wontons but I wouldn't get it again.

Dan Dan Noodles ($11): The Dan Dan noodles were one of my favorite dishes of the night. I could be biased since I love peanut butter so the sesame-peanut sauce was divine. It looks like a lot of veggies at first but you need the refreshing cucumber to balance out the noodles' creaminess.

Beef Roll ($9): The beef roll was my other favorite entree. Tastes great and is stuffed with huge beef slices. We got two orders to share with our party of 5 which was perfect.

Hakka Mochi ($8): They were nice enough to comp the mochi for my cousin dad's birthday. It came with 2 different flavors: peanut and black sesame. The black sesame has a very subtle flavor. The peanut one...

I was one of the first people to come to this restaurant when it opened as I was living at the aven apartments for over 3 years. So I got to see this location be developed And open up. Since I was living at the aven apartments I was ordering from PINE & CRANE EVERYDAY especially the 3 cup chicken 🍗 which is my favorite. So I had a great business meeting 🤝 yesterday I ordered that plate.

The person that deserves a raise that till this provides the best service 🐕‍🦺 at the restaurant is ANTHONY. I appreciate him making me feel welcomed. Had to get the noodles too.

Also how it works here is u need to order the food first before you sit down. So it's order then get served. Most restaurants it's the other way around where you sit down and place order. Tell them Hussain sent ya. I used to either pick up option since it was closeby.

This is the full menu for drinks they got wine and on the draft beers available From Liwa sauv Blanc $17.51 Erickamm auxerrois $16.49 Queen of the sierra Amber orange $17.51 Logo Cabernet franc $16.49 Georgian red blend $24 Chateau Marco maelle $15.44

On draft Fremont pilsner Try new cocktail 🥃 whisky

1120 S Grand Ave Unit 101, Los Angeles, CA 90015

Hours of operation Monday: 8:00 am - 10:00 pm Tuesday: 8:00 am - 10:00 pm Wednesday: 8:00 am - 10:00 Pm Thursday: 8:00 am - 10:00 pm Friday: 8:00 am - 10:00 pm Saturday: 8:00 am - 10:00 pm Sunday: 8:00...