The Anchor — Restaurant in Los Angeles

So this review is pretty long overdue.

I felt super compelled to write about my horrible experience at the Anchor on 8/27/16.

The Anchor was at one point, one of my fav places to brunch on the Westside and I had patronized the establishment several times prior to this visit. I'd raved to one of my good friends about the lobster roll at the Anchor and was stoked to finally get to try it with her. My excitement would be very short lived. This also happened to be the same day as their 2 year anniversary party which I had known about prior to arriving due to social media.

We arrived about 30 mins prior to the party starting and were greeted by a hostess who informed us that they were setting up for an event but that we were more than welcomed to have a seat anywhere. The inside area of the restaurant is fairly small and was completely full so we opted to sit outside on the front dining patio. After about 10 mins of being seated and looking over the menu, we ordered a round drinks and the infamous lobster roll (with our male waiter who was extremely rude, he even scoffed at my friend at one point when she asked him a question about the roll.)

We were seated in a pretty central area on the front patio, so it was pretty hard to miss us, however we sat there during the entirety of our meal and watched the GM greet/acknowledge/run elbows with all off his friends/special guest as well as every other single patron there besides us. At first we just just blew it off because it did start getting a bit busy there during the party but we were not greeted/acknowledged for the duration of our time at the Anchor and we were extremely put off by the entire situation. The restaurant was celebrating their 2 year anniversary and giving away free lobster rolls to the first 100 guests. We watched the GM pass out vouchers too every other patron there except for us. Our server even proceeded to take our order for the regular sized lobster roll with no mention to us of the promotion. Extremely crappy feeling to say the least.

After we finished our drinks we proceeded to pay our bill and leave. I did leave a note on the receipt detailing my disgust with our experience and as my friend and I were walking down the street to our car, our server proceeded to flag us down. He was super apologetic about what happened and even invited us to come back and said he would take care of us. I have to admit I was a bit taken aback by the whole gesture and wasn't really interested in ever giving the Anchor my business ever again. I thanked him and walked to my car while my friend went back into the restaurant bc she left her phone behind. Upon returning she informed me that the manager finally approached her and apologized as well, but says that "we should have said something" . . . . . unbelievable.

All in all I felt it was necessary to document my experience here. I really like the Anchor and hope that they can improve there customer service and overall...

I finally got a chance to try this place after driving by it hundreds of times. It's a lot more casual than I expected. We had reservations for a party of 4, and they sat us outside on the patio, which is basically picnic tables. Luckily there was a heater behind us, because it was a chilly night.

Our waitress was nice, full of energy and funny. One person in our group had purchased a deal on Guilt of 2 dinners for 2 (4 dinners total). What was included was a bottle of wine per couple, a lobster roll per couple, 6 oysters per couple, 2 entrees per couple, and 1 dessert per couple.

Not much of a wine selection, you basically got to choose from the house red or the house while. We chose the red, and luckily it was pretty good. The oysters were a good selection of various type of oysters. Apparently we got the last order... So too bad for anyone else who came in with this deal, I guess.

The Lobster Rolls were pretty good, although they are a small appetizer size.

For the entrees, there really isn't much of a selection. I don't eat red meat, so my options were the Chicken & Waffles, or the Salmon. I had seriously considered the Chicken & Waffles (I've never had that dish anywhere before), but luckily the table next to us overheard our discussion, and steered us away from them. Apparently they had ordered the Chicken & Waffles, and it was so bad, then sent it back. So I ordered the Salmon, which was actually pretty good.

When it came time for dessert, the waitress told us that they just served the last one to another table... So this time, WE were out of luck. She offered us a Cheese Platter instead, but we declined -- none of us are big fans of cheese for dessert.

When the check came, not only did we NOT get a discount/refund for not getting a dessert, but the waitress charged us for the entrees -- everything was supposed to be included as part of the package meal that was bought. The waitress tried to explain that it didn't include the entrees, so we had to show her that it did (we had given her a printout of the package deal, so I guess she didn't read it?). Then she said that the restaurant has so many package deals available that she can't keep track. So finally she brought back a check that just charged us for tax...but again, that should have been all included in the package deal. The only thing we should have had to pay was gratuity.

Overall the meal was just OK. I would not be in any...

We went on Wednesday night at 7pm for a birthday dinner. Parking was convenient on the street at a meter.

I liked everything we ordered except for the Lobster Mac and Cheese, which was really lacking in lobster and didn't have the ideal cheese but was cheesy enough. It would have been better with white cheddar or asiago or even both. I liked their attempt at making it crunchy with breadcrumbs, but it was just lacking in many ways.

We started with a dozen oysters, shrimp ceviche, roasted corn, and the calamari. The shrimp ceviche was my favorite as there was a generous serving of plump shrimp, and the flavors were on point. The calamari was my second favorite. The oysters were fresh and attractively priced at $24 per dozen. The corn was lightly sprinkled with shredded cheese and had good flavors, but I wouldn't order it again. We had Allagash and IPA with the appetizers.

For entrees, we had the lobster roll and octopus, both of which were fantastic. The lobster roll is served on toasted Hawaiian bread, and there is a very generous serving of truffled lobster with melted butter and chives. The octopus was plump and perfectly cooked. Both were excellent, and they went well with the bottle of white wine.

The atmosphere was comfortable for a bar-type restaurant but lacking in general. We had to "squeeze" 5 people inside their only booth indoors since it was chilly outside, and often times I had to move out of the way of passing servers when I was standing on the other side of the table. There were outdoor heaters, but our older parents felt it was too chilly to sit outdoors.

The live music outdoors was a nice touch, but the talent was somewhat subpar. The singer played guitar and his band mate played the trumpet, which you don't see everyday. They played mostly good songs, but their execution was a bit lacking.

Lastly, there are no dessert options, even though we were celebrating a birthday.

All in all, I would go back for the food, and their prices are better than similar restaurants in the area. But I wouldn't go back for a...