The Lab Gastropub — Restaurant in Los Angeles

The Lab has recently gone through a make over, and unfortunately that wasn’t for the best. Previously it was the perfect place for a nicer dinner (as in, better than Chipotle down the street), with waiter service, good food, and clean amenities. Now, unfortunately, that has drastically changed — most notably with its cleanliness. The Lab still looks great (wood interiors, white tile wall, etc.) but you are instantly greeted by a smell of stale dirtiness when you enter the place. The fabric seats along the back wall are worn out and infused with stains and crusts of all sorts. Most tables have dirty dishes left on them for long periods of time after parties have left — and you are sure to find food remains and splatters left on the tables even after the dishes were removed. Some standard daily mopping and wiping the tables with proper cleaning supplies could help tremendously. The food is okay, as other reviewers have mentioned. It is definitely too pricey for the food quality, and only more unjustifiable given the very gross state of the dining room itself. The dining tables, chairs, and fabric seats are definitely worn down (ripped and worn out fabric cushions, wobbly tables, so on and so forth.) Service is a hit or miss, though there are some very pleasant workers that make the experience far more enjoyable. Beer and drinks selection remains a strong reason why The Lab is still worth visiting. But please, for the love of God, clean it...

This place is cool AF. I’ve been here two or three times, but this is the first time I review it. I was here for the Rams v. Saints game and I had a great time.

The ambience is nice, and even though it’s a college hangout spot, it still keeps a cool level of sophistication. The “bar food” is elevated and prices are reasonable.

As far as the food goes, we ordered (see pictures) the spinach dip and that was amazing. The little croutons they give you to dip with are out of this world highly recommend it. We also tried the nachos with steak and that was just as good. It’s rare that you find such good food from a college bar, but the steak was perfectly cooked and the whole thing was seasoned as if it belonged in a high end Mexican restaurant.

The wings were not far behind, we had the Thai chicken wings. the only problem with those was that we wanted more but we had to leave to go to the game.

We washed it all down with a bucket of beers and a few cocktails. The beer was fine, just bottled Modelo, and the cocktails were good by all accounts.

Whenever we’re in the area, we’ll come back to this spot. It’s legit. The food is top notch, the cocktails are good and the beer doesn’t cost you an arm an a leg. Definitely...

The Lab Gastropub is an interesting place - it's branded as scientific eating, and the layout and style is very modern, but the general customers are USC specific - meaning it basically turns into a sports bar.

The service here is spotty - service is slow - and the amount of time it takes to get food (even after an order is put it) is too long. The last time I went our server seemed almost angry to be there, no smiles, no "Hi, how are you doing?", nothing. Unfortunately this sensation of the customer having no value is felt in the slow kitchen and the hit or miss food that you receive.

Pro tip - if you do try out The Lab Gastropub, I suggest going during the week and avoid any day there is a USC game. This will give you a better opportunity to focus on the food and aesthetics...