The Lonely Oyster — Restaurant in Los Angeles

UPDATE: Former Regular Patron’s Experience

I used to be a regular at this place since its opening. Unfortunately, my last visit was extremely disappointing, and I feel compelled to share my experience.

Incident Details • Service Issue: During my last visit, the waitress left us unattended. At the end of our dinner, we received our dessert to go, but none of our plates were taken away. This happened despite leaving a generous $300 tip for two people. • Billing Error: My credit card was charged twice for different amounts. I contacted them via Instagram (since they follow me there) immediately after noticing the error. Their response was unapologetic, asking me to send an email, which I did. Five days later, there was still no update. • Lack of Resolution: Despite replying to my Instagram DM, they failed to respond to my email regarding the wrongful charge. This lack of service and professionalism made me decide to give them another chance three months later.

Second Visit: Continued Disappointment • Visit for Lunch: I returned for lunch, hoping for a better experience. Unfortunately, it was the worst service I’ve seen in a long time. There was a shift change, and while the new waitress tried her best, the service remained subpar. • possible False Advertising?: I ordered a lobster roll, which was claimed to be 5 pounds but clearly wasn’t. • Attempted Compensation: When I mentioned my previous experience, the waitress offered to cover my lunch, which I declined. Instead, I accepted a 10% discount. Despite the offer, the service remained unsatisfactory. • Tip Incident: After not leaving a tip due to the poor service, the waitress mentioned that they rely on tips, which made me feel guilty. I left the only bill I had on me, which was $5. She really did not have to make me feel bad for that. But she did …

Conclusion • Racial Profiling Concern: I’ve read several comments about similar experiences and even racial profiling, which is concerning. Service used to be courteous and kind. It is not anymore. • Recommendation: I no longer recommend this place due to their ongoing service issues. For a better lobster roll experience, try Royal Lobster on Beverly Blvd. It’s Asian-owned, offers excellent service, and has a charming...

We only visited The Lonely Oyster, as I've been following the now-sous chef Los Boludos via IG during the pandemic and his pasta looks amazing. And after our first visit, we came back MULTIPLE times and have had at min. 4 date nights and usually come for the 10PM HH as work has been pretty demanding. We are foodies and have recommended this restaurant to many of our friends, as the food is consistently good. Friends from East LA now love this place too and we keep bringing guests from Europe as well (I am originally from Germany).

However, I wish I did not have to write this bad review, since my husband and I love the food at The Lonely Oyster. However, we finally received the treatment of "racism" against Asians.

During Echo Park Rising, The Lonely Oyster was offering $10 oyster shots and we wanted to swing by to support the restaurant and to possibly grab some snacks before heading to the next place.

We were pretty transparent about this, as the inside of the restaurant seemed packed and we did not want to take over a table that would do a whole dinner there.

Chef Dom mentioned that they'll look for a spot for us and left. The hostess came after 5min and we explained the same thing. She'd let us wait for another 5min, and then she handed us the menus and asked us to go outside and the waitress would come and serve us in 5 min.

So we go outside, were standing around like lost children and waited 30min and literally NO ONE paid any attention to us. I was trying to get eye contact. Half of the outside patio is empty.

Even worse, they made us feel so UNWELCOMED and we felt being judged by just wanting to try the $10 oyster shots that was being heavily promoted on their social channels plus on Echo Park Rising. We've spent so much money at this place (at min $100per person, or I even invited a group out for $1,000 and tipped well before) - but getting treated like this was not okay. Being completely ignored and as if they were wishing for us to just leave.

We could definitely feel like Asians are most likely not welcome at this restaurant. I hate to say this, but I guess the racism concerns are true.

Don't advertise you are offering something special for Echo Park Rising if you can't even satisfy the...

The FLIES..... we came for dinner 9/22/2022 at 5pm. Party of 3. We were expecting to enjoy some wonderful seafood and oysters but were very disappointed.

Upon arrival, and sitting in our booth we noted some flies landing on the mirror that listed the oysters available. Then I turned around and saw 5-10 flies buzzing around the window blinds. We looked at the booth and there was a giant dead fly on the bench seat also.

I politely notified the server that the flies buzzing around was very off putting and did not encourage us to order oysters that were listed $57/ dozen with the flies circling. I kindly suggested they close their front door to stop the flies from coming in and landing on the food and " ice" display of fresh seafood at the bar.

During our time at the table another giant fly landed in a glass of bubbly. We let the server know and a replacement glass was brought over, but no apology.

Not one time did a manager come by to check in on us, nor follow up on the flies.

Noting we tried the moderate and expensive oyster selections and there were only OK. Served on a flat square plate with ice, way to much of a plate for the number of oyster's.

We ordered Cavi bumps, and one of the 3 orders was much smaller, also our spoons seemed warm, not worth the tasting, and we do not recommend.

Peruvian ceviche, was good, but served a large portion with 4 wonton crisps, we had to ask for additional crisps. Typically I would see that a server see's this and asks us if we want more crisps.

Shrimp cocktail, Argentine Clams (tiny) and Shrimp Arancini, were good.

We ordered the mac & cheese + lobster, and there was no lobster in the dish. Server did not apologize for not taking our order properly and add the lobster.

Lobster Trio was OK, not great.

Needless to say the flies ruined our experience and the lack of good service was...