The Nice Guy — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Meh. That’s how I’d describe my experience here. Had a reservation for 9 PM for a party of 2. We received multiple reminders of our reservation, asking that we confirm. The rules were clear if you are 15 minutes late, you lose your spot. We were on time and were greeted by the host at the entrance. Gave us attitude and asked who’s party we were joining, making it obvious that they didn’t know us, so we must be meeting someone that was known to the establishment. Bit of a joke given the fact that you can literally make a reservation for this place directly on their site. Plenty of open spots. We give our name, they see the booking (duh) and let us in. We are told to go to the bar and have a drink while they get our table ready. We order the spicy cocktail. Tasted good.

At this point we’ve been at the bar for 30 minutes. Constantly being asked if we want more drinks. I’m good for drinks but a table would be nice. I go to the host, inquire about our table and get told that they have a lot of big parties there tonight so we need to wait a little longer. OK, but we’re a table of 2, so I don’t really understand why the bigger tables affect that. If you ask me to respect a 15 minute window, you should return the favour. Keep waiting while watching the bartender make huge batches of cocktails in tubs, pre-bottling them using a funnel. I’m being picky, but I feel like you could do that behind the scenes? Make me feel like my drink is made to order and not like you’re preparing for a frat party. Especially when your charging $25 a drink. Looked cheap, sorry. Go back to the host, get told that we can be sat on this tiny high table, right by the door if we wish and will then be asked to move to our actual table once it’s ready. Nah, I’m good. I’ll wait. This whole time the service is not great at the bar. No questions, advice or suggestions, just a constant barrage of “more drinks?”. Our table is ready, about 45 minutes later than our booking time. Get sat close to the bar, by the cutlery drawer and the constant flow of staff clinging and clanging cutlery and plates. Kind of annoying. I’m definitely not getting the “no taking of pictures allowed in this place” vibe they’re going for. By the way, that is a rule. You’re not allowed to take pictures in the restaurant. I get it and respect it, apparently celebrities go here and want privacy. I’m OK with that. However, the table next to us have their phones out, flashes on and their taking videos. They get asked to stop, don’t care and keep doing it. If you have a rule, enforce it.

Our server introduces themselves, but that’s pretty much it. No information about the dishes, no questions, no advice. Just “so, what are we getting?”. We get the meatballs and the mozzarella for starters. Meatballs are good but don’t blow my mind. The mozzarella and bread with the tomato jam on it are good though, I’ll give them that. As soon as we’re done, some other staff member shows up, rushing, no questions other than “are we done?”. Takes and stacks our plates and cutlery, loud clinging and clanging. Felt like a school cafeteria. Order mains, again, no questions or advice. We get the Cacio E Pepe pasta and meat lovers pizza. Cacio E Pepe is good, but that’s pretty much it. I’m sorry, but the pizza was trash. Came on a Chuck E Cheese style elevated platter. Middle of the road crust, doughy, toppings were mid at best. Ate two slices and was done. Another staff member rushes to our table and cling clangs the dishes away in a rush. Sanitizes our table while we’re still sitting at it (like, OK?) while blurting out “dessert?”. We say that we’re good, our main server re-appears with the check. We pay and we’re out of there.

We were in for $250, thought it would be more as we had alcohol with dinner too, so that was OK. It’s not a small amount of money, but this place was so hyped I thought it would be more . It came down to the service. If they’d put in a little more effort could have been...

UPDATE: I had to come back and update my review. After my last experience, management reached out and took the time to arrange a phone call. They truly seemed to want to understand all the details of my visit so they could update their training and ensure a better experience for their guests. My fiance and I finally decided to give the NG another try for dinner last night and were super happy we did! The food, like the previous visit, was amazing. There was not one dish we tried that we didn't LOVE. Service was great. From the hostess, to the bus boy, to the manager - everyone was simply lovely and attentive. We had a great evening and are very much looking forward to returning again. I think my first experience was a fluke and this may quickly become one of our regular spots :)

After tons of recommendations from friends and clients, I finally had dinner here last night with a friend. Food was AMAZING. Everything we had we loved and were left grabbing for every last bite. That being said, poor service was enough to make me think twice before heading here again. Hostess was extremely rude and we felt like we were being “punished” lol. We came in right at 6 for dinner after seeing online they had multiple early slots open. When we arrived the place was empty and hostess wanted to sit us outside in the cold. After politely asking if there were any other options we left. When we got to the car, we pulled up the booking site again and still saw several open reservations. We made one for 15 min from when we looked, called to double check it was inside and walked back in. The hostess was clearly annoyed we had come back and figured out how to sit inside and sat us early? Seems we should have been annoyed that she didn’t just offer this in the first place but ok. In a completely empty restaurant save for 2 tables she sat us at a table right by service station and gave us the dirtiest look. Again, we brushed it off and stayed thinking it was just one person having a bad day but then were basically ignored by our server most of the night. For such a well known spot, I was very surprised. I’m not sure what the problem was. We were well dressed, ordered quite a bit and tipped well, but felt like the biggest nuisance the whole evening. Again, food was amazing and so I may give it a second chance but would not bring a client anytime soon as I would be very embarrassed should the same service issues arise. Bit of a bummer since we live...

How was the food? Don’t know. Service? Not a clue. Decor and ambiance? Looked great for a fleeting moment as the affectless hostess escorted us through the well-appointed dining room and into what looked like a back alley on a cold February night. We and another couple made a reservation and secured babysitters weeks before our February 23 first visit to The Nice Guy. A few days before, the restaurant called to say they needed to move us from 7:30 to 8:00. Weird, but fine. My wife and I arrived a few minutes before 8:00 and before our friends so we went to the bar. The place looked beautiful and we were excited to have a meal there. Our friends arrived a few minutes later. But then the hostess escorted us away from the elegant and enticing dining room and out a side door into what I would describe as a side alley where 3 tables had been set, seemingly as an afterthought. We were the only ones in the alley. It was cold. No ambiance. No lighting. No candles on the tables. No flowers. Just an alley with 3 tables. The expressionless, unapologetic hostess said she would turn on the outdoor heaters. 2 out of 3 of them didn’t work. We asked if we could wait at the bar for a table inside. The unsmiling hostess said yes, and that a table “might” become available “around 10:30” (it was 8:05 and the babysitter clock was ticking). She didn’t seem to appreciate the absurdity of us waiting at the bar for two-and-a-half hours for the chance—maybe a slim chance?—at an indoor table. Unhappy with the cold, dark, cramped outdoor seating, and with fluorescent lighting from the street shining in our faces, we asked to see a manager. When no manager appeared for 10 minutes, we booked AOC on OpenTable for 8:30 and left. The manager appeared outside as the valet retrieved our cars. He was very apologetic and invited us back another night. He seemed nice but it was too late. LA has so many great restaurants to try and we don’t have enough bandwidth (or babysitters) to try them all. By the way, AOC was terrific (as always)—the hostess even smiled, made a joke and seemed really happy to have us, which was a different and refreshing experience that evening. I’ve probably eaten out a couple of thousand times in my adult life and never have been treated like this. Life is short. Babysitters cost money. Go...