Topanga Social — Restaurant in Los Angeles

I've been coming to The Village at Topanga by Westfield since they opened up. The atmosphere alone is worth it but right now they have the children's playground closed and I'm not sure why. It's part of the entire experience as the Westfield Topanga mall is across the street. They used to have a trolley that would take you back and forth, maybe they still have it, they called her "Molly the Trolley." I've Loved this entire shopping experience for so many years because they have every store at the Topanga Mall from Little boutiques to Hermes and Christian Dior, the layout may seem confusing at first but it's actually pretty genius because they have stores in their own category that have their own little neighborhood in the mall... As for the village, for the most part it's one long main path, and far too pleasant of an environment to not enjoy. Great unique variety of eateries, restaurants and bars, as well as a 24-hr Fitness (I doubt it if they're open 24 hours like they used to be pre-covid), an REI sporting goods store, and it wouldn't be complete without Costco😉

Upscale salon and spa/med spa/ beauty supply stores/and all of that is great except for as an esthetician whose career was built in Beverly hills working on celebrity clientele, I can assure you that their skin product store(s) (Skin Laundry and whatever they've put in or taken out with such a high overturn rate of stores / boutiques since covid) are definitely not worth the money and forget about going to The Nail Garden unless you absolutely just are dying to waste money on a manicure or pedicure that is no better than anywhere else-for nail art on top of acrylic nails with a stiletto shape years back as well as a French tip pedicure, I was once billed $250(!) TIP: IF YOU REALLY TRULY WANT A GOOD LASTING MANICURE AND PEDICURE, there's Lee's Nail salon on Figueroa and I think slauson boulevard down in South Central. Those women will handle you with utmost care and have you out of there in less than 45 minutes, and for the exact above service that I just described, all of $75... Before the tip. Your manicure will last you well into 6 weeks (I got my manis/pedis down there for years after I got over the fact that the environment in a nail salon cannot really do without cannot really cannot really beyond a giant flat screen TV, some spa music, and the owner blowing all of his money on the spa chairs that always have an annoying massage. At the end of the day what we all really want is a really great fabulous freaking manicure and pedicure and I'm telling you who knows how to do it better than the ladies in the hood? They basically invented that stuff)!

Drybar, however, is a blast and a half, and if you like the dry bar brand, check out only the best mascara ever invented: it's by IT! Cosmetics collabo w/ Drybar, it comes in a gray and yellow tube that looks like a round brush, and now that they have Ulta inside of Target, you can get it there! I'm not sure if you can get it at the dry bar at Topanga village but I had to mention it. Happy exploring / spending/going out for drinks/date night/girls'...

Great place to go with friends and family with a wide selection of food options for meat lovers and vegetarians alike. Nice, open food court atmosphere but a bit more sophisticated. I'll cut to the chase and tell you what I liked and didn't:

Highly recommend:

--Wanderlust's ice cream is amazing! The Vietnamese coffee flavor was one of the best ice creams I've had in my life. Also loved the passionfruit and vanilla flavors. But there are so many flavors to enjoy! Don't miss it. Seriously.

--Sola Po'boys Shrimp and Oyster Po'boy was BY FAR the best sandwich I had. Crunchy on the outside, but still juicy on the inside shrimp and oysters. You can choose from mild and spicy sauces to add on top, including a delicious mango one. Excellent customer service. Don't miss this one either! It's a family business and Black-owned. You can taste the love.

--Beignet Box's beignets were delicious. I was disappointed that they ran out of the only sauces I wanted, and I didn't love the customer service. But I overlooked that because the beignets didn't disappoint. Get the regular order with 4 pieces instead of the small bites.

--Dumpling House. The pork dumplings are very good.

Decent:

I got the chicken katsu sandwich I kept reading about from Katsu Sando. It was perfectly fine, but nothing to write home about.

Didn't like:

--Amboy. The guy there recommended their grilled cheese sandwich-style burger. I was super excited to taste it. Unfortunately, it tasted like a regular grilled cheese with a flat patty inside of it. Their patties are thin so they're well done, which isn't my jam. I will say that their sour cream and onion sauce was delicious, but it wasn't enough to make up for the burger. The loaded fries are better, but also nothing super special.

-- About 20% of the restaurants were closed or closed down early, some of which didn't even post signs.

-- The stations where you can order food from various places are a great idea. It's too bad that they aren't yet displaying all the restaurants so you can order from the full selection, and it was frustrating to have to retype my phone number for each order. Love that you get a text to tell you when your order is ready, but again, the system needs to be more efficient.

Overall, I recommend coming here. It was fun to try new places and...

Ok, so I love this whole new concept and hope every mall in America does this.

D Town Pizzeria is really good!! I've tried 3 different pizzas, and my least favorite was the barrata pizza. The plain pizza was amazing, as was the design your own. I grew up in the pizza business as my dad used to own one in Jersey, and this pizza is on point as long as they don't burn it, which happened once

The Burrata place was a 10 as an Italian, I love prosciutto, so I went with the Barrata/Prosciutto panni, and it was da bomb! Will def be back...

I tried the rolled tacos at I Love Micheladas, which definitely doesn't live up to the name at all. I did not in any way love it! Those were a total miss. The staff had no idea what they were doing. Couldn't find my order, the food was cold, and barely any meat inside. It literally tasted like something you'd buy in the frozen section at Walmart and Microwave. Never again...

Katsu Sando was a miss for me. I didn't like the flavors at all. If I'm gonna eat a lot of calories, it better be well worth it. I just didn't get the flavors and felt they didn't mesh well together. I ordered the chicken katsu sando. Never again...

Primos donuts was yummy. I tried the vegan donuts since I'm lactose intolerant, and it was amazing. I tried the vanilla and the cherry glazed vegan donut. My only gripe is that the young women behind the counter seem so disengaged, and when you ask them questions about the donuts, they say they don't know and smile. I wanted to know what they use to make the vegan donuts. They have no idea. Then I asked how I could order in the portal so I could get my rewards points, and they had no clue. They menu in the portal doesn't include selecting the vegan donuts. Great donuts, just not the most helpful or knowledgeable workers. As a consumer, I like to know what I'm putting in my body.

Lastly, I love the Candy Store. They have some old school candy from when we were kids in the 80's. Definitely candies you don't see at the stores anymore. Great ro grab some before heading upstairs to...