Wood & Water — Restaurant in Los Angeles

This was a very mediocre experience for us. My wife and I went during Dine L.A. week to sample the prix fixe menu. I feel a little bad for the kitchen here because, while most of the flavors were great, the Front of House was not doing them justice.

First, we ordered the warm Focaccia plate as a starter but it did not show up until after our first plates of the prix fixe meal which were, in themselves, very late in getting there (about 40 minutes after we were seated). We did not make a fuss but as an apology, our flustered server promised that she would talk to the manager and "make it right". A man did come to our table to deliver us the bread and ask us how we were. We were left to assume that he must have been the manager because he never actually introduced himself.

When the bread did finally arrive , it was excellent. The compound butter was savory and we wanted to eat way too much of it. As for the prix fixe offerings: my very first bite of lamb skewer was pretty tough, thankfully that was an anomaly because the rest of the lamb (and dish) was great. My wife got the squash blossoms and they were light and cheesy.

My wife's entree was the winner. She got the duck ragu over pappardelle pasta and it was pretty wonderful. My gumbo had potential but ultimately fell a bit flat. It was flavorful without being too spicy and the chicken, andouille sausage and shrimp were great and had they stopped the protein list there, it would have been fine. The additional calamari was overcooked to the point of too chewy to eat. However, there was no rice at all in my gumbo, though it was listed on the menu. I noticed after a couple bites and when we waived the man-who-would-be-manager over, he proceeded to tell me that I just might have missed the rice but that he would get me more. Again, we were not making a fuss about any of this but I didn't particularly like being being fed a line about the rice "dissolving in" or that I just couldn't see it. He did bring me the rice and some crostini, to eat with my gumbo.

We then moved on to our desserts, both of which would have been significantly better had they simply been served with a fork instead of, or in addition to, the spoon. The awkwardness of the spoon in these situations just made it a bit difficult to eat.

When the bill came, we were disappointed but not surprised to see that nothing had really been "made right" as our server had previously suggested. We ultimate got everything we ordered and paid for it all, so can't really complain too much.

TLDR: mostly decent to delicious flavors; bad timing and mediocre service followed up by a wet noodle of a...

I had quite an experience tonight...treating my self to Wood and Water...I always have the same thing the Tuna, and the chicken, but tonight I thought to expand.....I called about a seat for one at the bar, and they said come on down....I sat at the bar, and waited about 5 minutes till the bartender asked me if I wanted a menu..I replied yes, but she did not ask me if I wanted something to drink....I finally got the attention of another bartender for a drink, and it was good...I spoke with the original bartender about food, and I made my decisions...all is good! I ordered the octopus and it was delicious, but the last bite, I am thinking , is this a bone...octopus don't have bones, I pulled it out of my mouth and it was a BROKEN FISH HOOK...Luckily it did not poke me, so I brought it to the attention of the bartender...he called the manager Michael over, and I explained the issue...they took then hook, asked if I was ok, and that was it....honestly the bus boy came over and asked 3 times if I was ok, but nothing from anyone else...this could have been tragic, luckily it wasn't, and being from the chef world... I get it..stuff happens....but this was bad....Anyway, I finished my meal and the server said the manager wants to buy me a dessert....a dessert? This could have been a very bad situation, no one seemed to really care, maybe they thought I was faking....not sure...I asked to just comp the dish...I paid, and I left.....I am pretty sure I won't be back...this is probably my 15th time there, and I spend a lot...but the attitude of no concern or followup from management of the night,...

They only had one vegan/veggie entree that was highly recommended by the waiter and turned out to be a total disappointment. A curry with only half a handful of chickpeas (mostly sauce, no other vegetables) and a single pita cut into triangles for $19. When expressed to the waiter that was hoping for something more than just one pita, curry sauce, and half a handful of chickpeas he had nothing to offer, so my girlfriends asked him if he could bring some rice at least. He said he could but there would be an extra charge. I declined since the dish was already overpriced for what it was, so wasn't about to pay more for a portion of rice. Of course ran out of the little bit of pita and chickpeas and was left with a bunch of sauce and nothing to accompany it.

The chef needs to make more of an effort with the only vegan entree offered. The current offering doesn't work as an entree alone; it's not nutritionally balanced or even filling. Maybe if it were half price, then could add a side to make it more of a complete meal.

Our waiter's lack of interest to rectify the situation compounded my disappointment with the food. Anyway, one star for nice ambience and one for the menu items that at least my friends were able to enjoy. But any vegans/vegetarians can get a ready-made curry w/ more vegetables + rice + whole bag of pita from Trader Joe's for a third of the price ... if I can get better frozen dinners at TJ's don't see the point of paying fancy restaurant prices for a "chef" to put something together and still leave...