Dear Jane's — Restaurant in Santa Monica

Finally got to experience Dear Jane’s after years of walking past. My review is very mixed.

The Good: the location is amazing. Nestled on the marina feet away from docked boats at the marina. The interior decor is impeccable! Great artwork on the walls. Color coordinated with such attention detail that is probably in the top 5% of all restaurants in LA. The patio is also tastefully done with heat lamps if the temperature isn’t warm enough. A+ Came for Happy Hour

The Bad: The food. I was surprised just how mediocre to bad the items we got were. The calamari was shockingly awful. Our order came out cold and over cooked - almost as if it was the last remaining in a basket. Some of the calamari was missing the actual calamari - it was over fried breading that I guess had detached from the actual protein. Also got a basic green salad that tasted as if though salt was added. Fresh greens but never had a salty salad before. Next we got the Happy hour shrimp cocktail - 😂 two shrimp. $13.00. These weren’t small shrimp but weren’t large either. They were butterflied to look bigger but very average. It was ok - the cocktail sauce had quite a bit of horseradish and again it was ok.

Next we got the shrimp scampi and it was again just ok. Very mid. Nothing really stood out. Very small portion and between two people we just ate half. Wasn’t terrible but not good either. And lastly the sirloin. Was surprised it wasn’t a lot better considering Jane’s is affiliated with Dear John’s - a steak house. Ordered medium rare came out closer to medium well.

Overall: glad we came on happy hour to try out some items instead of the full dinner orders which are not cheap. Great date spot but the food will leave you desiring so much more. We actually left and went to a nearby waterfront restaurant and practically ordered the exact same things for a fraction of the price and much larger and tastier portions. Really wanted to like this place especially considering we spent $100 for happy hour. I’d go back and take advantage of the cocktails or half of bottle...

We had a HORRIBLE experience last night at Dear Jane’s. First it started with not being able to be seated right away. Ok fine.. once we received our drinks we quickly found the nearest person to place a 2nd order of drinks since it was nearly 7pm and happy hour was ending . Here’s what’s funny we were first proud of ourselves for getting our drink order in before 7pm!!

We were quite surprised that the drinks never came and when the server came by at 7:10 we were informed it was too late because we didn’t place the drink order in time. Say what?? Next -We asked the GM Mike what happened and he proceeded to explain that there was NOTHING he could for us.

He also chided us and told us there was no way we could have ordered before 7pm because he claimed that he had talked with us until 7pm.

He then proceeded to explain that because the person that told us was only the food runner that is why we didn’t get the drinks in. Even though the “food runner” confirmed he would get our order in… Shame on us since we believed him. How were we supposed to know that he was only the “ food runner”? They are a team and to place blame on the food runner and not just own it and make it better for us left us feeling dismissed and disrespected .

Then the GM suggested that we should come back “ next time” and that he would really treat us well “ next time” but unfortunately there won’t be a next time. How about treat us well this time?

Another patron sitting nearby expressed her absolute dismay at the whole scene and felt we had been treated very rude. How about this? Just make it right, don’t challenge us and tell us we are wrong, just be accountable Mike.

In the words of the poet Maya Angelou…” I have learned that people will forget what you said, forget what you did, but they will never forget how they made you feel.” And that why I just can’t come back. Feeling so...

SIGH. I had High hopes for this restaurant. I Googled Michelin star rated restaurants near me and this restaurant popped up. Immediately upon arrival, I could see myself coming back to have tea or a drink because the ambience was amazing. I thought what would this restaurant look like during the daytime because it was gorgeous at night. It was my birthday, and I told the hostess that. They did nothing for my birthday. OK, fine… We ordered the smoked fish dip. It was pretty good. I found the consistency to be kind of runny. Then I ordered the Branzino and while the presentation was good, it lacked the buttery taste that I know Branzino can have. The flavor and the seasonings were just not up to par for $66. We also ordered the lemon potatoes. They were extremely underwhelming. Nothing lemoney about them.

My friend ordered the lobster pasta. The presentation was terrible. Two lobster claws just plopped down on top of the pasta. Very little flavor. He didn’t like it so he sent it back and ordered the halibut. Again, the presentation looked amazing. One bite into it, I could see on his face that it wasn’t any better. So I tasted it. It tasted like it wasn’t cooked with any love. It was a dry hard brick of what tasted like previously frozen fish. Even though I haven’t been in 25 years, I feel like red lobster would have been better for a fraction of the price.

If I was the owner of this restaurant, I would reevaluate my head chef immediately. It’s time to redo the menu because this restaurant is not operating at its...