Mel's Drive-in — Restaurant in Santa Monica

I so badly wanted my first visit to Mel's in Santa Monica to be a good experience. Unfortunately thought I tired to keep a positive mind through out the time I was waiting for a table and eating, we were met with issue after issue.

We showed up to the restaurant at 11:45am and put out name down for a table. We were told it would be a 30 min wait which was fine as it looked busy and overheard other patrons speaking about the fact that they opened just four days prior. We decided to walk over to Von's to grab a quick cup of coffee while we waited. Upon our return 12 mins later I went to check to see where we were on the list. They had called three parties of two after us but we were still on the list. Again I was fine with this as I know that restaurants will sometimes give a worst case scenario for a wait and we had decided to kill time not waiting in the lobby. I asked the hostess if she had called our name yet, she let us know she had not and the kitchen was backed up so it would take some time to get us seated. Again, I understand as they just opened so they are flushing out practices on the first Sunday they are open.

As we continued to wait in the lobby (it is now 12:30, 45 mins since we first put our name down) Howie Mandel comes into the restaurant. My wife notices and is a little start struck as he approaches the counter to put his name down. The same hostess lets out a little squeal of "oh my God" and stats shooting the breeze with Howie. This is where I started to sour a bit on the establishment. She tells the other hostess "We need to get him a table right now". I know, I know..."Welcome to LA Daniel". I still did not like the fact that he got a table within 2 mins of walking in and we had waited 45 min. It took another 15 mins for us to get the seat for a total of an hour we spent waiting. They also somehow forgot to move our name form one list to another so again I had to ask if they were still going to call us as two people that just walked in were seated before us.

Once seated we were pretty hungry so we put our order in as soon as the waitress approached us. This was pretty much the only high point of the experience as the wait staff was very friendly and nice. We put in our order and the drinks came. Drifting off in thought I look out the window to see Howie leaving the restaurant seeming satisfied with his jaunty walk while joking with his friends. "Have a good day Howie I am glad at least you had a good time". After 15 mins past and we were wondering the status of our food another waitress came up to apologize and told us that the kitchen is backed up and it was going to take potentially another 30 mins. 20 mins more and the food arrived and this is where i was truly crushed. My wife got the breakfast sandwich and I the tuna melt. They were both little soggy pucks of grease and cheese cold to the touch that seemed to have been sitting on the counter ready for pick up for some time. The taste wasn't any better and I am still a little nauseous from my meal even an hour later. I don't really understand as I eat at the Mel's on Sunset and when living in NorCal we would frequent the Mel's in Walnut Creek and both were great.

We finished eating asked for the check and went to the counter to pay. As we were waiting for the credit card to run the hostess started into an odd stretching routine where she would grab her feet and lift them up behind her in a quad stretch. I made me think how many time does she touch her shoes a day like this then potentially works with food. Hey, maybe she washed her hands right after I left who knows.

By the time we left it was 1:37 almost 2 hours since we first arrived. It would be amazing if they pulled this together and fixed it but until they do I would highly recommend Coogie's Cafe up on Santa Monica. Way better food and a much...

A few days ago I went to celebrate my friend's birthday and I had the worst experience. We both ordered the same thing (2 burger and 2 mimosa). I asked the waiter if they had anything special for birthdays and he said yes. We waited a long time and they only brought us 1 burger and 1 mimosas. I went to ask the waiter who, by the way, didn't even come to our table to ask if everything was okay. Where was the other burger? He told me the kitchen was taking a while. I should note that 2 tables arrived after us and both tables were given all of their food. The waiter had the nerve to tell us to share the burger they had given us until the other one arrived. I told him no, we had ordered 2 and they should have arrived at the same time. Anyway he brought us a plate to share. We did it, we finished it and they still haven't brought us the other burger. It should be noted that they didn't even give us napkins, I looked for the waiter to ask for napkins but since there weren't any I had to go look for them myself, after a while they brought the burger. And they brought one that wasn't, this burger had bacon, the one we ordered didn't have bacon, my friend started eating her burger and she got the stuck bacon. She couldn't breathe, the whole restaurant was looking at us and no one was doing anything, I did the heimlich maneuver and she was able to throw the bacon. No member of the restaurant came up to us to ask if we needed anything, or even to offer us some water. My friend wanted to leave after this, she was very embarrassed because the entire restaurant had seen us. Look for the waiter to bring us the bill. And instead of bringing me her bill, she brought us a piece of cake to sing Happy Birthday, the waiter told us, sing it because I don't know how to sing. I sang Happy Birthday to her, and told her to bring me the bill, my friend was very embarrassed and she already wanted to leave. When paying she obviously wasn't going to leave him any tips and when the waiter saw that she wasn't leaving any tips, she yelled and said "No tips" and she started complaining about why we weren't going. She told him that she had left him, that the hamburger thing hadn't been his fault. It was the kitchen's fault, not his, because in addition to him giving us the cake, the entire restaurant turned to look at our table for the third time. I got angry and told her that she didn't deserve tips and that I didn't ask her to give me anything that she could afford and that I want to pay for the piece of cake. And she told me that she was going to charge me. She tried to do it and then she threw the card at me on the table and she told me that she wasn't going to do that. It should be noted that the bill for 2 hamburgers and 2 mimosas was 71 dollars. I do not recommend this place at all, the worst customer service I have ever seen. attach a photo...

I like the other Mels Drive In I've been too on Sunset Blvd, in Hollywood, and in Sherman Oaks so I figured I'd give this one a try. NEVER AGAIN. Terrible service and mediocre food.

I went there today (Sunday) for lunch. First, we came in through what appeared to be an emergency exit although it was the one everyone else was coming in and going out. The person said "sit anywhere you want". There was only 1 open table that I saw. We sat there although it wasn't cleaned and it had some coffee cups on it. The next group of people who came in had to wait a few minutes for a table and then the waiter escorted them and gave them their menus right away. They were ordering before an employee walked by our table and said "Did you just sit down?" WE FINALLY GOT SILVERWARE/WATER/MENUS AFTER 7 MINUTES OF WAITING.

Then it took ANOTHER 10 MINUTES BEFORE SOMEONE TOOK OUR ORDER. We had to flag someone down to help us although an employee was socializing with the table next to us for 5 minutes and a waiter checked on the table on the other side of us 3 times while we waited. The waitress who took out order apparently didn't know the menu because she asked the woman I was with what dressing she wanted on her salad when the menu specified what dressing came with the salad. I ordered the nachos which was made poorly. Usually, it's chips, meat, beans, whatever else they put in nachos, and then they melt the cheese on top of everything. The nachos I got had chips with melted cheese at the bottom, then guacamole, sour cream, and jalapenos, then the beans and meat WERE ON TOP OF EVERYTHING. Like they were added as an afterthought. I don't remember if I ordered nachos at another Mels Drive In, I would have remembered if they made it like that.

The waitress never checked on us or gave us a refill of ice tea. After we ate it took another 10 minutes to get our bill. We had to flag down someone else who was not our waitress to pay. No receipt given.

No tip - terrible service - mediocre food - never going back. Although I still recommend the other Mels Drive...