Rustic Canyon — Restaurant in Santa Monica

*EDITED FOR January 2023, 2 stars: VINEGAR. Lack of balance. I don't understand how so many dishes coming out could have so many basic issues. Is no one tasting these? Many of the dishes seemed changed just to change them (even more so than the weekly and seasonal adjustments). The kitchen back staff has changed and so has the head chef. I was excited to try new dishes from Zarah Khan, but after tasting new dishes I am left greatly underwhelmed and mourn the loss of my favorite local eatery. Michelin has also dropped the star off the location as well. I just want to visit again and have all the dishes be wonderful!

Beets n' Berries: More salty/vinegar, longer pickle? Dish felt more mixed instead of clear. Carrot persimmon tahini: Ok, tahini felt odd. Fruit was tasty. Bread n' butter: Great as usual, but no house ricotta. Gem lettuce salad: Greatly over salted and can't taste as much of the shallot vinaigrette. Trout main: Fish was very nice. A slight sweet glaze and seasoned and cooked well. The baby bok choy was just blanched and had no flavor. The beans and grassy sauce didn't fit with the dish. Some of the beans were under. Roti and chickpea stew: Flavors on the main stew and cream and roti were all nice. Far too much strong parsley overwrites any nice smaller flavors and the green sauce is again too much acid on a dish that doesn't need it. Chickpeas bland and some were under. Pasta: You can tell the dish is great. Unfortunately it is also married with too much acid (AGAIN?!) in a dish that didn't ask for any. The addition of capers and a lot of lemon(?) juice makes it feel like shrimp scampi instead of a creamy sourdough mushroom dish. Lamb: Best dish of the night. The lamb was delicious and tender, what little jus on the plate was very flavorful. The salted top crust was balanced against the meat and the little bit of finish from the sesame was surprising and went well with the lamb to my surprise. Again, the greens were a bit bitter and shared a similar salty/acid mix as the rest of the dishes. Chocolate shortbread cookies, K&K Ranch walnut mousse, honey crumb cake: A strong, unsweetened smoked chocolate mousse inside an eggy shortbread cookie ruined the whole dish. Just a lick of the chocolate overpowered the light walnut mousse,crumb, and coffee jelly.

For 2020-2022, 5 stars: Great food, great ingredients, and usually great execution. Rustic Canyon is easily one of my top 3 restaurants in the LA area and I've been back again and again. Some of the dishes can be misses because they change their menu multiple times a week, but the mainstays are all fantastic. While the cost is on the higher end, the pricing is easily fair for what you get. The beets/berries, sourdough pasta, gem salad, and bread are all wonderful. I personally did not enjoy the chicken that they are so well known for, it was too sweet and not balanced which was a surprise and I have not ordered it again. I also recommend trying multiple desserts as their dessert chef...

My overall sense of this place is that it has some confusion about its identity, and perhaps the hype around it might influence that confusion.

The restaurant wants to be sort of informal, casual, laid-back in a Monica way. However, the menu, which I would confirm is quite overpriced (see other reviews), makes it feel like a fine-dining experience.

I think what happens is that you get the worst of both worlds here. You pay dearly for the pleasure of dining at Rustic Canyon. Alongside that, you do not receive the type of service/ attention to detail that would be commensurate with the cost.

I think that the food is overall quite good, but considering the portion sizes and the ingredients, I do not think it should cost as much as it does. Great to support local farmers, but incredible how cost prohibitive it has to be.

As for the service, it had some positive moments. Our waitress was attentive to my partner’s food allergies and to his drink specifics. I was offered a dessert for my birthday, which was quite nice.

A pet peeve of mine is when the table is cleared of plates and cutlery, but not wiped or promptly replenished with new plates and cutlery. This was the case with us, and at that point in the meal, the place was quite busy, so attention faltered, and we were left without forks and knives—and never given knives again. If you’re going to take the time to clear the table, it just makes sense to clean it off, and provide all necessary utensils again. It was just annoying, and disappointing to see that the level of attention to detail was not there.

I think I was most disappointed for the treatment of the hostess, who told us our table would be ready in 10 minutes when we arrived on time. We stood waiting in the doorway for about 20 minutes, and were finally sat. This means we were quite hungry before any food got to the table there wasn’t really good communication about the wait. The attitude seemed to be that they were busy, and they knew they would stay busy, so they didn’t think it necessary to make us feel comfortable, or to tell us what was happening. Not classy.

I think that given the array of restaurants in Los Angeles, there are many places where the cost to quality (and service) ratio is much better.

If you’ve got money to blow and patience for mid-range service, give...

My wife and I have been fantasizing about coming to rustic Canyon a second time after a lovely and, in our memory, perfect experience for an anniversary dinner a few years back. We finally had the chance ahead of a concert at the nearby Broad recently, and, well, they really hit it far out of the park again. We were dining with a friend who was skeptical because of dietary restrictions, and my wife has also has developed a couple of dietary restrictions since our first experience there, AND I am a vegetarian. With all of that going for us, even the best restaurants can sometimes take a hit in terms of our experience there. In this case our experience, from beginning to end, was perfect.

I started with the Sage Advice Cocktail which was among the best Old Fashioned style drinks I've had.

We shared a number of things including a side of polenta which normally comes with a meat dish, that was absolutely creamy, savory and delicious. We also started with a side of lavender almonds. The flavor in these almonds was so delightful. I've been thinking about them for weeks and every time I mention them my wife starts to drool.

Other dishes such as the Garden of Lettuces, and Beets and Berries, which could've been so plain and simple with just the ingredients listed in the titles included, were incredibly artfully presented and tasty with all kinds of unique flavors going for them.

The artisan cheese plate, which mostly I just ate being the one person at the table who eats any kind of dairy, also sent me into my own special private dairy fantasyland. I'm fairly sure I woke up in a cheese coma, later just chanting the names of the cheeses and compote they had delivered to me.

Everything we received was presented like art on a plate. And it arrived in our mouth's in much the same way.

Rustic canyon took very good care of us and all of our various dietary needs. It's one of the best restaurants in Los Angeles for anyone who...