SALT Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Santa Monica

We visited Salt last night (2/7/19) and had a truly poor experience, at best. It was my 50th birthday. Me and my best friend of 30 years chose your restaurant based on reviews and her experience of visiting the restaurant for different group functions over the past few years.

I had stayed in your hotel about 6 years ago. I am here on holiday. I have worked in food and beverage for years. Presently, I work as a manager of one if the most sought after and finest bakeries in New York City.

For the $170 spent we received little that impressed us. Our server, Justin was the first problem. The moment we arrived he was aggressively pushing us to order beverages. We expressed we needed time to settle and read the menu and wine list. Then, without a beverage order even given yet, he returned 2-3 minutes later to see if we were ready to order. My friend jokingly said to loosen him up, "Well, I'll take a man who's 6'1" and handsome..." He rudely did an about face and spat, "I'll be back."

The food was a true disappointment. My friend ordered a salad that was drowned in creme fraiche dressing and the tiny grilled cheese. She was driving, so she chose not to drink. I ordered 2 glasses of wine, the oysters and the lobster pasta. When I asked Justin about the lobster dish he said, "People have been following this chef from restaurant to restaurant his whole csreer, to have it."

My oysters were supposedly served with a 'selection of traditional sauces. A scant of horseradish and a squirt of ketchup hardly is a selection. No mignonette. No aioli. Truly unremarkable. My friend asked for her dishes to be served together. But, were instead delivered separately instead. Justin seemed 'done with us' so he asked at the moment he brought my appetizer, "I'm sure you'll get through these quickly. Should I bring the rest?" I said, "Sure. Fire it."

My lobster pasta (1.5lbs? Not a chance. I've eaten lobster for years) came drowned in a pool of sauce. The palm sized portion of pasta was cooked to death and mushy. Still, I decided to order some bread, your "baguette" appetizer. (The best thing I ate!) It was hot and delicious. The second glass of wine previously ordered and almost forgotten It was rushed to me halfway through my pasta.

I don't hold birthdays up on a on a pedestal. I play them under the radar. But, the friend I was at dinner with is precious to me as a diamond might be to others. Justin may have had a bad day and might be forgiven for that. But, not for dissing my dearest friend by with his "waitron" like behavior Nor for his endless attention to me only, "Anything else, SIR?"

So, why didn't I ask for a manager? Send my food back? Make my frustration known? I work in the industry and I didn't want to upset anyone else dining nor cause a problem for the waiter, so he would go home upset.

He was told it was my birthday. But, did nothing special. My meal nothing special. The service certainly nothing special. Salt is...

Probably one of the worst experiences I’ve had on a $165 bill just for myself. Drove over an hour (traffic from Santa Monica, do not leave at 5 expecting to make it at 530 even when nav says it’s 30 mins) to come because I was excited about their happy hour. I always try new stuff. When we arrived we had to search for a hostess, who was rude. We were finally seated and once the waiter found out we were there for happy hour she was even ruder. Finally went to the bar to order & found some seating. It’s self seat if you’re there for happy hour. The bartender has a terrible attitude & seemed like he didn’t want to be there. As someone who runs a yogurt business & deals with over 400 people every Saturday I feel like is no excuse for the general attitude of everyone who worked there aside for the one waiter who eventually took my last drink order. She was very sweet. The oysters were decent, the lamb was probably one of the best I’ve ever had, the crab cake was cold however when it came out but nicely seared, and the prosciutto & burrata was honestly terrible. I took one bite & was done. I enjoy Trader Joe’s prosciutto more.. which isn’t saying much. The drinks were great at least . They did have live music which was nice, but it seems like the general attitude of everyone besides our last waiter is a systemic issue within the restaurant. I had to ask 3 times for silverware, trying to get my bill was a headache from the bartender, I wasn’t brought water once, and the lemons for the oysters were brought out TWICE frozen (unable to squeeze). The one saving grace was the locals who congregated by the fire by the marina. Everyone there was very kind. Do not recommend going. It wasn’t even busy. The service was terrible. This is probably the only review I’ve left in years, that’s how bad it was. For a big bill I expect good service. I still tipped 20% because I’m a sucker but I wish I had tipped .01 in hindsight. Just glad I wasn’t taking one of my friends from out of town here. It was embarrassing how badly we were being treated. If we hadn’t driven an hour away & paid for valet we would’ve left. Save yourself the headache & go to Pier house in a Venice instead . Similar menu, executed well. I’m a regular there & love it. It’s on the water & the service is...

Overall, this restaurant was a huge disappointment. I ate here the first night of my stay, and although it didn't seem very busy, they must have been understaffed because the wait for every part of the dinner was immense. It took me about 7 minutes to have someone walk up to get seated, it took another 15 minutes to have a server finally come up to me, after which even though I was ready to order, I had to wait another 10 for them to come back around with a pad (at which time they still didn't bring the drink I ordered, which was just water). After I ordered my meal, I didn't see my server again until after I had finished my meal, even to try and flag them down and refill my water. After receiving my meal from another waiter who said they'd find my server to fill up my water, I gave up and went up to the bar each time I needed to fill up the (pretty small) glass.

There's a lot of reasons bad service can happen, but ultimately the bad news is that the food wasn't even good enough to make up for it AT ALL. My bill was 75 dollars at the end (yes I still tipped 20%), and only included the calamari and short rib bolognese ragu. These meals sounded well worth their high price point, but the calamari was mostly breading, and the short rib pasta was lukewarm and had barely any flavor of meat at all. I wouldn't have paid 15 dollars for the pasta I had, much less 45.

The view looked pretty, but I was sat inside so all I can say is that it does seem like a nice place to look at. I did not eat here for the rest of my stay. I had much better luck walking the 10-15 minutes away to other delicious restaurants nearby (which also all ended up being cheaper in addition to the tastier food). Do yourself a favor and skip this one if...