The Formosa — Restaurant in West Hollywood

I recently talked to restauranteur Adam Fleischman about the Formosa Cafe. He said they are revamping the menu.

Inspired by Beverly Hill’s Red Medicine’s Vietnamese-themed menu and bar bites, Red Med at Formosa Café features some of the most popular dishes, including dumplings, spring rolls, bahn-mi, brisket and whole fish to share.

My eyes had to adjust quickly as I walked into the dark restaurant to meet a group of foodies. We frequently used our iPhone flashlights to read the menu and snap photos.

The walls are still lined with over 250 black and white headshots of some of the most famous actors in the world. There is still a display case showcasing a collection of Elvis Presley decanters and statues above his old booth.

One of the head bartenders, Billy Ray arrived at our table with some of the classic cocktails that have been added to the cocktail menu. Bartender Matthew Boddie created a ginger daiquiri a la Central, pisco apricot Tropicale and the Singapore Sling for us to enjoy.

We were told that gangster Mickey Cohen ruled the underground of liquor, women and cash at Formosa Café. His safe was built into the flooring between the two front booths to the left of the front door.

Interesting dishes include the entirely green Rock shrimp dish with layers of avocado. The marinated eggplant offers vivid flavors of garlic, sesame, and celery that almost vibrated in my palate.

I enjoyed the ethereal Shanghai rice cakes that tasted like little chewy dough pillows dusted with bacon, shishito and Thai basil.

The chicken wings are a Red Medicine recipe rolled in flavorful crumbs, fish sauce lime and Thai chile, that spices the wings with aromatic flavors.

The crispy spring rolls are deep fried and stuffed with a healthy dose of crab and Asian herbs.

Everyone at the table enjoyed the oyster mushrooms with crisp haricot vert beans, and a French chili pepper from Espelette mixed in with the oyster sauce.

Large parities may want to go straight to The Group Effort column on the menu for plates of tender Wagyu Beef Brisker braised in a secret plum sauce for 36 hours or a deep fried whole black bass that arrives whole. The server filets it to reveal light colored and moist fish with a crispy crust. These dishes easily feed three to four guests.

The Formosa Café is open for dinner at 4 p.m. until the 2 a.m. “last call.” Parking is available in the West Hollywood Gateway...

The most fun I’ve had in a very good while!Come here for the bar experience! Daniel crafts amazing drinks and Sara makes sure you are doing well. Both are very attentive and charming.

We met two amazing people at the bar. We met a cool guy and lady. Both were funny and nice and to be honest the best experience can be had at the bar. The bartending team is really good at helping you connect with other people at the bar. It’s an incredible vibe! Yes it’s very Hollywood here!

The interior looks really cool. Like out of a Blade Runner movie. It’s so eye catching inside.

I had three cocktails. Amazing cocktails. Puebla Hurricane with mezcal is awesome! The Mai Tai is great and classic. A must try! Finally the Year of the Snake cocktail is deliciously melon flavored! The cocktails are well mixed and balanced - beware lol! They creep up on you! Excellent bartending!

The food is ok. The Chinese chicken salad is amazing. Fresh mandarin orange slices in it. Tasty and tangy. The soup dumplings are not the best but still not bad. The vinegar mix for the dumplings is kinda disappointing. The orange chicken is unique but not my favorite version of it.

Preliminary review

A big, big let down. The kitchen closes a good while before the restaurant does. I think it closes at around 9 pm. It’s basically just a cocktail bar at this point. Another couple left right after us because they wanted to eat. I’ve been wanting to visit for a good while.

The security guard had tons of info and he was really nice.

Meter parking available but is hard to find.

I...

My friends and I spontaneously popped in for drinks. It was my first time but mostly everyone else in our group had been here many times before. We found a spot upstairs at the bar and were met with daniel. We were deciding on drinks (because it was mine and my significant others first time there) and daniel became quickly annoyed at this and snapped at us. VERY rudely exclaiming he had drink tickets to fulfill and that he was going to do that because “we obviously didn’t know what we wanted.” There are nicer ways to go about telling someone you’re busy or that you need a moment to fulfill other orders. I work service industry and I get that people have bad days, I’ve been doing this for 12+ years myself. I don’t think I’ve ever acted towards a customer the way he did to us even in my most stressful service. I also understand time is precious and almost always try to either decide or tell a service person we need more time. ASIDE FROM THAT, every other server/bartender/manager etc. were so so so so lovely. They saved the night almost immediately after that. We ended up moving to a high top and matthew (I think that was his name) was our server, so nice and excelled at service. We ended up downstairs at the bar and were met with Jordan. Jordan is an absolute gem. Excellent at light conversation, made us feel comfortable and warm. I could go on, he was that nice and genuine. The one less star for service was strictly for daniel. Food was great, atmosphere was great, manager/GM was friendly and accommodating....