City Tavern

We spend about $300/month here. Their beer on tap is always good, and when it's not they replace it for free. The burgers are awesome, as is their macaroni and cheese. We also take our 5 year old there and have never had a problem. I also like the charcuterie plate.

A bit pricey. But our servers have always been A+, as has been management.  (Also, ask for their IPA punch card! Buy 10, get one free.)

We stopped in to the City Tavern after the theater next door.  From the Washington side, it is a loooong hallway lined with kegs.  Almost didn't realize there was a bar in there.

Hubby was very impressed with the selection of beers, especially all the Laguanitas.  He opted for one that had been left over from a beer makers night recently held.  He was very pleased.  I was driving so opted for water.  Bummer for me, right?  

But we both indulged in the fresh peach cobbler which ended the night perfectly.  Fresh peaches, crumbly topping and a bit of ice cream.  What could be better?  

All was capped off by nice friendly service, a good vibe, and a cool fun interior.  I would love to come back when we can experiment with the table side taps.

I wasn't going to write this review.  I hadn't even thought about this place until me and my girlfriend went to a different restaurant in Playa Del Rey where our server got mad at my girlfriend because she didn't like the coconut curry soup.  The server dropped our check without saying a word and I didn't even notice.  But my girlfriend laughed and said, "Ha ha!! She just 'Susie R'd' you".  Ha!!  I laughed, "she did!"  And that is the preface to my review on City Tavern from the only time we went there on April 12, 2012.  How do you remember the date, Marc?  Because I have had the receipt tucked away in my wallet like a stalker since then.......

It's hard to remember the full details of the evening but I will make a long story short but give you the long version of the short story.  The food I remember was good - according to my receipt we had brussel sprouts, fried chicken, shrimp and grits, and pork belly.  I don't remember the pork belly or grits, but I remember the brussel sprouts and especially the fried chicken being great.  Then again, I think fried chicken is great no matter where it comes from, but I will give City Tavern thumbs up because I remembered saying to my girlfriend "their fried chicken was good I think" when she refreshed my memory the other night about our experience.  

They were having beer flight night from El Segundo Brewery and I ordered the flights.  My girlfriend asked about some cocktail that had rock candy or orange marmalade or something like that in it, damn I wish I can remember.  But I remember this gem, our server pointing out and reading verbatim what it clearly said in print on the menu.  Okkayyyy - despite my girlfriend's Asian looks, she is in fact Hawaiian, and can read (and even write) English so she wasn't asking you to read her the menu but in fact was just curious about the rock candy in the drink - was it on the rim, at the bottom, floating magically above it?  Who knows, but what I DO know is that when I got my flights I had 3 nice little glasses of locally brewed craft beer that were nice and full and cold, but then there was this 4th one, about two-thirds full and warm.  I could tell it had sat out awhile, maybe it was extra that the bartender poured by accident and couldn't wait to get rid of, maybe our server drank some of it on the way to our table, I couldn't tell.  All I know is it was sad looking, unloved and unwanted so I drank it first before it got any warmer to put it out of it's misery, to send it off to Beer Flight Heaven where it would be happier......

Anyway, we sat through our meal of beer flights and cocktails and small plates while our server chatted it up with the table next to us.  She was attentive when she needed to be and we decided to eventually wrap it up and we closed out.  Here is where my lifelong trauma unfolds......our server comes back and emphatically slams the check in front of me and slams her pen on said check WITHOUT SAYING A WORD before storming away..........no "thanks for coming in" no "have a good night" no "you guys suck and I hate you" .........NOTHING.  I looked at my girlfriend "what the hell just happened?" I asked.  She just stared at me back.  

I recalled the evening - my girlfriend who does ask questions a lot only asked about the drink.  That was it.  We didn't send anything back.  We made no additional requests.  We weren't needy or demanding.  We weren't loud.  I didn't grab the server's butt.  I'm confused.......to this day I swear it is because I had a shirt on that had Curly from the Three Stooges plastered on the front of it.  It's the only reason she could be mad at us.  How could she possibly hate The Stooges?

Yeah, but you don't know what the restaurant business is like, Marc.  Oh, but in fact I do - I've been in it forever and am a career bartender or mixologist or whatever you want to call me.  Not because I am an actor between gigs, but because I actually chose to do this.  And my girlfriend is a career server as well.  We know your suffering, City Tavern server!  But now you have two people in the business who you just pissed off for no reason at all.  

I looked at the receipt right then and said, "Suzie R".  Suzie R.....it had a subtle ring to it.  I kept it to remember that if I ever saw Suzie R. on a billboard one day then I will know that she DID in fact make it big.  She achieved her dream, she's in the spotlight.  She's on IMDB, she's on TMZ - she did in fact get out of the restaurant business that kept her down and miserable and moody where her talents were being wasted.  Had she stayed in that business she would have suffered with her attitude, losing money because of her frustrations with life and the customers.  She made it to the big screen, kids, and because of that - we are not going to see that movie EVER...........