Griswold Bar & Grill

The hotel is great to stay at especially of you are in central LA /OC like me. The bar here is amazing! Troy is the best bartender and makes you feel so warm and comfy at the hotel while handcrafting your special cocktails. You can take the cocktail to go Roam around the hotel and enjoy the pool/ jacuzzi  which is highly recommended. But any how the food is super good too!

3.5 stars.
This place was surprising! When my friend told me she wanted to dine in her hotel's restaurant, I kinda went in w/o any expectations. I knew that her hotel wasn't super fancy, so I didn't want to go in thinking I was fine dining. But walking in, I was relatively surprised by the upscale decor. Kind of chic.

We arrived on a weeknight for dinner. They have happy hour between 5-7pm. We arrived right after it ended. Because the restaurant is relatively small, they only have 1-2 servers. There weren't too many patrons, and I'm assuming because the general public doesn't know about this place, just hotel guests. The menu is in the mid-price range. The cuisine is American food, with some pasta thrown in.

We decided to dine like queens since we were going to get a discount. We tried:

*Seared scallops - The restaurants signature dish. I loved the way the scallops were cooked but I thought the garlic sauce was kind of salty. I think their was also a herb in the sauce that I didn't like, perhaps rosemary. I would have enjoyed the scallops w/o the sauce.
*Beef sliders w/ blue cheese. - Tasted fine but there was no pizazz with the seasoning of the beef patties, and I thought the blue cheese was going to push the flavor, but it actually kind of tasted bland. I liked the toasted buns, but my friend thought it tasted a bit stale.  Came with a side salad w/ very good dressing. Even though it was an appetizer, the portion was big enough to be an entree.
*Teriyaki glazed salmon w/ rice and steamed veggies - Salmon was cooked well. I enjoyed the teriyaki sauce too. It was flavorful w/o being salty. I remember it being sweet. Good portion size.
*Grilled cheese sandwich w/ steak fries - Craving cheese big time! The sandwich sort of hit the spot, but you could tell that the cheese they used was kind of cheap. And by the time we got it, the cheese was hardening. The fries were good though. Big and crispy,
*Strawberry cream cheese fried wontons - We totally got suckered into this one. The waiter hyped it up for us, and overall it tasted fine. But the strawberry flavor tasted artificial. Probably wouldn't get it again.

Service was a tad slow, but understandable as there was only one server. Overall, I thought the food quality was good but I'd like to try other things next time I come back.

Nice drinks...