West Restaurant & Lounge

Last month, six of my college friends got together for a co-ed mini-bachelorette party in L.A.  My friend Kara L. was organizing, and she stayed in the Angeleno Hotel, which I now know is the identity of that one cylindrical building off the 405 at Sunset.  We gathered there to get drunk before and after dinner, and had a really fun night.

Along the way, we made a stop at West Restaurant at the top of the hotel.  It was almost empty and we got a long table with comfortable couch seating to ourselves.  The atmosphere was decent, loungey with a nice view and apparently a good happy hour - I came too late to catch it, but a few of my friends got some food and drink here in the afternoon.

I just had one drink here, since I didn't want to get sick, and it was fair enough.  I ordered the rye old fashioned, and it came with a lot of little ice cubes that melted fast and diluted the whole thing.  Not bad, but I make better at home.

I wouldn't go out of my way to come back to West, but it was a fun place to stop for a drink at the end of the night.  I'd recommend it for a drink if you're staying in or around this hotel.

I do love the view and happy hour at the bar and lounge section, so I invited a friend to meet me there for brunch on Sunday.

After standing at the host stand for a few minutes without anyone acknowledging our presence, a member of staff came along, used the computer and walked away without even looking up or smiling at us.  Hmmm.... how weird, the service here is always great.  We were eventually shown to our table at the window with an incredible view.  

The service throughout the meal was very slow,  it even took 15 minutes to get our credit cards back when we paid at the end.  The food here is excellent, delicious, fresh and well presented but the service let them down badly.  There were no more than five or six small tables seated at any one time so it's not like they were busy.  I looked around a few times and there were other guests doing the same thing, all looking for a server.

I hope that this was a one off experience, as I consider this place a best kept secret.  Happy hour here is consistantly excellent so I will give the restaurant one more try.

I recently discovered this place thanks to Yelp. I've driven by thousands of times and always thought it was a rundown apartment complex lol. Great service, excellent views. I would suggest you go at night, the 405 isn't so pretty in daylight, it causes me more stress just looking at it, but at night...so many pretty lights to look at, its almost hypnotic, especially after a few strong drinks : ). I've tried the stuffed quail, a salmon dish and skirt steak, the stuffed quail was great, the salmon and skirt steak I probably wouldn't order again.