Mar'sel

I purchased a good deal at Travelzoo for dinner for 2 which included a 3 course menu with a glass of wine.

I have been to this restaurant in Palos Verdes many times in the past and have always gotten very good food as well as service so I was excited to go back.
Our waiter came and gave us the special menu for the Travelzoo deal. This included a cheese & charcuterie board, a salad, choice of entree and dessert, coffee or tea.
We had a choice of wine not to exceed $15/glass. In the meantime, we overheard the waitress next to ours explaining that they could order a bottle and just paying for the difference. Between the 2 of us, it was $30.00 ($15/glass). Our waiter didn't offer to explain this to us. We went ahead and ordered 1/2 bottle of bordeaux.

We both enjoyed the cheese & charcuterie which consisted of prosciutto, salami, goat cheese,ground mustard and wonderful bread. We also decided to order the roasted young beet salad which had dried cranberries, hazelnuts, goat cheese, baby asparagus and and orange vinaigrette. This not only looked pretty but was quite good.
For our entree, we thought we would be smart and order different entrees so we could split both. So we had the crispy shelton farms' chicken with black rice, barley and beet greens, this was our high protein healthy entree, by healthy I don't mean not good, in fact it was crispy and juicy. The other one was the less healthy..paccheri bolognese, with homemade ricotta and english peas. This was perfect, it hardly needed parmesan cheese.

For dessert we decided not to try the seasonal sorbets; instead ordered the caramel pudding with fleur de sel and vanilla wafers. Anytime I see salt and caramel or salt and chocolate, other desserts don't have a chance. It was as expected, quite edible but not outstanding.

Our waiter came maybe once to check on us, I had to refill our glasses with wine the whole time. Again you might think "diva" she can't pour her own wine...yes, I am spoiled! For a fine dining restaurant, I expect better service than IHOP.

After our dessert, our waiter came and asked if we wanted anything else. We couldn't eat anything else so I asked for our bill. He never offered us coffee or tea which I later found out was included in our deal.

I will still give this restaurant another chance since I have had one of the best rib eye and an array of wonderful desserts(made with olive oil, toffee puddings and many more) in the past.

Mar'sel is located at the beautiful Terranea Resort. You see the sunset from almost any table (not the sun, but the beautiful colors of a sunset); you can even schedule your dinner according to the moon rise. They have a schedule on their website on the dates for the next moon rise.