My brother Gary has been here before and raved about a salmon dish he had for lunch. Well, that was lunch and this was dinner so no salmon! One thing for sure, since Milena recommended the Portobello fries, we had to order that for everyone to share. Cindy and I ordered the Kobe beef hamburger and Sandi had the Porchetta which is a slow roasted pork with caramelized sweet onions, peppadew peppers (cross between peppers and tomatoes) arugula and brined caper, aioli sauce and house made coleslaw. Sandi and I decided to share the hamburger and the porchetta. Gary opted for the Tagliatelle Bolognese; traditional Bolognese meat ragu with bechamel and pecorino romano cheese. I asked our server to bring the drinks when we get our portobello mushroom fries. Shortly after she left, a waiter brought my drink so I told him I wanted to wait. The diet coke went to another table. We didn't know what to expect with the mushrooms. We thought they were fries with the mushrooms but they were large pieces of actual portobello mushrooms that were breaded and fried. They were absolutely delicious. We all could have just eaten a ton of them.
Our order took forever to arrive. Once, our waitress told us the food was coming and 10 minutes later, a man that looked like the manager walked to your table to let us know the food was coming...again. We figured they forgot to put our order in because the people that sat after us were in the middle of their meal by then. The food eventually arrived. The burger looked promising. Sandi and I cut our sandwiches in 1/2 and proceeded to devour them.....the porchetta had quite a a bit of fat in it. My first bite was fine but the next one did not taste good. Aside from the chunks of fat, the sandwich was cold. Sandi had 1 bite and gave up on it. The hamburger which we ordered medium was very well done and dry. At $16.00 this was not enjoyed as much as I enjoy a six dollar burger at Carl's Jr.!
Cindy's burger was dry as well. The bun was good though. Gary's pasta was not aldente plus it just was not good. We all agreed that this was not edible so he sent it back. The waitress apologized and asked what he wanted to order instead. She handed him the menu and disappeared. We had to flag another waiter to ask her to come back to take his order. She finally came and he ordered the Hanger steak with a black truffle demi-glace. We all had a bite. We all looked at each other chewing and chewing. The pieces we got were not tender. There were a few that were chewable per Gary. I didn't like the sauce.
I looked at the desserts. They looked pretty but somehow I was leery as I know very often that looks can be deceiving. Gary has had their macarons and he found them too sweet. The St. Honore looked good but at $12, I didn't want to experiment.
The fact that there were no adjustments on the bill or the manager didn't come to apologize validated our opinion that service is not a priority to them. When that happens, I make it a point to never return to an establishment. To give you an example, we were once at a Ruth's Chris and the lobster was overcooked but we decided to just eat it. When the server asked how everything was, we told her the lobster was overcooked. The manager found out so she came and made sure we got another order and she came back again to make sure that we were satisfied. I understand things can go wrong but when it does, a good restaurant will rectify and do a little something for the inconvenience because they want you back. Bottega Louie obviously does not give a ........(you know what).
Bottega Louie is located at 700 S. Grand in downtown Los Angeles in case you want to try the very delicious portobello fries.
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