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| - Sometimes I wonder about the mixed reviews Yelpers put out there. I don't want to say my food reviews are more credible because it is still just an opinion but I am an obsessed foodie with lots of gourmet eating experience so I think I can tell the difference between good quality, fresh, passionate food and bleh. For those who gave the food a good review....I wonder how the heck they came up with that??!!
I went to the opening of Hotel California and only tried a cocktail or two so I wanted to go back to have the dining experience. The cocktails were pretty good and I read some bad reviews so I had my fingers crossed.
As you have read in previous reviews of this place, the ambience is the best part. I agree.
We went for lunch and were seated far back from the other 3 occupied tables. Maybe because we had an infant in a car seat? Maybe they were worried that she would be noisy or they were just trying to spread the tables so it looked busier than it was.
While we looked at the menu we were given a little dish of fruit and vegetables to munch on. That was nice of them! Usually people get chips and salsa but ok, not here I guess. The dish was about 4 inches in diameter and had a few slivers of mango, papaya, pineapple and 2 carrot sticks. Each table has a lime squeezer hanging on it. To me that was an awesome idea! So I was looking forward to squeezing lime on or in something.
I ordered the seared Ahi Tuna Salad and my friend ordered the Tortilla soup and Octopus appetizer. (I actually love octopus and was eager to try their dish...imagining it was like the Pulpo Asado at Firefly.)
My dish came out with the seared tuna sitting next to a tortilla bowl full of lettuce with one half of a cherry tomato, 2 super thin slices of old bruised cucumber and 3 pepita seeds. I could smell the fishy odor before she even set the fish down and I was a bit worried...Ahi shouldn't have a fishy odor right? The sear was not a sear it was more of a what??? It was white on the outside but I can't figure out how they seared it because it didn't have that seared edge to it. The thick lime type dressing looked like mayo and tasted like sugary lime so I passed. Lemon wedges and salt were my backup dressing. I tasted the fish and couldn't even finish it (and if you know me, that is an odd thing because when hungry I can eat almost anything!) because the texture of disintegrating stinky fish just turned my stomach. I ate lettuce.
My friend's dish of Octopus came to the table. The octopus was wrapped in a barely cooked piece of bacon..weird? I tasted the dish and was not surprised to find that it was way too rubbery to be a decent dish. I have had the dish at Firefly and the texture is almost as tender as chicken so I KNOW octopus does not have to be rubbery!
The tortilla soup tasted like a can of enchilada sauce heated up with strips of soggy tortilla swimming in it. It came with little dishes of chicharonnes, avocado cubes, chipotle chile rounds and crema. The chicharonnes (sorry re spelling) were stale and not even crispy, the avocado cubes were unripe and tough. BOO!
Then we had dessert... can't mess that up too much right? We ordered the Churros to share. When we bit into the churros we both were pretty confused. Where is this strong taste of egg coming from? Why is this in churros? After racking our brains as to what the churros reminded us of, we figured it out. They tasted like cream puffs (or choux pastry) but without the pastry cream! Oddest churros I have ever eaten. Not crispy, so cakey that I suggest they don't even call them churros.
Before we left we asked the server for just a little taste of the homemade Sangria. (I had a feeling I wouldn't be coming back so I wanted to try as much as possible.) Well, at least they are consistent. It was bitter, tasted like it had tequila in it and was lacking any kind of fruity aspect that one would usually associate with Sangria.
So, the 2 stars are for the service and the ambience. I might go back to hang on the patio but probably not. If the folks at Hotel California read these reviews they should take the hint and invest in higher quality ingredients, a chef who really cares about his/her dishes and wants to get creative and let the chef have some freedom. If they continue on this same path, I'm afraid it's going to result in another try and fail for that building.
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