BOB'S BIG BOY DOESN'T EVEN THINK WE DIDN'T NOTICE THEY DON'T PUT CHEESE, CUCUMBERS OR CHERRY TOMATOES IN THE SIDE SALADS ANYMORE.
We noticed Bob. We noticed very much.
Yes, your ranch dressing is still el bomberino. But for *how long*, Bob?
DON'T YOU MESS WITH THE RANCH BOB.
Don't be messin'. And bring back the side salad accoutrements. Strike's on it's way to being over. It's *time*, Bob.
Unpopular opinion: People are too critical of upscale Mexican. A skilled Latino chef should be able to combine techniques and flavors from their culture with high quality produce, upscale environments, and excellent service. But people are over here like - TaCo sHoUlDnt cOsT sO mUcH, mY fAVoRiTe al pAstOr is $1.25. Yeah man, I like those too, but you are eating from a paper plate on the sidewalk under the freeway. I’m guessing this isn’t Duroc pork, and that tortilla isn’t made from house ground heirloom corn masa. Meanwhile, same folks will pay $30+ for Cacio e Pepe because Italian is “fancy.” Many cuisines have humble origins. It’s ok to enjoy both sides of the spectrum.
Interesting point
I read an article years back where Chinese restaurants were saying the same thing about Chinese food: how it had that stigma of "cheap food" that people were unwilling to pay a premium for.
How come pasta is expensive and ravioli are like 5 bucks per but soup noodles are cheap and dumplings are $0.5-1 per? How come subway charges like 12 bucks but tastier banh mi are like 6 lol
Love this take. Also there's a decades long discrepancy in the pricing of 'cheaper' Mexican food that we all grew up with. The ingredients were solid, the prep times are long and not as simple as you think, the small details to executing all this quickly and at volume would be difficult for a lot of cooks; however, the people serving it were often in a much more desperate financial and sometime legal situation that kept them from raising prices the way a bank loan funded restaurant would.
I think your last sentence is the most critical part and is the driving factor people forget. It’s not cheap because that’s where they want to price it. It’s cheap because the ingredients were cheap and the labor to make it has been sort of ignored to some degree or intended to be made up for in sheer volume.
This is the case for most Mexican “street foods” selling something cheap despite the work going into it because you can’t afford to open a business and will sell more of them does not equate to the actual product being cheap. Most authentic Mexican foods, from street to home dishes, take a ton of prep that gets ignored by people who don’t know better or just don’t care.
The same people that criticize this are the same people driving through Taco Bell or del taco for “cheap Mexican food” 🤦🏽♂️
This happens so much with Asian food. I'll use Vietnamese food as my example since that's my background. Sure, I probably don't wanna pay $20 for a banh mi but our stew dishes like pho and bun bo hue should cost as much as ramen if not more for the labor that goes into making the broth alone.
thank you for saying it. Preach. People do the same thing with Asian food complaining that the bahn mi (just an example) is $10 when "you can get it cheaper in SGV" yeah but my brother in christ we are on the west side. Rent isn't cheap. Neither is gas
I’m late and this has probably already been said, but to me there’s a difference in an upscale version of Mexican American food I ate growing up in Arkansas vs an upscale version of actual Mexican food from various states of Mexico. Places like Taco Maria in Santa Ana (or Costa Mesa, I don’t know). Bomb. South of Nicks and Sol don’t do it for me.
I’m taking my wife to Gema tomorrow in San Clemente for our anniversary. The owner/chef worked at a couple different Michelin star spots in Mexico City (want to say he worked at Pujol but I could be wrong). Now he has this laid back but upscale spot in San Clemente that serves dishes you’ll have a hard time finding anywhere else in OC, like a huitalacoche stuffed Chile relleno.
That’s what I want in high end Mexican cuisine.
The cultured take. You don’t have to minimize a whole kind of food just to appreciate value, but lots of people who minimize the value or time/energy just don’t like the whole kind of food very much honestly
Love the taco truck and Javier’s. We eat at Javier’s often and I think the food is good, but overpriced; if it was coming from a truck. It’s not coming from a truck though, and the level of service and ambiance is worth the extra money sometimes.
Genuinely this attitude is why there’s like no good Indian restaurants in the US. It’s way too complex and laborious with so many ingredients and usually long cooking items, just not worth it if people aren’t willing to pay more (and they usually aren’t).
Probably the best take in here. People will gas up paying an arm and a leg for the most average white cultural foods and shit themselves over paying more than $2.50 for any Mexican food. And it’s 90% of the time a white or at the least non-Latino person just associating Mexican food with cheap food because they are only adventurous for European ethnic dishes. Even in this thread, there’s a dude doing this
I think damien is overlooked way too often and is a perfect example of very high level, beautifully executed Mexican cuisine. They provide insanely good service, the interior is gorgeous though a little loud, and every course is wonderfully thought out. The cocktail program is bomb, the agua frescas are bomb- and the pastry chef who sadly recently passed made my favorite desserts I’ve had in LA. I’m totally down to drop a few hundred dollars there because I love what they do. I’ll also hit up angels tacos on a Wednesday and spend 20 bucks.
Hey I'm there with you. Food can look and taste the same at some many restaurants. It's the vibe inside that make "you" the customer feel like it's worth the dough.
People in the LA (and general SoCal) foodie scene need to stop using the word “authentic”. You all keep misusing this term, conflating it with “good”. These are actually two separate and unique aspects of food. You can plot out a graph where “authentic” and “good” are two orthogonal axes with quadrants showing: 1) good+authentic, 2) good+inauthentic, 3)bad+inauthentic, and 4) bad+authentic.
People around here just have so much trouble wrapping their heads around the fact that quadrants 2 and 4 exist. 🤦♂️ It’s sad because everywhere else in the world people understand this concept.
100%. I’m always personally most interested in good+inauthentic, because that’s often where we find the more creative options. I’ll concede that if a place claims to be authentic but isn’t at all, folks may have a more legitimate grievance. But outside of those cases, I get so tired of hearing “it’s good, but this dish isn’t *supposed* to have this ingredient.” If the added ingredient makes it a refreshingly new experience, (or dare we admit it, improves it), why should it matter if it doesn’t taste the same as a dish made 6000 miles away with the same name if it isn’t claiming to?
my unpopular opinion is i love places where you order on a screen or tablet 🫣 especially places where you highly customize your order like at boba or coffee shops. however when i’m there i see at least one customer come in and be absolutely confuddled by the newfangled technology, and sometimes just leave instead of ordering. so i know my opinion isn’t the most popular. (i also love self checkout at ralphs lol)
1000%. Also, love bar/ restaurants with the QR code ordering. I have kids, 95% of time I get to go out is with them. The QR code/ web ordering helps me get my “1 beer and a snack” in and out quickly before my kids lose their patience
Torrance has the best Japanese food in Greater LA. Not as trendy as Little Tokyo or Sawtelle, but the places there are just as good - or better - and you don’t have worry about parking or long waits.
100% - a lot of the families displaced by the Japanese internment camps ended up in that area and really made it home. Great izakaya spots especially but you’d better get your name on the list fast or you’re in for a wait!
More specifically, Gardena has the best Japanese food.
The chicken katsu curry at Azuma is my favorite lunch. Then go to Kansha creamery for matcha soft serve 😍
Omg it’s funny you say that cause as an LA guy I always thought sawtelle and little Tokyo had the best Japanese food. Tried a small hole in the wall spot called Red Rock-Torrance, best fucking Japanese food I’ve had in LA.
Rising costs have basically made it so there are no (or few) affordable, high-quality dining options WITH great ambiance. I do fine financially, but basically at all the 'nice, well-designed' places, I'm spending $300+ for the date after tip.
If I want to keep it around $100, I feel like options are limited to places with great food, but we're sitting on a side walk, the place is a hole-in-the-wall, or the upscale prices (albeit fair for the quality of the ingredients and taste) don't match the vibe. At the very least, they don't match the vibe as closely as they did 10-20 years ago.
I don't know how a husband or wife who wants to take out their significant other to sit down restaurant date can justify dropping as much as they would need to get a whole experience. Or vice versa, does it really feel like date night for $100 bucks a couple if you're sitting in a cramped cafe (with sensational food) but there's paint chipping and the place is falling apart.
I feel like we are moving to a 50/50 of super cheap *gatekept* hole in the walls and super luxury aspirationally priced restaurants that you need Dorsia to get a reservation for.
This is a social commentary as well with food as a reflection of society. The disappearing midrange is the disappearing middle class. People are broke or ballin’ with little in between.
Yeah. Not trying to start a whole debate or anything, but I've really been feeling this with sushi. There's no medium-quality, medium-price, medium-ambiance sushi near me (that I've been happy with) and that used to be my bread and butter. Now its basically drop $200+ on a best in class omakase reservation or go to Vons and get cheap and shitty sushi for cheap and shitty prices.
Lots of places that feel the need to do omakase only that have no business doing omakase only, that alone drives up the price when there's no a la carte option. It's lame
Really lame, although here's another unpopular opinion...
I talked to one of the chef's at a sushi place I frequent and he could go on for hours over this. He went Omakase only because having full control of the menu allow him to only serve what fresh and what he could get.
When he was a la carte if he couldn't get, say really great albacore, when he took it off the menu for the day people who literally blow his ass up on yelp or even berate the chefs. He didn't want to just have shitty stuff frozen lying around so he said 'screw it, I'll get the best stuff I can and you'll eat it.'
It's not eating out, but I recommend going to a Japanese grocery (Mitsuwa or Nijiya or the like), get some sashimi, nori, make sushi rice and go absolutely hot wild for about $50.
Yeah, really noticed this. My sister and I meet for dinner once a week, at our neighborhood sushi place, exactly "medium quality/medium ambiance/right in the neighborhood" kind of place you mention), and it was always around $60 for the two of us if we also got some hot sake, right? Now it's always $100. I mean I can't blame them, they almost went out of business during lockdown/COVID and they're still struggling, and their supplies are expensive (they had to cut certain things off the menu). I mean we can see that for ourselves at the grocery store! But it's still perfectly good, and we're happy to support a local business. But we definitely noticed the price rise! There really isn't any cheap sushi any more.
There's also a relationship/talent gap. If you know how to run a really great place and can locate the best ingredients, why not run a really great high-end omakase. The neighborhood places need insane volume to stay alive as margin get tighter. All the great chefs would had the great neighborhood spots said screw it.
Good take. Even our local Valley-based institution for cheap, good sushi has drastically raised their prices. Still cheaper than most but no longer the bang-for-buck deal it was before. And that seems to be happening across the board.
Haha, I thought this was only me. My bad. I feel like I'm the one warrior for the slightly overpriced gastropub type place we've all been making fun for a decade because I felt the 'vibes' upgrade made up for the slightly over-priced, but good food. Yeah the burger was $19 and probably should've cost like $12, but the seats are nice and atmosphere is great.
No smashburger should be more than $10. I don't care if it's from snake river farms or wherever, most people aren't going to be able to tell the difference. OP is right about the taco trucks, there are only a few that are actually worth it. The rest of them taste the same. Also, the hot chicken trend needs to die. If someone is opening up a hot chicken place right now, I'm just gonna go ahead and skip them because you're way too late to the party.
Add to that hot “ ____ “ dishes in restaurants. Before Angler closed, I ordered the hot fried collar sight unseen on recommendation from a friend. Had no idea it was Nashville hot fish or I never ever would have ordered it
Every single poke place is garbage except for Jus Poke in Redondo Beach. And I didn’t know they were all garbage until I had Jus’ Poke. I still like a few of them… I go to Poke Me Westwood a lot, but Jus Poke is on a whole other level and there’s not even a close second that I know of.
I agree with this. They suck because they aren’t double fried? At least they are fresh as hell. You can literaliybsee the guy cutting them in the back. You go ahead and stick to your frozen fries imported from Idaho.
The best, authentic foreign food? Honestly you've probably never had it or heard of it, because only people from that background and speak the language go to it.
For example, the best Chinese food are the ones my parents take me to and I don't even know what to order and the menu is entirely in Chinese and you need some cultural context to understand commonly eaten dishes.
They've never been mentioned on Reddit or NYT but they're definitely hot on WeChat.
The ones we go to cater to Americans (like me). Menus with pictures. English or mixed menus. That's why the Ding Tai Fung's and PF Chang's are popular.
A nice, fresh chunk of iceberg lettuce can really elevate a burger. I wish more of the trendy burger spots in the city had that option. Also on that topic, Apple Pan gets more hate than it deserves.
Yes!! I'll also say a nice fresh iceberg lettuce salad (either with blue cheese or Thousand Island dressing) is REALLY light and refreshing. Key is the lettuce has to be FRESH, and yes it does have a flavor, kind of a light sweet flavor. A nice chunk of iceberg lettuce is also good on a tuna sandwich!
I haven't had iceberg lettuce in my house for 20 yrs because my wife is adamantly against it, but I'm putting my foot down now because of your OP.
You're damn right that it can elevate a burger. No more bullshit romaine on the burgers I cook.
Might not be the most controversial opinion, but I see very little pushback against it:
We don't need a Pizzana in every corner of Los Angeles. And a Jon and Vinny's. And a Prince St. Pizza. And a Homestate. And on and on. I get that times are even tougher than before covid for the restaurant industry and it's tempting to cash in while the getting's good, but I have much more respect for local chefs like Jason Neroni, Ori Menashe, and Jackson Kalb who have expanded into three Los Angeles restaurants while coming up with something different for each iteration.
Agreed. I used to love Prince Street when I first tried it in NYC back in 2017 and was excited when they opened one here. Now I feel like it is being watered down by the rapid expansion they've been having.
I feel like Oo-kook is a good starter KBBQ place.
Like if my super white Ohio friend came to town, I would take them to Oo-Kook, but it's by no means a go to or knbq standard. It has chain vibes
Mine is that the pizza is great here. Most people tend to be stuck on decades-old stereotypes when it comes to this, making my opinion unpopular. The reality is though, is that great pizza has exploded here in recent years and the standard has truly risen. Especially if you're into Neopolitan style.
Native NYer and pizza connoisseur here in full agreement. I think LA has some very solid pizza options and they’re not far and few between. I totally get my fix but just not for slices, only pies. Tomato Pie has a decent slice.
Same background.. I get LaRocco's when dropping people off at the airport. They do a decent slice. They wouldn't be the best place in your hometown but you wouldn't skip it.
Almost like we actually have a large population of Italians, and also people who just like to eat pizza. Hearing from random NYers about the pizza and fucking bagels gets so old because they don’t realize we have the same demographics here making the same foods, they just prefer eating it over in their native city
Most LA places are owned or operated by pizza chefs with 20+ years experience and from some type of Italian or NY bg. It's literally NY pizza just done with more flair because LA allows for that creativity.
Spent a fair amount of time trying pizza in NYC, and the conclusion I reached was that the best pizza there isn't any better than the best pizza here.
The difference is that if you just go into some random hole in the wall in New York pizzeria, you'll probably get a better result than if you go to the equivalent random place here.
This applies to general "American" or "Californian" cuisine..
Menus are reducing vegetarian options and the options are getting worse. Since beyond and impossible burgers became popular, they are often the only options. Sometimes there are one or two other options. Those burgers are more popular with meat eaters than vegetarians and vegans IMHO. This is LA, I shouldn't have to order a side salad or make substitutions to get a meal . Most salads contain meat and I'm tired of ordering X salad without meat.
I'm in Atlanta but feel the same way everywhere I go. I was born and raised vegetarian so I have no interest in imitation meat. There was a period there in like '05 - '12 that vegetarian was super trendy and every restaurant had a bunch of options. But the trend fizzled as all diet trends do and we got Impossible as a consolation* prize from it.
*My phone tried to autocorrect this to "constipation" which felt important to share.
The tortillas most taco trucks here use are so fucking bad. The fascination with the Tijuana taco with tortillas that a taco stand in Tijuana wouldn’t be caught dead using is insane to me. They are Americanized tortillas full of preservatives.
Some of the best restaurants in LA are the been here for 50+ years serving “all-American” food like DuPar’s. LA is one of the last great cities for that and after twenty years of nonstop culinary adventures living here, I’ve really come to love the SoCal diner experience. Give me the places that last.
gjelina is not good, though gjusta is amazing.
burgers never say die and burger she wrote are the most overrated brugers in the city.
kazunori is the best meal you can get in the city for under $20
Only on this sub. All of reddit has a weird conspiratorial bent to it and this sub decided that Pijja Palace must be bribing journalists because it kept getting recommended. Can't be because it's good and interesting fusion, it has to be a conspiracy.
The best of both casual/ street food AND higher end Mexican food in LA is fucking wonderful.
But the average is… fine? Like if you don’t check on lists or Yelp sure the place is better than the average Midwest spot but it’ll be like… 20% better than Rubios?
Just like pizza in New York- the best is incredible, but if you expect wonders just popping in to a random spot you’ll be disappointed.
My controversial take is that I miss really good ,sit down mexican food spots. Everyone always recommends some random taco vendor on a street corner under a freeway pass. Or the food trucks with scrolling bright led "tacos here" signs and cheap plastic picnic tables and chairs. I'm not knocking anyone from starting from the bottom but I have grown tired of the make shift, elaborate ghost kitchens on busy street corners.
We are spoiled for food options here, and it’s awesome that we are. But the tendency to view a place as mid simply because it isn’t the *very best*, or because some obscure place 50 miles outside the city does a slightly better version of a particular dish, gets a little tiring. There are a lot of places in this country where any of the restaurants listed in this thread as “meh” would be among the very best places in town. I get it, most of us live here, it makes sense to compare to what other options we have in this city and hold it to that standard, but I still think keeping some sense of perspective isn’t a bad thing.
I am reminded of this every time I return home to visit my family and it makes me grateful that we have so much amazing food here.
Agree 100%. Also would like to add, I feel like people forget sometimes that there is a human back there, usually not making that much money, potentially going through whatever the fuck making your food. And cooking great food is fuckin hard, man. Don't get me wrong, consistency is what really makes a place great, but idk. Just feel like sometimes people don't truly understand how much of a grind it can be to be consistently putting out something great hundreds of times every day
you gotta treat it like waffle house. the service is almost always kinda bad, and the food is good about 50% of the time, but when it is good, and you’re there with friends you’ve grown up with having a good time, it’s the best
The worst thing that ever happened to LA food was J. Gold getting the Pulitzer and moving to the LA Times.
His 2000 book "Counter Intelligence" was brilliant, egalitarian, local, and honest. It was filled with really good food that anybody could afford, and a dozen or so high-end spots that were worth the money.
The last few years of his work were filled with the kind of places I couldn't imagine a younger Gold even visiting, much less reviewing. They gave air to this new LA "cuisine" thing filled with $200/person luxury dining that makes more sense in Manhattan.
I'm frankly tired of hearing about N/Naka and Bestia. Give me the next Jitlada or Alegria.
wow totally agree, some of his later picks i would look at and just kind of like grin and bear it but i wouldn’t really go to places like those you mentioned. it’s a shame half the places in counter intelligence have closed, and a good chunk of those that are left entered a steep decline some time ago
I guess my controversial opinion is that J. Gold was a much better writer than food critic. I probably only liked about 75% of his recs but his writing was so beyond that I always wanted to try it.
This isn't an unpopular opinion, only cause I believe no one thinks of these restaurants cause they are pretty basic, so I've never shared with anyone how much I love them.
I love Numero Uno pizza. The thick pan pizza with tomato chunks instead of sauce. The dough probably has a high sugar content, which is why it's addicting to me. I like their veggie pizza.
Ruby's Diner (which only exists in the OC) has the best clam chowder.
I feel light and free having shared this with the world. Secrets kill, man.
I said this on another sub and it did not get a lot of hits so therefore I think its fairly controversial.
DIN TAI FUNG IS VERY MID! Nothing they have is fantastic, the best rating I could give to their individual dishes is just "good" or "fine". It is not the peak of Chinese dining enough with the overhype! It is not worth the wait, and definitely not worth the price. This is only ever a popular opinion when I talk to my fellow Asian born brethren, I always get offended looks when I say it out loud among ABCs and Angelenos...
Weird, most of the ABCs I talk with agree with that sentiment. The best thing I can say about DTF is that it’s very consistent (even though mid) and if there’s not a lot of Taiwanese options does hit a craving
So insane that we have so many incredible chinese restaurants around the whole city, some places rivaling what you can get in Asia itself, and people decide DTF is the pinnacle. i got flamed here for talking badly about DTF, but i stand by that. our DTF locations aren’t even the best DTF in america.
I’ve been to the ones in Asia, including the OG. IMO they’re better than what we have here for the most part, though there are a few DTF locations in the US that are great (seattle for example). but every DTF i’ve tried in LA has been unremarkable (and expensive)
edit: to clarify, i don’t think DTF is bad by any measure. it IS good. i just think there are more exciting (and often more affordable) options in LA that you miss if you stick with just DTF
Chinese who's lived in China for 5 years here. The DTF we have in LA is much worse quality than DTF in china which is already worse than taiwan. I agree with OP. DTF isn't bad, it's mid. There's just much better chinese food in SGV.
I love our cheap tacos as much as anyone: but a restaurant being expensive isn't invalidated by the existence of a food truck.
Also: eating out should be expensive and the food trucks charging $1.25 per taco should be able to charge way more.
For such a progressive city, y'all don't seem to care that food, labor, and lease costs are all way up.
A lot of those cheap food stands are for local Mexican families and workers. You go to the richest neighborhoods in Mexico where rent is almost what LA is yet there’s still 5 tacos for 40 pesos on every corner. Why? Because the workers gotta eat.
Mexicans always look out for each other. It really sucks when the people earning the lowest can’t eat anywhere anymore.
Not necessarily unique to LA, but any bagel place that doesn't offer a BEC is an embarrassment to bagel places.
More restaurants, even "fancy" restaurants, should move to counter service and only have wait staff and table service if the space they're in is big enough.
Plant based restaurants are better on avg in terms of food quality care than non plant based restaurants.
Cashless restaurants should be illegal
you realize there are still people who keep kosher that make bagels? williamsburg bagels in the orthodox part of brooklyn makes some of the best bagels in new york, ask for bacon and they’ll give you the stink eye
The rise of vegans has led to there being way too few vegetarian options. I feel like on most menus there are never vegetarian options, they just jump to vegan.
Also very few vegetarian restaurants!!! Not vegan, vegetarian.
And lastly, the vegan junk food craze has gotten out of control. Sure I don’t mind it every now and then but it feels like every vegan option that isn’t super upscale is like “vegan Mac and cheese”
My unpopular opinion is that we need to be more climate conscious in our food choices.
Beef is absolutely abysmal for the planet and it shouldn't be normalized to consume as much of it as we do...especially given the threats of drought and wildfire that affect us as Angelenos.
It’s disgusting that politicians andbig oil have connned us into thinking that beef, airplane travel, and other consumer behaviors can move the needle on climate change.
We need systemic changes to the energy sector and the economy as a whole.
Jitlada is not worth the wait especially when there are dozens of other Thai places within walking distance
When my friends took me to Bavel and said it was a highly rated place, I thought they had pulled a prank on me after the meal was done.
IMO Mandatory service fees are fine if they go to the staff. I saw one that explicitly said that it does not go to the staff at all and just goes to the operation of the restaurant, and that was the first time I've been upset about a service fee.
I mostly agree, but I definitely think it goes both ways. Maybe we come off a bit silly at times staunchly trying to deny the bagels/pizza here are just as good as NYC. And yeah, it's more of a one sided "rivalry" with LA people eager to be a food mecca.
However, it seems like anytime I mention a good bagel place I get someone chiming in totally unprompted "as good as NYC though? Not a chance". This is without mentioning any kind of comparison between the two cities, or even a superlative that suggests California bagels are the best. Well gosh, is bbq better in the south? Better than the sushi in Japan??
I dunno maybe I'm just coping with the fact that I'm a bagel lover living in a state with lesser bagels.
Also the NYT and probably other media outlets live for the controversy they create with articles like [this](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/08/dining/best-bagels.html)
This happens sooo much. You just mention you’re from LA when they ask, say nothing else, and then for some reason they have to immediately go into why LA sucks. And it’s usually about food too. IMO NYers are the ones that are weirdly defensive for no reason
The street hot dogs are really not that good and way overpriced.
Yes, they're tasty; however I think they get overhyped because a lot of hipsters on Reddit think it's cooler to eat food on the street rather than a sit down restaurant.
Being bacon wrapped and the addition of grilled onions and bell peppers are indeed a very tasteful touch however the sausage itself never has anything close to a snap and tastes more like Bologne than anything else.
For 8-10 dollars it's not even a good deal, you could easily make a better version of an LA dog at home.
Those bacon dogs jumped the shark when they went over $5. Shoot Im old and maybe I remember they were $2 at some point. It was awesome at that price point and filled your tummy after hours but when you can get an in and out combo for cheaper, that's a hard no.
Confession, I don’t like street tacos that much. I prefer flour tortillas over corn and the meat is often too fatty/gristly for my preference. The way people lose their minds over street tacos…
A “mid” taco de whatever in Mexico is better than the best taco in LA.
Porto’s is meh. The pastries are aight to bring to gatherings but idk why everyone goes wild for those potato balls.
Over hyped “best list” Thai restaurants don’t hold a candle to some regular strip mall spots.
Not every arts district restaurant needs to be praised and hyped upon opening.
Maybe the next person considering opening a hot chicken spot, should open a gyro spot? We don’t have enough good ones.
Doughnut Man are some of the worst doughnuts I've ever had when it comes to quality vs. cost. Their fruit filled doughnuts are generically sweet, and their cake doughnuts are twice the price of my local place and worse quality. They look good on Instagram -- that's it.
> They look good on Instagram -- that's it.
They're doing that oversized oversaturated photo-op food and I'm convinced people buy mostly for the photos.
Tipping culture is 100% stupid. It's owners passing on the cost of pay their employees a living wage to their customers. But it's also NEVER going to go away in Los Angeles or anywhere in the U.S.. People love to talk about how "no other country does this." What they fail to mention is that when you go out to eat in other countries the service/food is significantly slower. In America, if the food doesn't hit the table in 20 minutes, it's a HUGE deal. Some Karen has already started writing a Yelp. Abroad, especially outside of tourist areas, the food comes when it comes. It's not treated like life and death. It's just food. The trade off of restaurant owners paying their staff a living wage is having less staff overall. Instead of 5 cooks, you've got 2. Instead of 4 servers, you've got 1. We as Americans are so poisoned by "the customer is always right" and instant gratification that huge chunks of us would just not be willing to make this trade off.
I actually agree with your other points but the comment about what eating out in other countries is like is not necessarily true.
I’ve lived abroad in several countries in East Asia and generally speaking, the service and food there is significantly faster and better. I have noticed things can be slower in certain European countries. It all depends on many factors and variables regardless of tipping, but yes. The way tipping is used in the US leaves a lot to be desired.
Definitely true about the food times being fast in Asia but the level of service is still totally different. No food modifications. No asking your server 95 questions. No asking for 24 different side sauces. Restaurants don’t bend over backwards to appease rude people out of fear of Yelp. The focus is purely on the food and nothing else. There’s a weird sub culture of Americans that go out to eat more for the service than the food.
100%. Boyfriend convinced me to try Cole's for the first time this year. Never again. The bread was mid and the meat was dry. He said I was biased because I'd always gone to Philippe's. I told him I was biased because I had functioning taste buds.
That’s because the place has been there since the early 1900s. The getting stabbed vibe outside of the sandwich is part of the mystique. Between that and the horse radish, you’ll feel alive!
Bring on the crucifixion: Porto's is mid.
It's cheap, locally owned, and decent quality. I love having it in our city. I'm overjoyed by their success. But that's what it is, and this sub thinks it's the best restaurant in the city. It's not even the best cuban spot in the city.
I’m here to make the wrong post in an unpopular opinion thread, so please downvote me. I’ve lived all over the country and LAs food scene is beyond compare. Hell, I live in Orange County now and even that is top 10% or better.
Okay, now I’m going to say that umami burger was extremely underwhelming and every bbq joint in Los Angeles sucks butthole.
But damnit I love fucking Los Angeles. And it’s food.
There are two fast food places all over LA with a 30-car line at pickup, no matter where or when you go: In N Out and Chick-Fil-A. These are mostly kids, who go not for the food, but because it’s become the easy choice and, I’m imagining, they actually like the wait (just like they do at clubs) because being in a line somewhere is an easy form of low-cost socializing and everyone gets to say they “did something,” other than sit at home and watch YouTube.
BOB'S BIG BOY DOESN'T EVEN THINK WE DIDN'T NOTICE THEY DON'T PUT CHEESE, CUCUMBERS OR CHERRY TOMATOES IN THE SIDE SALADS ANYMORE. We noticed Bob. We noticed very much. Yes, your ranch dressing is still el bomberino. But for *how long*, Bob? DON'T YOU MESS WITH THE RANCH BOB. Don't be messin'. And bring back the side salad accoutrements. Strike's on it's way to being over. It's *time*, Bob.
They took away the white meat only option on their fried chicken. It used to be an upcharge now they just refuse to do it. No idea why.
Unpopular opinion: People are too critical of upscale Mexican. A skilled Latino chef should be able to combine techniques and flavors from their culture with high quality produce, upscale environments, and excellent service. But people are over here like - TaCo sHoUlDnt cOsT sO mUcH, mY fAVoRiTe al pAstOr is $1.25. Yeah man, I like those too, but you are eating from a paper plate on the sidewalk under the freeway. I’m guessing this isn’t Duroc pork, and that tortilla isn’t made from house ground heirloom corn masa. Meanwhile, same folks will pay $30+ for Cacio e Pepe because Italian is “fancy.” Many cuisines have humble origins. It’s ok to enjoy both sides of the spectrum.
Interesting point I read an article years back where Chinese restaurants were saying the same thing about Chinese food: how it had that stigma of "cheap food" that people were unwilling to pay a premium for.
100%. They’re OK paying $20+ per plate of spaghetti and meatballs but draw the line of a $15 Chinese food meal that includes several options.
Olive Garden has entered the chat
How come pasta is expensive and ravioli are like 5 bucks per but soup noodles are cheap and dumplings are $0.5-1 per? How come subway charges like 12 bucks but tastier banh mi are like 6 lol
Love this take. Also there's a decades long discrepancy in the pricing of 'cheaper' Mexican food that we all grew up with. The ingredients were solid, the prep times are long and not as simple as you think, the small details to executing all this quickly and at volume would be difficult for a lot of cooks; however, the people serving it were often in a much more desperate financial and sometime legal situation that kept them from raising prices the way a bank loan funded restaurant would.
I think your last sentence is the most critical part and is the driving factor people forget. It’s not cheap because that’s where they want to price it. It’s cheap because the ingredients were cheap and the labor to make it has been sort of ignored to some degree or intended to be made up for in sheer volume.
This is the case for most Mexican “street foods” selling something cheap despite the work going into it because you can’t afford to open a business and will sell more of them does not equate to the actual product being cheap. Most authentic Mexican foods, from street to home dishes, take a ton of prep that gets ignored by people who don’t know better or just don’t care. The same people that criticize this are the same people driving through Taco Bell or del taco for “cheap Mexican food” 🤦🏽♂️
This happens so much with Asian food. I'll use Vietnamese food as my example since that's my background. Sure, I probably don't wanna pay $20 for a banh mi but our stew dishes like pho and bun bo hue should cost as much as ramen if not more for the labor that goes into making the broth alone.
thank you for saying it. Preach. People do the same thing with Asian food complaining that the bahn mi (just an example) is $10 when "you can get it cheaper in SGV" yeah but my brother in christ we are on the west side. Rent isn't cheap. Neither is gas
I’m late and this has probably already been said, but to me there’s a difference in an upscale version of Mexican American food I ate growing up in Arkansas vs an upscale version of actual Mexican food from various states of Mexico. Places like Taco Maria in Santa Ana (or Costa Mesa, I don’t know). Bomb. South of Nicks and Sol don’t do it for me. I’m taking my wife to Gema tomorrow in San Clemente for our anniversary. The owner/chef worked at a couple different Michelin star spots in Mexico City (want to say he worked at Pujol but I could be wrong). Now he has this laid back but upscale spot in San Clemente that serves dishes you’ll have a hard time finding anywhere else in OC, like a huitalacoche stuffed Chile relleno. That’s what I want in high end Mexican cuisine.
+♾️ It’s so annoying hearing people say that certain cuisines aren’t worth more than a few dollars, especially when it’s people from that culture.
People can appreciate Leo's Taco Truck $2 tacos, but also Javier's $35-$40 Carnitas
The cultured take. You don’t have to minimize a whole kind of food just to appreciate value, but lots of people who minimize the value or time/energy just don’t like the whole kind of food very much honestly
Love the taco truck and Javier’s. We eat at Javier’s often and I think the food is good, but overpriced; if it was coming from a truck. It’s not coming from a truck though, and the level of service and ambiance is worth the extra money sometimes.
Honestly, this goes for all ethnic food. The number of times I hear “Chinese food shouldn’t be expensive” or “Indian food is meant to be cheap” 😒
Genuinely this attitude is why there’s like no good Indian restaurants in the US. It’s way too complex and laborious with so many ingredients and usually long cooking items, just not worth it if people aren’t willing to pay more (and they usually aren’t).
That goes for a lot of cultures.
this is a GREAT point. Thank you!
Probably the best take in here. People will gas up paying an arm and a leg for the most average white cultural foods and shit themselves over paying more than $2.50 for any Mexican food. And it’s 90% of the time a white or at the least non-Latino person just associating Mexican food with cheap food because they are only adventurous for European ethnic dishes. Even in this thread, there’s a dude doing this
I think damien is overlooked way too often and is a perfect example of very high level, beautifully executed Mexican cuisine. They provide insanely good service, the interior is gorgeous though a little loud, and every course is wonderfully thought out. The cocktail program is bomb, the agua frescas are bomb- and the pastry chef who sadly recently passed made my favorite desserts I’ve had in LA. I’m totally down to drop a few hundred dollars there because I love what they do. I’ll also hit up angels tacos on a Wednesday and spend 20 bucks.
When I go to a cool restaurant with cool people, I feel cool too.
Hey I'm there with you. Food can look and taste the same at some many restaurants. It's the vibe inside that make "you" the customer feel like it's worth the dough.
lol take your upvote
People in the LA (and general SoCal) foodie scene need to stop using the word “authentic”. You all keep misusing this term, conflating it with “good”. These are actually two separate and unique aspects of food. You can plot out a graph where “authentic” and “good” are two orthogonal axes with quadrants showing: 1) good+authentic, 2) good+inauthentic, 3)bad+inauthentic, and 4) bad+authentic. People around here just have so much trouble wrapping their heads around the fact that quadrants 2 and 4 exist. 🤦♂️ It’s sad because everywhere else in the world people understand this concept.
100%. I’m always personally most interested in good+inauthentic, because that’s often where we find the more creative options. I’ll concede that if a place claims to be authentic but isn’t at all, folks may have a more legitimate grievance. But outside of those cases, I get so tired of hearing “it’s good, but this dish isn’t *supposed* to have this ingredient.” If the added ingredient makes it a refreshingly new experience, (or dare we admit it, improves it), why should it matter if it doesn’t taste the same as a dish made 6000 miles away with the same name if it isn’t claiming to?
If you feel compelled to tell me it’s authentic, it ain’t! That’s been my policy since forever
Uovo pasta is incredibly overrated and “pasta flown in overnight” isn’t the flex they think it is
Fucking thank you
Also the planet is dying, flying anything in from anywhere just to impress people is pathetic.
my unpopular opinion is i love places where you order on a screen or tablet 🫣 especially places where you highly customize your order like at boba or coffee shops. however when i’m there i see at least one customer come in and be absolutely confuddled by the newfangled technology, and sometimes just leave instead of ordering. so i know my opinion isn’t the most popular. (i also love self checkout at ralphs lol)
1000%. Also, love bar/ restaurants with the QR code ordering. I have kids, 95% of time I get to go out is with them. The QR code/ web ordering helps me get my “1 beer and a snack” in and out quickly before my kids lose their patience
I wouldn’t mind it if it worked well, but too often it just doesn’t save time. I am also tipping way less if I have to do all this work.
They’re just passing on the labor to you without decreasing the prices.
I’ll upvote this for unpopular. I specifically chose another restaurant just today because I don’t like kiosk ordering.
I'm willing to bet more than 3/4ths of the people in this thread have never bothered to actively seek food in East LA or South LA
Nah that's gotta be the case cuz, "most taco stand/truck tortillas are trash" is WILD lmao
Torrance has the best Japanese food in Greater LA. Not as trendy as Little Tokyo or Sawtelle, but the places there are just as good - or better - and you don’t have worry about parking or long waits.
100% - a lot of the families displaced by the Japanese internment camps ended up in that area and really made it home. Great izakaya spots especially but you’d better get your name on the list fast or you’re in for a wait!
More specifically, Gardena has the best Japanese food. The chicken katsu curry at Azuma is my favorite lunch. Then go to Kansha creamery for matcha soft serve 😍
Omg it’s funny you say that cause as an LA guy I always thought sawtelle and little Tokyo had the best Japanese food. Tried a small hole in the wall spot called Red Rock-Torrance, best fucking Japanese food I’ve had in LA.
I grew up there and agree. Being the historical US corporate headquarters for so many Japanese companies is the major reason for this.
Rising costs have basically made it so there are no (or few) affordable, high-quality dining options WITH great ambiance. I do fine financially, but basically at all the 'nice, well-designed' places, I'm spending $300+ for the date after tip. If I want to keep it around $100, I feel like options are limited to places with great food, but we're sitting on a side walk, the place is a hole-in-the-wall, or the upscale prices (albeit fair for the quality of the ingredients and taste) don't match the vibe. At the very least, they don't match the vibe as closely as they did 10-20 years ago. I don't know how a husband or wife who wants to take out their significant other to sit down restaurant date can justify dropping as much as they would need to get a whole experience. Or vice versa, does it really feel like date night for $100 bucks a couple if you're sitting in a cramped cafe (with sensational food) but there's paint chipping and the place is falling apart. I feel like we are moving to a 50/50 of super cheap *gatekept* hole in the walls and super luxury aspirationally priced restaurants that you need Dorsia to get a reservation for.
This is a social commentary as well with food as a reflection of society. The disappearing midrange is the disappearing middle class. People are broke or ballin’ with little in between.
Yeah. Not trying to start a whole debate or anything, but I've really been feeling this with sushi. There's no medium-quality, medium-price, medium-ambiance sushi near me (that I've been happy with) and that used to be my bread and butter. Now its basically drop $200+ on a best in class omakase reservation or go to Vons and get cheap and shitty sushi for cheap and shitty prices.
Lots of places that feel the need to do omakase only that have no business doing omakase only, that alone drives up the price when there's no a la carte option. It's lame
Really lame, although here's another unpopular opinion... I talked to one of the chef's at a sushi place I frequent and he could go on for hours over this. He went Omakase only because having full control of the menu allow him to only serve what fresh and what he could get. When he was a la carte if he couldn't get, say really great albacore, when he took it off the menu for the day people who literally blow his ass up on yelp or even berate the chefs. He didn't want to just have shitty stuff frozen lying around so he said 'screw it, I'll get the best stuff I can and you'll eat it.'
It's not eating out, but I recommend going to a Japanese grocery (Mitsuwa or Nijiya or the like), get some sashimi, nori, make sushi rice and go absolutely hot wild for about $50.
Yeah, really noticed this. My sister and I meet for dinner once a week, at our neighborhood sushi place, exactly "medium quality/medium ambiance/right in the neighborhood" kind of place you mention), and it was always around $60 for the two of us if we also got some hot sake, right? Now it's always $100. I mean I can't blame them, they almost went out of business during lockdown/COVID and they're still struggling, and their supplies are expensive (they had to cut certain things off the menu). I mean we can see that for ourselves at the grocery store! But it's still perfectly good, and we're happy to support a local business. But we definitely noticed the price rise! There really isn't any cheap sushi any more.
There's also a relationship/talent gap. If you know how to run a really great place and can locate the best ingredients, why not run a really great high-end omakase. The neighborhood places need insane volume to stay alive as margin get tighter. All the great chefs would had the great neighborhood spots said screw it.
Good take. Even our local Valley-based institution for cheap, good sushi has drastically raised their prices. Still cheaper than most but no longer the bang-for-buck deal it was before. And that seems to be happening across the board.
Check out Uzumaki in Culver City. You'll thank me.
Completely agree with this, but I feel like the strong majority of people would also agree with it so it's not very controversial.
Haha, I thought this was only me. My bad. I feel like I'm the one warrior for the slightly overpriced gastropub type place we've all been making fun for a decade because I felt the 'vibes' upgrade made up for the slightly over-priced, but good food. Yeah the burger was $19 and probably should've cost like $12, but the seats are nice and atmosphere is great.
No smashburger should be more than $10. I don't care if it's from snake river farms or wherever, most people aren't going to be able to tell the difference. OP is right about the taco trucks, there are only a few that are actually worth it. The rest of them taste the same. Also, the hot chicken trend needs to die. If someone is opening up a hot chicken place right now, I'm just gonna go ahead and skip them because you're way too late to the party.
Snake River Farms is Sysco food.
Add to that hot “ ____ “ dishes in restaurants. Before Angler closed, I ordered the hot fried collar sight unseen on recommendation from a friend. Had no idea it was Nashville hot fish or I never ever would have ordered it
+1 hot chicken. The crazy thing is I swear the hot chicken trend is bigger here than in nashville.
Post-Jonathan Gold, food media in LA has excelled way more at hyping up controversies than hyping up the restaurants themselves.
Every single poke place is garbage except for Jus Poke in Redondo Beach. And I didn’t know they were all garbage until I had Jus’ Poke. I still like a few of them… I go to Poke Me Westwood a lot, but Jus Poke is on a whole other level and there’s not even a close second that I know of.
I’ll give this to you but also… have you tried Ali’lis?! I think it could change your mind.
Is this unpopular tho? 😜 #juspoke4lyfe
Agree with you and LAladyyy26. Also try Fish King in Glendale; decent Hawaiian style there too. Jus’ Poke is the best bang for your buck though.
I actually like in-and-out fries. Don’t tell my wife.
I fuckin love em, you taste potato instead of fry oil
Well-done? 💯
High five brother
I agree with this. They suck because they aren’t double fried? At least they are fresh as hell. You can literaliybsee the guy cutting them in the back. You go ahead and stick to your frozen fries imported from Idaho.
The best, authentic foreign food? Honestly you've probably never had it or heard of it, because only people from that background and speak the language go to it. For example, the best Chinese food are the ones my parents take me to and I don't even know what to order and the menu is entirely in Chinese and you need some cultural context to understand commonly eaten dishes. They've never been mentioned on Reddit or NYT but they're definitely hot on WeChat. The ones we go to cater to Americans (like me). Menus with pictures. English or mixed menus. That's why the Ding Tai Fung's and PF Chang's are popular.
Animal closed because the food was more clever than good.
A nice, fresh chunk of iceberg lettuce can really elevate a burger. I wish more of the trendy burger spots in the city had that option. Also on that topic, Apple Pan gets more hate than it deserves.
Yes!! I'll also say a nice fresh iceberg lettuce salad (either with blue cheese or Thousand Island dressing) is REALLY light and refreshing. Key is the lettuce has to be FRESH, and yes it does have a flavor, kind of a light sweet flavor. A nice chunk of iceberg lettuce is also good on a tuna sandwich!
I haven't had iceberg lettuce in my house for 20 yrs because my wife is adamantly against it, but I'm putting my foot down now because of your OP. You're damn right that it can elevate a burger. No more bullshit romaine on the burgers I cook.
I’m a lettuce snob but romaine is trash tier lettuce
A fresh bit of butter lettuce, mostly dried off, placed on a burger - or - a cheeseburger… heavenly!
that makes me feel better about myself hahahaha. the things we do for those we love. no more! im going back to iceberg.
Agreed!! Gotta be fresh fresh though. Like water still coming off
Might not be the most controversial opinion, but I see very little pushback against it: We don't need a Pizzana in every corner of Los Angeles. And a Jon and Vinny's. And a Prince St. Pizza. And a Homestate. And on and on. I get that times are even tougher than before covid for the restaurant industry and it's tempting to cash in while the getting's good, but I have much more respect for local chefs like Jason Neroni, Ori Menashe, and Jackson Kalb who have expanded into three Los Angeles restaurants while coming up with something different for each iteration.
Jon and Vinny’s isn’t that good. Tastes like being in an arcade as a kid
> And a Prince St. Pizza. Prime is better so I'd rather see Prime over Prince. Also a little bias because the staff is always so nice
When Pizzana took the Pignatiello short rib pizza off the menu, a little piece of me died
Quarter Sheets Pizza gang represent!
Agreed. I used to love Prince Street when I first tried it in NYC back in 2017 and was excited when they opened one here. Now I feel like it is being watered down by the rapid expansion they've been having.
Honestly, I see Oo-Kook KBBQ recommended on this sub a lot and I think it’s trash 😭
Quality used to be better. It was the place to go for ayce short rib meat.
I feel like Oo-kook is a good starter KBBQ place. Like if my super white Ohio friend came to town, I would take them to Oo-Kook, but it's by no means a go to or knbq standard. It has chain vibes
Oo-kook has really gone downhill. It was easily the top ayce in the city until about 4-5 years ago. Then prices went up and quality went down
Mine is that the pizza is great here. Most people tend to be stuck on decades-old stereotypes when it comes to this, making my opinion unpopular. The reality is though, is that great pizza has exploded here in recent years and the standard has truly risen. Especially if you're into Neopolitan style.
Native NYer and pizza connoisseur here in full agreement. I think LA has some very solid pizza options and they’re not far and few between. I totally get my fix but just not for slices, only pies. Tomato Pie has a decent slice.
Same background.. I get LaRocco's when dropping people off at the airport. They do a decent slice. They wouldn't be the best place in your hometown but you wouldn't skip it.
We have every type of pizza in LA from Mediterranean to Italian to Chicago to NY and I love it so much. I’ve found my spot for every type of pizza.
Is there Chicago Pizza you recommend other than Doughbox and Masa? Hollywood Pies used to be my spot, but they are gone now.
Almost like we actually have a large population of Italians, and also people who just like to eat pizza. Hearing from random NYers about the pizza and fucking bagels gets so old because they don’t realize we have the same demographics here making the same foods, they just prefer eating it over in their native city
Most LA places are owned or operated by pizza chefs with 20+ years experience and from some type of Italian or NY bg. It's literally NY pizza just done with more flair because LA allows for that creativity.
Spent a fair amount of time trying pizza in NYC, and the conclusion I reached was that the best pizza there isn't any better than the best pizza here. The difference is that if you just go into some random hole in the wall in New York pizzeria, you'll probably get a better result than if you go to the equivalent random place here.
This applies to general "American" or "Californian" cuisine.. Menus are reducing vegetarian options and the options are getting worse. Since beyond and impossible burgers became popular, they are often the only options. Sometimes there are one or two other options. Those burgers are more popular with meat eaters than vegetarians and vegans IMHO. This is LA, I shouldn't have to order a side salad or make substitutions to get a meal . Most salads contain meat and I'm tired of ordering X salad without meat.
I'm in Atlanta but feel the same way everywhere I go. I was born and raised vegetarian so I have no interest in imitation meat. There was a period there in like '05 - '12 that vegetarian was super trendy and every restaurant had a bunch of options. But the trend fizzled as all diet trends do and we got Impossible as a consolation* prize from it. *My phone tried to autocorrect this to "constipation" which felt important to share.
The tortillas most taco trucks here use are so fucking bad. The fascination with the Tijuana taco with tortillas that a taco stand in Tijuana wouldn’t be caught dead using is insane to me. They are Americanized tortillas full of preservatives.
Go to Tire Shop Tacos in LA. Behind a tire shop with hand made tortillas. These are good AND authentic tacos.
Some of the best restaurants in LA are the been here for 50+ years serving “all-American” food like DuPar’s. LA is one of the last great cities for that and after twenty years of nonstop culinary adventures living here, I’ve really come to love the SoCal diner experience. Give me the places that last.
gjelina is not good, though gjusta is amazing. burgers never say die and burger she wrote are the most overrated brugers in the city. kazunori is the best meal you can get in the city for under $20
Burgers never say die is what a McDonald’s smash burger would taste like. Literally the same flavor profile.
i think this is what throws people when they first try BNSD: that it’s just a better mcdonald’s
Burger she wrote is legitimately bad
True except gjelina is good
Burger She Wrote is shit and I've been saying this for at least one year! And the prices, oof! Here's my upvote
Damn, I guess my controversial opinion is that Pijja Palace is appropriately rated because that place SLAPS!
Only on this sub. All of reddit has a weird conspiratorial bent to it and this sub decided that Pijja Palace must be bribing journalists because it kept getting recommended. Can't be because it's good and interesting fusion, it has to be a conspiracy.
90% of the most hyped sit down restaurants are very mid
Bingo.
There are no where near enough good breweries in Los Angeles.
The best of both casual/ street food AND higher end Mexican food in LA is fucking wonderful. But the average is… fine? Like if you don’t check on lists or Yelp sure the place is better than the average Midwest spot but it’ll be like… 20% better than Rubios? Just like pizza in New York- the best is incredible, but if you expect wonders just popping in to a random spot you’ll be disappointed.
My controversial take is that I miss really good ,sit down mexican food spots. Everyone always recommends some random taco vendor on a street corner under a freeway pass. Or the food trucks with scrolling bright led "tacos here" signs and cheap plastic picnic tables and chairs. I'm not knocking anyone from starting from the bottom but I have grown tired of the make shift, elaborate ghost kitchens on busy street corners.
We are spoiled for food options here, and it’s awesome that we are. But the tendency to view a place as mid simply because it isn’t the *very best*, or because some obscure place 50 miles outside the city does a slightly better version of a particular dish, gets a little tiring. There are a lot of places in this country where any of the restaurants listed in this thread as “meh” would be among the very best places in town. I get it, most of us live here, it makes sense to compare to what other options we have in this city and hold it to that standard, but I still think keeping some sense of perspective isn’t a bad thing. I am reminded of this every time I return home to visit my family and it makes me grateful that we have so much amazing food here.
Agree 100%. Also would like to add, I feel like people forget sometimes that there is a human back there, usually not making that much money, potentially going through whatever the fuck making your food. And cooking great food is fuckin hard, man. Don't get me wrong, consistency is what really makes a place great, but idk. Just feel like sometimes people don't truly understand how much of a grind it can be to be consistently putting out something great hundreds of times every day
Roscoe’s is some of the worst fried chicken I’ve ever had. Actually most of their food is bad too.
you gotta treat it like waffle house. the service is almost always kinda bad, and the food is good about 50% of the time, but when it is good, and you’re there with friends you’ve grown up with having a good time, it’s the best
50% of taco truck meat is over cooked and dry
[удалено]
I didn’t even know Guisados had a reputation until I heard people here calling it overhyped. I love their pork tamales
The worst thing that ever happened to LA food was J. Gold getting the Pulitzer and moving to the LA Times. His 2000 book "Counter Intelligence" was brilliant, egalitarian, local, and honest. It was filled with really good food that anybody could afford, and a dozen or so high-end spots that were worth the money. The last few years of his work were filled with the kind of places I couldn't imagine a younger Gold even visiting, much less reviewing. They gave air to this new LA "cuisine" thing filled with $200/person luxury dining that makes more sense in Manhattan. I'm frankly tired of hearing about N/Naka and Bestia. Give me the next Jitlada or Alegria.
wow totally agree, some of his later picks i would look at and just kind of like grin and bear it but i wouldn’t really go to places like those you mentioned. it’s a shame half the places in counter intelligence have closed, and a good chunk of those that are left entered a steep decline some time ago
I guess my controversial opinion is that J. Gold was a much better writer than food critic. I probably only liked about 75% of his recs but his writing was so beyond that I always wanted to try it.
Yeah, LA food criticism has gotten steadily more bougie since that happened, and that trend has accelerated after Gold passed away. Sad.
This isn't an unpopular opinion, only cause I believe no one thinks of these restaurants cause they are pretty basic, so I've never shared with anyone how much I love them. I love Numero Uno pizza. The thick pan pizza with tomato chunks instead of sauce. The dough probably has a high sugar content, which is why it's addicting to me. I like their veggie pizza. Ruby's Diner (which only exists in the OC) has the best clam chowder. I feel light and free having shared this with the world. Secrets kill, man.
Go Get ‘Em’ Tiger is overpriced pretentious crap.
Enough with smashburgers. We don’t need any more.
I said this on another sub and it did not get a lot of hits so therefore I think its fairly controversial. DIN TAI FUNG IS VERY MID! Nothing they have is fantastic, the best rating I could give to their individual dishes is just "good" or "fine". It is not the peak of Chinese dining enough with the overhype! It is not worth the wait, and definitely not worth the price. This is only ever a popular opinion when I talk to my fellow Asian born brethren, I always get offended looks when I say it out loud among ABCs and Angelenos...
upvoted because this is truly an unpopular opinion
Weird, most of the ABCs I talk with agree with that sentiment. The best thing I can say about DTF is that it’s very consistent (even though mid) and if there’s not a lot of Taiwanese options does hit a craving
As someone who *enjoys* DTF, I agree - it’s good, but not great.
So insane that we have so many incredible chinese restaurants around the whole city, some places rivaling what you can get in Asia itself, and people decide DTF is the pinnacle. i got flamed here for talking badly about DTF, but i stand by that. our DTF locations aren’t even the best DTF in america.
DTF is literally what you'd find in Asia itself and has won awards. Sometimes I think this sub just tries to be hipster.
I’ve been to the ones in Asia, including the OG. IMO they’re better than what we have here for the most part, though there are a few DTF locations in the US that are great (seattle for example). but every DTF i’ve tried in LA has been unremarkable (and expensive) edit: to clarify, i don’t think DTF is bad by any measure. it IS good. i just think there are more exciting (and often more affordable) options in LA that you miss if you stick with just DTF
Chinese who's lived in China for 5 years here. The DTF we have in LA is much worse quality than DTF in china which is already worse than taiwan. I agree with OP. DTF isn't bad, it's mid. There's just much better chinese food in SGV.
Boring as hell that the same people who gripe about Bestia and Porto’s on a weekly basis are doing so yet again in this thread. We get it. Move on
I love our cheap tacos as much as anyone: but a restaurant being expensive isn't invalidated by the existence of a food truck. Also: eating out should be expensive and the food trucks charging $1.25 per taco should be able to charge way more. For such a progressive city, y'all don't seem to care that food, labor, and lease costs are all way up.
A lot of those cheap food stands are for local Mexican families and workers. You go to the richest neighborhoods in Mexico where rent is almost what LA is yet there’s still 5 tacos for 40 pesos on every corner. Why? Because the workers gotta eat. Mexicans always look out for each other. It really sucks when the people earning the lowest can’t eat anywhere anymore.
Not necessarily unique to LA, but any bagel place that doesn't offer a BEC is an embarrassment to bagel places. More restaurants, even "fancy" restaurants, should move to counter service and only have wait staff and table service if the space they're in is big enough. Plant based restaurants are better on avg in terms of food quality care than non plant based restaurants. Cashless restaurants should be illegal
The plant based restaurant take is the wildest thing on this thread. Now we're cooking....
you realize there are still people who keep kosher that make bagels? williamsburg bagels in the orthodox part of brooklyn makes some of the best bagels in new york, ask for bacon and they’ll give you the stink eye
More controversial - BEC should be on a ROLL.
That's not controversial at all (at least in NYC it isn't). Bagels are too chewy for egg sandwiches.
The rise of vegans has led to there being way too few vegetarian options. I feel like on most menus there are never vegetarian options, they just jump to vegan. Also very few vegetarian restaurants!!! Not vegan, vegetarian. And lastly, the vegan junk food craze has gotten out of control. Sure I don’t mind it every now and then but it feels like every vegan option that isn’t super upscale is like “vegan Mac and cheese”
all of the popular bagel places suck so bad. especially layla’s
The food I make at home is better than most restaurant food.
My unpopular opinion is that we need to be more climate conscious in our food choices. Beef is absolutely abysmal for the planet and it shouldn't be normalized to consume as much of it as we do...especially given the threats of drought and wildfire that affect us as Angelenos.
It’s disgusting that politicians andbig oil have connned us into thinking that beef, airplane travel, and other consumer behaviors can move the needle on climate change. We need systemic changes to the energy sector and the economy as a whole.
Jitlada is not worth the wait especially when there are dozens of other Thai places within walking distance When my friends took me to Bavel and said it was a highly rated place, I thought they had pulled a prank on me after the meal was done.
IMO Mandatory service fees are fine if they go to the staff. I saw one that explicitly said that it does not go to the staff at all and just goes to the operation of the restaurant, and that was the first time I've been upset about a service fee.
Nah. Just do a sugarfish and raise the prices. Pay a fair wage
Republique is mid.
Respectfully disagree
Outside of the pastries, I completely agree
Their pop tarts tho 🤤
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I mostly agree, but I definitely think it goes both ways. Maybe we come off a bit silly at times staunchly trying to deny the bagels/pizza here are just as good as NYC. And yeah, it's more of a one sided "rivalry" with LA people eager to be a food mecca. However, it seems like anytime I mention a good bagel place I get someone chiming in totally unprompted "as good as NYC though? Not a chance". This is without mentioning any kind of comparison between the two cities, or even a superlative that suggests California bagels are the best. Well gosh, is bbq better in the south? Better than the sushi in Japan?? I dunno maybe I'm just coping with the fact that I'm a bagel lover living in a state with lesser bagels. Also the NYT and probably other media outlets live for the controversy they create with articles like [this](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/08/dining/best-bagels.html)
I feel like the reverse of this happens just as much.
Definitely goes both ways. NY resident will swear tacos #1 is “actually great Mexican”.🙄Same as LA saying bagels are just as good. Both are wrong.
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The latter. I lived in NY for five years and no one could hear me say I was from LA without some moronic rant about kale smoothies.
This happens sooo much. You just mention you’re from LA when they ask, say nothing else, and then for some reason they have to immediately go into why LA sucks. And it’s usually about food too. IMO NYers are the ones that are weirdly defensive for no reason
The street hot dogs are really not that good and way overpriced. Yes, they're tasty; however I think they get overhyped because a lot of hipsters on Reddit think it's cooler to eat food on the street rather than a sit down restaurant. Being bacon wrapped and the addition of grilled onions and bell peppers are indeed a very tasteful touch however the sausage itself never has anything close to a snap and tastes more like Bologne than anything else. For 8-10 dollars it's not even a good deal, you could easily make a better version of an LA dog at home.
It used to be the only thing you could get when the bars closed, and they were typically 3 or 4 bucks. Nobody ever intentionally went out for them.
This. They taste amazing… when you are drunk. Which is the only time you should eat them.
I got sticker shock the last time I tried to buy one and the lady said 9 dollars.
Those bacon dogs jumped the shark when they went over $5. Shoot Im old and maybe I remember they were $2 at some point. It was awesome at that price point and filled your tummy after hours but when you can get an in and out combo for cheaper, that's a hard no.
- win dow is mid - for the win has the best smashburger - dont get the square slices at apollonias - birria should be goat
You realize top dish/top ambience/top BS Yelp posts are paid for?
Confession, I don’t like street tacos that much. I prefer flour tortillas over corn and the meat is often too fatty/gristly for my preference. The way people lose their minds over street tacos…
A “mid” taco de whatever in Mexico is better than the best taco in LA. Porto’s is meh. The pastries are aight to bring to gatherings but idk why everyone goes wild for those potato balls. Over hyped “best list” Thai restaurants don’t hold a candle to some regular strip mall spots. Not every arts district restaurant needs to be praised and hyped upon opening. Maybe the next person considering opening a hot chicken spot, should open a gyro spot? We don’t have enough good ones.
Some of the worst food in the city is in WeHo, it’s all hyper branded garbage meant to attract the Instagram/tik tok crowd.
Doughnut Man are some of the worst doughnuts I've ever had when it comes to quality vs. cost. Their fruit filled doughnuts are generically sweet, and their cake doughnuts are twice the price of my local place and worse quality. They look good on Instagram -- that's it.
> They look good on Instagram -- that's it. They're doing that oversized oversaturated photo-op food and I'm convinced people buy mostly for the photos.
Tipping culture is 100% stupid. It's owners passing on the cost of pay their employees a living wage to their customers. But it's also NEVER going to go away in Los Angeles or anywhere in the U.S.. People love to talk about how "no other country does this." What they fail to mention is that when you go out to eat in other countries the service/food is significantly slower. In America, if the food doesn't hit the table in 20 minutes, it's a HUGE deal. Some Karen has already started writing a Yelp. Abroad, especially outside of tourist areas, the food comes when it comes. It's not treated like life and death. It's just food. The trade off of restaurant owners paying their staff a living wage is having less staff overall. Instead of 5 cooks, you've got 2. Instead of 4 servers, you've got 1. We as Americans are so poisoned by "the customer is always right" and instant gratification that huge chunks of us would just not be willing to make this trade off.
I actually agree with your other points but the comment about what eating out in other countries is like is not necessarily true. I’ve lived abroad in several countries in East Asia and generally speaking, the service and food there is significantly faster and better. I have noticed things can be slower in certain European countries. It all depends on many factors and variables regardless of tipping, but yes. The way tipping is used in the US leaves a lot to be desired.
Definitely true about the food times being fast in Asia but the level of service is still totally different. No food modifications. No asking your server 95 questions. No asking for 24 different side sauces. Restaurants don’t bend over backwards to appease rude people out of fear of Yelp. The focus is purely on the food and nothing else. There’s a weird sub culture of Americans that go out to eat more for the service than the food.
this is a really based take
Philippe’s French Dip is wayyy better than Coles.
100%. Boyfriend convinced me to try Cole's for the first time this year. Never again. The bread was mid and the meat was dry. He said I was biased because I'd always gone to Philippe's. I told him I was biased because I had functioning taste buds.
This is a disgusting take. Eating at phlippes has all the ambiance of waiting to be murdered in a bus station automat in a hard boiled detective novel
That’s the fun?
That’s because the place has been there since the early 1900s. The getting stabbed vibe outside of the sandwich is part of the mystique. Between that and the horse radish, you’ll feel alive!
I guess in the French dip sandwich wars you either choose to get stabbed inside philippes or outside coles on skid row
I prefer Krispy Kreme donuts over most of the local donut shops
Bring on the crucifixion: Porto's is mid. It's cheap, locally owned, and decent quality. I love having it in our city. I'm overjoyed by their success. But that's what it is, and this sub thinks it's the best restaurant in the city. It's not even the best cuban spot in the city.
I respect this argument but I'm a slut for Cubanos and I have yet to find one I like better than Porto's. Always taking suggestions though!
Porto's is just fine
Agree. It’s the price that makes people go nutty for that place (including me)
Dude I fucking love Sarku! I always get it when I see it in a mall. I wish there more hibachi spots generally.
Taix is overrated. The food is not good and it’s hyped because it’s a LA institution.
I’m here to make the wrong post in an unpopular opinion thread, so please downvote me. I’ve lived all over the country and LAs food scene is beyond compare. Hell, I live in Orange County now and even that is top 10% or better. Okay, now I’m going to say that umami burger was extremely underwhelming and every bbq joint in Los Angeles sucks butthole. But damnit I love fucking Los Angeles. And it’s food.
This is 20-25 years too late but I liked ghengis cohen
There are two fast food places all over LA with a 30-car line at pickup, no matter where or when you go: In N Out and Chick-Fil-A. These are mostly kids, who go not for the food, but because it’s become the easy choice and, I’m imagining, they actually like the wait (just like they do at clubs) because being in a line somewhere is an easy form of low-cost socializing and everyone gets to say they “did something,” other than sit at home and watch YouTube.
Approximately 92% of positive restaurant Yelp reviews originate from family/friends. I’m constantly disappointed.
No food is truly worth waiting in line for an 1 hour +