jgbanker

I remember that they were very generous with the wine. I'm trying to remember the rest of the meal. A tuna course, duck, rare beef, corn based soup. I'll work on it and let you know. I took notes... and lost them.

Sorry this took so long but after a great 10 day trip it took me a month to get some free time. Everyone who recommended Sona, THANKS! This was a memorable meal. We had the six course tasting menu with wine pairing and it was outstanding. The service, presentation and food were all great. We ate at The Restaurant at the Getty Center and were a little disappointed. We were seated at a 4 top (we were 2) near the entrance. I requested to be moved to the empty table for 2 by the window and was told that it was reserved. (I made reservations a month in advance.) The table remained empty for most of our meal and then they seated a couple of walk ins at it. The food was good, but the view of the entrance was not. We ate crab cakes and seared tuna salad. Also, the table cloths looked like they just came out of the package. Big creases all over them. I'm going to get them an iron. Yup, I'm bitter. We wanted to get up to Geoffrey's in Malibu but we decided to drive south to Laguna Beach instead. We ate at Las Brisas. Amazing view!! The food was good. Nothing extraordinary. We ate at Jer-ne at the Marina Del Rey Ritz Carlton. I could not find any info online about it. It seems to have potential but a few kinks need to be worked out. One of the steak entrees was not prepared as ordered and we ended up eating our entrees 20 minutes apart. We had an interesting dessert of shaved ice with fresh strawberries. Wasabi at Citywalk seemed like a convenient place to grab a bite after a long day at Universal Studios. Thats all it was, convenient. We should have taken the advice to go around the corner and eaten at Sushi Nozawa. By the way, we did the VIP experience at Universal. This was a little expensive but worth every penny. They take you all over and you don’t wait in any lines. The day we were there was very busy so this was great. We also got to go in the props warehouse, and walked around a few sets like the Bates Motel. Lots of fun! If anyone is going to Las Vegas, don’t miss Bradley Ogden in Caesars. The food and service were both amazing. We got to meet Mr. Ogden and had a tour of his beautiful kitchen, complete with granite countertops. I wish we had more time in LA because there were so many more restaurants that we wanted to try. Thanks for all the suggestions. Good luck with that whole governor thing. We’ll be back.

Thanks for all the info! We are leaving for LA today. I will post comments when we return.

We are definitely going to take a drive up the coast (or down??) Neptune's Net sounds like a good lunch spot.

When we go to the Getty Center, how's The Restaurant for lunch?

WOW, this is great, now all I need is 2 more months in LA to try everything. I'm going over this tonight and will definitely have more questions. Thanks for all the recommendations.

Thanks for all the responses. My wife and I are staying in Marina Del Rey and will be touring around LA. I know traffic is a big issue so we will pick restaurants that are convenient to our actvities. Probably going to the Getty Center, Beverly Hills, Universal Studios, drive along the coast and any other tourist stuff we can come up with. We are from NJ and eat in NYC alot (love Nobu). Things we like in a restaurant are great food without a stuffy atmosphere, amazing decor, open kitchens, fusion cuisine (Roy Yamaguchi), Italian, Mexican, Asian. We like to eat just about anything. I know California has some unique restaurants so I guess we are looking for some places that we won't find in NYC. As far as budget goes, we don't need the most expensive place in town,but hot dogs are not on our menu either (unless they are the Kobe beef dogs at the Old Homestead). I hope this give you a bit more insight into what we want. Thanks again for any help.

I will be in LA for three nights in August. Does anyone have suggestions for restaurants that I should not miss?