Food Court LA

Food Court LA resides along the same stretch of 3rd St. as Sushi Roku, Wokano, and Electric Karma and is pretty much on par with the quality of it's neighbors. I ate here with a group of 10 or so friends about a month ago and the experience was a good one, though the food did not quite live up to my expectations. Either other people have thought the same way, or people just don't know about this place, because we were able to get a reservation for 10 only a couple of hours before we walked in, which don't get me wrong, it's a good thing, but for a place that small, it seemed kind of strange. When we got there, the space is really cozy with circular dashes of color, dark wood benches and booths, and mirrors furnished by Ikea. They do offer a full bar here, so we all started off with a few cocktails. Some of our favorite specialty drinks were the white wine sangria and the Fruit Loop cocktail. When ordering appetizers for the table, we were really interested in ordering the sashimi and fried onion, but were disappointed when our waiter informed us that this item was no longer available. We then wanted more details on the taco/spring roll appetizer that changes contents nightly (choices range from carne asada to mahi mahi to pancetta & Monterrey jack to goat cheese and fig). We weren't interested in the nightly special and ended up ordering the mac & cheese with bacon and sun-dried tomatoes, which was good, but not really anything to write home about. For the main course, Griffin and I shared the Latchino steak and a house salad. The salad was great with goat cheese and vinaigrette, and the steak which was served as a skirt steak with chile, cumin, and ponzu spread on top of a bed of potatoes was pretty good, but a little blander than what we expected. Another friend had a burger, and said it was good, though it didn't seem that he was that impressed. The meal that looked the best and had the best review came from my friend who ordered the steak and eggs (yep, breakfast served all day!). I have to say that everything on the menu sounded like it might be the best thing you ever had in your life, but nothing really delivered. Luckily, nothing on the menu is more than $16, so even if you don't love it, you're not out an arm and a leg. We didn't save room for desert, but the chocolate cheesecake marbled brownies sounded pretty delicious! Like all of the other restaurants in this area, there is some street parking available occasionally, but the valet is cheap enough that you won't break the bank if you can't find a spot on your own. I'd be interested to see what this place is like at brunch. I bet it's a little more crowded, but probably serving better food, which might be worth the trip back.

http://www.foodcourtla.com/