Doughboys... our sad experience.

[banquisha]

Doughboys... our sad experience.
Doughboys on a Quiet Early Sunday Evening.

Went Sunday night at about 5:45 with SO. Perhaps I should have left when my gut told me that the "B" for Bakery just wasn't going to cut it.. He ordered the Potato and Corn soup to start. New England Clam Chowder for me. Both soups were flavorless, bland, and barely warm. For the
amount of time it took, I thought that it was being made from scratch! The only
redeeming quality was the bread served with the soup. We barely finished half
the soup and decided to pack it up. However, thank goodness we had ordered
something else but, we were dreading a similar wait we had with the soup.
Then there was the wait... again. It took even longer this time. So unusually long that
our non-attentive-actress/waitress actually stopped to SAY SOMETHING to us like:
"It's coming out soon!"
Next order was the french dip sandwhich, and pulled pork sandwhich. The pulled
pork sandwhich was spectacular. Warm, moist, and perfectly seasoned pork in
between the best wrap bread we've ever had. However, I can't say that the dip
measured up. The meat tasted overly processed with the most terrible fake meat
texture... almost like bologne. The meat was just terrible. On top of that, the
meat was hot in certain spots, warm on the edges, and COLD in the middle! I
asked them to please reheat it. When I got it back, the sandwhich bread had gone
totally rubbery and soggy. We're now 1-3...
The service was so slow, unattentive, and terrible that we decided to take our
dessert home. So there we are, eating our red velvet cake and cinnamon roll.
After being enticed by the Oprah show to try the red velvet cake, I can honestly
say that if The Oprah Show were offering any more dessert suggestions, I'd avoid
them completely. The red velvet cake was dry and stale. Not much flavor
really... kinda like the rest of the meal. While the cinnamon bun LOOKED
enticing, it really was not that great. I can easily name at least four
different places that make more flavorful and delicious cinnamon buns, and if
pressed I could probably name at least ten (different topic!).
While the pulled pork sandwhich was PHENOMENAL in every way, it wasn't good
enough to bring us back. Even IF the service was great, we wouldn't go back...
the food really was THAT bad.
All in all, this place is really more about QUANTITY rather than quality.
The one must-have at this restaurant is really the water... as a chaser.

[ayana]

I've been a Doughboys regular for the last 5 years or so (it was right next to my apartment, it was open till midnight every day, cheap & cheerful) and here's what I think is good (and the dishes I still crave, having moved to far-away Pacific Palisades):

The Monster Sandwich
Red Flannel Hash
Semolina Waffle with Dried Cherries & Mascarpone (although the last time I had it, it wasn't good)
Pulled Pork Sandwich
Sloppy Joe
Mediterranean Salad
French Dip, when you add sauteed onions to it (okay, I admit a weakness here - I just love French dips, and it's hard for me to find one I don't like)
Scrapple with Dirty Eggs
Apple Griddlecakes
Porridge

I don't, in general, like their sweets, although I've never had the Red Velvet Cake. Their coffee is terrible. Of their soups, some are edible (French Onion, Soupe de Pistou) but not great, and some are really not edible (a weird emulsified version of Gazpacho, Tomato Soup that comes in the After-School Special that they copied from Grub, the Clam Chowder). Many of the salads and the pizzas are good.

[2chez mike]

I know the kind of "roast beef" you're talking about. The cheap pre-sliced stuff like what comes in the vacuum packs at Ralph's.

Also, it sounds like they microwaved your french dip after you sent it back. They took a bad sandwich and made it worse.

[olsenc]

While I find their red velvet cake to be good, and have admittedly eaten it many times, it does not even compare with the red velvet cake i have eaten in the South. I would agree that their's tends to be dry.

[AlwayzHungry]

I've been to Doughboys a few times and though I love anything that's made with sugar, I agree that Doughboys' red velvet cake isn't the best. I didn't think it was dry, but I wouldn't order it again. The cake had a weird consistency and was seemingly moist yet still crumbly like it was too dry... Though the icing was delicious.

What I DO like about Doughboys is their vegetable soup with pesto, chili, brownies, and my SO loves their scrapple with dirty eggs. He loved it the first time we went and has never ordered anything else.

[PlonkMan]

>my SO loves their scrapple with dirty eggs.

So did I, but it seems to have been removed from the menu, along with the SOS and the breakfast scramble. Pity.

[shebop]

Wow!
I have had the red velvet cake 3 times in the past 4 months and it was extremely moist - even overnight!
I've only had breakfast items, onion soup, and salad, which were all very flavorful and served at the correct temperature.
I will agree on the service - it's consistently slow and indifferent.
Better luck next time!

[David Kahn]

Yeah, the red velvet cake has always been really good when I've ordered it too, but over the past year or two, several people on the board have complained about it being dry. Maybe Doughboys has consistency problems and we've just been lucky. The other issue, of course, is their wildly fluctuating LA County Health Department grade, which seems to swing back and forth between a C and an A. (Usually when it's a C, they try to hide it in the bottom corner of their window, so it gets blocked from sight by tables, etc.)

[banquisha]

I think that if you're looking for a real good red velvet cake, you can find MANY places that are BETTER and more consistent as well. Oh and, IMHO the place should've gotten a "C."

[Pei]

Where should I go for a slice of red velvet?

[banquisha]

I think the place is called "Buttermilk Bakery." I know that it's located on Pico. Closest cross street would be Parnell... close to the Westside Pavillion mall, and Ranch Park golf course. Parnell is between McDonald's and Subway... the bakery is right next door to Subway, and there's also a news stand on that corner. However, they have hours like your local bank. My favorite there is the peanut butter icing on chocolate cake. mmmm!

[AlwayzHungry]

I really liked the red velvet at Toast. I don't know if the rest of Toast's food is worth it and I went at a time of day when it was nearly empty so I didn't have to deal with long lines...

But Toast's red velvet cake is soft and moist on the inside with a delicious frosting on the outside. It's sweeter than the one at Doughboys but for me, the more sugar the better. :D