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LisaStitch May 15, 2007 02:57 PM

Delivery services/restaurants - NOT LABITE.COM!

My office has been having major problems with our lunches. We order food pretty much every day, typically through www.labite.com. They almost always give us food that is wrong or missing. And that's when the food actually makes it here, because they are perpetually late. Today was the final straw - we placed an order at 11am to arrive at 1pm and it is now 3pm and it is still not here.

Can any of you recommend another similar web-based food delivery service? Or, if you could recommend a restaurant that we can order lunch from directly and that is NOT a part of www.labite.com, that would also be very helpful.

No takeout places. They must be able to deliver and must take credit cards. We are in West LA.

Thanks!

  1. j
    joshekg Dec 18, 2009 06:26 PM

    I used grubhub.com the other day and found the experience to be good.

    2 Replies
    1. re: joshekg
      maxzook Dec 18, 2009 07:20 PM

      Looks like it might be a good site, but it's not at all the same as labite.com ... it's just a directory of restaurants that do delivery and takeout. And the list includes delivery restaurants along with takeout restaurants that don't deliver, although they can threoretically be sorted out.

      In theory it's no different than losangeles.menupages.com, although the latter has more listings.

      1. re: maxzook
        j
        joshekg Dec 18, 2009 07:33 PM

        Actually, that's not the case. I ordered delivery directly on grubhub.com, got a quick email receipt and had my food within 45 minutes.

    2. maxzook Dec 18, 2009 11:23 AM

      I'm afraid I can't give you any specific leads except to commiserate. I work in Burbank and we have a monthly meeting for which I have to take orders for dinner for sixteen on a pretty limited budget.

      I've tried all the delivery services and they are awful -- expensive and totally unreliable. They are, however, useful to a limited degree. It can be hard to find decent mid-priced restaurants that deliver, and I've found that a lot of the places in the delivery service directories also do their own delivery. So they're good for leads, but nothing else.

      The only advice I can give is to research and find reliable local places where the food isn't too awful for your group. And ALWAYS CALL the restaurant BEFORE you start taking off orders, because it's depressing how often that place that was so reliable and popular a month ago has laid off their delivery guy and dropped the service altogether.

      Good luck.

      1. j
        JBC May 16, 2007 07:35 AM

        Warning - I can't vouch for the quality of the food from all the places below personally, but maybe someone in your office can give them a thumbs up or down; also, it can make a difference on whether they'll deliver (and/or cater) depending on how many people in your office are being ordered for, if the order surpasses a certain $ minimum (the "bigger" the order the greater your options), and how far they have to travel.

        Also, there are a few below that have a $25 delivery charge, are they using LA Bite, some other service(s), or doing it themselves? They don't say on their website, so call & ask!

        All in Culver City (I think):
        ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Blue Bird Cafe - American
        http://www.bluebirdcafela.com/about.html

        Shalimar - Indian
        http://www.shalimarcuisine.com

        Santa Maria Barbaque - Click on catering, scroll to bottom = Delivery Minimum is $20 or 20 people, confusing?
        http://www.santamariabbq.com/all.htm

        Leaf Cuisine - Vegan/Cal.
        http://www.leafcuisine.com/catering.html

        Vistor Jrs. - Italian
        http://www.victorjrs.com

        Tender Greens - Amer. Comfort
        http://tendergr.powerhostingusa.com/

        Bamboo - Caribbean/Cuban
        http://bamboorestaurant.net/submenu.php?mid=3

        Beacon - Asian Cafe - If your order is big enough for them?
        http://www.beacon-la.com/catering.php

        No website? - So ask them to fax you their menu
        ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Fassica - Ethopian @ (310) 815-8463

        Fresh in the Box - Japanese @ (310) 301-9100

        Giovanni's Tratoria - Italian @ (310) 839-1757

        Mandarin Dish - Chinese @ (310) 670-2039

        Thai Dishes - Thai @ (310) 559-0987

        Mrs. Garcia - Mexican @ (310) 287-0850

        1. l
          LisaStitch May 15, 2007 05:35 PM

          Thanks.

          We're in Culver City. Anyone know if maybe the newer places in Culver City deliver?

          2 Replies
          1. re: LisaStitch
            n
            navystreet May 15, 2007 05:44 PM

            Victor Jr's delivers although I can't attest to the promptness of their service. I really like their salads, and it seems like many people on the board like their sandwiches.

            1. re: LisaStitch
              c
              carlosmoralez2k10 Dec 18, 2009 09:19 AM

              Vees cafe is near culver city and they deliver great food. I think their delivery minimum is $20.00, wich is good because I ordered three items and they delivered them.

               
            2. w
              woofer May 15, 2007 03:18 PM

              www.whycook.com

              1. m
                MeowMixx May 15, 2007 03:06 PM

                www.whycookla.com

                Had decent experiences with them.

                1 Reply
                1. re: MeowMixx
                  s
                  Swervo May 16, 2007 09:42 AM

                  I'll second whycook. They deliver from Sprazzo, which is a place I really enjoy, and I've had good luck going with other restaurants they deal with as well. However, like every delivery service I've tried, allow a good hour or slightly more for the delivery, especially if the restaurant is far from you (when we order from Babalu, the food is generally cold by the time they get it to where we are, right by the mormon temple.)

                2. tony michaels May 15, 2007 03:05 PM

                  Classic Pizza on Pico Blvd. in Santa Monica. They do their own delivery. Not sure where in WLA you are located so delivery range may be an issue.

                  2624 Pico Blvd
                  Santa Monica, CA 90405
                  (310) 392-6322

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