tasty/casual/hip. dinner downtown

[flavasista]

hello chowhounders! i'm having some trouble thinking of downtown dining venues for dinner with a couple of my girlfriends...we like tasty food in a cool environment, with good service, & affordable ($10-20 entree). cool meaning bar marmont, not ketchup.

i've thought about - r23, cafe metropol, Mode (the new 24/7 cafe in the fashion district), Cicada. or say screw it & go to Yang Chow?

any opinions? feel free to chime in. thanks!

[jdsoda]

Pete's Cafe has good food/drink. They have decent tapas (which I believe are only available at night). The interior design of the place reminds me of NYC.

[hrhboo]

The food at Edison is actually rather good, and the environment is unbeatable in terms of coolness.

[Renault78law]

Pete's!

[LatinGuy]

I can never think of downtown dining without a trip to Little Tokyo. Try any of the sushi/izakaya places: Sushi Gen, Izayoi, Oomasa.

[ipsedixit]

How about the Redwood Bar and Grill? www.theredwoodbar.com

And, please, anything but Yang Chow ... you're better off at Panda Express inside the LA County library.

[flavasista]

Redwood is a nice suggestion. Thanks! Just checked out their menu, sounds tasty and reasonable.

Re: Yang Chow, a good friend is the son of the owner there...Hookups! Besides the slippery shrimp/braised green beans beat out Panda any day.

[flavasista]

thanks for the rec. went on friday night - the service was pleasant, the interior was divey cheesy cool, the crowd was very relaxed and the music selection was perfect - a good mix of everything. as for the food, it was surprisingly tasty & service was quick. we ordered the mussels over pommes frittes & the Redwood burger with some wine. the only weird part was when i asked the waiter if i could have a diet coke and he just shook his head at me and said no. i didn't get that at all...

i'll be back. thanks for your rec ipsedixit - you're right on target.

[Liquid Sky]

Yes, I definitely found the people working at Redwood to be weird, with an attitude! Oh well. Guess I have to go to Pete's on Main for my burger or steak fix.

[Ernie]

I checked out Royal Clayton's recently in the Artist District and it is a cool space. Sort of an English gothy industrial vibe to it. Food was pretty standard pub type fare, generous portions, and moderately priced