51703 Wed Oct 02 21:08:13 -0700 2002 10 2 Los Angeles Area 0 262936 all foodies, please advise of your experiences at these locations Wed Oct 02 21:08:13 -0700 2002 0 esotericlady 1 262943 I went to Crustacean last week. The service was quite magnificent, the atmosphere divine. The food, while palatable, was poisonously overpriced. $24 for garlic noodles? Please! $48 for Dungeness Crab? Help! What is Crustacean, anyhow? I couldn't work it out. Fortunately, the owners no longer claim that the place is a Vietnamese restaurant, because it isn't (they are, of course, but the one doesn't necessarily beget the other). Top notch wine list, however. But we're in Beverly Hills, people! You want Rodeo Drive atmosphere? Crustacean could be the place for you. You want Asian dishes? Go to Chinatown. Or little Saigon. Or little Tokyo. Or Koreatown. Or Alhambra. Or Monterey Park. Or Sepulveda and Victory. Follow the food, dammit! Follow the food! In sum, and the best way I can put it: Crustacean just ain't Chowhound chow. Wed Oct 02 22:49:12 -0700 2002 262936 0 paddy 2 262953 crustacean - yuck. way too overpriced. And bad food. Thu Oct 03 02:02:07 -0700 2002 262943 0 felise 1 262951 G. Garvins: Had a good dinner there. It was bit packed and I thought that the food suffered a little as a result. Would go again on a weeknight when things are slower and less hectic. Angelini Osteria: Had a superb lunch there -- duck breast in a balsamic reduction, salad with artichokes, "homemade" green lasagne with fried spinach leaves. Can't wait to get back and try more dishes. Crustacean: Overpriced for the quality of food served, e.g. overcooked (read: rubbery) lobster. However, it does have an interesting interior with the fish under the floor, etc. I do not plan to return. Thu Oct 03 01:44:11 -0700 2002 262936 0 Marco Polo 1 263021 I recently had a very good dinner at Osteria Angellini which is conveniently located just down the street from where I live. Although the food is not inexpensive, it can hardly be considered overpriced for what you get. I spent $35 dollars on a three course meal which included a very good flavorful grain salad. I followed that with the pasta in a lemon cream sauce which was delicious. It was cooked just right and the sauce held the right balance of flavors. I topped it all off with the figs and gorgonzola. While all this was very good, it did not quite measure up to the superlatives that I have heard friends use to describe the restaurant. However, this could very well be because I don't eat meat and there aren't that many offerings there for the vegetarian. My dining companion started off, on the advice of the very helpful server, with a pasta in a pork ragout and followed it up with the duck. He topped it off with a fruit tart. The whole shebang cost him about $65 including a glass of wine and an espresso. He raved about that meal for weeks afterward. Angellini is now his new favorite Italian restaurant in town. Angellini also has other things to recommend it - efficient and friendly, but unobtrusive service provided by people who are knowledgable about the food. Although small, it has a pleasant atmosphere. Make sure you make a reservation a couple of days in advance because it is extremely popular now. Enjoy! Fri Oct 04 00:38:02 -0700 2002 262936 0 Cattus 2 263036 I'm not sure angelini "gets" vegetarian. When my lovely spouse innocently inquired yesterday at lunch if the "green lasagna" had meat in it, she was advised by our server in no uncertain terms that "There is no real Italian vegetarian lasgana. Any place that says they make vegetarian lsagna doesn't have an Italian doing the cooking." On the other hand the food, while pretty expensive for a small Italian place on Beverly, is consistently at least pretty good (compare consistent remarks about Crustancean, which suggest that it is at best mediocre and always way overpriced). rfgs rfgs Fri Oct 04 12:15:22 -0700 2002 263021 0 R Gould-Saltman 2 263114 Angelini is still not good. Mc Arches is passing 40 Zillion burgers sold this week. Angelini is not great either................ Sat Oct 05 00:29:20 -0700 2002 263021 0 russkar 3 263143 Angelini is very good to my taste. I do not go because I despise restaurants with excessive noise levels. Sat Oct 05 21:26:16 -0700 2002 263114 0 Just Larry 3 263152 What the heck are you talking about??? Be specific. What didn't you like? It's okay to have a strong opinion but spouting off is just that, spouting off. It's not like the place needs your capitalized endorsment to survive but tossing inspecific potshots across the bow is annoying at best. You may have gripes with Angelini -- it is uncomfortably loud, and the hype makes it hard to live up to -- but BY ANY STANDARD it is one of the top if not THE top casual Italian in town, including North County, OC etc. Sun Oct 06 02:50:10 -0700 2002 263114 0 Cymbiosis 1 263413 The food at g. garvins is always amazing when I go there. The goat cheese with asparagus salad, ribs and mushroom ravioli is amazing. I normally get the Rib-eye, sea bass or red snapper with crab and shrimp. The wine list is very broad, but I always get the same one, Four Sisters Riesling and chocolate ravioli for dessert. Unfortunately they are closed to expand or something, but I will be going back. Tue Nov 04 21:16:39 -0800 2003 262936 0 Launi 1 263418 On Monday December 1,2003 I had the 3rd opportunity to dine at G. Garvins and I was there with 9 others for a birhtday party and once again I Love It!!!!! I had the Sauteed Shrimp a Scallop dish w/Polenta and talk about melt in your mouth delicious and also my husband had the seafood Boullabaise I think thats how you spell that word. For Desert we had the Granny apple pie w/ ice cream. We were the only two that had been there before and I believe everyone loved everything. Love It you gotta try it Luwana Huckleby.... Thu Dec 04 17:24:47 -0800 2003 262936 0 Luwana Huckleby