Rustic Canyon Wine Bar

I've been going to Rustic Canyon for over a year and have always been pleased, but lately it's gone to another level. The food is really fantastic now. They have recently hired a new executive chef who makes some of the best pasta I have ever eaten (and I'm talking about Babbo and Filidia in NY, La Botte and Angellini in LA) Simple, fresh, hand made with an unbelievably delicate touch. As for mains...I had the rabbit (which I have never had before) and it was delicious. I will be ordering it again. The scallops are great as is the steak and the starters...mussels, beet salad and the truly wonderful panzanella salad. I know I'm going a little nuts here, but I've been there twice a week for the past few weeks and haven't been disappointed. The desserts are spectacular, as always. I had a Raspberry Butter Cake, my friend had the seasonal crostada and we had the ice creams. There isn't a better mint chocolate chip in the world. Fantastic!! (I'm not a big wine guy so I can't comment on that except to say that the people I've been with are happy with their selections and recommendations). They told us the pastry chef does a Saturday breakfast cafe where she bakes tons of different things. I'm going. In case you haven't noticed, I like this place (and I've always found the service to be friendly and attentive). One drawback? It can be a little loud, but hey, everyone's having a good time. Pros: Food Cons: can be a little loud more

The doughnuts were so good and I would love some more of that strawberry rhubarb pie. Our waiter Gabe was the perfect amount of attentive and so charming. We had such a lovely time. Can't wait to go back! Pros: great dessert Cons: a little loud more

Rustic Cyn used to be one of my fav spots, NOT ANY MORE!\r I went last night with a friend (Her 1st time) to Rustic. \r After waiting 30 minutes, although we had a reservation, we finally got a seat in the corner near the restroom (Bad start to a horrible evening)\r We ordered a couple appetizers, as well as a bottle of wine.\r The wine selection is great there, with reasonable prices.\r The Mussels were allright (kind of bland) and the Raviolo was horrific! I could of got a better Raviolo at Olive garden, or better yet the ready made kind from the supermarket. It was drenched in Oil/butter and was so overcooked that the ingredients were busting out of the shell.\r She ordered the Halibut that she liked, but my fav the Burger was inedible... I have ordered that same burger the past 3 times I was there, so I was shocked.\r I asked to speak to the manager, and they informed me that he was gone for the evening (Friday night @ 10PM, no manager???) and the hostess came to address my problem.\r After speaking to her, it came to my attention that the chef had recently been replaced, and that ""they are working out the kinks""\r Atleast they comped the burger (That I didnt even eat)......\r It seems like another one of those spots that did great in its first year, and forget about all of the important things once they are booked everynight.\r Spend your $65 elsewhere! Pros: good location Cons: bad quality food more

I had dinner in this restaurant with some friends for the first time last Friday, and the food was descent; however the acoustics in the room were terrible. We could not speak without shouting. We changed our seating arrangement; women in our party were on one side of the table and men were on the side. Some people could not participate in the conversation because it was just ridiculous to shout. The restaurant needs to do something about it.\r As for the food, my dish (Ratatouille) had some fresh, but crunchy vegetables- not enough salt, and I also heard some of my friends complaining about the lack of salt in their soups. The cheese plate was descent- nothing to write home about.\r As for the wine, we had 3 bottles of wine; one them was terrible and I wish I can't remember the name of it - just to write it off my list, but the other 2 were average.\r \r As far as I'm concern, I'll go back only if I'm dragged in there or someone else pick this place and I have no choice but to go. But, I'll definitely warn them about the acoustics in this place. Pros: Fresh vegetables Cons: Acoustics in the room more

My friends and I just had the best lunch here. We shared an incredible chopped salad, farro with carrots and peas and a great BLT with avocado on wonderful whole grain bread and to top it off we indulged in these melt in your mouth little cinamon covered doughnuts. Really, really, a GOOD lunch. Had to share what a great lunch spot this is. Pros: Fresh ingredients, friendly service, calm, cheeerful more

I've been going to Rustic Canyon for months. This is a wonderful place, friendly, casual and fun with very fresh seasonal food. AND THEY PUT UP SOUND PANELS SO THE NOISE IS NO PROBLEM AT ALL ANYMORE!!! Most important: The new chef (Evan Funke) is brilliant! This month duck confit and amazing pastas. Mussels and steak are always wonderful. And don't miss the desserts. The pastry chef, Zoe Nathan, has been lauded all over town. LA Times said she was one of the culinary treasures of 2008. Bottom line: Go. A good time will be had by all. Oh, and did I mention the desserts?! Pros: Food, ambiance (lively and fun), friendly service Cons: None since they fixed the noise issue more

It's a good concept - using seasonal veggies etc. - but their execution is lacking. We went once and we were not overly impressed. We tried to go a second time, but they were 'too busy' to give us a table and we were in a rush to see a movie, so we opted for Subway (and glad we saved our money). It's the kind of restaurant that could be a whole lot better, and a tad more affordable. I would tell you more about our meal, but I can hardly remember what we ate (a sign it was not very memorable). Bottom line - when you're going to spend about a hundred dollars on dinner for two, it should be better... Pros: nice location Cons: parking, nothing special more

I wish there were a negative rating option, as this place doesn't even deserve 1 star. I got a Chicken Paella dish and the chicken tasted like it was microwaved! It was dry and tough. Service was OK. This place is over-rated Pros: ambience Cons: food, service more

We went out to Rustic Canyon for the first time tonight for our anniversary. It was wonderful. Great menu. Fair prices. Excellent service. Our recommendation is to go early if you can- we had a 6pm seating. The place was still quiet and we had most of the service staff to ourselves. We started with the squash soup, excellent flavor, but server a bit too hot. Once it cooled we loved it. We tried the champagne cocktails, but found them a bit too tall- served in highball glasses, we'd prefered to have them in flutes with just a hint of flavor. All the dishes were great. We had a wonderful bottle of wine at $55 (Ridge 40th Anniversary Zinfandel) that was excellent. We shared 5 courses with wine, cocktails & tea and the bill was around $200 with tip. Seemed like a very reasonalbe prices for a memorable night out. Pros: Attentive service and nice conversation with staff and woner Cons: Food served a bot too hot, but that slows the courses down more

I loved the great atmosphere. Good food, too. I had the hamburger (tasty) and my friend had the veggie potpie which was the best potpie I've ever had. Good service and parking was no problem at all. Pros: Potpie! Cons: Nada! more

We came here this past friday with a group of friends for the first time.We are surprised to see such an attitude at this place which barely opened few months ago.The food is nothing to rave about and neither is the wine list which way sooooooooo over priced.Charging $16 bucks for a glass of prisoner,please get your prices right.If i have to pay that kind of price i rather get a nice glass of cabernet at hotel bel air for that price which is a better atmosphere,more sophisticated than this joint.We all were dissapointed with the food and the service and above all the gouching of wine prices.They will not be here for long with that kind of attitude and prices.I go to providence once a week and that is what i call a restaurant which does everything right from food to wine.please send your owner over there to learn more on food and wine.Can't believe we spent $450 for six people for that lousy food and bad wine. Pros: Nothing i can think of. Cons: Bad wine prices and bad food which should not be even called food. more

First off over priced is the first thing that comes to mind the food is excellent but I believe the overpriced for anyones taste. Managment was rude I we waiting over 45 minutes to be seated when we already had reservations. Spoke to someone named Josh(must be a jaded resturant host) but just have me the cold shoulder at that point I know it was the wrong place to come. Wait staff was good and food was great but definitly not worth the price. Overall I think I would choose a place where there are more accomidating management and reasonable prices. Pros: Lighting,valet,wait staff Cons: Managment,food,seating more

This was a great find. The place is cosy with nice candle lighting. Everything we ordered was better then the one before it. The cheese plate was fantastic with three kinds of cheese, nuts and dried fruits. The fried tomatos are so good I wanted to order seconds. The lamb shank was delicious. The desert was yummy rockey road bread pudding that was lovely . The waitstaff was so helpful and friendly without a hint of snootiness! The only thing I was not toatlly happy with was the wait. We had reservations at 7pm but had to wait 20 extra minutes to sit. Yet I will be back! Pros: NICE PEOPLE, GREAT FOOD, GREAT FOR SMALL GROUPS, GREAT AMNBIENCE more

In search of a great wine bar in the Los Angeles area we made a reservation at Rustic Canyon without reading any reviews. Mistake! The ambiance is too dark, the wine list is not entirely impressive, the service is mediocre and the appetizer portions are beyond minimal for the price. The Halibut was prepared well but unimpressive. I don't believe in writing drawn out reviews, but take my advice, don't expect much if you are looking for even a decent wine bar. I'll leave you with-- Way overpriced for the quality and portions. Pros: if you're looking for wine, and only wine, they have it Cons: by the glass wines and appetizers are overpriced and unexceptional more

There are only three seating at Rustic and we arrived exactly on time for our 9:15 seating. We got a drink at the small bar as we were told our table was just paying it's check. Thirty minutes later our table was still paying it's check. By, 9:55 a man offered us three free appetizers when we sat down to apologize for the delay. We were finally seated in a cramped booth at 10:15, exactly an hour later. We had the soft shell crab, short ribs, and cheese plate which were all well done despite the short ribs being extremely rich. For our entrees we had a halibut, a corn risotto, and their burger. All three had to be sent back! The halibut was so salty a cow would not eat it, we were brought a corn soup instead of a corn risotto, and our burger was rare and cold instead of medium rare. When we got the risotto it was very good, the next piece of fish turned out better, and despite most of the cheese being cooked off my burger, it was still fine. I honestly began to feel I was on the latest episode of Hells Kitchen. By the time we were done with our entrees, our waitress had been replaced by either a new waiter or a busboy. It was hard to tell which. We ordered the cookie plate and we were very much enjoying it until we found a hair baked into one of our cookies. At this time we called it a night, almost. We first had to have them remove the extra bottle of wine from our check that we did not have. They also did not take our cookies off the check, but we were too tired to care at this point. Donkeys! We just wanted out. On the way out we did see our original waitress having dinner at the bar. I warned her to skip the cookies. I?m sure our experience was the exception to the rule, but with so many great new places to eat, we will never go back there again. Pros: Ambience, wine, soft chell crab Cons: hair in food, long wait for a table with a reservation, sloppy service more

Finally there's a reasonably priced great restaurant in Santa Monica! The menu seems to change every time I go, but I've never had anything but a great meal. They say ingredients are 90% of cooking, and you can tell here since they use fresh stuff that's in season, from local farmers markets. My favorites so far have been the lamb chops (get them medium rare), the best caesar salad in town, the wild snapper ceviche, and the 1/2 chicken. \r \r Now they are open for lunch too, with a really creative thing called a falafel hoagie. it's falafels wrapped in flatbread, with eggplant spread, hummus and spicy harissa. It's fantastic! and the lunch dessert menu was a pleasant surprise. instead of parading the usual dinner dessert menu out like most restaurants, they have cookies and cupcakes!\r \r And where do i start with the wine? They have a great selection by the glass, ranging from $7 or $8 to almost $20 most of the time. It too always changes, so there is always something new. The bottle markup over retail is lower than anywhere else I've been, and the list is really interesting, with smaller production wines like Sean Thackery's Pleiades and Orin Swift's The Prisoner. The manager really knows his wines, and seems to insist on the same from the waitstaff. They can always recommend something different and well suited to any meal.\r \r It can be tough to get a reservation, but it's well worth planning ahead! My new favorite on the west side! Pros: wine list, friendly staff, seasonal menu, great food Cons: tough to get a reservation, can be noisy more

Unless you're prepared to watch the table that was seated after yours receive their entree's first, along with hearing the waiter tell you that ""the chicken takes at least 20 minutes to make""- when in reality it took 45 minutes to arrive - then this overpriced ""seasonal"" (?) kitchen isn't worth the $ or the time for a sit down experience. \r The 'Prisoner' is one of the best glasses of red ($16.00) on their list - however we bought a bottle of Prisoner for $18.00 in downtown Napa a few years ago- who does the pricing at this place?\r If you're up for a delicious b-red tangerine/champagne fizz drink, and a few app's at the bar, then leave it at that and enjoy the pleasant bar staff and host's.\r Might be better for Rustic Canyon to study the brilliant business model of IN and OUT BURGER- and add a bit of smarts to the whole package!!! \r We Santa Monicans are savy about our food and wine, and return customers are going to be tough to secure! Pros: Nice bar and host staff Cons: noisy and overpriced for a not so hot experience more

I was going to the Temple Bar and parked in front of Rustic Canyon. I had heard of it so I decided to give it a shot. Unfortunately, the service was somewhat unfriendly (perhaps because I was casually dressed?) and the food was not as good as I expected from the review I had read. However, the rocky road rice pudding was incredible. I would probably only go for that rice pudding again. I'd probably skip the dinner. more

A friend and I popped in late on Saturday evening for wine and a light dinner. Though we had not made reservations beforehand, we were very courteously waited upon by the hostess, who informed us of our wait-time (15-20 minutes) and seating options, and proceeded to make accommodation to seat us at the next available opportunity. We barely had time to order a glass of wine at the bar from their impressive list of regional, domestic and international wines when a table was ready and set for us. Although we did not pay particular attention to our wine + food pairings, the menu had a plethora of delicious-looking options ranging from a Cream of Asparagus Soup to beet salads, assorted cheeses, Fillet, and Seared Halibut, along with many others which I am sure would have been equally as delightful as the items we chose. I was equally impressed by the attentive (though not overly pushy or rushed) and gracious service we received from our server and the rest of the staff. In fact, the only reason I am not giving the restaurant a perfect ""10"" is that when we asked if our bar tab could be transferred to our table, the bartender who had served us acted reluctant about it, so we paid the tab with cash, but even after paying for our wine separately before we left the bar, he stopped by our table half-way through our meal to check to see if we had transferred our bill to our table and we had to remind him that it had already been paid - which was annoying on both counts. Overall, I am happy to rate this restaurant very highly and look forward to returning often! more

I agree with everything Tostawife said, PLUS, we waited at least 30 minutes after our reservation time to be seated, despite having arrived perfectly on time (I think they just want people to spend money at the bar while you wait for a table). Also, they seem to make every effort to get you to spend at least $10 extra to order off the sides menu (e.g., they don't allow you to subsitute french fries with a vegetable--you have to order and pay for something extra off the sides menu, and many dishes simply don't come with a vegetable at all, forcing you again to turn to the sides menu for something green on your plate, without which, the plates are simply imbalanced). Between the horrible service, the overpriced and underwhelming wine list, the imbalanced dishes, and the general sense that this grossly overpriced restaurant ($30 for a piece of chicken) is trying to nickel and dime you, I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone. Cons: bad service, overpriced, incredibly loud, imbalanced dishes more