Quick review of Wolfgang Puck at Hotel Bel Air– (read below for longer review)
Booking Process ♦♦◊◊◊ – online but not on either the website for hotel or Wolfgang Puck’s website either it’s on it’s own website that’s impossible to find and when there’s a problem there’s no support. No bookings taken by phone at all. You can find the link to book here.
Ambience/Setting ♦♦♦◊◊ – It was OK but not amazing. Perhaps on a sunny day it would be very vintage Hollywood with its archways and dusted pink colour but on a rainy day it’s very lacking. Especially as they weren’t equipped for the rain and so the floors flooded and the roof leaked.
Service ♦♦♦◊◊ – were friendly but seemed to be flustered by the rain and after they moved us tables forgot to bring the essentials like napkins, utensils or glasses of water.
Tea Selection ♦♦♦◊◊ – had a good but limited choice of black, white, herbal, green and oolong teas including their two signature teas “Swan song” (Green tea) and the “Rejuvenation blend” (Herbal tea).
Sandwiches/First course ♦♦♦◊◊ – Presentation was amazing but then led to high expectations which this course couldn’t meet. There were so many options of savouries that none of them stood out and most were pretty blandly flavoured.
Scones ♦◊◊◊◊ – beyond disappointing. Hard as a rock and you could have killed someone if you threw it at their head. Tasteless too even though they had filled them with sour cherries and candied almonds.
Cream ♦♦♦♦◊ – The best part of the meal. It was pretty good. Dense, rich and pretty tasty shame you couldn’t enjoy it on the scones.
Desserts ♦♦♦♦◊ – I wish that these had come out earlier and I would have just not eaten the scones and skipped straight to these. They were tasty and well presented.
Cost – $60 each (plus you HAVE to book through the online portal which charges a service fee making it $77 each). It’s an additional $16 for a glass of Prosecco.
Times – Friday and Saturday only 3pm – 4pm
Overall a pretty disappointing experience perhaps affected by the rain and the restaurants lack of ability to cope with the rain. However, the food quality and tastes should have been better irrespective of the weather especially as it’s not a cheap experience.
– Review of Wolfgang Puck at Hotel Bel Air –
Who doesn’t love the weather in California? Well most of the time I love the weather in Los Angeles but for this particular day it was one of those rare times that it rained. It definitely affected our time here but that wasn’t the only reason that overall I found it a disappointing experience.
Booking Process
First off is that I should say that 99% of the time I book my tea experiences online and love how I can do that. I hate calling up places over the phone as inevitably I feel like I’m interrupting the hostess that I’m talking to and I end up booking for a time that I can’t make and then rearranging my life around the booking. This restaurant first of all was hard to find the booking page for online or that it even existed and then I had numerous problems with the booking site so called them over the phone. I was told there was nothing they could do and that they don’t do any bookings over the phone and they don’t have anything to do with the online site. She then offered that she could send me an email with some help, however, all I got was a link to the exact page I had already found. After over a week of going back to the website daily and emailing backwards and forwards with the support email I was finally able to book a table for 3 of us. Definitely not an easy process. The website isn’t linked anywhere I can find (at the time of this blog post) on either the website for the Hotel Bel Air or the website for booking for the restaurant at other times of the day so I’ve saved you the trouble and you can find it here.
Ambience/Setting
It’s seems to be that they’re channelling the “old Hollywood” vibe and keep with the tradition of when the hotel first started. It’s got dusty pink walls with art deco styled white and black archway trims in the main seating area, but they also have some alcove styled seating with tents on the edge for larger groups. The tables themselves are great being round and large so everything can fit but then it does feel like when there’s only 3 of you at a table that you’re very far away from each other. It would be better suited to a 4 or 5 person group. The settings are pretty simple and traditional white and basic. Nothing that stands out. It was a very peaceful place with no music playing (or if it was it was completely drowned out by the rain). For us we had the unfortunate experience that it rained (heavily but not overwhelmingly) and the restaurant was not equipped for that. The rain bounced off the roof and then on top of us. Our bags and backs were very quickly wet. There were also numerous holes in the roof so most of the guests (including us) were moved to other tables. Then the floors started to flood and so towels and mats were everywhere trying to stop people from slipping. So not ideal.
Service
They honestly seemed to try hard but it just seemed that they got confused with the rain. At first when it was coolish they brought over a heater (we didn’t ask for it but appreciated that it was there) then about 15mins later they came and took the heater away for another table who asked for it. They didn’t seem equipped for it as then all of the heaters seemed to run out of propane over the next 30mins. When it started to rain they started to move each table. They seemed to know the tables that were going to get leaked on which as there were only very few of us in the restaurant it begs to ask why we were all put at the tables that were going to get wet when it was 100% certain it was going to rain, there were plenty of other tables available. So each and every one of the guests seated were asked to move to new tables shortly after the second course came out. Once we were moved to a new table and told to leave everything behind nothing was then brought for the new table and so then we had to ask for each thing as we needed it….napkins?…..water and glasses?….cutlery?…..nothing was brought to the new table without having to specifically ask. They were nice and friendly but not very attentive. Worst for me is that as the tea came out cold I asked just for some extra hot water and they said they’d bring me out a new pot which took over 30mins and once again it was cold. Very disappointing that they can’t serve tea at an afternoon tea.
Tea
The menu consists of 14 teas –
White – Silver Needle
Green – Uji Gyokuro, Genmai Cha, Jasmine Downy Pearls, Royal Chrysanthemum, Swan Song*
Oolong – Sacred Orchid
Black – Darjeeling, Earl Grey, Assam, Hunhe Cha
Herbal – Fresh Mint, Rejuvenation blend*, Egyptian Chamomile
Blossoming tea – Seven Sons
The Swan Song and the Rejuvenation blend are the house teas that they recommend. I tried the Darjeeling, my husband had the Earl Grey and our nephew who was with us from Australia had the house Rejuvenation blend.
ALL of them were served COLD. They steeped the teas before they were brought to the tables and for all of us they were weak and cold. I know that Darjeeling is a weaker coloured tea but it looked like barely touched dirty dish water. The two black teas were served in small black iron pots (perhaps they didn’t warm the pots first so that’s why they were cold) and the rejuvenation blend in a glass pot.
The actual flavours of the tea were ok. My Darjeeling was pretty flavourless but the earl grey if it had been hot would have been nice. The Rejuuvenation was actually the more successful of the teas (perhaps as you didn’t add cold milk to it so it remained warmer than the others). Our nephew who at 16 “hates” tea and refuses to drink it was actually impressed with the tea and it turned his very adamant hatred of hot drinks around and when we got back home he decided that he didn’t mind fruity flavoured teas. Admittedly he did add quite a bit of honey to the rejuvenation tea so there’s a chance it just tasted like sweet water.
To me the tea is a vital part of the afternoon tea experience and as this was disappointing right at the start it didn’t give me great hope for the rest of the meal.
Tea Sandwiches/Savories/First course
The presentation of this course was astonishing and complicated. It was hard to see each piece for itself and was a bit overwhelming. There were 9 items each and a bowl of fresh raw vegetables to share. Very complicated dishes that each looked great but when you first looked at them it was hard to work out what each thing was and where to even start to eat them. Individually most were quite tasty but hard to handle. As it was cold and rainy we didn’t really get into the bowl of veges on ice but perhaps on a really hot day I could see myself loving those. The favs for us as a group were the baby beet on beet, the Maryland crab and the chicken salad. The Japanese cucumber tasted to me just like cucumber and the compressed watermelon just like normal watermelon and for all the complicated ingredients listed and the complicatedness of the presentation I’m not sure that it paid off. I think it felt more like we were supposed to think we were eating fancy versions of normal ingredients rather than it actually tasting like something new and exciting. None of them overwhelmed us and nothing particularly stood out.
Crispy Okinawa Potato Crisp “Maryland Crab” | Chilli Aioli, Micro Shiso
Japanese Cucumber | Hass Avocado Roll, Pickled Ginger, Salmon Ikura
House Cured Smoked Salmon | Dill Cream, House Made Gluten Free Grain Bread, Micro Arugula
Compressed Watermelon | Espelette Chilli, Micro Basil
Organic Jidori Chicken Salad | Roasted Sweet Potato “Toast”, Golden Raisins, Celery Hearts, Red Onions
Sourdough “Grilled Cheese” on Udi’s Couuntry White | Black Truffle, Gruyere
Caviar Marble Potato | Chive Cream Fraiche, Gold Foil Flakes
Stuffed Petite Red Pepper | Braised Saffron Chickpea Hummus, Harissa Spice, Provencal Olive Oil
Baby “Beet on Beet” | Italian Ricotta, Aged 12 year Balsamic
Santa Monica Farmers Market Vegetable Crudite
Scones
Well to say I was disappointed when this course came out is pretty much an understatement. If I was a more confident and slightly arrogant person I would have asked for my money back right at this moment.
The scones were in the American tradition of biscuits rather than British scones….ok fine I can cope with that but these were cold and rock hard. I swear you would knock someone out cold if you threw it at their head.
I have genuinely nothing nice to say about the scones so I’ll refrain from saying anything else.
They were served with homemade preserves which tasted likely to be raspberry and strawberry jams and a pear paste instead of the usual lemon curd.
Everyone at the table was disappointed and most of the scones were left uneaten.
Cream
Actually the best part of the meal. It was dense and delicious and creamy. The only shame was that it wasn’t able to be enjoyed on the scones. Should have gotten a take home container just for the cream so I could enjoy it on scones that I could make at home.
Desserts
So normally I love it when a place brings out each course individually, mostly because I love when the scones are brought out still warm. However, that only works if you’re in an amazing place that has excellent service so you’re not waiting for ages when you want to be eating, and that its justified because the scones are actually served warm. This restaurant is not one of the places that is good for this and I would have appreciated it if they’d served up the courses on a tiered tray and that they were all delivered at the same time for two reasons. Firstly as we had to wait a looooong time to get this course as I think they forgot about us after moving us for the rain, and secondly because this was definitely the best of the courses and I would have enjoyed having them available to eat to dissipate my disappointment over the scones. As it was I was pretty over the whole experience by the time that they were delivered as we were wet and disappointed and really just wanted a hot cup of tea and not luke warm water to drink. That being said I would recommend the dessert tray as it was pretty perfect. Each dish was bite sized, delicious and looked so cute! We each had a favourite John’s was the Custard Cake, our nephew’s was the Macaron and I had trouble deciding between the Strawberry Cheesecake and the Red Velvet Roulade. We all agreed though that the Citrus Voul Au Vent was the weakest link.
Custard Cake | Strawberry Cheesecake Tart | Citrus Voul Au Vent | Seasonal Macaron | Red Velvet Roulade
So if you haven’t guessed by now this was a pretty disappointing experience and I won’t be recommending it to anyone. This place topped lots of lists of great afternoon tea experiences and all I can assume is that they didn’t have an experience like mine or the expectation of what a good afternoon tea in LA is very different to my expectations. It definitely currently sits at the bottom of my list for places I’ve had afternoon tea in the USA and now that I think about it the world. Please let me know in the comments if you’ve had a different experience at Wolfgang Puck at the Hotel Bel Air.
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