Sam W.
Yelp
We love Mastro's! Been going to the Beverly Hills location for quite some time now. This is the second time we have been to the Los Angeles location. Location is a lot better than BH due to the fact that this location is near the freeway.
Anyway, we decided to go to Mastros for my mom's birthday. We arrived and all was good. As the waiter was filling our waters, he accidentally spilled a full cup of water on me. No big deal. Got a bit soaked, but it was only water and accidents happen. They offered to move our table, but they wiped it dry enough and put a cloth napkin over the soaked area, so we were good.
I had the special of the day: a 40 day, dry aged rib-eye. My wife got the same and we also got the NY steak, and pork chops. We ordered the lobster mash, sauteed asparagus, truffle mushrooms, crab cakes, calamari, clam chowder, caesar salad, and bread.
After ordering, about 10 minutes later, our waiter informed us that they had sold out of the dry-aged steaks. He apologized and I ended up ordering the chef's cut rib eye, and my wife the rib eye steak.
The food was great! I do prefer the steaks at the BH location. I don't know what they do there, but their steaks come off juicier and a bit more tender. Unless Mastros, as a whole, changed their steak quality, the BH has been consistently better prepared.
For the third course, we had the complimentary birthday cheesecake, and the butter cake with coffee. The coffee came out lukewarm. Honestly, I can't believe a restaurant at this price point can offer lukewarm coffee. We mentioned this to the waiter and they brought us a new cup.
The rest of the experience is normal, so not much to say. Ate, had leftovers boxed up and the final bill came. Found out that they tagged an 18% gratuity to my bill. Not sure if this is the new normal, but left a bit (or maybe a lot.. still determining) disappointed for all the shortcomings that happened in our dining experience.
The spilled water that got me pretty wet, offering a sold out menu item, and the lukewarm coffee (which was complimented) all left a bad taste in my mouth. I do not expect any of this at a restaurant charging over $100 per person (on average). But to see an 18% forced gratuity? I understand a forced gratuity for parties of 6 or so.. but we were a party of 4.
I think we'll be visiting the Beverly Hills location from this point forward.