On Father’s Day, Sunday, June 21, 2009, we took Dad (my father-in-law) out to dinner at The Yard House in L.A. Live. In the recent “Best of” issue of the L.A. Downtown News, the Yard House was voted best L.A. Live restaurant and best American food. It’s actually a national chain with most locations in Socal. There’s one at Victoria Gardens shopping destination in Rancho Cucamonga, another at the Shoppes at Chino Hills, and another in Pasadena. I believe that the first one was in Long Beach. The one at L.A. Live is in the building at the north end of the plaza. It’s in the northwest corner of the building. To get there we passed the Wolfgang Puck on the southwest end that didn’t look like it was open yet. We walked by the tall Ritz Carlton and Marriott that were under construction. There was a sign directing us to the Yard House, Trader Vic’s, and Rosa Moreno, the New York-based Mexican restaurant chain. At last, we found it just past the Starbucks.
The Yard House at L.A. Live has lots of patio seating. I believe I saw in an issue of the L.A. Downtown News that it is either largest or the second largest restaurant in Downtown L.A. by number of seats. We heard a little about it and had done some research online. My cousin had been to the one at Victoria Gardens. He said they had many choices for drinks, including ones that come in the half-yard size glasses that give the place its name, but that the food was overpriced and not very good. Online we learned that the Yard House has between 100-250 different beers on tap depending on the location. They had a list of all the beers including Alaskan Amber, Red Hook, and Miller Genuine Draft. They seemed to lean towards draft beer. San Miguel beer wasn’t on the list. Their website also listed the type of music they played that mostly consisted of classic rock. There were at least two Bad Company songs listed. Also online we found nutritional information for all the items on their large menu that helped us and Mom (my mother-in-law) pick our orders.
We entered the restaurant and they gave us a choice between indoor and outdoor seating. We chose indoor since the cool June weather was continuing. The place didn’t seem very crowded both inside and outside. They had us sit at a long table between two long and comfortable benches. Inside it was a bit dark and there were many flat screen TVs hanging from the corners of the walls and from the ceiling. They showed either the Dodgers-Angels game or the WNBA L.A. Sparks-Sacramento Monarchs game. Our booth was slightly elevated and from it we could see the long bar wrapped around an island in the middle of the indoor space. Behind the bar were the beer tap faucets for all the different beers. Pipes went from the bar across the ceiling to another room full of kegs. Above the faucets hung the namesake half-yard glasses. Also near the entrance was a room with many bottles of wine in racks.
The music sounded just like they described on the Yard House website: classic and mellow rock. They also played some Country music. I didn’t hear any Bad Company but I did hear some Credence Clearwater Revival and “Man on the Moon” by REM.
Our server brought us menus that had many categories such as appetizers, soups/salads, burgers, sandwiches, house specialties, steaks, and seafood. There were also pages with all the beers on tap and another page with other beverages including wines. We ordered and passed the menus back to the server. They first brought the bottle of Blackstone Merlot that Dad ordered. He had wanted another less expensive Merlot but they only had that by the glass. After he had ordered the wine the server asked to see my brother- and sister-in-law’s ID’s. Dad asked how come they didn’t want to see his ID. Those that drank it said the Blackstone Merlot was good. Next they brought the lobster dip appetizer that was made with four cheeses. I took the others’ word for it that it was good. They finished it, scraping it out of the bowl. Next they brought us our entrees. I had originally planned to get the chicken rice bowl because it was one of the few without cheese. But data analysis revealed that it had a lot of sodium and the website also said that they work to meet their patron’s dietary needs. So I ordered the avocado-Swiss burger without the Swiss cheese.
My burger tasted pretty good. It was cooked well done but not overcooked and only a little bit greasy. The fries were thin and crispy and weren’t an excessive amount. The burger was fairly large and I finished it because I had had a fairly light lunch earlier in the day. However, it may have been too much food because I suffered some digestive irritation for a few days afterward. It may also have had dairy in it. My brother-in-law thought it looked like they had put butter on the bun. I thought it was just oil but he may have been right. The others enjoyed their entrees especially Mom with her angel hair pasta and my wife with her surf and turf burger, a burger that came with lobster.
After we finished and left the Yard House we walked around the north building of L.A. Live a bit. The building houses many restaurants. In addition to the Yard House, Starbucks, Wolfgang Puck, Trader Vic’s, and Rosa Moreno, there’s also Kutsaya, Rock & Fish, The Farm of Beverly Hills, the Conga Room with its associated restaurant, Boca, and Lucky Strike Lanes. The Conga Room is a salsa dance club that used to be just down the street from my Miracle Mile apartment many years ago. We visited Lucky Strike Lanes, an upscale bowling alley. It’s clean and stylish but I felt that the lighting seemed a bit dim for bowling. My sister-in-law said they charged $25 per hour (per person?) plus $4 for sock rental and $6 for shoe rental. I didn’t know that bowling alleys charged for sock rental. Lucky Strike Lanes is a far cry from Channel Bowl in Juneau, Alaska. Despite it being Father’s Day most places at L.A. Live didn’t seem very crowded.
As for the Yard House, my cousin’s assessment was more or less correct. The food wasn’t that bad or overpriced but it wasn’t one of the better places we’ve tried. I’d probably think differently if I still drank beer.
The Yard House at L.A. Live has lots of patio seating. I believe I saw in an issue of the L.A. Downtown News that it is either largest or the second largest restaurant in Downtown L.A. by number of seats. We heard a little about it and had done some research online. My cousin had been to the one at Victoria Gardens. He said they had many choices for drinks, including ones that come in the half-yard size glasses that give the place its name, but that the food was overpriced and not very good. Online we learned that the Yard House has between 100-250 different beers on tap depending on the location. They had a list of all the beers including Alaskan Amber, Red Hook, and Miller Genuine Draft. They seemed to lean towards draft beer. San Miguel beer wasn’t on the list. Their website also listed the type of music they played that mostly consisted of classic rock. There were at least two Bad Company songs listed. Also online we found nutritional information for all the items on their large menu that helped us and Mom (my mother-in-law) pick our orders.
We entered the restaurant and they gave us a choice between indoor and outdoor seating. We chose indoor since the cool June weather was continuing. The place didn’t seem very crowded both inside and outside. They had us sit at a long table between two long and comfortable benches. Inside it was a bit dark and there were many flat screen TVs hanging from the corners of the walls and from the ceiling. They showed either the Dodgers-Angels game or the WNBA L.A. Sparks-Sacramento Monarchs game. Our booth was slightly elevated and from it we could see the long bar wrapped around an island in the middle of the indoor space. Behind the bar were the beer tap faucets for all the different beers. Pipes went from the bar across the ceiling to another room full of kegs. Above the faucets hung the namesake half-yard glasses. Also near the entrance was a room with many bottles of wine in racks.
The music sounded just like they described on the Yard House website: classic and mellow rock. They also played some Country music. I didn’t hear any Bad Company but I did hear some Credence Clearwater Revival and “Man on the Moon” by REM.
Our server brought us menus that had many categories such as appetizers, soups/salads, burgers, sandwiches, house specialties, steaks, and seafood. There were also pages with all the beers on tap and another page with other beverages including wines. We ordered and passed the menus back to the server. They first brought the bottle of Blackstone Merlot that Dad ordered. He had wanted another less expensive Merlot but they only had that by the glass. After he had ordered the wine the server asked to see my brother- and sister-in-law’s ID’s. Dad asked how come they didn’t want to see his ID. Those that drank it said the Blackstone Merlot was good. Next they brought the lobster dip appetizer that was made with four cheeses. I took the others’ word for it that it was good. They finished it, scraping it out of the bowl. Next they brought us our entrees. I had originally planned to get the chicken rice bowl because it was one of the few without cheese. But data analysis revealed that it had a lot of sodium and the website also said that they work to meet their patron’s dietary needs. So I ordered the avocado-Swiss burger without the Swiss cheese.
My burger tasted pretty good. It was cooked well done but not overcooked and only a little bit greasy. The fries were thin and crispy and weren’t an excessive amount. The burger was fairly large and I finished it because I had had a fairly light lunch earlier in the day. However, it may have been too much food because I suffered some digestive irritation for a few days afterward. It may also have had dairy in it. My brother-in-law thought it looked like they had put butter on the bun. I thought it was just oil but he may have been right. The others enjoyed their entrees especially Mom with her angel hair pasta and my wife with her surf and turf burger, a burger that came with lobster.
After we finished and left the Yard House we walked around the north building of L.A. Live a bit. The building houses many restaurants. In addition to the Yard House, Starbucks, Wolfgang Puck, Trader Vic’s, and Rosa Moreno, there’s also Kutsaya, Rock & Fish, The Farm of Beverly Hills, the Conga Room with its associated restaurant, Boca, and Lucky Strike Lanes. The Conga Room is a salsa dance club that used to be just down the street from my Miracle Mile apartment many years ago. We visited Lucky Strike Lanes, an upscale bowling alley. It’s clean and stylish but I felt that the lighting seemed a bit dim for bowling. My sister-in-law said they charged $25 per hour (per person?) plus $4 for sock rental and $6 for shoe rental. I didn’t know that bowling alleys charged for sock rental. Lucky Strike Lanes is a far cry from Channel Bowl in Juneau, Alaska. Despite it being Father’s Day most places at L.A. Live didn’t seem very crowded.
As for the Yard House, my cousin’s assessment was more or less correct. The food wasn’t that bad or overpriced but it wasn’t one of the better places we’ve tried. I’d probably think differently if I still drank beer.
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