Pacific Dining Car1310 West 6th St
Los Angeles
213-483-6000
The good and bad. Have you ever been to a restaurant and your appetizers were great but then your entree turned out bad? Well this happened at the Pacifici Dining Car. This is a very expensive, upscale restaurant that has been a part of LA for over 87 years.
We ordered the sauteed scallops with lobster sauce, $18.95, as our appetizer. This was amazing. The scallops were huge and very fresh. They were tender, not chewy, a sign of scallops that are not fresh. The sauce was a light, creamy sauce. I'm not sure how they made it but they did it right. Kinda of pricey but worth it.
For my entree I ordered the rib eye with crab cakes, $46.95. I will continue with the good part, the crab cakes were GREAT. They actually had crab in them and lots of crab. For somebody who grew up in Baltimore, I know what good crab cakes are. These crab cakes had lot of crabs, green onions, and bread cumbs. Again a great dish.
Now comes the bad part. The rib eye was terrible. The meat described as prime, doesn't come close to prime. The steak reminded me of the steak you get in Vegas with those $6.95 steak specials. There was a lot of fat and it wasn't tender at all. The cooked it medium rare, just like I ordered. But I could have gone to Sizzler and gotten the same quality steak for must less.
I rarely order dessert but we got the Apple Tart Tartin, $9.94, which is apples topped with a crust and ice cream. I know it was tart but the apples were too tart for me. Even the ice cream didn't take away from the tartness.
Service was OoooooK but there were some strange moments that I've never experienced at any restaurant. In terms of the service, he was good though at times we were waiting a long time for refills. But a couple times the server came to our table, while we were eating and just started a conversation. Some BS like How's the weather? How was your day? I mean WTF? We are trying to eat. I am not interested in talking to anybody while I'm eating. I got rid of him by asking for more water and after the second time, I think he got the hint.
I would NOT go back to Pacific Dining Car again. Their claim to fame is the steak, hell they have two cows as part of the signage. But damn the meat is TERRIBLE. I do like their seafood but I can go to better seafood places.
