Great lil’ hipster restaurant. Honest take: they could simplify the ingredients count in some dishes. The bone marrow dish had too much going on. No need for balsamic glaze, especially co side ring the dish was served with a chimichirri. Bone marrow is decadent by itself. You could not taste the marrow because it was overwhelmed by everything else. The bone burger is A+. It’s brilliantly served with rye bread and cooked to perfection. On the menu, everything sounds amazing however you expect the dish to be very rich, however it was very balanced and perfectly executed. Carrot dish was fantastic- lots of wonderful spices. Great wine selection too. Overall, a great dining experience, super friendly staff.
Perpetua Charles
food was so, so good. really cool and interesting flavors! i was especially enamored with the carpaccio and the yams with zatar. and the staff was so accommodating of my food intolerances, which made me feel very cared for. i can’t wait to return with more friends one day!
Jonah Mannis
It is hard to leave a 2 star review because I will say some of our dishes were very delicious! But… some were so not delicious, the duck (our most expensive dish) tasted like salty mush. We told our waiter and he told us that’s how it was supposed to be. Th waiter was not good, he forgot many items and was very pompous. They also added on a 18% fee for service charge, that is too much! I will not be returning! It is also hard to park and very loud inside.
Dennis Kaminsky
Love this place when I get in town. Small plates were perfect for the three of us. Foie gras was amazing and of course the bone burger is always a must order
Jack Whipple
Amazing food! Excellent flavor combinations. We had multiple dishes that part of the experience is mixing everything on the plate together to get all the flavors together. That was fun. Great service. Semi-casual ambiance. Highly recommend!
Rajeev Davé
• A note on grades, a rate outwards from three stars. *We had dinner for three late on a Sunday in October, 2022.Service was great at accommodating one of our party's gluten allergy, composing a shared offer, and recommending pairings. Although we were among the last to leave, we never felt rushed.The food was good; worth a visit.
Heidi Fogle
The food here is beyond amazing, one of the best if not the best meal I have ever had (the pig ears changed my life). Same for the service…the exact right balance of attentive but not hovering, and they brought free wine and a free dessert for my friend’s birthday. HOWEVER. I have to take 2 stars off because the bill sprung a 20% “service charge” that was explicitly not a gratuity on us without warning. With how much we had spent and how deserving the server was of a real tip, that turned the night into an expensive one indeed. Just be transparent with your pricing, don’t ambush your diners. We will very sadly not be back until and unless they get rid of this BS fee.
Pauline Nguyen
It was honestly just ok. The service was good and the food came out at a reasonable time but the salt was a hit or miss. Some dishes too salty and some not enough.Chicken pate needed more salt.The chicken wings were good but very small and too salty.The burger was like a patty melt. It was not worth it. Save the calories and dollars.The toastada was TOO limey and needed more salt. The lime overpowered the delicate hamachi.The ricotta gnudi was my fav.Overall would not return.
Olivier LA
14 years and a pandemic later, this iconic restaurant is still serving flavorful dishes, such as the chicken liver toast (now spread-it-yourself), the tomato-tonnato, the 3S anchovies (Salty & So Satisfying), the fried sweetbreads, and the light and instagrammable strawberry tres leches. Small but relevant selection of wines and sake, along with some interesting cocktails. Setting is elegantly simple. Super friendly staff. Well, an institution which deserves to remain one.
Auston Copeland
The chicken liver toast is worth the hype. The brioche toast is 10/10. Will only eat pate on brioche toast now.Also had the crispy pig ear, bone marrow chimichurri, grilled shrimp, and bone burger. Flavors were excellent (loved the bone marrow) - burger and shrimp were good but nothing notable.Overall the food is excellent (great flavors and unique styles). The atmosphere is not my favorite (feels like a lunchtime sandwich shop) and very loud.
All dishes were creative. Not a few of them using Japanese cuisine idea, ingredients or food products. I was happy with all dishes we ordered but sometimes felt too salty.Also, their wine collection was good.
Judith Goldstein
I've worked in the food industry for 20 years and have eaten at some of the best restaurants in the world and I have to say that my experience at Animal was perfect! My favorite thing about Animal is that the food, service, space is not pretentious at all, but the quality and standards are incredibly high. The food was perfection, everything was seasoned and cooked exactly right and every dish was a pure delight. The Ricotta Gnudi was one of our favorite, a rich, balanced and succulent bite that melted into your mouth. The Soft Shell Crab with curry sauce was a pure delight to every sense. The snap peas were also a delightful, fresh and bountiful dish. A lot of people are writing here complaining about the 18% service charge without realizing that this restaurant group is one of the few in the industry that pays their staff livable wages and makes it a good experience to work with them and if it means we pay a little more for an incredible experience, i'm all for it. Anyway, I highly recommend Animal. Definitely going back for more special occasions.
Matthew Walsh
Prior to the COVID shutdown, Animal was an establishment that I was eager to recommend. Having been back twice now since they reopened their doors, I can say with full confidence that this is not the same eatery it was before. If I were to summarize it all in a single word: “okay” probably works. And this is where the compliments end.None of this is to say that Animal is without good food. There’s plenty to eat here that is still interesting, several staples from the past have stayed on the menu and continue to be great, but the new additions feel conceptual at best — the use of many seasonal fruits and vegetables in dishes leaves much to be desired.All of this is made more difficult by disappointing service… The staff had little opinion on the dishes when asked, made no effort to build a rapport with myself and the other guests in the slightest, informed us that dishes were unavailable some 20-30 minutes after we’d ordered them, and… despite being told multiple times that we were visiting for a birthday, they could not be bothered to even stick a candle in ONE of the THREE desserts we ordered.Additionally, they now add an 18% service charge after the fact, which is commonplace in many restaurants in Los Angeles in lieu of gratuity to make a living wage possible for service workers. This is an initiative that I fully support, but… Animal’s manifesto on their bill seems to imply that that the 18% is simply for the cost of having dined with them in the first place and that the gratuity should still be expected. This feels like the opposite of progress for the industry. Either add a service charge and leave it at that, or adjust your cost of business into your prices and have the customer add fair gratuity instead.So I guess it really is true, “sometimes dead is better.” Maybe this Animal should have stayed in the Semetary.
Wil Liu
BE AWARE: They automatically charge 18% fee which they say "directly goes to the wage for equitable wage of employees", and they say this is not tip, you have to give at least 15% tip in addition to that. This means that you are paying at least 33% in addition to your food price, and plus tax, thats about in total 50% more. If you eat $100 on the menu, you are paying at least $150...I really don't know how to comment on this business. Food-wise? Very very mediocre. Way over-priced.
Chris Benning
Wonderful food, the boniata yams were my favorite but the peas and gnudi were also phenomenal. The poutine and burger were good, but definitely bottom of my list amount all the dishes I ate.
Great lil’ hipster restaurant. Honest take: they could simplify the ingredients count in some dishes. The bone marrow dish had too much going on. No need for balsamic glaze, especially co side ring the dish was served with a chimichirri. Bone marrow is decadent by itself. You could not taste the marrow because it was overwhelmed by everything else. The bone burger is A+. It’s brilliantly served with rye bread and cooked to perfection. On the menu, everything sounds amazing however you expect the dish to be very rich, however it was very balanced and perfectly executed. Carrot dish was fantastic- lots of wonderful spices. Great wine selection too. Overall, a great dining experience, super friendly staff.
food was so, so good. really cool and interesting flavors! i was especially enamored with the carpaccio and the yams with zatar. and the staff was so accommodating of my food intolerances, which made me feel very cared for. i can’t wait to return with more friends one day!
It is hard to leave a 2 star review because I will say some of our dishes were very delicious! But… some were so not delicious, the duck (our most expensive dish) tasted like salty mush. We told our waiter and he told us that’s how it was supposed to be. Th waiter was not good, he forgot many items and was very pompous. They also added on a 18% fee for service charge, that is too much! I will not be returning! It is also hard to park and very loud inside.
Love this place when I get in town. Small plates were perfect for the three of us. Foie gras was amazing and of course the bone burger is always a must order
Amazing food! Excellent flavor combinations. We had multiple dishes that part of the experience is mixing everything on the plate together to get all the flavors together. That was fun. Great service. Semi-casual ambiance. Highly recommend!
• A note on grades, a rate outwards from three stars. *We had dinner for three late on a Sunday in October, 2022.Service was great at accommodating one of our party's gluten allergy, composing a shared offer, and recommending pairings. Although we were among the last to leave, we never felt rushed.The food was good; worth a visit.
The food here is beyond amazing, one of the best if not the best meal I have ever had (the pig ears changed my life). Same for the service…the exact right balance of attentive but not hovering, and they brought free wine and a free dessert for my friend’s birthday. HOWEVER. I have to take 2 stars off because the bill sprung a 20% “service charge” that was explicitly not a gratuity on us without warning. With how much we had spent and how deserving the server was of a real tip, that turned the night into an expensive one indeed. Just be transparent with your pricing, don’t ambush your diners. We will very sadly not be back until and unless they get rid of this BS fee.
It was honestly just ok. The service was good and the food came out at a reasonable time but the salt was a hit or miss. Some dishes too salty and some not enough.Chicken pate needed more salt.The chicken wings were good but very small and too salty.The burger was like a patty melt. It was not worth it. Save the calories and dollars.The toastada was TOO limey and needed more salt. The lime overpowered the delicate hamachi.The ricotta gnudi was my fav.Overall would not return.
14 years and a pandemic later, this iconic restaurant is still serving flavorful dishes, such as the chicken liver toast (now spread-it-yourself), the tomato-tonnato, the 3S anchovies (Salty & So Satisfying), the fried sweetbreads, and the light and instagrammable strawberry tres leches. Small but relevant selection of wines and sake, along with some interesting cocktails. Setting is elegantly simple. Super friendly staff. Well, an institution which deserves to remain one.
The chicken liver toast is worth the hype. The brioche toast is 10/10. Will only eat pate on brioche toast now.Also had the crispy pig ear, bone marrow chimichurri, grilled shrimp, and bone burger. Flavors were excellent (loved the bone marrow) - burger and shrimp were good but nothing notable.Overall the food is excellent (great flavors and unique styles). The atmosphere is not my favorite (feels like a lunchtime sandwich shop) and very loud.
Restaurantji Recommends
All dishes were creative. Not a few of them using Japanese cuisine idea, ingredients or food products. I was happy with all dishes we ordered but sometimes felt too salty.Also, their wine collection was good.
I've worked in the food industry for 20 years and have eaten at some of the best restaurants in the world and I have to say that my experience at Animal was perfect! My favorite thing about Animal is that the food, service, space is not pretentious at all, but the quality and standards are incredibly high. The food was perfection, everything was seasoned and cooked exactly right and every dish was a pure delight. The Ricotta Gnudi was one of our favorite, a rich, balanced and succulent bite that melted into your mouth. The Soft Shell Crab with curry sauce was a pure delight to every sense. The snap peas were also a delightful, fresh and bountiful dish. A lot of people are writing here complaining about the 18% service charge without realizing that this restaurant group is one of the few in the industry that pays their staff livable wages and makes it a good experience to work with them and if it means we pay a little more for an incredible experience, i'm all for it. Anyway, I highly recommend Animal. Definitely going back for more special occasions.
Prior to the COVID shutdown, Animal was an establishment that I was eager to recommend. Having been back twice now since they reopened their doors, I can say with full confidence that this is not the same eatery it was before. If I were to summarize it all in a single word: “okay” probably works. And this is where the compliments end.None of this is to say that Animal is without good food. There’s plenty to eat here that is still interesting, several staples from the past have stayed on the menu and continue to be great, but the new additions feel conceptual at best — the use of many seasonal fruits and vegetables in dishes leaves much to be desired.All of this is made more difficult by disappointing service… The staff had little opinion on the dishes when asked, made no effort to build a rapport with myself and the other guests in the slightest, informed us that dishes were unavailable some 20-30 minutes after we’d ordered them, and… despite being told multiple times that we were visiting for a birthday, they could not be bothered to even stick a candle in ONE of the THREE desserts we ordered.Additionally, they now add an 18% service charge after the fact, which is commonplace in many restaurants in Los Angeles in lieu of gratuity to make a living wage possible for service workers. This is an initiative that I fully support, but… Animal’s manifesto on their bill seems to imply that that the 18% is simply for the cost of having dined with them in the first place and that the gratuity should still be expected. This feels like the opposite of progress for the industry. Either add a service charge and leave it at that, or adjust your cost of business into your prices and have the customer add fair gratuity instead.So I guess it really is true, “sometimes dead is better.” Maybe this Animal should have stayed in the Semetary.
BE AWARE: They automatically charge 18% fee which they say "directly goes to the wage for equitable wage of employees", and they say this is not tip, you have to give at least 15% tip in addition to that. This means that you are paying at least 33% in addition to your food price, and plus tax, thats about in total 50% more. If you eat $100 on the menu, you are paying at least $150...I really don't know how to comment on this business. Food-wise? Very very mediocre. Way over-priced.
Wonderful food, the boniata yams were my favorite but the peas and gnudi were also phenomenal. The poutine and burger were good, but definitely bottom of my list amount all the dishes I ate.
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