Inn of the Seventh Ray

Favorite fairytale restaurant in all of

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

The food is great but the service is horrid. Specifically, the manager is incredibly rude, demeaning, and condescending. We had someone in our party with Celiac disease so we ordered the gluten free bread. Unfortunately, we were served regular bread which was disappointing but not what spurred this review. It was the managers response. Rather than being apologetic he was immediately confrontational and callously asked if he needed to call an ambulance. His response was not only rude but inappropriate. For a restaurant with so many dishes that they claim they can prepare gluten free they have absolutely no understanding of Celiac disease and the concept of cross contamination. They openly admitted that they cut the gluten free bread with the same knife as the regular bread. And rather than addressing the mistake with understanding and regret, their manager, who is clearly not equipped for role, chose to gaslight us and dismiss a medically documented intolerance. Additionally, we had multiple spiders on our table and we were seated by the kitchen where we could overhear absolutely atrocious conversations between servers. Absolutely will not be back. Most romantic restaurant in LA my ass.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 1

Came here for a special dinner. We were in the hut room with the fireplace. I ordered Mary's Half Chicken. Sorry but it definitely needs more flavor more seasoning. The portion was pretty good. Then my boyfriend ordered the pasta. It was really good. So we swapped plates lol. The waiter didn't check on us often. However the couple next to us got a lot of attention. But we still enjoyed our night. As we left my boyfriend pulled me aside and proposed to me ❣️ made the night so special.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 3

Terrific all the way around

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great food and amazing atmosphere!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great ambience and great food. We ordered the shrimp cocktail to start, then the grilled salmon and the rigatoni. The hype may be right and this may be the most romantic restaurant in LA. Finished off with a coffee, latte, and coffee cake. Not a night we'll soon forget.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Wonderful Autumn/Fall🍁🍂 wedding....Beautiful place to get married!🤍🙏🏽✌🏽✨✨

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

The $150 seating for the gazebo is a such scam. Save yourself the money and ask for regular seating, it is much nicer. There was nothing romantic or whimsical where they placed us. My seat didn't have a cushion and I couldn't figure out why I was so uncomfortable the whole night until we got up and my husband noticed it. Our gazebo was adjacent to a wedding going on, so if you are particular about your choice in music, you aren't going to enjoy where you are sitting. It was far from a nice and quiet dinner. Lastly, we were a party of 2 and the table was for 6, nothing cozy about sitting at an oversized table they are upselling.

If you have hip or knee problems, this place has lots of steep stairs. So something to be mindful of. And it is cold nestled within the canyon, so bring a jacket.

The food was good. Didn't get to finish my salad because the busboy smashed it prematurely. We ordered a substantial amount of food. So when our dinner came out, I pushed our salad from our appetizers to make room for our entrees. He took it upon himself to take our appetizer plates and put it over the salad to help clean up. Remember, we had a table that fits 6 people, so we had plenty of room for all our plates.

This should be a 5-star restaurant but the reality is it needs to clean up the little things to get there. I’ll start with the positives and then explain why I gave it 3 stars instead.

Inn of the Seventh Ray is nestled in the mountains overlooking Malibu and when you pull up, you can see instantly why it’s listed as one of LA’s most romantic restaurants. The calmness of it all, the lighting - it really is beautiful. There’s valet which I recommend (it’s only $9). When I made the reservation, I requested a gazebo because we were celebrating my wife’s birthday so I wanted it to be as special as possible. When we were seated, there was a vase of flowers on the table which was nice - and about the only thing special about the gazebo (more on that later).

Our server Sarah was wonderful - kind, funny and knowledgeable. We started with drinks (Pretty in Pink for her, Old Fashioned for me). For appetizers, we got the Arugula & Lady Apple Salad, the Crispy Shrimp Cakes, the Crispy Brussels Sprouts and bread. The salad was fine, a little too much vinegar, but the shrimp cakes and the Brussels sprouts were DELICIOUS. Would highly recommend. The bread was fresh out of the oven so it was perfectly warm and soft. The butter and the choice of sea salt or Himalayan salt was a nice touch.

For entrees, we got the rigatoni and the filet mignon. The pasta was really good but the filet mignon was the star of the show amongst the entrees. It came with a side salad (very garlicky) and whipped potatoes. The steak was so tender and juicy and cooked exactly how we wanted - I only wish it was a bigger piece given the price. For dessert, we got the coffee cake & butterscotch which I have to say may have been the best coffee cake I’ve ever had in my life. 11/10 - would highly recommend.

So why the 3 stars then? As I said, it’s the little things. First, the gazebo is $150 so you’d think it would be out of this world for much a romantic restaurant, but truthfully, the entire restaurant has romantic vibes so wherever you sit is really nice. Full disclosure though, I should’ve done more research on it. It’s absolutely not worth it.

Secondly, as the employees were bringing out our food, we moved some of the appetizers away to make room for the other items, and they took it upon themselves to grab a plate and smash it on top of the salad we had and take it away - the plate was still half full of salad and we were nowhere near done. My wife gave each other a quizzical look like… what just happened? But we let it go, figured maybe it was a new employee. No big deal and there was still plenty of food to get through.

Third, given that I spent so much on the gazebo and the food itself, you’d think the least they could do is something special for my wife’s birthday. They confirmed more than once we were celebrating a birthday but when I reminded them before dessert it’s my wife’s birthday, they said they’ll do something IF we order a dessert. So she got a candle and a little sign that said happy birthday. The fact it wasn’t even complimentary was crazy to me given that any time we’ve ever celebrated a birthday at any other restaurant, they’ve done something special.

Lastly, when we got up at the end of the night to leave, I looked at my wife’s chair and noticed there was as no cushion on her seat when I had been sitting on one the entire night. When we got seated, the chairs were tucked under the table so she never noticed she was supposed to have a cushion and since she sat before me, I didn’t notice she didn’t have one. She brought it up to management that given the cost of the gazebo, you’d at least think it would be fully prepared but the manager just apologized and said they must’ve forgotten to put one. To make amends, they offered a free scoop of ice cream to go which we declined (but I guess they at least finally offered a complimentary dessert).

So yeah, it should be 5-stars but those little thi

Excellent choice to celebrate our anniversary, we were very pleased! Great food, nice atmosphere, and good service which is very hard to find nowadays. Our server Mina was very sweet :-) Totally recommend this restaurant.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Atmosphere is great just don’t go at night because NY size rats will be seen running around the fountain area so stay indoors at night. Service is normal, nothing special. Food is great as well and a place recommended more for brunch buffet over anything else any other time of day.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 3

The food, the service, and the scenery were truly on point. Loved it all and our waiter was exceptional, I have zero complaints.

Only weird part of the night was when some man walked up to me and asked me if I was taking photos of him and I had to humble him and say “idk who you are…” to get him to leave me when I was genuinely just taking pictures of my view and showed him.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I'm a regular to this place for many, many years... it never fails to make me feel relaxed and happy... It's such a beautiful, peaceful place in Topanga!!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 4

The food was good. The service was horrible. We only saw our waiter once. We sat for a half hour (if not longer) before he appeared. Then waited more than a reasonable amount of time for our food. Our order of fries never showed. When we let them know, they brought some out that were not cooked all the way through. The over all feeling was that the place seemed very disorganized, from waiting a long time for a table even though we had a reservation, to the valet parking, to the bad service. Huge disappointment.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 1

Damn good food!!! And atmosphere!!!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5