Hotel Bel-Air Dining Room
Bel-Air, CA 90077
Phone: (310) 472-5234
Fax: 1 310 476 5890
- Price:
- $$$$
- Specialties:
- Brunch, Business Dining
- Best of Citysearch:
- Brunch 2007
- Hours:
- Mon-Sat 7am-10:30am, 12pm-2pm, 3pm-4pm, 6:30pm-10pm, Sun 7am-9:30am, 11am-2pm, 6:30pm-10pm
Editorial Review for Hotel Bel-Air Dining Room – by Lesley Balla
The Scene
This posh retreat along a winding Bel Air street has been the setting for celebrations and celebrities since 1943. The main dining room is warm and plush, but the bougainvillea-lined terrace is the real draw. Couples canoodle at cozy, private tables while well-heeled families gather against a backdrop of lush foliage and fragrant flowers. Seasoned servers treat everyone like Hollywood royalty.
The Food
Chef Douglas Dodd features a seasonally changing menu using meats and cheeses from small Western farms, herbs from the hotel's garden, and fresh local seafood. Most starters, like plump, seared scallops offset by creamy, lavender-scented risotto and sweet English pea sauce, are divine. Traditional combinations have clever contrasts, like succulent smoked pork chop with sweet-tart caramelized apples, sided with salty curried pastina (tiny droplets of dough) and tender rock shrimp. For a decadent ending, warm and rich chocolate Valhrona cake with pistachio cream sauce is a must.
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Insider Tips
The ExtrasSpecial occasion? Let your server know and a candlelit, personalized plate of goodies will arrive at the end of the meal.
Where to SitTable One (in the kitchen) allows a group to converse with the chef while he prepares your meal.
Know Before You GoIn a lush Eden-like hideaway, tea is served Monday through Saturday from 3pm to 5:30pm.
User Reviews for Hotel Bel-Air Dining Room
10/04/2007 Posted by lalevy91423
I go to "Afternoon Tea" with a group every month and we were all looking forward to the Hotel Bel Air. I have eaten brunch, lunch, and dinner there. I even spent my honeymoon there. It's a gorgeous place. As we pulled up in the parking lot, the attendent was delightful. It went down from there. Afternoon tea was a major disappointment. Aside from the really lousy seating, the head waiter offered us a selection of Three (3) teas! Was he kidding? Most hotels and tea houses have 10 to 20 off a written menu. He was going on this memory. As more ladies arrived he came up with more selections. Whoopee. Individuals coffee presses filled with tea leaves oversteeped at each place setting so the waitstaff would not have trouble to come back and pour for us. The tea sandwiches arrived not on a caddy, but on individual plates looking very pathetic and lonely. A mini egg salad in a miniature cream puff (is egg salad expensive?), smoked salmon you could read through, and two others equally as exciting. The scones were cold, the sweets were premade. Could have been SaraLee. We've been to the Ritz Carleton and the Peninsula, for $50 I expect more from the Bel Air. We will not go back. I'm sure they don't care. Robin Hood in Van Nuys is better. There's a crappy tea place in Burbank that was better.
02/12/2007 Posted by kidhendrix
The Hotel Bel-Air provided a meal that was every bit as good as you would expect based on its reputation and its price. First class service, beautiful setting, and outstanding food. I MUST recommend the trio of sorbets. It is the most creative, innovative dessert I have had at any Los Angeles restaurant. I know it sounds basic, but it's visual presentation is stunning. It also tastes wonderful, and the selection of flavors is unique (not just the usual raspberry, strawberry, coconut offered at most places). Get this dessert!
Pros: Trio of sorbets is amazing
Cons: Very expensive
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