The Smoke House

Great service! I search for the best French Onion in the area and it recommended The Smoke House. Let me tell you, the French Onion soup was delicious and flavorful. The Smoke House Prime Rib cut was cooked to Perfection. Bathrooms are located in the waiting area to be seated. There is valet parking, which is $8 bucks. There is on street parking but, it's a little tough parking on the street. French Onion soup is only available on certain days, check their website. I highly recommend stopping here for a bite to eat.

Took my niece for her college spring break...her first time in LA. Her favorite movie is La La Land which was filmed in part here. The smile on her face would have been worth it but the service and food topped the night off. Me and my sister ordered the blackened salmon and both said it was the best we had ever had. Garlic bread is legendary...a must order. Overall, I must go back just for the service and food. I am not easily influenced by status or celebs but this was a great experience! Happy to post this review.

Ok—they really do have the best garlic bread in the world—not even kidding. I got that and the salmon Caesar salad. Huge portions. I walked home with a take home box as if it were gold. Salmon was perfect. My glass was never near empty, and I never even had to call the server. Super friendly service, great menu. Honestly, the best service I’ve had at a restaurant in 15 years. Atmosphere is great, classic lounge setting on one side, restaurant on the other. Lots of old Hollywood memorabilia. Also, there’s a decent amount of free street parking if you don’t want to pay for valet, but the valet was pretty inexpensive compared to other places I’ve been. I’m pretty sure this is going to turn into a regular spot for me.

We wanted to eat here because we are all fans of the office and who knows when we’ll be back in LA. I would give it a 4/5 rating because they were nice, but I didn’t feel like our server cared too much. The food was good but the price was not worth it. I usually don’t complain about price at all but then again we are in Los Angeles, and I’m sure they have lots of tourists who come by. But the lemon pepper chicken plate was $30. To me that’s a bit much. But I will say the salad and the desserts were really good. We also got this cheesy bread that was delicious and fried pickles but I didn’t get a chance to take a pic of them. Anyways I probably wouldn’t pick this restaurant for a lunch or dinner, but it was a cool experience. A photographer took our pics and gave us a free postcard and we ended up buying the photo he took for the memories. Overall it was nice!

Last night, we drove up from San Diego to celebrate our son's 17th birthday and we were absolutely wowed! Our experience with this fine establishment commenced with our first phone call to place a reservation. Our call was quickly answered and our 4:30 appointment was confirmed, but upon the staff member hearing that our son and I were excited to finally dine at the restaurant featured in "La La Land" she quickly offered to see if she could have us seated in the very room where the movie had been filmed. This very caring individual (Chloe) did end up seating us right where Ryan Gosling had graced the piano in the "You're Fired" scene, and when my son and I walked in and were greeted by the wait staff, Chloe quickly came up to greet us, comment on our reservation, and took us to our table. We were then served by Marcy, our waitress, who immediately felt like a long-time family friend! She was wonderfully attentive to us -- never rushed -- and really showed genuine interest in assisting us with the menu options. Our food was wonderful (I admit to overeating after the garlic bread and my Tri-tip) and then, without us even requesting it, a very special cake arrived on a plate with "Happy 17th Birthday" written artistically to our son! Marcy, we quickly discovered, had worked at Smoke House for many years, and her genuine hospitality and conversation about the restaurant's history were on display for the entirety of our ninety minutes at our table. We then were handed our bill for the evening, only when we opened it, a thoughtful person who wished to remain anonymous had written a kind note to our son with happy birthday wishes and that someone had paid for our dinner. Stunned, we looked around and tried to piece together who the generous soul happened to be. We'll never know, but as we began to head to our car, every employee we came across either offered to take our picture, or thanked us for coming, or otherwise just thanked us for coming and were enthusiastic about us coming back. Our son and I have revisited last night's experience a number of times, and we already can't wait to make the 100+ mile journey to dine at the Smoke House again! Over the years, we've found that restaurants will often score high on food, or service, or value -- and some real winners will do well on two of the three. Too often, the establishments which score high on two of the three will lack in another area. Smoke House, however, scored high on all three. We had a wonderful service experience, outstanding food, and impeccable service! It was a trifecta, really. We only later learned that this is also the venue where numerous other films and TV shows have filmed. The restaurant could very likely, based upon its history, fail in all three areas and still thrive. Despite its history, however, the team clearly won't rest on its laurels, but will strive to deliver a world-class experience with every customer. Seated next to us was a family of multiple generations celebrating "Uncle Randy" who we later learned was born exactly 70 years earlier than our son (to the date.) Our son and I watched at Marcy waited on every member of this family with patience and interest, and we realized that our experience was far from unique. To the team and owners of Smoke House: please open a restaurant in San Diego. I'll be sure to tell everyone I know about you. Until then, we'll find a way to head up to Burbank again as soon as we can to repeat last evening. Thank you!

Opened in 1946, and relocated to the current location in 1949, it’s a true throwback to the immediate years following WWII. Red leather seats, brick walls, and a crowd of regulars really transport you to classic Hollywood. It reminds me a lot of Tam O’Shanter in more than one way. They have a large lot next to front door but it’s valet only, however I was able to find street parking right out front for a 7pm Saturday dinner. Our server Fernando was very polite and did a great job. They also have live music, but we we’re heading out just before the band played so I can’t review that part. Known for its garlic bread and fair prices I was really excited to try this place and glad I did so. I can say the garlic bread is worth ordering and being something I haven’t ordered since I was a kid it really went faster than I expected. For my starter I chose the French Onion Soup and it was 3/5. It was a very small portion with a crostini small bread slice on top and very little cheese (also not Gruyère) so I would not recommend it. French Onion is a personal favorite of mine so I get it often all over town. For my entree I chose the Center Cut Prime Rib and it was cooked well and very tasty. I loved the horseradish with it and would order it again. The sides are not very large so are not really share size portions. Overall I liked the experience at Tam O’Shanter slightly more and ordered the same meal at both, but I really did enjoy this dinner as well. In fact the meat was a larger portion here so it may end up balancing out in the end for me. It’s worth the visit for the history alone and being that I don’t live in the valley it’s also nice to head North for dinner, especially for a fairly priced one with easy parking.