Son of a Gun - Los Angeles

Some of the best food I’ve had in LA. Best oysters and lobster roll by far. Service was great and loved the casual vibe. Only reason why I didn’t give it 5 stars is because they added an 18% charge on the total bill and say it doesn’t count towards any of the tip. Gave us a weird feeling as typically they say additional tip would be optional and of course we would have still tipped. Felt odd and a little sneaky. Of course we will still be going back, but now we are more aware of their 18% fee on top of the normal tip as well. Bill for two ended up being around $280 with tip in it

Along with other reviews, we had heard about this place and thought we 'd give it a try. Very disappointed. Felt more like a tourist trap than anything. Firstly staff, our waiter was rude and it felt like he didn 't care to serve us or not. When we denied his upselling of the ludicrous $39 lobster roll, he seemed to take it as a personal insult. Like the other reviews, the food is tapas. But doesn 't excuse the horrible pricing for tiny portions. $15 shrimp toast that fits in the palm of my hand, $14 for the small lobster roll or $39 for the large, so you may as well just get two smalls and save $11. Also bottled water is $9, make what you will of that. The bill was also a joke. They include a service charge that goes towards the living wage of their employees. So just up the already high menu prices to compensate for that? Why is management passing a service charge on to me for taking care of their employees? Speaking of the bill, they calculate tip based AFTER tax AND service charge , instead of before, like is customary. Our bill was $106.50 with an added $31.12 in service charge and tax. A 20% tip off $106.50 is $21.30. But because of the shady practices of this establishment, they suggested a 20% tip off a bill of $137.62. Overall, a horrible experience with this place. Highly do NOT recommend. Go down the street further to the grove for better eating options.

Food and drinks were fantastic 5/5.The service was a little bizarre for me, it was not particularly busy and we were the only people sitting on the patio very sparse seating out but good for dogs if you’re planning to bring yours). The wait staff confused our order at least 3 times, at some point I ate something that they brought out instead of what I had actually ordered because they were so confused.They also never offered our dog water.Eventually they apologized and took one item off the receipt $13 small lobster roll) but the bill was still a little over $160 just for a dozen oysters , two drinks and an entree side.They also include the 18% gratuity which may be why the waitstaff are a little careless with their service.What a pity because the oysters are actually delicious.Overall would have expected way better service and portions for the price paid.

Difficult to fault the Michelin Guide. An uncomparable level of sophistication and flavour in quiete popular dishes. Really filling and generous. I was unable to taste it all.Food: 5/5

Stopped in for happy hour and really loved the place. Drinks and snacks were good, ambiance was cool, and service was great. However, the (basically hidden 18% surcharge is just bad practice. I 'm all for people in the industry getting paid a living wage and benefits, and understand that relying on tips for this to happen is not the best way to go. However, when I 've encountered this policy before, it was always framed as tip optional. While this was technically the case here, I still got a receipt with suggested tip at the bottom of 20% and more. The rationale that was explained to me by one of the staff and on their website about why they can 't just raise food prices is nonsense, and I felt very patronized by the staff person explaining it to me. Ironically, it 's the staff who clearly have to constantly deal with annoyed customers who pay the price for thus policy which is supposed to help them. We were really excited to check out this restaurant group, but this left a bitter taste in our mouths. We 've been places where this same policy is executed WAY better: It 's made very clear upfront, including by staff, and the tip is made completely optional (i.e. no suggested tip.