Toast

We went to Toast over the weekend to celebrate Good Eats Here blogger Chris' birthday. Happy Birthday Chris!! We went for the drinks, the company and the atmosphere, and while those were fantastic, I felt that the Toast experience left something to be desired. It was my first time there, and let's just say that Chris and Kit Kat will have a hard time convincing some of us to go again next year.

Details:

Toast

20969 Ventura Blvd

Woodland Hills, CA 91364
tel: 818.992.5500

http://www.toastaurant.com/

Ambiance: They have a comfy, well decorated bar area. It doesn't have too many tables, for the amount of space it takes up, but all for all it's a comfortable space. TVs for the sports inclined, dimmed lights for the romantics. We saw at least one first date, and I wouldn't be surprised if there'd been more.

Food: I was a little torn on the food. Our group ordered a few things - mac & cheese with lobster and truffle, burger and fries, cake.

The mac & cheese was good - split by roomies who were thrown off at the lobster, but they both enjoyed it, and I liked the bite I snagged, even though I only got noodles and cheese. I would definitely recommend it, if you're looking for a quick bite to share.

The burger & fries were also good - bravo on the garlic fries, they were really really good. And it seemed our friend throughly enjoyed his burger.

The cakes? Well, they were good. We ordered two - a lemon layer cake with coconut, and a chocolate mousse cake. The lemon cake came out with little problem, but they got the wrong chocolate cake. They brought us a decadent chocolate cake, which LOOKED amazing. And then they took it away to bring us the other, only to return five minutes later saying the other mousse cake had run out. We decided to just stick to the one piece, and Dani's and my enjoyment of it was only vaguely dimmed by the amount of time it had taken to arrive.

Service: The service in the bar is the main reason I wouldn't choose to return. When we arrived, there were two other parties being served. We sat in our reseved area and got our first round of drinks without issue. By the time the whole party was there (10 - 15 people, with people coming and going), there were 4-5 other parties in the bar area, and the service became sluggish at best.

Example: I ordered a Pepsi because I was driving. I finished my Pepsi. The bartender came by and asked if we needed anything. I told her I'd love a refill. 20 minutes went by without a refill. She came to the table again to take a food order, and left again. Another 10 minutes went by. She came back with someone else's drink. I asked for a refill again. Another 15 minutes when by. I said, screw this, and walked up to her at the bar with my glass, where she looked at me blankly until I asked AGAIN for a refill. She filled my glass with Diet.

I guess this is a pet peeve of mine, but still. If you're bartending at a restaurant on a Saturday night, you should have at least the basic skills to keep the DD's glass full. Also - we had numerous times through the evening when someone would be more than ready for another round and it was left un-noticed.

Also? Our cake took FORTY minutes to arrive at our table. What's that about? How long does it take you to cut a slice of cake?

Another quick thing before I stop whining - when we sat down, the bartender girl asked us how we would do the checks. We said, not sure, we'll figure it out. As more people came around, another woman (a manager?) came by and asked us again - how would we like to do the bill? We said, oh, maybe split it into thirds? And she said, oh, well we'll just give you one big bill and different copies. What? No. If you don't want to split our bill, don't ask how we want to do the check!

Good for:
- Slightly pricey first date

Addy's Rating
4/10 (<-- 4 points for the mac & cheese and the fries)

Sumo Sushi

1714 Newbury Road
Newbury Park, CA 91320

So my husband and I felt adventurous last night. With our 20% off coupon in hand, we were lured into Sumo. I have no better way to say this: It was awful.

The atmosphere of the place is lovely. Contemporary funk is all around with odd lanterns, colorful glasses, and squishy booths. The service was terrible. Although there were plenty of waiters wandering around, none ever stopped at a table. The sushi took an unreasonable amount of time to assemble and serve. A woman even came to the front desk to announce that Sumo provided the worst service she’d ever received.

My favorite part of the night: I ordered wine. There were about 12 on the list – probably 5 brands and few varieties of each. The waiter came back to say they were out of the cabernet I’d ordered, so I tried another. He never came back. When the waitress took our sushi order, I tried again. She came back to say that they have 2 wines in stock: a crappy chardonnay and a crappy chardonnay. No, thanks.

Snow Roll: Just don’t do it. Avocado and cream cheese, wrapped with halibut. I’m not sure why we thought this sounded good, but the end result was terrible. They bake the halibut on the outside, which makes the cream cheese inside an indigestible temperature.

Shrimp and tuna roll: Also not okay. They ground the tuna into a chopped paste inside the sushi. Quality tuna should be a firm slab of fish and melt in your mouth without the help of a grinder. It was doused in some sort of watery vinaigrette.

Tempura asparagus and shrimp: Now this one tasted okay. Sadly, though, they packed it with so many foods that it was the diameter of a baseball bat, and impossible to eat. The lettuce inside was brown.

So, four big thumbs down on Sumo. If you’re looking for some good sushi in the area, try Ocean Blue. I’m definitely skipping the adventure and going back there next time!