Taste of L.A. Cafe

Nice cozy place for dinner date with friends and/or loved ones. It's located on Roces Ave. near Tomas Morato Ave. The atmosphere is very intimate. The food is quite pricey but worth it. The asian salad and paella are both delicious! Would highly recommend. What I don't recommend is going there alone. Their service is quite slow. I went there with my friends and we waited for 30 to 45 minutes before our food was served. We didn't notice and mind the wait time because we were catching up and chatting about stuff. We only realized we waited that long after spending some time at the place.. or something like that. If you're alone and/or quite impatient, you may get annoyed with the wait time. I probably won't come back here because I'm poor and I can't really afford their pricey food choices. If you're rich and don't mind splurging on food, go ahead and give this place a try.

Had dinner here with a group of friends. Despite the name, I was surprised that the menu was more Spanish-Filipino than L.A. We ordered gambas (not prepped well since shrimps' intestines were left in place; disappointing since the price was steep; not vfm), rockefeller oysters, baby back ribs, paella (not among the best I've had), chicken achari (one of the better tasting dishes), spinach pizza (good but I was missing the spinach), Asian salad (just okay). Not sure what they wanted to achieve with the place because it looked antique-y, dark (super dimmed lighting), and not L.A.-ey. They seem to have loyal clients; am just not going to be counted with that group though.

We were looking for a place that will be open by 12am. We ordered spinach soup,pizza, 2 lemonade, shrimp and grilled chicken. The soup arrived after around 20 minutes, drinks after 30 minutes or more. while our shrimp and chicken after around 45minutes. It was late already then they handed us our order even the pizza wasn’t served yet around 11pm. It was quite annoying since they charge so much but our food were all served late. They were just 2 groups left eating at that time. All waiters were chitchatting. Pointing fingers if who will serve the pizza when we follow up. I was calm the whole time but my partner were really annoyed already. We don't mind paying even it was overpriced we just wanted to eat in a nice place. Aside from that the cleanliness, when i went to the restroom before leaving the place one toilet had unflush poop while the other had pee all over the seat. Usually other restaurants would have scheduled cleaning rotations for the toilets to be maintained i stayed there for 1.5hrs and saw no one entered the restroom so meaning no one cleans it. Paying for 4K++ meal for 2 i expect descent toilet experience. The place was quite scary also. It was so dark and the place smelled moldy old. I dont get the interiors and how it connects to the menu. The place needs renovation and proper training with staff. The only nice staff there is kuya guard it was raining hard and he assisted us all throughout.

Taste of LA is Cockroach Haven. If you enjoy eating pasta sautéed with Half Cook Cockroaches ( IPIS), then this is your restaurant. After finding a half cooked cockroach in our Carbonara Pasta last May 15, 2023, I complained to the manager. He did not do anything. He did not even apologized. To my dismay, I went to see their kitchen and it was really really dirty. The kitchen floor was so messy and oily. Their kitchen countertops are so dirty. They would not even know if there are mice and cockroach since their utensils and casseroles are just dumped here and there. This restaurant should be closed down for their unsanitary kitchen conditions and lazy cooks and busboy who refuse to clean. I expect diners of Taste of L A to come out with dysentery, cholera, LBM after eating their food.

5 stars for food. All cooked well and very tasty - we had pizza, paella, fresh oysters and rib eye steak. So the food is worth the price. Also, the staff were all very friendly and happy to serve various requests we have Leaving out two stars for other factors. Perhaps it had been a long day, but when you’re paying 5k+ (php) on a bill, things like this matter. We weren’t attended to for far too long after walking in. After 15 mins or so I got up to ask for a drinks (and by this time food) order; there was no malice and clearly an honest mistake. But it continued with things like asking for lemon with the paella, which didn’t arrive. Salt that we had to ask three times for, and when we did it took less than 10 seconds for a server to pull it out of the cupboard. Lastly, after waiting for drinks and these sorts of things, seeing people who came in after us get seated, given drinks quickly, cutlery, and served oysters first was quite annoying!! I’m sorry to say because the staff were very friendly, and I’ve worked in restaurants before so I understand how draining it can be and how honest mistakes are made, I think it had been a long day as it was Saturday night, but ultimately as a customer it is frustrating when you’re paying quite a lot for a higher end dining experience. I’d go back purely on the quality of the food and friendliness of the staff. If better than I’d absolutely give 5*s!