We had hoped to be able to just eat the in the hotel restaurant, Ladyhawk which was a Mediterranean restaurant from Chef Charbel Hayek, winner of Top Chef Middle East and we remembered watching him in Top Chef World All Stars, but alas the restaurant was closed for Christmas. So we scrambled to find some place to eat. Andrea found this Mexican restaurant (we’ve read on numerous occasions how Mexican food is supposed to be so much better in LA and this place had a decent 4.7 star rating on OpenTable) in Beverly Hills which also then meant we could walk around there a bit just for fun. I did make a reservation, but it was only for the bar area (table was not available) which in reality was just walk-in anyway. So we grabbed a couple of the available bar seats.

I’ve never really gone to bars at all, but this place was very loud with people, but also with the bartenders just working. I really disliked the environment, but it didn’t phase Andrea who was much more accustomed to the bar scene from her youth.

We started with a couple drinks – Andrea ordered the Paloma Especial which was made with both blanco and reposado tequila. I had the One Night in Tulum because it was a mezcal drink and also because I want to to Tulum. Mine came in this donkey/burro shaped cocktail thing which was not a good sign. Both drinks were very weak and Andrea ordered a shot of Fortaleza Reposado to add to her drink which salvaged it only slightly. My cocktail didn’t really have any redeeming qualities so after a couple sips I didn’t touch it at all.

For food, Andrea ordered the Guacasabi, the Queso Fundido al Fuego, and the side dish Three Cheese-Chorizo Mac & Cheese and I ordered the 36hr Sous Vide Brisket.

The Guacasabi came out relatively quickly. It was basically guacamole with wasabi and instead of fried tortilla chips, it had fried wonton chips in it. It was a different twist on guac which made it mildly interesting, but otherwise pretty basic.

We waited nearly 45 minutes for the rest of our food and it still had not yet arrived, so I asked the bartender about our food order. He said he didn’t know, but he would follow up, which he did by reprinting the ticket and giving it to one of the servers. Fortunately, our food arrived very shortly after that. The queso fundido al fuego was flambéed in front of us. Andrea had to scrape at the dish to try to get any of the cheese off which was not particularly flavorful. Mac & cheese barely had any chorizo in it at all, so was basic mac & cheese. My brisket was relatively bland as well. It was served with chile de arbol, chile guajillo, cloves, allspice,, garlic, ginger which sounds great, but the execution resulted in a soupy bland sauce.

The place was pretty well packed despite the terrible drinks and food. We should have known that it was basically just a tourist trap on Rodeo Dr. Such a shame since we were really interested in finding out what Mexican food was like here, but this was most definitely not it.

https://www.thehideawaybeverlyhills.com