Gracias Madre

Reviews 3

JU

Juvi Guevara

Thank you, Mother, for bringing me into this world and allowing me to partake of this amazing cuisine. This may be the cleanest version of Mamas home-cooked meals Ive ever tasted. Everything from the gorgeous Quesadillas to the Flautas De Camote, and of course El Plato, is exquisitely flavored, spiced, cooked, sweetened, & presented- with love. The health value is definitely through the roof. If its your first time here, and its a lovely day outside, see if you can snag a spot on their beautifully spacious patio. You can always call ahead & reserve a spot, to be on the safe side. Of course, the inside is amazing, too. The atmosphere & vibe is very rustic & cozy. Now, on to the good stuff. For starters, the drinks- If youre a java lover like me, and have to have coffee with your breakfast, brunch, or lunch, I suggest going for one of their authentic Cafés Con Leche or Horchatta Lattes. Neither are very sweet- in fact, the Café Con Leche isnt sweetened, at all- and you can really taste the ingredients that go into each drink. And, theyre using the ever-popular Stumptown Coffee to power their drinks, so be prepared for that caffeine kick. The Food- Where do I start?! The portions are huge, so get ready to loosen those belt buckles & unbutton those shirts. Also, for you non-Latinos/ Hispanics out there, many of their dishes are authentically spicy, so if you have sensitive taste buds, be sure to ask about the spice level of each dish. I highly recommend the Quesadillas de Camote with pureed avocado, cashew sauce, and pumpkin seeds. El Plato is another favorite, & a smorgasbord of flavors; if youre able to finish this dish all in one go, I salute you. Its almost exciting trying to figure out how to combine the ingredients to maximize the taste explosions in your mouth. Theres a hefty level of spiciness, however, so be forewarned. If you want to take something with you for later, I suggest ordering the Flautas de Camote, and asking your server to inform the cooks to give you the ingredients separately so that you can heat them up at home later- dont worry, theyre already cooked. Desserts!!! They have a unique- and pricey- array of never-before-heard-of options like special chocolate & tequila pairings ($25), and old favorites with a healthy new twist like Housemade Flan, Gravenstein Apple Cobblers, Pumpkin Spice Cake, & Ahogado- Vanilla Bean Coconut Ice Cream & Espresso. You can actually pair them with a side of suggested wine that goes perfectly with each dessert. I know, sounds amazing, right? Like booze with your meal? Youre in luck! They have a full list of wines, cocktails, & margaritas for your boozy pleasure. Their spicy Madre Margarita is particularly interesting & meant only for the most adventurous drinker. Thats it, mijos. Enjoy!

YV

Yvette Grageda

This is the second time Ive chosen to eat at this establishment. I remember leaving the first time still hungry so I wasnt too anxious this second time. However, my niece is vegan so what the heck. We chose to sit outside but under the condition that we be sat in the shade. The hostess sat us under an umbrella that covered only part of our table. Keep in mind that there were tons of tables with better shading. Before we got too hot we decided to sit indoors. When we asked if we could, the hostess seemed so put off which was annoying being that most of the tables inside were empty as well. Then she attempted to sit us right next to another party when there were clearly better tables to choose. We asked if we could sit one table over and again the hostess acted like we asked for something that was off the menu, so to speak. She even had to get permission from the other host. It got worse from here. While waiters and busboys rushed back and forth we sat there for almost 15 minutes without a single greeting. We werent sure who our server was, but when one server was thanking the table next to us for coming in I decided to ask. She was cleaning off the table and I asked her if she was our server. She put her rag down and came to our table. I asked her if she was actually going to clean a table before she even greeted us or offered us water and she said she didnt know who was serving us. We were clearly in her section. It couldnt have been that difficult to find out. After she finally took our order, one of us was served about 10 minutes before the other food was brought out. How difficult can it be to time the food correctly? Were paying $11-$13 for a bed of romaine lettuce and she couldnt even figure that out in a timely manner. Clearly, this girl needs more training. We really had to shake the feeling of being poorly waited on and try to enjoy each others company. The food was decent and the music was nice so that wasnt too difficult. However, and this was the final straw - when we finally finished and I was walking toward the exit which I had to pass the hostess station the thought entered my mind, I wonder if that hostess or anyone was going to acknowledge me and wish me a good day or thank me for patronizing their place and guess what, I wasnt surprised. I left without a single word. What is with this place? Because of their location, do they think its acceptable to treat their customers like this? When we got in the car, the four of us vowed to never eat there again. There are way too many restaurants in LA that will welcome our business. Adios, Gracias Madre!

CH

Chris Dragon

We love eggnog so I found a list of LAs 14 top egg-nog-serving restaurants. The picture of eggnog with a pretty snowflake done in cinnamon caught my eye at Gracias Madre, and the ingredients sounded amazing: "The sweet and spicy beverage blends coconut milk, vegan caramel agave, his proprietary masala chai blend, homemade chocolate bitters, and a healthy dose of smoky mezcal." Even better, the price was listed as "$" on Google! I was rather dubious of that for a place on Melrose in Beverly Hills, but we figured it was worth a shot. The atmosphere in the place is decent. Upscale decor without being too flashy. Loud but not overly loud. Interesting soft music of a Mexican style I hadnt heard before. Lighting is dim and my older parents had a ton of trouble reading the menu in it. Eggnog was the first thing on the holiday menu but its $12 for about 4 oz. Wow. It must be _really_ great. We ordered two. I shouldnt have trusted the "LAs top 14" list because the nog tasted nothing like nog. It tasted like pure alcohol. My head was buzzing from drinking less than half of it. It may as well have had nothing but mezcal (a smoky relative of tequila) in it. Nobody in our family of four liked it. And to add insult to injury, the cinnamon snowflake on top was barely recognizable. Two of us got mole enchiladas for $16 which is certainly far above a "$" rating for cheese enchiladas, even with mole sauce. The enchiladas were great (except they were heavy on mushrooms which Im not a fan of), the steamed kale with pumpkin seeds was decent, but the black bean paste was terrible. It had almost no taste and the smooth-paste consistency was just weird. Even adding either of the two salsas available at the table didnt help - it almost seemed to absorb flavor and remain bland. The $5 happy-hour (3pm to 6pm) nachos were the star of the items we ordered in both taste and value. The $5 happy-hour tostada was decent but very small. And the $5 happy-hour margarita was actually quite good. I guess if you came here and ordered only off the happy-hour menu you could call it "$" but otherwise its a solid "$$$" with mediocre food and none of the usual Mexican-restaurant perks like free chips and salsa. Definitely skip the mezcal-nog.