Melrose Bar and Grill

Very sad to hear they’re closed. The owners, the servers, the kitchen all seemed in sync with delivering a great product. Yes, at times it could be pricey and I suspect the economy was the biggest enemy the establishment faced.
I hope they resurface somewhere because I have a number of very fond memories of Melrose Bar and Grill.

They got what they deserved. Pompous, arrogant, cut rate restauranteurs.

A GREAT place for Happy Hour (drinks and food specials — very delicious and not expensive), or quite frankly, a terrific local place to meet, eat & drink, laugh and have a complete evening (or lunch too!)… Melrose Bar & Grill has VERY delicious food & a wonderful selection of chalkboard specials, yummmmmmy handmade pizzas, an amazing beer and wine selection and that easy pub feeling with welcoming terrific staff!!!

I think Melrose Bar and Grill is on the right track but I don’t think it’s there-​quite yet. First of all, the food is good. I got a great roast beef sandwich with arugula and a horseradish cream (very good) and a chopped salad with chicken (also delicious) and split the two with my friend. We were saying how yummy everything was but when we got the bill we were pretty surprised. The bill was $ 50 for two very simple meals and we drank water and ordered no apps. A lot, no? I thought so.
This place could be good but it’s too high up on it’s high horse to make it accessible as a quick, casual, delicious gourmet lunch spot. The food is there, but the price point and décor are not.

Happy Hour Review only.
Melrose Bar & Grill has plenty going for it: chill swank-​meets-​Midwest-​cozy vibe, a charming staff of Aussie’s, and local well-​dressed regulars. The décor is homey and comfortable — with a fire place and nicely sectioned seating. The happy hour deals are okay bad, from Monday — Friday, 4 – 7 pm, $ 3 draft beers (normally $ 6), $ 5 martinis, margaritas, well drinks, and wines by the glass, and a limited selection of $ 5 appetizers — spicy chicken wings, cheese quesadilla, and eggrolls.
But at the end of the day, I was not excited about the price of my bill for one glass of wine and what amounted to an order of chips with dip — $ 15 (with tax/​tip). Granted, our $ 6 chips were not on the happy hour menu and we could’ve gone for the beer instead of the wine. And our bartender did warn us that our chips were just basically chips. The regular menu sounds great (albeit a little pricey), JG enjoyed the extremely tasty brownie sundae for $ 6.
All this said, neither of us were that wild about Melrose Bar & Grill. We didn’t love it, we didn’t hate it. And we’ve been to plenty to happy hours with similar deals so it may just be that the low-​key vibe and having to ask for the food deals made us feel we should have gotten more bang for the buck. Given the bar’s Melrose, west of Robertson, location in very nearly Beverly Hills, the pricing does makes sense. Also, the cozy scene would have been more fitting for a romantic date rather than a spot to catch up with a girlfriend.
We’d consider coming back, just need our Sugar-​Daddy to bring us.

No. Not only was our service horrible last night (blonde girl) but the portions sucked here too. Ok, so the small plate of calamari I could have accepted but then the Aussie potato wedges came out and not only were they about ¼ the serving size of any I’ve ever had in Australia, they were just all around ridiculously tiny. I mean, we’re talking 7 or 8 wedges on the plate. It looked as if they had used maybe ¹⁄₃ or ½ at most of a potato. Come on — what’s a cheaper ingredient than potatoes?! Would it have hurt to throw the other half on our plate?
Of course, we couldn’t communicate this to anyone because the waitress never came to the table again after taking our order except to drop off the check without asking how things were or even saying thank you.
I won’t be back.

The gay boyfriend picked this restaurant for his birthday party. They squeezed the 11 of us into the corner booth with an extra chair for the 11^th person. It’s a good thing a lot of us are thin because seriously there wasn’t really enough room to spread out or enjoy our food.
There were black board specials which half of them seemed to be on the regular menu. Hm. I ended up ordering the pot roast ($ 19) which came with egg noodles and «sweet and sour cabbage.» I was envisioning lots of great sauerkraut.
What came was the merest sprinkle of cabbage as garnish. Um, where’s my cabbage? The other two in the party that ordered the pot roast was confused. There was no mention this dish would come with half a peeled carrot. Um, okay? I hate carrots but I can eat it if that’s my only veggie option. I do have to say there was a lot of the pot roast and if you like tender meat, this was the dish to get.
Anthony S’ pork burger looked great. He also ordered sweet potato fries which we shared. The ranch was too thin but the fries were pretty good.
Everyone seemed to enjoy their food and we had a good time. They kept my iced tea constantly filled and was very pleasant when half of us paid with credit cards.
I do have to say that the cocktails at $ 12 a pop was very steep and they came in small cocktail glasses. The mint lemondrop was decent.
It was a little weird to walk towards the restrooms and realize half the tables were gone. Does this place turn into a club?
Overall, I’d probably only come back to try that pork burger. The rest of the menu had salads, pizzas, a couple of Mediterranean platters, a Mexican platter and sandwiches. It’s a casual place with not-​so-​casual prices.

Once James P. gets off his butt and writes his review, you’ll get a far more harsh criticism but for now, here’s my syrup-​coated rose-​colored glasses version for you…
I feel like this neighborhood has a bit of a hole in it — plenty of great expensive eateries and plenty of fantastic gay bars, but where the hell am I supposed to take my group of 9 people who want to grub and drink before a show at the Troubadour? Somewhere casual where we can get some yummy food and mill about while drinking non-​club-​priced drinks? I was hoping that place would turn out to be Melrose B&G but was sorely mistaken.
Bistro-​type menu with not a ton of selection, pricey wines, snooty beers are hardly something I’d classify as a «bar and grill». All the food was basic, kinda bland and simple cooking for even the most amateur of aspiring home cooks. They do have deals on drinks in the bar for happy hour that might make for an ok early drinks choice, but I won’t be returning to Melrose B&G for pre-​Troub festivities (or food) anytime soon, that’s for sure.

Was a pleasant and easy find — strolled in on a whim for dinner en route to Kopeikin Gallery a few doors down. Sat on the only table outside, there was something really charming and great about the vibe. Or maybe it was the Saturday night. Either way… they make great cocktails! Happy to see they do happy hour, I’ll return for another glass of the Citrus Cup: «citrus vodka, peach, muddled citrus fruit». The pomegranate margarita, also tasty.
Had their chalkboard special of bay scallops with orecchiette. It was spot on. The halibut wasn’t as interesting, but OK.
I have to return to try the duck burger.

A casual, classy, go-​to joint.
This is my neighborhood go-​to for hype-​free meals in a cool but relaxed setting. The comfortable, easygoing ambiance makes you feel right at home, a rarity when it comes to WeHo haunts! The pizzas are always tasty, the fresh baked pita and hummus is an approved standby, the pastas are always consistent and the turkey burger is a boyfriend fave.
If you join the mailing list, you’ll get access to «password protected» deals worth their weight in liquor at MB&G. Love it here!

The ambience is cool but feels more like a coffee-​shop (nice one) than an actual restaurant. I ordered the mediterranean platter and it was OK. Not worth the price in my opinion. The homemade pita tasted a little dough-​y and it was just one piece. The chicken that came with us did not have much flavor.
My friends ordered the pizzas — one with sausage and mushroom and the other with just cheese. both were delicious! If you like crunchy thin-​crust, you would love this. We also ordered the mini-​crapcakes with dungeness crab (fresh but pricey for what you get) and the pretzels with bratwurst & mustard. For dessert, we got the homemade icecream which was amazing! We also tried the rice pudding brulee with the raspberry sauce which was not too sweet.

The best burger I’ve had in a long time, happened to be a duckburger from Melrose Bar and Grill. All jokes set aside, this duckburger was exceptionally tasteful. Usually, duck is a very greasy meat but, surprisingly, Melrose Bar and Grill has perfected this duckburger to be very tasteful, moist, and well-​portioned. A friend of mine knows one of the owners and she is the one that really sold me on this duckburger, and I’m glad she did. This was my second visit to this restaurant and it’s quite nice. The crowd grew in the restaurant but our waitress was still attentive. Speaking of our waitress, she was very patient and suggestive. Also, the owner asked for our e-​mail addresses to send us periodic specials at the restaurant, which was rather thoughtful. Well, if you haven’t tried a duckburger, I certainly recommend you give it a try at Melrose Bar and Grill.

My roommate threw up all night after eating a caesar salad ($ 12!!!) and prosuitto and peas ($ 17). I had the BBQ pork ribs ($ 24) which were good, not great.
No sides! And pretty expensive expensive for the tiny portion you get!
1 star for the PB/​brownie ice cream and 1 star for nice décor
Minus ½ star for weird waitress who described an menu item as «YUMMY!» and then made a circular motion around her belly button complete with exaggerated happy facial expression. I was slightly disturbed.
Won’ t be back

@Simon B. I agree with you. It was nice. Good.
I met up with a friend here on a chilly night — yeah, I know chilly is comparative to people outside of LA. But the roaring log fire was welcoming and the wine list was good. Happy hour had some decent deals if you’re into cocktails. Happy hour food; not so much. But it was a nice, really mixed crowd.
Great place for a low key drink after work. Or place to go with family. I’ll def go back.

Went here last night and ordered food. Hadn’t eaten since an early lunch, and this was a late dinner, so I was very excited to get my eat on.
Our waiter was very enthusiastic about everything we ordered– almost curiously so.
When he brought me the potroast, there seemed to be almost no meat, like it was the dregs of the dish that had been cooked that day. It was covered in some awful pasta that smelled rancid– I seriously thought I was getting a whiff of the trashcan from across the room until I put my face closer to my plate and realized that was my food.
But hungry as I was, I ate it… and within 6 hours of getting home, at around 2am, I was throwing up and over the toilet all night long. I couldn’t sleep all night because I had to go to the toilet about every 5 minutes to get a little more potroast out of my system.
A phone call today to the restaurant yielded a woman who claimed to be the manager (though it seemed like a silly power ruse– I don’t think she was the manager), who chimed in to say that within 6 hours couldn’t be food poisoning, that it had to take 8 hours or more. Well, there are many kinds of food poisoning — which I didn’t know until today after our call when I did some research– and homegirl should know that some can take as little as 1 hour to set in.
I made another call to speak to a manager a few hours later, and was told the woman on the phone would take my information to have the manager call me. I thought she was going to ask for my name and number, but she just hung up… I called back and my call went to the answering machine.
I will never return to this restaurant again. I don’t think you should go here. If your friends want you to meet them here, tell them you’d rather go somewhere else. Chaya is pretty good, right down the road, and I’ve never gotten sick there! In fact, I’ve never gotten sick anywhere I’ve eaten…
I think Melrose Bar & Grill is going to see its last days soon. You can’t treat people like this in a city like LA. Especially people who hold grudges who talk a lot, like myself.

Came here for my friend’s birthday. Why haven’t I been here sooner? This place is cozy but still fairly lively with great beer on tap and a nice upscale bar menu. Seriously everything we had was good. I know everybody has tuna tartare but we ordered it and it was one of the better ones I’ve had in recent memory. I ordered the mediterranean platter, others ordered the steak salad and Irish salmon. Everybody was pleased with their dish. The only weird thing was we had 3 or 4 people wait on our table but the service was fine. The Syrah by glass and beer on tap are really good values. I’m gonna go back for the home made pretzel and knockwurst. I’ve probably been to this place as 3 or 4 different incarnations and started to have vodka and tequilla flashbacks. Damn Casbah.

Came here for my friend’s bday dinner, we had reservations for 16 people, got split into two booths. Service is great here. I had no problems at all, and i can be a high maintenance bitch somtimes. ok maybe all the time. Anyhow, i ordered the mussels, (they have daily specials written on a chalkboard) it was delish! and the size of them suckers were good. Had the prosciutto and asparagus pasta, great cream sauce, i enjoyed it! I also had rose by the glass. Overall, the quality of food is good. They have a cute little wine cellar, check it out on the way to the bathroom. The downfall? Dessert. I had the mango ice cream, it tasted like artificial flavor. Something weird. Maybe i was supposed to order the cheesecake but didnt know any better.
The value for your buck is good, id come back and try some other things on the menu.

Brrrrrrrr… wear extra layers when if you don’t want to freeze to death in this restaurant… I’ve read quite a few positive reviews this place, but when my best friend and I came here for a nice dinner we had a HORRIBLE experiance.
When we arrive the resturant was more than half empty and we were seated in a row of tables with two couples on either side of us. This next bit isn’t the resturants fault but, the couple on our left was having a screaming /​crying argument (as in chairs getting knocked over and actual tears) and the couple on our right was meeting with a divorce lawyer, loudly.
When we finally got our drinks, we had to wait another 20 minutes to order our food. Then, when we asked if an appetizer could be made vegetarian (it wasn’t a stretch. all it involved was leaving the bacon out of a wrap) we were told that the chef had to be consulted becuase he didn’t allow changes to his menu under any circumstances… I was like «asparagus wraps??? really???» and sure enough the waiter had to check and were told that he had been convinced to make the change but ONLY because she is a vegetarian.
By this time, we were ready to get our food eaten and get out of there. Plus, as I mentioned early on, it was FREEZING. We waited and waited for our food. It was mediocre at best and then we waited and waited for our check.
It was lame. It would have to have a seriously good reason to ever go back.

This was a really delightful, warm and casual restaurant with super friendly service and affordable prices. It used to be a more formal, expensive place, but I believe the owners revamped the joint and made it more relaxed. The space is large with an inviting bar and an ample wine list (with many wines by the glass). The food ranges from simple bar food (thin crust pizzas, burgers) to more upscale grill food (pub steaks, pork chops).
My friend and I began with a burrata and dried tomato dip with parmesan toasts — quite tangy and fresh. Then I had the pub steak (only $ 19 — a very good deal) with a side of french fries, and my friend had the pork chop (very tender and juicy). (Between the two, I would go with the pork chop.) We also shared a great bottle of Melville wine. What made our evening even more enjoyable was meeting the lovely ladies seated next to us — older jewish ladies who proclaimed to us they were «foodies» — very interesting, opinionated and wonderful people. We ended up chatting with them for what seemed like hours and the staff was very kind not to rush us (despite the large crowd of people waiting for tables at the bar).
I would definitely come back to check out the pizzas — looks likes a great place to hang out and lounge. happy hour anyone? :)
Afterwards we sent to Sweet Lady Jane (a nearby bakery) and had cupcakes and white chocolate and lemon cake (mmmmm). (They also have really great coffee!)
What a great night — good friends, good food, great conversation — all finished with yummy desserts!
Update! (2^nd trip 12.13.2007) — another great casual dinner with a friend — we both had the pork chop — quite delicious and juicy. So far this is my fav thing here. We also shared some broccoli (to be healthy) and then indulged in the flourless chocolate cake (quite good, although I’m a bit tired of this dessert in general) and the apple tart (a little disappointing but the homemade vanilla ice cream was very good). Polished off a bottle of syrah rose … mmmm… this time we ate at the bar and the service was again quite lovely and attentive. I will be back.

A cozy, romantic restaurant suitable for any occasion. First, I fell in love with their warm, chewy bread and almost ruined my appetite before the food arrived… (or maybe I was just hungry?) For appetizers, we got the carpaccio and «progressive» scallop tasting. Among the five scallops, the one topped with foie gras won the most votes. For entres, we ordered the steak topped with mushrooms and the grilled grouper. Both were quite agreeable! I normally don’t eat carrots, but could not resist finishing the pile of sweet carrots that came with the grouper. Pleasant service, extensive wine list.