Rustic Canyon Wine Bar Review

Let me cut to the chase. Same owners of rose creamery. So same ice cream on their dessert menu...but get this, they don't have the machine that churns it so its hand churned. Creamier than gelato. And, dare I say, better?! The honeycomb flavor ice cream is reason enough to occupy a spot at this farm to table restaurant.

Alright, back to the beginning to get out the rest of this review.

Atmosphere is cute. It's fine. Dark and rustic with a few booths lining the walls and the rest closely placed four top tables.

Staff is passionate and knowledgable. Everyone we encountered gave us their full attention and offered excellent recommendations.

Ok, Food.

Lavender Almonds: too sweet but had a nice flavor and crunch

Marinated olives: lovely sweet and garlicky flavor

Beet salad: The avocado honestly melted in my mouth. I don't know what kind of crunchy magic they sprinkled into the quinoa, but dear God is this salad perfect.

Pazole Verde: the only thing on the menu that is always on the menu. And I completely understand why. The best way I can describe it is a salty Mexican tortilla soup with mussels. Which doesn't make it sound nearly as delightful as it is. This is a small bowl of brothy soup that packs so much flavor into each bite.

Cacio e Pepe ricotta dumplings: underwhelming and not worth the calories. The dish was a half dozen or so pillows of ricotta and yeast with a light pepper and maybe butter sauce and a few beans.

Brioche salted caramel bread pudding with strawberries: what do you think? Obviously delicious. The brioche was grilled to perfection and the flavor was sinfully delicious.

Fabulous food, terrific service. Everything smooth, relaxing and elegant

Service was not good. Even though the waitress forewarned us that our dishes most likely would come out separately and it would take 35 to 40 minutes before we even get our main dishes, which I thought was strange because if you are paying for $40 for a plate of steak&broccoli, cooked medium and my partner's halibut, which was $35 and neither one takes long to cook, but we are told the dishes come out separately and cooked to order. It was weird because my dish came out and I finished eating it in front of my partner, which I think is considered rude to eat in front of your partner, and his finally came out 15 to 20 minutes after I finished my dish, then his finally came out, but we were done. The timing of the meal was very off. If that is common we will never go back. Food was okay. Bill was $65 bottle of wine, an appetizer of bread and cheese and my steak came to $132. We wanted the shared dining experience was killed with my date because I am eating in front of my date while he had to wait for his meal. It was awkward!

Wow. Food is excellent, bar is outstanding. The only negative is they didn t get the acoustics right. It s loud in a shrill unpleasant way, rather than loud in a bustling, popular restaurant way.

decadent, innovative, exciting, farm-fresh fare. wonderful resource. i've been there multiple times and every waiter has been knowledgable and unpretentious about wine. little known fact that they also make the best burger in los angeles.

Great service, staff were very friendly, they made sure to suggest food as per our preferences. food was amazing. Worth visiting.

The burger at Rustic Canyon is one of the best in the United States, and it also has one of the highest price tags I ve ever seen on a burger at $18.00, so it better be good. Featuring a patty made from short rib and brisket which is cooked with precision and very tender. On top of the patty is a perfectly prepared onion fondue, confit bacon, white cheddar, housemade pickles, and herb remoulade. All of this is put between a perfectly soft and neutral brioche roll to be a melt in your mouth combination of flavor. The fries and drink selection are also top notch at Rustic Canyon. After eating this burger I pondered whether I had the room (and the cash) to eat another right then and there.

Great ambience. The food was decent too. Service was great. Wine selections were interesting, but outstanding??? I don't know why, but my verdict was good but uninspiring.

Definitely a must try if in Santa Monica, the food is simple yet sophisticated and full of favor

Wow!! What a place. We have not stopped talking about this place since we left. The flavours, the presentation, the service, all of it was top notch. For a true high end experience I recommend this place 100%. Good location near Santa Monica and we were able to get a table for 2 during the weekday without a reservation and were taken care of promptly and with great service.

Rustic canyon donated food to my emergency department during the first initial lockdown during the covid pandemic, when everything was closed. This how I learned about this restaurant. I came to celebrate my wife's birthday. Great outdoor seating. Excellent food.

The food here was great. Most of the food we received was delicious and the service was awesome. The only reason why this didn't get 5 stars is the chicken was a miss and the strawberry sorbet was good, but it wasn't strawberry enough for me. It slightly missed the mark. The steak was really great and worth coming here for. The chicken liver mouse was delicious and the pickled items really made this dish stand out. The only thing I would suggest is that for the beets, the menu mention that they're pickled. It was unexpected. I enjoyed it, but I have a friend who doesn't like pickles and I was glad she didn't join us for dinner as this dish would have been an unexpected surprise and not in a good way. If you come here, get the chicken liver mousse and the steak. These were worth eating.

I really liked the decor of this restaurant! It's modern, clean and funky. It's always busy here, so book early. The food was good, there are lot's delicious dishes to choose from. The staff were attentive and service was speedy. I haven't been here enough, so I'll be going back soon!

Noisy, expensive, very average food, trendy, overpriced wines.
In short: a fashionable place that will no longer be in a very short time if the owners do not take things in hand very quickly.

Great service, attentive but not overbearing, a food-focused relaxed vibe, excellent wine list. Everything we had was good to great, and our server steered us right at every turn. The homemade honeycomb ice cream was the perfect finish.

Amazingly delicious food and great service. Loud environment though because of all the people having an amazing time.

Delicious food that was only overshadowed by the spectacular service.

Went there for my birthday but it was too loud and too dark, so we left without eating.
The food could be good, but you should only go off-peak.

Incredibly wonderful food. The subtlety of the flavors is incredible. One of my best meals in recent years. As good today as 10 years ago.!

I've eaten at Rustic Canyon a couple of times and have always liked it, but the meal a group of us had Saturday night was absolutely delicious. We ordered approximately 8 different dishes shared them all, loving all of them. The Grist & Toll Polenta was our favorite. We loved the ricotta dumplings, the squid salad (spicy), the chicken liver mousse and the smoked salmon & gravlax toast. All were amazing. We started with the four artisan cheeses...so good! We realized the key to eating here is to share and not latch onto one dish. The meal wasn't cheap! With drinks and tip we spent about $75 per person, but we will be back soon!

Great and fresh food. Migrating, seasonal menu and friendly service. I keep going back...

Coming from New Orleans I am very picky with food. Rustic Canyon beyond exceeded my expectations. I'd tell you what to get, but the menu changes weekly. Cocktails are on point as well. Well worth a date night or a group outing.

I frequent this superb restaurant often since I love the good mood that is characterizes this place. The team is highly loving and professional. The service is extremely rapid. Not to mention, the food they cook is great. I have been there many times and I was always pleased. The pay is decent. I highly recommend this restaurant to my friends and family.

very disappointed..
their vibe..interior..service were good but..
the food was...very unbalanced..

The wait is very short and the food is tasty and the prices are placed to match the area. Happy.

A fantastic seasonal and farm-to-table restaurant, with innovative menu items and an exceptional wine list. Being a part of the Zoe Nathan Loeb and co restaurant group means breads from Milo & Olive, which can't be beat. The place gets busy in the evenings, especially on weekends, so make a reservation in advance if you can.

Been meaning to come for a while and this is definitely a great Californian restaurant. It maybe a little loud for some but I'm already used to the LA crowd noise. Setting is really nice but a little small. Food was great and pretty well priced, recommend the beets and berries, pozole verde, Milo and Olive bread even though it could've been more toasted, garden of gems salad was good, hangar steak with salsa verde was awesome and rockfish is another nice entree. We finished with the chocolate tart and the honeycomb ice cream from Sweet Rose which was really nice. They also have great cocktails and even do an Office themed "Threat Level Midnight" drink.

Overall, food before drinks and tip/tax was around 80 bucks, good price and we had some steak for leftovers. They also do their customary RC group 3% service charge for workers' health insurance, so remember that for tipping. Worth the one Michelin star.

Visited last night and the food was spectacular. Had the lamb and it was great. The yams and the Pozole were also perfect. You guys are getting it right here for sure. Great job and thanks for the experience.

The January 4th menu was fantastic: Trout Dip, Beet and Fruit salad, Chicken with spicy honey, Rock Fish!

I wish I could give this place 6 stars. The staff was amazing, especially Lily who made sure to answer any questions we had. The corn ice cream sandwich set a high standard for dessert.

I've been wanting to visit Rustic Canyon for a long time now and I finally did this past weekend. WOAH. I wish I didn't wait so long! Excellent place to dine in, every dish we ordered was phenomenal. I have pictures of the beets and berries salad, as well as the steak dish. MUST TRY.

Food excellent as usual. Unfortunately, wait staff this time was very inattentive. We felt actively ignored by our waiter. It took 3 attempts to get our bill done correctly. Hopefully just a bad night for the staff.

Really good food, atmosphere, and service. Everyone there is very knowledgeable about the menu and the wine list.

Very good food and huge wine list. Expensive, but good service and delicious.

The food was amazing. Some of the best food I've had in a while. The kale salad was great. The cheese dumplings were amazing. Had the fish and the skirt stake were so good that we asked for another order of the fish.
Make sure you have a reservation before hand. Out fools up super quickly. You can get a glad of wine or a cocktail at the bar while you wait.

Loved the food and the casual atmosphere. The service was outstanding , Courtney our waitress explained the menu as we made inquiries. The food designed around available products from the Farmer's Market was excellent and so creative. Beets with blackberries and avocado, wow, delicious. Duck confit / congee amazing. Anxious to return for another dinner.

The food here is absolutely delicious and the small, intimate atmosphere is perfect. Three standout dishes for us (we went vegetarian ) were the garnet yams, the ricotta dumplings and the pavlova as the grand finale. Excellent!

after traveling the world and experiencing Michelin star restaurants throughout the globe I could without a doubt say this establishment is not one of those. I looked over the Michelin 2019 menu that they were rated on this clearly was not the menu I experience today.

Now for the food.

Nothing out of the ordinary and nothing so unique to gain a Michelin star. Once again I'm at a little perplexed.

Presentation of the food was pretty decent except they kept sticking utensils into my dishes. Please stop shoving forks and spoons into my dishes.

Started with the almond lavender snack. I guess that's what they call it... it would be very delicious and very interesting for an airport lounge. Or something you can serve for free because I don't need a plate of almonds.

Then they brought in the bread which was a little bit hard on the side that it was cut and a little stale on that side meaning it wasn't extremely fresh also pretty sad.

Turn up kimchi nothing special no need to even get this dish.

Beats and berries avocado, red quinoa and pistachio soil. We finally got something unique and very delicious. I'm very happy to say thus far this was the best thing on the menu.

Chilled lima beans and fresh dates & caramelized yogurt.. sounds absolutely delicious and amazing but I believe they forgot the fresh dates. I used to grow dates back in my country and they are very sweet. There is no sweetness to this dish at all maybe I miss something. Our yogurt was also not caramelized unless they considered caramelization not what the rest of the world considers caramelization.

Sourdough linguine a pretty good dish I would say the linguine was cooked pretty well. the Monterey sea lettuce was an interesting touch to make the dish into a fish dish without fish...

Baja seabass was another fantastic dish the fish was not evenly cooked parts of it were raw parts of it were cooked all the way, very big let down; however, the presentation was fantastic the garnish the sauce everything worked together beautifully I highly recommend this dish.

grass-fed flat iron steak was one of my favorite dishes though the presentation wasn't as amazing as the Baja sea bass but it was finally a steak that was seasoned. I am so happy they put salt on this steak wonderful dish! Presentation standard nothing out of the ordinary.

Roasted half chicken was a fantastic dish the sauce was fantastic ...the cook on the chicken was perfect it did need a tad bit of salt aka Gordon Ramsay seasoning but overall superb. The potatoes were a letdown but other than that it's a terrific dish.

I won't even talk about the desserts they're nothing special go somewhere else.

Worst part was it was my birthday and they didn't even bring me a candle not that I really care it's just other people were there celebrating their birthday and I doubt they spent as much as we did.

So whoever gave this place in Michelin star did a massive disservice to Michelin themselves.

A Michelin Star restaurant has exceptional service this was absolutely not the case in my experience. Every single Michelin restaurant I've ever been to when the food was served the server explained what the individuals would be eating how it was prepared and the ingredients. This was not the case.

So the number one let down in the deduction and stars was based on service... If the service was on point it would have definitely been four stars.

Did this place use to be cool? I feel like it's gone down since they started turning the lights on so bright... Awkward

Pretty nice place with some good people. The environment you get here is just really laid back and relaxed. Not anything too crazy, Just come if you want to relax, you know. As in think about some things, a date, etc.

Food was a 10 out of 10 - amazing. I had to take a star because you are eating in a large packed room with tables lined up. It was so loud I could not enjoy the meal or conversation fully. Cocktails were also excellent. Would only go back on a quiet night to enjoy the food but never on a busy weekend.

I've heard a lot about rustic canyon over the years and finally decided to give it a shot after they recently earned a Michelin star. I'll caveat that the star rating set my expectations pretty high, and I've fortunately been able to experience a good number of Michelin rated restaurants in the past.

With that in mind, I thought rustic canyon was miles away from what I consider the Michelin bar to be. Their dishes were experimental and interesting, but far from nuanced or consistent.

We had a salmon sashimi which was placed on a bed of vinagered potatoes topper with baby popcorn. The salmon was great quality, but the texture was absolutely killed by the mushy potatoes underneath and the flavor of the fish overpowered by the vinegar. The popcorn was actually welcome, offering any texture whatsoever.

I did enjoy the rillette, but it wasn't especially memorable.

Overall, I appreciate the vision the restaurant is aiming for, but the composition just isn't there. It's relatively affordable for a Michelin tier restaurant but there are plenty of incredible restaurants in LA with similar prices that are way more worth your time and money.

My first time, which is off for me being a foodie to miss such a gem in my home town. Great shareable food and excellent wine. Ferdy (sommelier) was great - told him what we were ordering and a price range for wine and he did not disappoint.

The food was too healthy to my taste, but a good professional staff. A nice place to have an enjoyable night with friends or family. Excellent service

The food was awesome, but super impressed by the bar program

I expected a lot more from this place. For the money you can get the same experience with better food at the Glendon in west wood. Service is good enough but our waitress had to ask for help in the menu.

The pozole verde was DELICIOUS. Highly recommend even though it was on the pricey side ($20). Seems like the kind of place where you'd need reservations, although I went with a friend right at opening on a Friday evening (5:30pm) and was able to get a seat in the bar area (they were also seating those without reservations outside).

I've read somewhere that people think Rustic Canyon has the best burgers in L.A., but that would be completely false. Rustic Canyon makes a nice looking burger, but the beef patty tastes bland, and really doesn't compare to Golden State or Father's Office. I'd definitely go for the pillowy soft gnocchi and the rhubarb strawberry crostata instead of the burger. Just don't forget to visit the ATM beforehand, this restaurant would not be considered cheap eats.

Big improvements to the acoustics have made it much easier to enjoy the food.

Upscale California (not formal). Excellent food - worth a trip every time.

Great food, the beet and berries was especially good.

Overall experience was a little underwhelming.
It s very fresh and interesting, but nothing really keeps you wanting more.
Wine and cocktails were great. Gem salad was very sad.
Service was very nice, friendly and on point.

The food is startlingly different, and excellent. Listen to your server!
Not inexpensive, and well worth it.

Great dinner place. Lovely spot for a date with delicious food and wine. They have a wide selection of wine by the glass or bottle. The food was so delicious. We started with the cheese plate that had such amazing cheeses and the Milo and Olive bread. The bread was to die for. I had heard about their sister store (Milo and Olive) from friends and I now need to go check it out. For dinner we had the garden of gems salad, beets and berries dish, and the grass-fed hanger steak. Each dish was plated so intricately and tasted amazing! Will definitely be back

Farm-fresh ingredients, imaginative dishes, great wine selection, excellent service.

I visited Rustic Canyon twice during a five-week business trip in LA and had terrific experiences both times! I ate once at the bar by myself and once in the dining room with my husband and enjoyed both. It s expensive but good value. I especially recommend the pozole verde and apple dessert.

Great food, good service, dining room is a bit generic.

Great food, service and thankful for the outdoor patio dining... well done! We will definitely be back for more!

Wonderful farm to table restaurant. Excellent service. Very refreshing, icy cold gin sour, I recommend.

Fun and unique cocktails with an inviting atmosphere. The halibut and corn chowder was fantastic. I would definitely return for another meal. Additionally, they were very flexible with the reservation time after our flight delays.

Amazing food and service!! Just won a Michelin star! Their instagram is also really gorgeously shot, and witty! Follow them

Had major allergy we informed them but still sent food with allergen. Be extremely careful if you go and have allergies. Food was good manager owner apologized and reduced tab but again take your EpiPen with you if you go to be safe

Good Place, Nice Food. I will recommend this to all of my friends. Best food in town.

Very good restaurant with very creative and amazing food

Awesome food and service, as always. One of my favorite restaurants in LA. A little pricey, but worth it.

Great food and a lot of variety. Rib eye steak was particularly good . My son said it was the best he's ever eaten. The "Not So Sweet" drink with a dehydrated blood orange was very good.

Everything you'd want from an upscale seasonal kitchen. Simple ambiance and knowledgable staff. I heard great things about the lobster on brioche but with the FUYU & Hachiya persimmons. I don't much care for salads in general but this was wonderful and they did an even better job with the wine pairing for both this and the Mezzaluna (amazing dish, just wish it was twice the size). Burger was served perfectly and was a treat with the farm egg and confit bacon. It really feels like a place where you just couldn't go wrong with your selection.

There are several frozen Trader Joe's meals that are better than what I ate at this place.

I celebrated my PhD last night in this delicious restaurant. I am glad to say that it was a awesome evening and the restaurant was evidently the reason for the happy celebration. The crew contributed in a very nice way, the cooking was yummy and my buddies were extremely overjoyed. We shall no dout visit again for more events. thanks very much.

Delicious food. the best service and great location. The place was clean and relaxing.

The food is good, but not amazing. There was a special sweet glazed fried "our take on Buffalo" chicken and the "Buffalo" sauce tasted like a spicy pureed Slim Jim.

The Fire and Brimstone cocktail drinks like a bitter Margarita getting sweeter by the end, and is even garnished with lava salt.



I don't know what criteria the critics assign Michelin stars by, and I don't understand why this restaurant recieved one over much better tasting local fare. With the prices being high as they are I can't see wanting to come back here again anytime soon.

Our second visit. First time was ok, but this time not so much. Sunday night dinner took an hour just to get the salad. Would be fine if you could talk, but very loud. Ribeye under done and a bit chewy. Chicken mostly bone. Salad dressing was tasty. Cheese board shareable for two but not four.

Great food that honors the local grower by name. Pleasant service in a comfy setting.