Jon Nguy: DineLA - Lawry's The Prime Rib

TLDR: Lawry's was filled with super classy people. The food was not bad, and the portions were pretty large. For $45, I'd say go for it if you want a lot of food. Maybe just once. See full res pictures here.

Lawry's was my first DineLA restaurant in all my years at UCLA. Priced at a hefty $45 for a 3 course prefixe menu, I knew it was going to be an interesting first. The whole experience was interesting, including the fact that 5 people flaked in less than 24 hours. But that's a story for another day.

When you first walk into the restaurant, there's a semi-long hallway that you have to walk through, with two small waiting rooms on either side. The left had some chips/meatballs while guests were waiting. Vincent went to eat some chips and some meatballs, and while he was eating, we were called to sit down on Lawry's speakers (kind of awkward?).

As we were walked to our seats, we first went through a huge dining room filled with large-party tables. They also had a lot of those booths that I guess rich couples like to sit on while they eat? Anyways, most people were dressed up, and some men had full suits on. I didn't think Lawry's was THAT dressy-attired.

We walked into a smaller room where our table was set for us. All the "normal" stuff on the table--napkin, wine glass, and the utensils. I noticed that the noise level was low enough to hear each other talk, but not too low where people could overhear. (I have no idea how to describe noise.) From what I remember, I believe pretty much every table in the room was doing DineLA. About 3 or 4 tables were older than us but a few years, and I remembering seeing one table filled with Asians most likely in college.

We didn't have to wait very long for our lively server to approach to ask if we wanted anything to drink. We decided to stay with just water (which was given to us before the server came to us). Unfortunately, I didn't remember her name, but I noticed that she wasn't stressed with all the people in for DineLA. She was super friendly and talked to us about the DineLA menu that we were going to go with.

We were given bread almost immediately after she left. A few minutes after that, we were approached by some man who was going to toss our "Famous Original Spinning Bowl Salad." It was described on the DineLA menu as:

Crisp romaine and iceberg lettuce, baby spinach, shredded beets, chopped eggs and croutons, tossed with our exclusive Vintage dressing.

The bowl was on some kind of ice, and he spun the bowl while pouring the sauce into it. I must say, their "Vintage dressing" was pretty great. It looked similar to thousand island, but didn't really taste like it. (I don't like thousand island, so this must've been different). Each of us got a plate, and that is that.

A few minutes after we finished our salad, Lawry's rolls up with a huge and hot heating thingy(?! I don't remember what it's called), where the prime rib was. Our entree. A "Special 8 oz. cut of [their] signature Roasted Prime Ribs of Beef", which came with some Whipped Cream Horseradish. Our server mentioned that we could get bigger cuts if we paid a little extra. It was $3 for 2 more oz's, and us three decided to go for it. (Because, #yolo, right?). Our cuts were pretty huge, and I'm kind of unsure how they measured the size, as it was cut straight from a huge chunk of meat. Either way, we got the meat along with a side of mashed potatoes, a Broiled Nova Scotia Lobster Tail, and some delicious Yorkshire Pudding.

It was a little too much for me. Both the quality and quantity were there. I couldn't finish all the mashed potatoes (they seriously give you a ton), but I tried to finish as much of the meat as I could. The Yorkshire Pudding was great, and we weren't given that much, so I ate all of that. Lastly, I finished my entree with the lobster tail. Though not something crazy and out of the ordinary, I love lobster and I enjoyed the one I devoured today.

Finally, dessert. We were given the choice between three things: cheesecake, English trifle, or chocolate pudding. Alan and Vincent got the Cheesecake with Brandied Cherries (A creamy slice of New York Style Cheesecake with a brandied cherry sauce). I always have cheesecake, so I wanted to try the English Trifle (A light sponge cake layered with vanilla custard cream, raspberries and fresh whipped cream.). The cheesecake came with two cherries, which tasted like they were dipped in wine or something. Something interesting. On the other hand, my trifle was pretty big and had a ton of raspberries in it. It was bursting with raspberry flavors, and it was a bit too much for me. I couldn't finish it all, but I did enjoy what I could.

We walked out and found a huge crowd of people waiting to get their cars from valet. We had to wait like 20 minutes, but it was pretty smooth as I heard no one yelling or any kind of drama occurring during the wait.

Enjoy the pictures; hopefully you won't get too hungry.

The dishes, in picture order:
-bread-

Appetizer
The Famous Original Spinning Bowl Salad