Oriel Chinatown - Los Angeles, California

Justin

My fiancé and I stopped by Oriel last week. She tracked this place down and suggested it. I'll be the first to admit I don't typically eat French food, but I'm always willing to try something out!

It's ultimately a wine bar, but they have some damn good food and desserts! My meal was Bavette, which is the underbelly of the cow, fantastically cooked and seasoned. It came with garlic butter and mashed potatoes.

She ate the steak tartar. She loved it and said it was some of the best she's eaten. Our appetizer was the Artisanal Bread and Beurte de Baratte. Also very good.

Our desserts were awesome! We ordered the Creme Brulee and Pot de Creme au Chocolat! The Creme Brulee was the best I've ever eaten.

The service was awesome, and the waiter was friendly and helpful. He was always attentive to anything we needed.

It's worth a visit if you're near China town in Los Angeles.

Dewi A.

Relatively brand new restaurant that specializes in French-inspired cuisine.

It's got a cute, romantic, bistro-like atmosphere that's perfect for date night or an outing with friends.

Service was somewhat lackluster. Our server never really introduced himself -- he just swung by to take our happy hour order. He then came back to take our order off the regular dinner menu, then disappeared. We saw him float around between the different rooms, but he never came back to check in on us. Another male server came by and asked if we needed anything. Some time had passed between our appetizers, our first few dishes and our main entree, which was the steak. We had to ask for that, before it finally came.

There's a happy hour menu, which is quite a good deal -- we began with two glasses of the Bordeaux for $8 each; a $10 beef tartare toast, and a $5 salmon rillette tartine. The wine was good, and so was the tartare. The salmon rillette tartine, however was rather underwhelming in both appearance and taste. It need oomph, at the very least some salt.

We also ordered the French onion soup -- good, but not amazing. It was a tad stingy on the cheese.

The salad Nicoise was very underwhelming. I have traveled to Nice, France and had salad Nicoise at various restaurants while there -- this was far from what you get in France. It had way too much lettuce, no anchovies, and the yellowfin tuna was nothing extraordinary. It also severely lacked any real flavor -- it's a simple salad, but the lemon vinaigrette missed the punch or acidity it needed to bring this classic French salad together. And at $24 a plate, I expected better.

The best dish of the night was the Bavette, a flank steak, which was cooked to our liking: medium rare. This was accompanied by mashed potatoes and some greens. Tasty!

We skipped out on dessert and had 2 more glasses of wine: the Cab Franc and the Côtes du Rhône red blend of Syrah & Grenache -- the latter was excellent, fruit forward, a medium red, while the former tasted light-bodied and flat. But to each his own when it comes to vino!

Parking: the small lot adjacent to restaurant is a crapshoot -- so best to park in the garage directly across from the restaurant. It's only $3 per hour. We paid for two hours during a 5:30 PM reservation and thought that was plenty.

Would we return? Not in a heartbeat. There are more enticing restaurants in LA.

Joe L.

Delicious food, very hospitable and the waitstaff was very accommodating. Huge selection of rose, and the plating was great and filling. Pricing is high, but always worth it.

Lydia C.

Oriel is a modern wine bar/bistry that serves french food. The food is simple but tasty and the service is great. They have a pretty good sized wine list and a lot of food options as well. The atmosphere is great, with a cozy patio and interior. This is a lovely gem tucked in the quieter part of Chinatown and is a great spot to catch up with friends or for a date night. Tons of easy parking right in front of the restaurant and it’s located under the train line by the Chinatown metro station.

Kelly D.

so good!!! so cute!! expensive but what isnt?! we came here after 10 days in paris and the food at oriel was honestly better than most of our meals there.

Tony Y.

Very interesting French bistro dinner in Chinatown.
Bone marrow, Duck pate, Beef tartare, and Escargots.
Should have order the dish one by one instead of all at once, because they all arrive at the same time. It will be nice to have more time to enjoy each one of them.
The neon light, noise from the gold line above make it feel and look like the Bladerunner movie set.

Katie A.

Absolutely loved this place. I can't believe we've lived in Chinatown as long as we have and never been here! The gnocchi and boeuf bourguignon were outstanding, we'll definitely be back for those. And the pot de creme! And the prices are really reasonable.

Laura L.

Happily found Oriel by chance! Had planned to go elsewhere, however that place was packed & we needed to be in a calmer space., So we walked and found Oriel! So glad we did! Had some bubbly and snacks before heading to KCRW Summer Nights in Chinatown. Besides music by DJs and dancing, we thought we would grab another bite however nothing sparked interest so we returned to Oriel! Ate and drank &.were so satisfied with everything! Plus the staff are wonderful!
Pleasant, informative and caring! Reminds me I need to return soon! An oasis.