Élephante

Reviews

• MB

  Megan Brooks

  6 days ago
  1.0
  Booked a reservation in advance for a pre-fix menu for a larger group at 7pm. Arrived on time and the front desk kept giving us a run around when the table would be ready. Told us the table ahead of us had a strong 7:15pm close out time and would be closing out very soon. We patiently waited at the bar as suggested by the FD but kept continuing to get yelled at by staff for doing so as if we were an inconvenience. After checking in multiple times with the FD, we finally got seated at 8pm (an hour later from our reservation time) at a solo table completely detached from the action of the restaurant. It was raining all day and our table was getting leaked on the whole time from the outside rain. Extremely disappointing especially with how much we were charged. I’ve heard great things about this restaurant but honestly it was overrated and a let down from the minute we walked in. I would pass next time.
• PF

  Portia Freeman

  6 days ago
  3.0
  Positives: Service was fairly good, they were attentive, they let us switch our table to the lounge seats when we asked at a quiet time. The ambiance is very nice, and the view is to die for! It’s perfect to go at sunset so you can watch it over the ocean on this rooftop restaurant. I got the Oaxacan old fashioned, it was strong and delicious. Negatives: I heard so much about this whipped eggplant dip. It’s just a very small plate of velvety spread, and it mildly tastes of eggplant. It came with a huge plate of puffed up pita, which looked cool and was nice to rip into as a table. The spread and the pita as a whole just didn’t seem worth the hype? It wasn’t bad, but it was kind of nothing. My main gripe is that you realistically go through the entire spread before you get even halfway through the pita. We also ordered the ragu, pesto, polenta and mushrooms, and a vodka pasta. All of it, ESPECIALLY the ragu, was unbelievably salty. I am not shy about salt, and unfortunately, I am known to oversalt when I cook at home because I know how much the right amount of salt can elevate a dish, but it was so salty, it made my mouth hurt slightly. It was a bummer that the over salting showed up in every single pasta dish. I also didn’t appreciate the undercooked egg white in the polenta. It was pretty gooey… Lastly, this is more of a pet peeve of mine, but they took one of the plates of pasta away when approx a quarter of the dish was left. The server didn’t ask if we wanted it boxed. Usually, I’d say something or stop them before they whisked it away, but it was so mediocre and salty that I didn’t really care to not have it again. Go for the ambiance and a nice cocktail, not the food. It may be disappointing, at least given how much hype this restaurant has received in LA.
• CC

  C C

  Jan 5, 2026
  1.0
  I had a really upsetting experience yesterday with the staff. It is still bothering me this morning so I am writing a review. Yesterday I was on a date with a woman (I am also a woman). We sat at the bar from 5-10:30 pm and were told at 10:30 pm without any context that the bar decided to no longer serve us. I was extremely confused - we had a cumulative of 5 drinks each over the course of 5 hrs with food, but was told by the female bartender that SHE felt we had too much to drink. When I asked why, or what specifically we had done to give that impression, neither her nor the floor manager could give me an example. The only possible explanation that I could come up with is her discomfort with me and my date publicly kissing at the bar. You would think of all places, especially LA, that you wouldn’t expect to face this kind treatment but unfortunately that did happen at Elephante last night. If you are a lesbian or in a queer relationship, and do not think it is inappropriate to show physical affection in public, do not grab drinks here.
• LZ

  Lily Zhang

  Jan 4, 2026
  1.0
  Horrible experience. Everything was bad, especially the service and the food. First, we asked for iced lattes and they gave us all hot lattes. When we pointed this out they dumped the hot lattes into another glass with 3 ice cubes; the lattes were still warm and now, watered down. Our waiter was SUPER un-attentive. It took us forever to order our main dishes. To give the restaurant credit, the food came out fast and looked tasty. However, looks can be deceiving...the food was horrible too. The ocean view was nice, but it was hard to even look at it because the pasta tasted like it had been dunked in the salty ocean water. Our cacio e pepe and ragu tasted so salty we thought the whole salt canister was dumped onto the dishes. Since the waiter was no where to be seen, we only had one measly cup of water that was finished and our whole table was extremely parched. The waiter didn't check up on us once and was sitting at the bar chatting with her co-workers. We had to waive the waiter over to ask about alternative options with the food, she was dismissive and spoke so quietly we could not hear her over the chatter in the restaurant. The best part of this experience was leaving the establishment.... unless you are handicapped then good luck leaving because the exit points down to three flights of stairs.
• HJ

  Hungry J

  Jan 3, 2026
  4.0
  Surprisingly not hard to get a booking on a friday night. Overall the experience was positive but for the price, the food overall fall a bit short of expectation. Salad was good, meatballs can be better, calamari was decent but the sauce does not seem match. The bread and dip was good too but the eggplant was hard to taste. Cavatelli pasta was good but i think the balance was off due too much cheese. And the sausage was a bit too mushy. The vodka pasta was solid, the the Squash Agnolotti was the best pasta I had in a while. Steak is crowd favorite but the special duck dish is not there. The duck smelled a bit off but unfortunately it happens once in a while. Not much a restaurant can do. Sides was good too. Service is nice an chill. Its worth a try for sure.

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