Are you Hater if Something is Wack??

Before I get into my feelings on a  "hot" new restaurant I went yesterday, I want to first discuss the event of going out to eat in Hollywood. Living on the Westside everything is casual, I don't think twice about what to put on, everything seems to work in Venice. 

whatever man, I'm just doing me

But after the amazing experience I had at Cleo on Monday, I was happy to return to Hollywood again last night. Getting up to H.wood for dinner is rare and two nights in a row is super rare and maybe it's because it's been a minute but shit, it's like a whole new world. First off at the waitstaff in general are so good looking (duh), people get dressed and plastic surgery abounds. Whatever, sure, no surprise here.  But what is that thing that's in the "air" of many new restaurants, where because there's paparazzi outside or because it's by a renowned chef they can skimp on the basic details?  Case in point,  Rick Bayless's new restaurant "Red O" on Melrose.  www.redorestaurant.com/ 

We jaunted over there kinda excited to be somewhat in the know and being that the chef is well known, looking forward to a great meal.  We walked in and were pretty impressed by the decor ( California chic) - okay, so far so good.  We headed over to the bar because our table wasn't ready yet - a bit of a red flag here since everyone was starving, including pregnant sister.  Ordered Sangria, but oop, they were out, "Batch wasn't good and we want everything to be perfect"- really? Get to our table and the waitress recommends a wine for dinner  which tasted cheap, flat, and corky-  aw man.  Now to the food.  To sum it up simply, I'll leave it to one of my companions who stated "It was El Pollo Loco, no not even, Baja Fresh in a fancy joint"- great. Oh, and to top it all off, all of our stomachs were banging after- whoohoo! But hey,  Dave Navarro was there.  I'll just say I'm fine with being a hater on this one.