Restaurants: Cafe Metropol

Downtown loft revival meets European Bistro...
...meets many, many business people at lunch.

Food: 8/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Service: 5/10 *see below

My subjective Grade: B+
Best for: A low-key dinner for two (the lunch time business crowd rules out lunches)
In a perfect world I'd dine here: Monthly... if they've hired some new waitstaff

Details:
923 East 3rd Street
Downtown Artist District
Los Angeles, CA 90505
213-613-1537
http://www.cafemetropol.com/

Four years living in Portland, Oregon will do crazy things to a person. Inevitably the abundance of cheap, independently owned, artsy, organic [and even tasty] cafes begins to create expectations. Expectations that can be hard to meet in LA.

Fortunately, there's Cafe Metropol. It's a slice of heart and soul wrapped up in a brick warehouse and unceremoniously dropped in Downtown's Artists District.

No offense to any Artists District residents (or Metropol), but it's not exactly in a neighborhood I'd hit for casual strolls and frolicking. Still, it's next door to trendy R23, a local sushi-ry, and with plentiful free parking across the street and a valet service right in front, it's easy enough to hit.

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Food: 8/10

• Metropol rolls out a solid line up of dishes each week. Their lunches consist of a variety of sandwiches (ranging from standard, cold fare to grilled paninis and tramezzinis), salads, soups, burgers, & pizzas (all with a European flair and unexpected, high-quality ingredients). Their dinner menu adds several baked pasta dishes, and both their lunch and dinner menus are supplemented by weekly specials. Their strength lies primarily in quality ingredients and unusual offerings rather than in especially skillful preparation (some of the pasta dishes err on the side of being too oily, for instance). Still, their cheese, fruit, & meat trays make a trip to Metropol worthwhile in and of themselves. Their locally grown, organic house salads (which come as a side with virtually everything) can't be beat; I always polish my salad off before getting to my entree... and I'm not much of a salad person.

Atmosphere: 9/10

• Metropol's been housed in a gutted, renovated warehouse - to great effect. With its brick walls, high ceiling, hardwood floor, & minimalist decor, the place looks ready for a nouveau riche hipster to move in. The atmosphere's further complimented by local art displayed prominently on the walls and the occasional DJ. My only complaint is that in their effort to go minimalist-chic they passed up on providing comfortable chairs. It probably won't matter to the young & healthy crowd the place draws... but for those with tweaked backs like myself it's just something I can't help but notice. One last thing, the place fills up with a business crowd on weekday afternoons. If you have a choice in the matter, I'd suggest hitting it on off hours or for an evening dinner when the place clears out and the atmosphere's fairly intimate.

Service: 5/10 *previously 9/10

• I previously had a 9/10 listed f0r Metropol's service, but after one of the most awkward dinners Azu and I have ever had, I've had to adjust this score accordingly. As this was only a one time bad experience, I've left up my previous praise (see last bullet below)... maybe you'll be lucky enough to avoid the waiter we had.
• So, our story: A few months ago we rolled over to Metropol for a weeknight dinner. As we stood in the door way, person after person walked out from the kitchen and scurried past us without acknowledging us. No, "I'll be with you in just a second;" just head-down scurrying. It wasn't exactly overflowing with people, either. After five minutes (and I mean the literal kind... not the hyperbole five minutes that impatient people refer to after a minute of waiting), Azu and I prepared to leave when a waiter showed us to a table. We hadn't said anything by this point, but we weren't hiding our displeasure, and it was clear in our body language. Well, after seating us, the guy ducks back into the kitchen and we clearly hear him begin complaining about us (It's been a few months, but the gist of it was "Oh my god, I, like, leave these people up there for a minute and they're already freaking out. What the hell's wrong with people?"). So he comes back with waters, and before we can say anything he looks at us and in a sing-song voice goes, "You, know. Patience is a virtue." Yep. I know when I choose to go out to eat, I really appreciate constructive criticism from my waiter. At this point, Azu, delicate and soft-spoken creature that she is, turns on the guy and let's him know that he should think twice before bad-mouthing customers, as it carries through the whole restaurant. She then clarified that his "minute" was really at least five, and that no one had taken the time to acknowledge us as they raced by. Did our waiter apologize? Nope. He just said, "Well, I just came on duty." We sat through the meal, (he continued to complain about us each time he went back in the kitchen) but we haven't been back to Metropol since. To put some of our displeasure in perspective, we don't get the opportunity to eat out that often. As students, eating out represents a decision on our part to forego some other entertainment and spend our limited funds at the restaurant instead. When you go to the movies, do you expect to be criticized by the ticket vendor? Do you expect to hear the theater-workers talk shit about you openly as they get your popcorn? And would you keep going back to that theater... especially if it's competing with hundreds of other theaters spread out over almost every block of the city you live in? Anyway... I figure the guy probably spat in our food. Thank god we don't have Herpes now.
• Prior to our last experience I wrote: The service is always prompt, the waiters are knowledgeable, and my cup rarely goes empty. Azu & I only hit Metropol occasionally, but even so some of the waiters have remembered us (and it's always been in a pleasant hi-I-acknowledge-that-I-recognize-you-as-a-fellow-human-being kind of way... not a creepy hi-I'm-going-to-bombard-you-with-small-talk-and-inject-myself-into-your-evening-because-I'm-bored/strange/socially-awkward) [Update: Sadly, that waiter appears to have moved on to greener pastures]

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Eating Cafe Metropol:

Chicken & Artichoke Tramezzini: This is what I ordered the last time I hit Metropol. This tramezzini comes filled (not surprisingly) with a blend of seasoned chicken breast, melted mozzarella (and possibly more; I can't recall), prosciutto, and soft baby artichoke bits. If this was all that came with the dish, I'd still consider it a fair trade, but a quick nosh quickly turns into a three course meal with the addition of their house salad (which is always the first thing to disappear off my plate) and a daily soup (in the last instance this was an italian wedding soup: a chicken broth with spinach, orzo pasta, and small meatballs. Their soups are consistently great though some [like their cold avocado & lime gazpacho] might push the boundaries of the conventional).

"Mommy, where do hipsters come from?"
"Damned if I know, kiddo. What's a hipster?"
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