Playground

Wow, wow, wow! My friends and I tried coming here a couple weeks ago, but a freak incident blew the power out. We were so bummed but knew we’d have to try again so we came back tonight.
First of all, the service is beyond amazing. The waiters are super friendly, really helpful, and know their stuff. They add to the fun of the whole dinner.
Fried chicken — Yes, it’s different. Yes, it’s vinegary. But, yes, it is delicious! The meat was super juicy and the skin has a nice tang from the sauce.
Brussels sprouts — Full of flavors that mix well together. The sprouts were crisp and cooked well.
Maple glazed pork chop — One of our fave dishes of the night. It is huge and was more than enough for splitting among the four if us. None of us had ever had a pork chop as incredible as this one in our lives. We didn’t even know that it was possible for a pork chop to be this moist and juicy. And the sauce was excellent!
Pork belly buns — My fave dish of the night! I don’t usually like pork belly or guacamole, but I didn’t even think twice about finishing every bite. The flavors blended together well, the bun was fluffy, and the pork belly was crisp and not at all overly fatty.
Bruleed pineapple crème — I loved this dessert! It was a pineapple cream brulee that was creamy, not too sweet, and oh so yummy.
Sticky toffee pudding– They gave us this dessert for free. We all enjoyed it. There was a lovely caramel sauce around it and the pudding was fluffy.
I was beyond impressed with this place. They really know how to run a restaurant. We left this place satisfied, happy, and full.

Such a phenomenal dinner experience. The staff was amazing and the food was to die for. Everything had its own distinct flavor — even the drinks!
Favorites:
–coffee old fashioned
–queso fundido
–ceasar Brussel sprouts
–fried artichoke
–short ribs
–trumpet mushrooms
Mmmm delicious place can’t wait to try playground 2.0

Meh, this place was just okay for me. Ambiance was not that great and the food is definitely overpriced.
All their cocktails are $ 10, which is standard pricing.
Your Mom Goes to College (²⁄₅): this tasted like burnt mexican candy, no one at my table liked it.
I Can’t Even (⁴⁄₅): this was pretty good, but came in a small glass. All the other drinks were bigger.
Pork Belly Bun (³⁄₅): i guess this was good, but not $ 5 good. Guacamole was pretty salty.
Wagyu Tartare (²⁄₅): don’t recommend, just wasn’t good. $ 17
They say their dishes are meant for sharing, but the portions were tiny for the price. And nothing really stood out for me and my friends. If you have a lot of money to throw around, this would be the place to go.

This review is only about their awful service !
Weirdest service that I’ve ever received here at Playground.
I put the special request for getting a normal table instead of the tall tables when I made the reservation. When they call me to confirm the reservation, they told me that they managed to get me the standard table. I put the request for the standard table because we have elderly people with us, we also put that into the request.
When we get there, they lead us to a tall table.
When I told them that I requested for a standard table, they wanted us to go back outside even it was just for a moment. My entire group went outside literally for 1 second and went back in again. It was like he opened the door, we went out, then we went in again in a second. What’s up with that? So you couldn’t tell us to wait while you go check with the host? It was unnecessary, unprofessional and stupid. Who do you think we are? A bunch of puppets?
Our waiter was friendly and attentive until he introduced us to this waitress.
She asked 6 times if we were alright during the course of 1 dish.
Then they forgot our Wagyu picanha.
When we finished everything on the table and waited for about another 15 minutes, we figured they may have forgotten about our Wagyu Picanha. We asked our waitress and told her that we had waited 15 minutes since the last entrée. She told us that the cook time for Wagyu Picanha is 25 minutes. The kitchen should be pacing each dish such that they arrive timely, just because a dish takes 25 minutes doesn’t mean you have to wait 25 minutes between dishes for it. It should have been started earlier while the customer is the middle of a previous dish.
The food is still refreshing and nice. The bacon is chewy, overly salted and hard to slice. But nothing is perfect, shit happens sometimes, mistakes are allowed.
But they definitely need to improve their service, so please train your host/​waitress to be more professional. The service has to be on par with the amazing food. Sadly it is not this time round.

I would give this place 3.5 stars.
After reading the raving reviews on Unilocal,this place have been on my try list for awhile now. After trying this place I am pretty disappointed. I expected it to be more high end and in a nicer part of the city. The inside of the restaurant is pretty casual with high bar top like seating.
Let’s get to the food. We started off with 2 potbelly bun, Brussels sprouts salad and the albacore cru. We got the Octopus and the fried chicken as our entrée.
Pork-​belly Bun — Small but comes with a big slice of meat. It was pretty good.
Brussels Sprouts with Caesar — was one of my favorite. A bit salty but overall very tasty.
Albacore Cru — was interesting. The coconut milk and the lemon grass complemented the tuna pretty well. $ 18 for a small bowl of tuna is way overpriced in my opinion.
Fried Octopus — this was the best octopus I’ve ever had. It was crispy on the outside and tender inside. It almost melted in my mouth. $ 34 for the entrée however was, again, very overpriced.
Fried Chicken — it was my least favorite dish. The vinegar was too overpowering.
Overall nice experience. I am glad I finally got to try it but I won’t be returning to eat overpriced food at a mediocre environment.

So, I am embarrassed to say that I am probably the only Unilocaler in Orange County that had not visited the Playground. I had resisted coming here and finally succumbed when a friend invited me to Sunday Supper. We were here to celebrate a friend’s birthday and Easter as it was also the holiday on the Sunday we visited. It was a nice evening to be here, because, as it was Easter, the place was not completely packed.
Sunday Supper is a fixed price meal by reservation only that is $ 50 plus tax and gratuity. The minimum party size is 4 people, max is 12 people because of the concept of this dinner. It consists of several courses served family style to your party. The plates are a complete surprise and based upon the ingredients available that day and what the chefs are inspired by that day.
Plate after plate came out to our table. It was fun, but a little on the scary side, because you were not sure what is going to come out. I believe we had ten different plates come out plus a dessert. My favorite dishes of the evening were the Sprouts Caesar, Fusili in Bacon Fat with Pecorino and Peas, The Pan-​Fried Udon with Mushrooms and Asparagus in Miso and Yuzu. The Sticky Toffee Pudding dessert was just delicious, also. All the dishes we were presented had such unique flavors and mix of interesting ingredients. There wasn’t anything I disliked but some of the dishes were a little too on the sweet or salty side for me. Staff was fantastic. Josh made sure our table was attended to perfectly the entire evening. We were presented with a a round of shots at our table to celebrate the birthday boy at our table. This made this fun night even more special. A really nice touch. Another great thing is there is no corkage fee here. We enjoyed several bottles of wine that we brought with us with our dinner.
Our Sunday Supper dinner was a fun evening and great way to celebrate a special occasion. I would like to return to the Playground to dine on their regular menu and experience the other culinary offers they have to offer here in DTSA.

3.5 stars
Given the Unilocal reviews and that this gastropub is on the list of the best 101 restaurants by Jonathan Gold, I was expecting much more.
Service was friendly but not always attentive enough. They have a handful of draft beers on tap. Unfortunately, the list of dark, strong ales/​stouts is very limited.
Kurobuta Pork Belly Steam Bun $ 5 — one small bun served with a nice, meaty piece of well seasoned pork belly.
Beef Tongue Tacos $ 9 — 2 meaty tacos with tender beef tongue and a cilantro onion relish. The texture is a bit spongy, so don’t order it if you are not at all adventurous.
Uncle Lou’s Fried Chicken $ 10 — 4 nice sized pieces of drums and thighs. However, this is not your typical fried chicken. The chicken is cooked sous vide, which makes it very tender, but almost mushy, in my opinion. The skin is glazed in a sweet, vinegar-​based sauce, but there is no coating on the skin. The texture of the meat was not to my liking at all.
I would not go out of my way to eat here, as nothing really stood out. The food was interesting, but overall I was disappointed in the dining experience.
parking — metered street parking

Don’t believe the hype!
First off, the people working there are all super nice and attentive. I had made reservations, arrived early, but was seated fairly quickly. The seating here is similar to a coffee shop. They have «tables» where you’re facing 4^th street but it’s a bit crowded and awkward for dinner.
Here’s what we got:
Fried chicken — definitely the best part of the meal. The meat was SUPA juicy and flavorful. A tad bit too vinegary but still pretty solid.
Hillary’s Cavatelli — the pasta was delish. Like a firm gnocchi and the sauce was great too but the serving was way small for $ 16. Also, they loaded it with peas which were a lot firmer than I like my peas to be.
Imperial wagyu sirloin — the portion was small and the meat was very tender and flavorful but everything else was a miss. The aioli that came with it was very strong and did not complement the steak. The potatoes, like the peas, were super firm and not that flavorful. I don’t mind paying $ 50+ meat if it’s a good cut of meat with a solid side but this just was not worth the $ 36 price tag at all.

Very disappointed. I’ve had this place bookmarked forever and finally had a chance to try it.
I do like the fact that you could bring in wine and they don’t charge cork fee.
— pork chop: huge and amazing! Only good thing I tried here
— Brussels sprouts: so salty! Omg I had to take out the first layer and then eat it. If you order this, ask them not to make it half as salty as they usually make it. It’s better for you anyways.
— tortellini: this one wasn’t good either. The pasta was kinda hard. Wasn’t memorable because I don’t remember anything about this dish besides the hard pasta
— empanadas: I thought this was okay. The red radish went well with the empanadas
Overall, the food was bad besides the pork chop buttttt I gave them 2 stars because free cork fee is the best thing in the world, next to free alcohol.

I came back to try the more signature dishes-​pork chop, and fried chicken (we also got the octopus but that dish was the worst by far and was an absolute bust). I really regret it because now Playground no longer has the same heavenly appeal as it originally had for me.
The fried chicken was bleeding out and the meat inside was very red. Upon asking, they said its typical because they get fresh chicken and something about the way it’s cooked… something something… so we ate it anyways but it was no good tasting blood (yep, that metallic taste we are all too familiar with) with every bite. The seasoning outside was fairly good but it was also salty.
The pork chop was well-​cooked but nothing special. I don’t understand why it’s so famous…
The brussel sprouts, I must reiterate from my original review, are amazing. We almost ordered it again just because everything else was disappointing and we all loved the sprouts.

Came here with a party of 8 on a Saturday night. Got to try drinks and tapas.
What I liked:
–Wagyu Carne Apache & Jicama, Aji Amarillo, Avocado, Cucumber, Apple, Red Onion, Cilantro, Inca Corn, Lime (Wagyu was oh so tender at just the right medium rare.)
–Potatoes with pickled radishes (I couldn’t find this item on their menu, but it tasted like a cross between a tater tot and a fingerling potato. It was very carbolicious.)
–Heart of palm with various colored tomatoes (A very unique dish and the mixture of textures with the crunchy heart of palm and soft tomatoes was quite delightful.)
–Tortellini pasta (I’m really not doing it justice because the way they prepare it and what goes into it is a lot more fancy than simply «Tortellini pasta.» That said, it’s pretty up there as my favorite dish here. It’s hard to do pasta right because so many places are simply mediocre, but their Tortellini is really something else.)
What was okay:
–Brussels Sprouts Caesar, Cornbread Crumble, Tortilla, Radish, Pickled Jalapeño, Cotija (most people in our party liked it but I thought it was slightly too salty)
–Black Mission Fig Sticky Toffee Pudding (I’m not the biggest fan of any of these items, but I could appreciate that it wasn’t too sweet. I could’ve used without the salted caramel whipped cream though.)
–Poke with nori, rice, and pickled vegetables (While I love poke, the dish is probably a lot cheaper elsewhere. I personally wouldn’t come to an American tapas-​style restaurant seeking out poke with nori.)
–Got the Otra Vez gose style beer by Sierra Nevada, which was citrusy and light since I usually don’t prefer my beers hoppy. However, after a few sips, it tasted a little too «watered down» for me. I’d probably opt for a beer with slightly more «umph» and substance next time around.
What I didn’t like:
–Uncle Lou’s Fried Chicken (The chicken itself was very moist which was a definite plus, but the sauce was too sweet and vinegary for me.)
–32 oz Maple Glazed Pork Chop (The sauce was way too sweet and the pork a little bit too tough for me. I prefer my savory foods savory and my sweet foods sweet.)
Overall, the service here is superb. The ambiance is okay but the seating can be a little weird for larger parties at such a high booth. I can see it being a more intimate date spot. Dishes are really hit or miss, at least in my opinion. Get the right thing (s) and your experience will probably be amazing.

Absolutely amazing! Amazing food, amazing service, amazing ambiance.
My friends took me here for my birthday and decided to go all out. We tried several items on the menu and loved every single one. I had two full glasses of wine (each glass/​carafe was the amount of ¹⁄₃ of a bottle) so that was a great start of the evening for me. My friends were craft beer guys so they each had two beers each, all of which they enjoyed.
We ordered the following:
+A Very Green Risotto: This was delicious and you can taste every bit of each ingredient. The mint was prominent and the parmesan cheese gave the perfect amount of saltiness. Overall, I would totally recommend this, we shared it among 5 people and it was enough for all of us to get a good taste.
+Kurobuta Pork Belly Steam Bun: We each got one bun and the pork belly, oh man, it was cooked PERFECTLY, Tender, fatty, crispy. There was guacamole on it which sort of overpowered the flavor of the pork a little bit and we could have done without it but it was still seriously good.
+Uncle Lou’s Fried Chicken: We got the 8 pieces. I guess people who don’t like vinegar will probably not like this but I thought it was so good. The fried chicken itself was nice and crispy and the flavor of the honey/​vinegar mixture was the perfect balance. It wasn’t too overbearing or vinegary.
+Maple Glazed Pork Chop: Gotta have the one thing on the menu that has been constant for years and the hype is REAL. This thing is cooked perfect and tender. The glaze is so good you just wanna swim in that thing. Make sure you have someone to finish off that last bit of meat on the bone. SO GOOD!
+Our Favorite Way to Eat Foie Gras: I had never had foie gras before this but I love chicken pâté so I thought why not. Man oh man, I have to say this was surprisingly my favorite dish of the night. It is one of those complex dishes where all the ingredients have to be eaten together and it’ll blow your mind. You have the blackberries with the pistachio, brioche, lemon cress together with the foie gras, mhmm I can’t even describe it. Please note that there are nuts in this dish (walnuts I believe) that isn’t listed in the description on the menu. One of my friends with a nut allergy found that out when they brought out the plate and couldn’t join in on the deliciousness.
+Black Mission Fig Sticky Toffee Pudding: Because it was my birthday, I got one for free! My friends also ordered an additional plate and we all shared amongst the 5 of us. The toffee flavor shines in this dish. It was sweet and dense and addicting. Love it. Would order it again.
Our waitress was super nice, helpful, fun, awesome. She joined in on some of our snapchat shenanigans. It was a great night, a great birthday, one I’ll never forget. I’d definitely come back time and time again to try their constantly changing menu items.
Thanks Playground!

I came here on Valentine’s Day weekend and this is now my favorite restaurant. My boyfriend made reservations for here in December. I’m not sure how early you need to make reservations in advance for normal weekends, but it’s definitely worth the early planning! The service and food exceeded my expectations. There is a parking garage right across the street and we paid $ 4 on a Friday evening to park there.
The items on the menu are always changing and they change the menu everyday. I got to try so many dishes and I would get all of them again if I could. If I had to pick a favorite dish, it would be the pork belly buns. The pork was so tender and there was guacamole filled in it. The Brussels sprouts was also another one of my favorites, but I thought it was just a bit too flavorful. I felt like if there was less sauce or a little bit more Brussels sprouts with the same amount of sauce, it would have been perfect because I loved the taste of it. One of the reasons I like this place so much is because of how well they are able to fuse different ethnic foods together. The food is so unique and you can’t get it anywhere else!

Came here with a girlfriend to meet up for dinner and since I didn’t know how busy the place would get, I went ahead and made reservations in advance. When I arrived, there wasn’t that much people yet so we were able to snag a comfortable seat outside where a nice breeze was blowing.
The server came by to inform us of the specials they had and what was on the menu for the week. Apparently the menu is constantly changed depending on what fresh ingredients are available to the chefs for the week and they create a menu out of those ingredients.
Our food came out fairly quick and it was pretty tasty. The only thing we probably did not finish with the bread (which was so hard). As we were sitting there, there was a large ruckus nearby because a bum had wandered into the restaurant and was causing a scene which prompted the cops to be called. so dinner and a show.
Check out the large glass window from the outside dining area to watch the chefs preparing some of the food in the kitchen before your eyes!

Was a little skeptical at first, but this place is pretty crackin.
Parking:
Kind of a pain in the ass, but if you come later at night the meters end at 10pm.
Service:
The service here is good. They’re all very polite and attentive. Very good with refilling the water jugs. They’re also very knowledgeable about the food they serve.
Drinks:
A little pricey but relatively strong.
there’s no corkage fee so they’ll allow you to bring your own wine at no cost!
Food:
We had a large party so we were required to do the omakase style dinner. It was 12 dishes served family style. As my pictures show… It was an absurd amount of food. It came out to be near $ 54~ a person (after tax and tip). It was well worth it and now I’m as porky as the pork chop they served. Definitely worth the experience and dollar.

Oh I have been such a spoiled girl these days! This last weekend, I was invited to a Sunday Supper. I jumped at the chance as I have been wanting to try this restaurant for a long time, and I definitely was not disappointed!
Sunday Suppers are a little bit different experience from a regular meal at the Playground, because you have to make a reservation ahead, and pay per meal without knowing what the menu will be. There was ten of us, and after THIRTEEN course, we all left happy and thoroughly satisfied!
Everything about Playground is all in the details, from the hand chipped block of ice in my partner-in-dine’s Old Fashioned to the subtle flavors in each dish. Now for this week’s menu:
1. Wild mushrooms with egg: These were absolutely fantastic! We were directed to mix in the partially cooked egg that was laid on top and then dig. And that we did!
2. Brussel Sprouts: These were the BEST I have ever had. Totally unreal. Roasted with yummy goodness and topped with radishes.
3.Corn break with Strawberry Butter: Perfect mix of savory and sweet. I will now have strawberry butter in my fridge all summer!
4.Butternut Squash Soup: Perfectly seasoned, smooth, and topped with little drops of heaven.
5. Fish course: Honestly I can’t remember what type it was, but to be honest this wasn’t my favorite.
6. House made pasta with duck. Normally duck can be a little greasy/​chewy, but this was perfectly seasoned and cooked and the pasta… perfection. Only wish I had more than a bite!
7.Pork Chop: Perfectly cooked and so tender. You could tell it had been brined.
8.Fried Chicken: Super good! Delicious sauce!
9.Braised Short Rib with Potato Purée and Sauce from Heaven: We are suckers for a braised short rib, and this one did not disappoint. Just pulled apart with a fork, as it should. Potatoes and sauce were delightful.
10. Cheese cake with Berries: I think there must have been orange zest in the cake, because it was very citrusy. And I mean that as a compliment! The graham cracker crust was buttery and sweet, and the berries a lovely, tart topping.
11. Sticky Toffee Pudding: The cutest little cake served on top of a decadent toffee sauce and accompanied by house made whip cream. My favorite of the two desserts. So. Freaking. Good!
The trick to the Sunday Supper is self control. You can’t eat as much as you want at each course or you won’t be able to finish! However, your waiter will box up whatever is left from each course, and then everyone gets to fight over the left overs at the end of the meal. #America
I definitely recommend the Playground. Can’t wait to go back!

I have no idea how Unilocal messed up and deleted my original review, and moved it to the Playground 2.0. I’ve been coming to Playground since the day they opened.
If you’re a fan of chef Jason Quinn (formerly from the Lime Truck) this place will not disappoint. The menu changes daily, but there are some items which lingers on the menu for a few weeks. I’ve yet to try something I don’t like… and I am a picky person. Its not cheap to eat here, but you get what you pay for… quality food, made fresh and from scratch, and every bite is awesome.
Chef Jason is a master with pork, and with vegetables. My favorite is his double cut maple pork chop, and I can eat the whole thing by myself (don’t judge me).
Also, if you’re not happy with something, speak up. Tell the wait staff or even Chef Jason you’re not happy. Don’t go posting your gripe on social media. If you behave like a social media punk, Jason will call you out on it.
The «Playground» burger used to be across the street at the 4^th Street Market, but now closed So if it is not on the menu, ask for it if you want it. They’ll only make it medium/​med rare, so if you like your beef dead, this is not the place. It is one of the few burgers I’ll eat in a swanky restaurant.
Try the water. Seriously its delicious (and free). They also support local microbrews, so sit back, relax and enjoy a long meal.
Open only for dinner service, and Parking is on the street and behind the building near the Yost theater. $ 0.75 per hour, but after 8 pm its free. Lastly if you’re going as a group, make reservations. The place is small, and seating is communal, and grabbing a coveted spot can take weeks.

The last time I came was couple years back and decided to come here again for my last min birthday dinner.
So we didn’t make a reservation. Came on a Friday night around 9:45 and still have to wait but only for around 15 min so it wasn’t bad.
Their menu changes daily depending on their supplies but some popular ones still stay the same like their maple glazed pork chop and pork belly buns. Another thing to know is that if you don’t like any of your dishes, you can always send them back and order something else (except Uncle Lou’s fried chicken cant be send back).
We ordered a Butternut Squash Steaks, Uncle Lou’s Fried Chicken, and the maple glazed pork chop.
Squash steak — four pieces of squash steaks top with Gorgonzola dolce (cheese), grapes, honey glazed walnuts, butternut purée, and sour honey. The cheese helped balanced the sweetness from the honey and the butternut purée. Grape is very sweet, good kind of sweet. Squash steaks are nicely grilled or pan fried on both side and the platting was also done very nicely.
Uncle Lou’s Fried Chicken — Comes with drums and thighs. They said they got this recipe from some other place. Sweet, sour and has this vinegar glaze on it. It’s a taste I’ve never had before and I actually don’t know how to describe it. It is very tasty but I can only handle two and it becomes too rich.
Maple Glazed Pork — Even better this time around! Their giant pork is nicely cook, very juicy and tender. The maple glazed on the outside is the best part! The outside glazed part is my favorite and you can dip the pork in the maple sauce if you ended up getting tired of the porky taste. Overall, this pork chop is not just surprisingly huge but also very tasty.
Food actually taste better than the last time I came. I really want to try their Sunday supper and I’ll for sure come back and try different things!

Came here for drinks one night and heard about the Sunday Supper! Well what is Sunday Supper… The Playground is closed on Mondays, so on Sunday nights they want to use up all the produce, meats, etc before they close for the entire day on Monday. The chefs make small plates (tapas) of their staple dishes at the Playground along with other dishes they choose to make that day.
Last night we had the following 13 dishes: they were all very fancy!
1. Cornbread with Strawberry Butter — Very Good. Loved butter!
2. Brussel Sprouts — Very flavorful
3. Pan Roasted Mushrooms w/​poached egg — Very tatsy
4. Butter Squash soup — This was amazing!
5. Rye bread with avocado spread — OK
6. Pasta — Good
7. Calamari — Not deep fried, very spicy but excellent
8. Potato texture like food — was good
9. Maple Glazed Pork Chops –Excellent
10. Uncle Lou’s Fried Chicken — Excellent
11. Short Ribs — Excellent
12. Cheesecake with Graham cracker crust Very good
13. Sticky Toffee Pudding — Yikes, worth the price alone. Sooooo Good!
Everything we tasted was really, really good! I loved the fact that you get to try so many different dishes and don’t get stuffed on just one item.
Everything is meant to be shared and is served Tapas style. You can choose from their wide variety of beers, mixed drinks or wine. We brought our own wine where corkage was free 99!
Service here was also outstanding. There was always someone roaming around to make sure that your needs were met.
Highly recommend the Supper Sunday. Just make sure you aren’t picky about what you like to eat… You don’t have a choice on Sundays! Comes out to $ 55 a person which includes gratuity and tax (Alcohol not included). Come in groups of 4 for the best portion ratios. Max 12 people.

Everything was phenom. A group of five of us shared about seven dishes: a bunch of different appetizers plus the fried chicken. The fried chicken is very vinegary, be forewarned. But it’s very tender and juicy. All of us agreed that our favorites were the brussels sprouts Caesar, and the beef tartar. Everything is so unique and different, including the drinks. We had a great time, and our server was great. We even got invites to 2.0. And the damage ended up being very reasonable! $ 40/​person! Highly recommend this place for a great dining experience.
Parking in the structure was fairly close and convenient — $ 4.

Pork belly buns, brussel sprouts, PEI mussels, and imperial wagyu, all topped with the Gentleman’s drink.
I don’t think there’s a reason for me to go into detail about the food here. It speaks for itself. One thing I might add, however, is that I think the mussels can go. There isn’t enough flavor locked into the tiny pieces that come out to make it worthwhile.
The gentleman’s drink cocktail is absolutely fantastic. Such deep notes all in a small little glass. Perfection.

Review for Sunday Supper on 1÷31÷16.
Sunday Supper is a 12 – 15 course omakase family style dinner. Reservations are only taken by phone and on a month-​by-​month basis. My party of 5 were really early for our reservations, about 25 minutes, but they offered to seat us down if we were okay with their side room. Upon being seated the hostess told us what we were in store for since it was all of our first time for Sunday Supper. Courses are well paced and you don’t have to wait too long in between.
Some of the first few courses were extremely salty, but the dishes that stood out were the cornbread, calamari, pork chop, and the fried chicken. The cornbread was the first dish that was served, really moist and delicious with the salted brown butter spread that came with it. When it was time for the 5^th course, we were told that we were getting shrimp but upon closer inspection it was squid. However it was a really good change of pace because 3 of the previous courses too salty. The calamari was tender and had a lot of acid. The fried chicken was really juicy and upon first bite a pool of vinegar juice squirts out. The pork chop was probably my favorite out of all the savory dishes because I love sweet and savory (I like the dip sausage into syrup). A huge brick of meat glazed and surrounded by a thick maple sauce.
The staff is dressed really casually so it took a while to determine who was there to serve us and who wasn’t. $ 55, includes tax and tip, per person. There was no bad dish but after doing some thinking (and math) each dish would have been about $ 20 each which is a little high considering the portions of most of the dishes.

Been hearing about the Playground for a couple of years and wanted to go for a while. So finally I came there with my boyfriend and his folks for Sunday Super a couple of Sundays ago. For all those who are interested on going to Sunday Super with your friends or family members, please call for reservations. I don’t think they take walk-​ins for Sunday Super. Including they don’t take reservations for 2 people because of the amount of food they will serve is more for a group of 4 or more people. Also another note, Sunday Super is a 13 course meal served tapas style, so it’s kind of ideal for sampling on-​and-​off entrees of the usual menu.
Décor/​Cleanliness
The décor of the place is hipster, even to the bathroom. The décor is industrial, modern and a touch of rustic. The place is clean (so you don’t need to worry if the floors were sticky or the utensils poorly washed).
Food
The food was amazing! Everything they served us was amazing. Memorable moments were the cornbread (made with love), the brussels sprouts, the maple glazed pork chop (think of pork chop covered with See’s Butterscotch pop in a syrup form), and the fried chicken (very hot and vingegaree).
Service
Service was excellent! When we first walked in the place, the restaurant was loud with people sharing a communal drink. At first I was a little worried that the place was too happening because of the company I was with. However, the servers assured us that the excitement would die down so we could enjoy our experience.
So already before we even gotten our meal started our experience already heighten by a lot because of the servers acknowledging our distress. I have to give service 5 star rating!
Overall Experience
I give this place 5 stars! I love, love, love this place and definitely would come back again to the Playground. I totally would recommend this to everyone! If you want to try something new, love great service and feel like you need to be at a happening spot, this place is for you.
Happy Eats Everyone!

I’ve came to Playground on two occasions– dinner on a regular night and Sunday Supper. Both were with large parties so I’ve been able to try many dishes here.
For Sunday Supper, it is a little difficult to get reservations, but a great value and experience. I believe you have to call on the first of the month and they only take reservations for the current month (obviously only on Sundays). You also have to prepay for the meal beforehand so make sure no one flakes! It is a minimum of 4 people since it is family style with a prefixed menu. It’s $ 40 per person (gratuity and tax not included in that price) and with our party of 6, we got to try 11 plates (2 were desserts). It was recommended by a friend to go with a party of 4 or 8 because the courses are set for 4 and they don’t double until you hit a party of 8. Our party of 6 probably received the same courses as a party of 4, which probably would still be enough for normal humans, but we were all fatasses so we were able to do another round of the small plates apps again.
Favorite dishes: Brussel sprouts, mushroom and polenta, maple glazed porkchop (that maple glaze is amazing), and the sticky toffee pudding (omg so rich and delicious).
Service was great and parking isn’t too bad on Sundays (free meter parking yay!).

Finally a restaurant that is comparable to the amazing restaurants in LA. The dishes here are creative, innovative, and of course delicious. The costumer service is to notch and to top it off… there policy is if you don’t like it, you don’t pay for it. And frankly there is nothing about this place not to like.
My favorite dishes are the yellow tail sashimi and the lamb ragu. The Ragu was amazing and unique. It was one of those memorable dishes you want to recreate but want even come close. The type of dish you want to go back for. These are the types of restaurants I really love and apreciate. I can’t wait to go back.