The Church Key

Really cool and hip atmosphere… But waited forever for our food. Barely any servers around to help with orders and questions. Really wanted to enjoy it but I probably won’t be back unless it’s for drinks which it what it seems more catered towards.

I finally paid Church Key a long awaited re-​visit. I used to come here frequently and had just gotten busy. I was so excited to be back, but unfortunately a few incidents disappointed me.
+ Tapioca crusted red snapper — not as great as it was before. I even compared the picture I took years ago to the most recent one and even presentation has gone down. The flavors weren’t all there– the crust, especially, was underwhelming.
+ They ran out of Skirt Steak!!! Why would you run out of your signature dishes — especially the only steak entrée you offer? :(We came here just for that…
+ Chicken Tikka Masala — we ordered this instead of the steak per our waiter. It’s really tasty, yes. But is it any better than the microwavable tikka masala from Trader Joe’s? No.
+ Service was mediocre and I remembered it to be phenomenal when I used to go… The restaurant wasn’t packed yet our waiter was not very attentive. We ordered our drinks first but didn’t get them until after we received our entrees. Our waiter pushed us to order donuts as if he was offering them complimentary. We were SO stuffed but he kept saying we had to had to had to try them. Even after saying no 5 times he says «aw come on you’ll try em, ok?» And walked away… served them, then charged us. So bizarre.
+ THAT chicken liver parfait though. This dish alone is what the 3 stars are for.

We had a team dinner here for the second time and they definitely did not disappoint. The waiter was friendly and good menu recommendations. We ended up starting dinner during the happy hour which ended at 7 and had all the apps on this menu. They were great for sharing. The pork belly in a spicy sauce and the pea hummus were stand out. I had the Snapper over crispy sushi rice which was DELICIOUS!
We had a great dinner and will definitely go back to enjoy again.

This place is just awesome!
First off the bar is just amazing. Its a mixology bar so all the cocktails are made from scratch and their Liquid Chefs are amazing.
And then you try their food. (you have to make sure you come on the busier night such as Thursday, Friday and Saturday. They have very creative Dim Sum carts with New American small plates. its truly fantastic.
Don’t forget to try the donuts very amazing
Till next time

Loved this place! Will definitely be back, enjoyed Heirloom Tomato Peach Burrata salad and Great Atmosphere Fun Dim Sum cart comes around every 15 minutes to nibble on tasty little bites like mushroom egg rolls, sambusa and dumplings! Awesome waitstaff I had the Jadori Chicken while my friend enjoyed the huge Church Burger, Halibut and Snapper dishes, all were deeeeelish!
If I did nit have a cavity I did when I left after savoring the best donut i have ever tasted… yes a donut filled with caramel and topped with a taste of maple buttery heaven!

WORST MANAGER EVER!
I write this review because I really hope they change management. I love this place but there is a real issue there. That’s probably why the place is always empty.
When there is an issue with a place I like I usually don’t go to Unilocal first, I write to the manager to give them a chance to improve.
That’s what I did. I took the time to write to Joseph but he NEVER replied to me…
I’m not going to go into details but basically they’d a real issue with a bartender (and a service issue in general). The manager isn’t doing his job. Last time a homeless guy was harassing the clients for a while and I PERSONALLY had to kick him out to have a nice diner. NO ONE did anything! WHERE WAS THE MANAGER!??

Went on a Monday night — for the record, not a good night to go. Note that the menu on Monday is completely different; it’s the CKFC menu which has about 6 things and NO dim sum cart. Also, I’m not sure they have a happy hour on Mondays since the bartender never handed me a HH menu (also, he took FOREVER to take our drink order). I had the Pink Lips — it was only ok because you can’t taste the Grey Goose La Poire very well.
We then moved from the bar to a table and ordered the CKFC (good), brussels sprout caesar (ok), pierogies without the caviar because they were out! (good but could’ve been better), and the snapper which was actually the best dish we had. Finally, we had the phenomenal brioche donuts with a milkshake that tasted like elmer’s glue. Stick to the donuts.
The staff was super nice and professional — no complaints about the service. All in all, its not a bad place to go, it’s just not a great place either.

Did I have the best steak of my life here? Yes.
Was the chimichurri sauce bomb dot com? Yells heah.
Was sitting at the bar a great idea because the bartender was fully amazing and hooked us up? Yessir.
Have I dreamt about their donuts? Yes please.
Do they need to up their valet game and accept more than just cash? Duh (disappointing, I had to walk at least half a mile to find the nearest ATM). I docked a star just because of this.
Was the ambiance top notch? Fur sure… very LA, very cool, loved it.

Nice ambiance and good service. Food was just OK; tried the bone marrow (3.5 stars) and pasta (2.5÷5 stars). Drinks were tasty and I found the names hilarious («Going down UnHer»).
Utensils were dirty though so not sure if I’d go back.

I came here a while back when dineLA was still going on but finally had the time to write a review.
S E R V I C E
Hostess was very sweet and seated us promptly as there were only a few tables that afternoon. Our waiter was attentive and explained to us what was on the menu.
F O O D
Dumplings: they looked like big meatballs but
creamy and soft. Under all that cream you
can see a lot of the oils but it doesn’t affect
the dish at all.
Brioche Donut: I still cannot get over how good
these were and I still daydream about these!
It was sweet but not unbearably sweet to
where you don’t want to eat it anymore. You
definitely should not skip out on dessert!

Came here for brunch, and was pleasantly surprised by this place.
To start of, they do have valet parking, since that area can be a mess trying to find street parking. So if you don’t find any street parking after a couple passes around the restaurant, you can at least do valet.
The restaurant is surprisingly large. I’m a big fan of their décor. Very modern, artistic, LA-​ish style. The service was pretty good overall. No complaints there.
For the brunch menu, they do have bottomless mimosa’s for $ 15, so you can definitely take advantage of that. The food was pretty good overall. Had the Croque Madame, and tried the French Toast. Both were delicious. The portions were not very big tho, and the meal is definitely on the pricey end. But you expect that from a place like this. So if that’s ok with you, then you’re likely to be fine with this place.
Overall, great brunch spot in WeHo. Will have to come back to try their dinner menu!

Came here yesterday for a friend’s Bday gathering. Looking at the Unilocal reviews I expected bad service and ok food. I was surprised by the exceptional service and excellent food. I ordered:
DRINK = Skinny dipping (vodka, watermelon, cucumber, and mint)
FOOD = butter milk and pickled-​brined fried chicken, BBQ baby back rib, pulled beef brisket, and deviled pickled eggs
DESSERT = Brioche Donuts (brown butter glaze/​cinnamon Carmel)
Homework drink was a perfection mixture of its ingredients and was very tasty. The fried chicken OMG delicious. The chicken was fried like battered fish, which is different, but the pickled-​brined sauce made it amazing. The baby back ribbed was delicious. The meat literally fell off the bone and the sauces matched it well. The beef brisket was amazing also. I was very surprised at home all these BBQ dishes were this good. The deviled pickled eggs were great as well. The eggs were pickled so much to distaste, they simply had a hint of pickle to them and the white egg yoke was red from being pickled.
The desert brioche donuts was great. Just a load sugar at the end of a great meal. It came with a sort of caramel milkshake/​milk marmalade topping you could splash on the donut.
All-​in-​all. Great service, damn good food, excellent happy hour, drinks, and I will definitely be back!

Tried Church Key for a Sunday brunch. Would highly recommend for a comfortable brunch atmosphere with delicious, though slightly higher-​end priced food. Make a reservation and prepare $ 8 cash for valet parking right out front.
The food was delicious. I highly recommend the biscuits & gravy and also enjoyed the «El Chuy» burrito and chilaquiles. They also have amazingly crispy «gratin» fries for those looking for a good side to add. The real MUST HAVE here is the brioche donut. Listen to the reviews and ORDER IT, you won’t regret it.
Bottomless mimosas are $ 13, but if you’re looking to drink here, be prepared to pay $ 15 – 18 for a cocktail.
The loss of one star is largely due to the strange service experience we had while dining here. Our server was nice, but very absent and hard to grab the attention of. We spent a good 20 – 30 minutes between handing off the check to finally receiving it. He also messed up the charges (we had multiple cards on the tab) and we had to spend some time trying to flag him down to explain it, which put quite the damper on what generally was a good experience.
And on a strange but final note to management. a bit of ceiling fell into my water. I fully understand the vintage look, but not sure if real vintage ceiling paint in the food would be appreciated.
All in all, would recommend to friends looking for a semi-​upscale place in the area to try out.

PARKING: If you arriving around a busy meal time and don’t find parking on the street within 10 minutes you’re better off using the valet services, if you can. Valet service for Church Key in the evening is $ 8 and $ 7 for Eveleigh next door.
ATMOSPHERE: SUCH a homey place. From the worn out white paint on the brick walls to the long draping curtains along the walls, this place is every bit homey and welcoming. The décor around the restaurant are reminiscent of a house. They have book cases scattered around the restaurant with books and little trinkets. And while it feels like home, the chandeliers add a touch of glamour and chicness (is that even a word? haha)
SERVICE: WONDERFUL SERVICE! Servers were so attentive and kind. And because they constantly have the dim sum carts roaming around, you’re always taken care of. If not by your own waiter but someone else who works there.
FOOD: Came here for the dineLA menu but didn’t even get to try it because we went cray with the dim sum carts and got so full off of the little dishes. We tried the shrimp ceviche, chicken sliders, the seasoned popcorn, the sashimi, the chickpea fries, and the seasoned chicaron. We also ordered from the happy hour menu: the beef brisket toast, the devilled eggs, the fried chicken with honey butter sauce and from the drink menu: Skinny dippin.
Honestly, I think we had more dishes from the dim sum carts but I just can’t remember what we had. But all I know is that everything was just soooooo delicious! Each dish was packed with so much flavor and the flavors were just so interesting and unexpected. My favorites were the beef brisket toast, the seasoned popcorn, and the shrimp ceviche.
OH! and we tried the brioche donuts! YUM! It’s definitely a must try if you eat here. Even if you’re full, MAKE ROOM FOR THE DONUTS! they were warm and soft and lightly sweetened. It was just a perfect way to end the meal.
Will be back! :)

I came here for dinela.
i’m not sure if they have valet? I parked across the street and just jaywalked over. (if a cop is reading this, by jaywalk, i meant i went to the pedestrian crossing and waited for the light to turn to «walk» and walked at a decent pace to get to the other side) no crime was commit here.
anyways, we were seated very quickly. but then again, we got dinner at like 6pm. it was kinda empty when we arrived, but very packed when we were about to leave.
i know the Unilocal descriptions keeps saying its a cocktail bar and american, and for the most part, i do agree… but this place is also asian fusion. why you ask? well, they have a mother effing «dim sum» cart that comes around every 15 mins. and its not that ordinary dim sum you’re thinking of. its interesting fusion dishes.
so for dinela, we got to try the…
1. Ricotta gnudi dumplings
2.Chicken liver parfait with toasted brioche
3.Grilled Berkshire pork loin with xo Brussels sprouts
4.Tapioca crusted Tai snapper with green papaya salad and nuoc sauce
5.Liquid Nitrogen frozen peach vodka Popsicles
6.Brioche donuts with brown butter glaze.
7. Orange Creamsicle bombe
the best item was the chicken liver parfait. it went really well with the warm toasted brioche.
the only item we got off the dim sum carts were the liquid nitrogen frozen peach vodka Popsicle… yes they bring a little cart around and dip the liquid vodka drink into liquid nitrogen to flash freeze it. it was something for the mouth and eyes to feast on. as for the entrée, if you like fish sauce, i’d recommend getting the tai fish.
the brioche donuts was the better dessert out of the two.
all in all, i’d come back to this place to check out the bar area.
and snack on some dim sum.

The Church Key gets a 3.4 stars from me because the beginning of our meals were amazing but when my friend and I got our entrees we were both left with very vinegary after taste. It was almost inedible even at our drunk state!
The good stuff:
Décor was amazing, big beautiful high ceiling. later as i walked towards the restroom I realized they were mimicking the feeling of being in New York with the old school telephone stand and graffiti art. Bringing Ny to LA how clever!
I like the idea of high class dim sum where they have people rolling around in a cart full of dim sum goodies and they stamp your paper just like they do in SGV, the difference might just be instead of a $ 2 dollar dim sum dish its actually prob worth like $ 5 for a small plate.
Our fave of the night was the speciality cocktails and the appetizers!
OSOSKY’S POTATO PIEROGIES
Apple Butter /​Aged Gouda /​Crème Fraîche /​Chives– this was so perfect I almost licked it clean!
Dislike of the night:
hostess were in a rush and came off a bit rude.
«we will seat you when you are called» in a very stern attitude.
— but its 9pm and thats our reservation time…
Our entrees were both a fail
My friend had the skirt steak and it came out like little pieces of chicken wings.
my dish looked really beautiful to start and frankly the top of my dish tasted decently good but was completely over power by the bottom drenched with vinegar. I thought it was just my dish that tasted like that but my friend steak had the same issues?
Maybe there were some hidden innuendo regarding the strong vinegar taste that I had no idea about?

DineLA is in full effect. This is restaurant number 2 for me and what an experience it was. San Francisco’s very own State Bird Provision meets Los Angeles in Church Keys very own dim sum style of serving up a very broad eclectic mix of new American cuisine. The actual space has a very industrial feel to it as the entire building including its ceiling is made of brick providing both versatility and durability.
Our reservation for 8:30pm was delayed due to over booking by 45 min. That would have been ok if our blonde haired host was more friendly. Not to worry, Rob our amazing bartender and President of Church Key took care us by comp’g a round of drinks and a couple of small nibbles while we waited. Thanks Rob pleasure meeting you!
We decided to stay with the DineLA preset menu which gave us a great variety of options. For our main dish we had the Tapioca Crusted Tai Snapper and the Judori Chicken «Tikka Masala». Both dishes were amazing but the snapper was hands the best dish of the night. For desert we had the mouth watering signature brioche donut with peppermint milk shake and the orange creamsicle delight.
I will definitely be returning Church Key long after DineLA passes. You should join me!

I’ve heard good things about this place, especially the brunch, dim sum cart, and the brioche donuts, so my friend and I went here for Sunday brunch.
We came around 12 PM with no reservations, but we were seated right away. Service came by quick to ask us for drinks, but took a while to bring us the drinks. Throughout the entire meal, the service was very. blank, for a lack of a better word. Nothing bad, just no personality or friendliness. It looked like none of the staff wanted to be there working, haha.
Anyways we had mimosas! $ 14 for bottomless. They were pretty strong. I only had about 3, my friend had 6, and he got buzzzzy. I ordered the eggs benedict and decided to splurge by adding the crab cakes. My friend got a burger with fries. The eggs benedict were not that great, and my friend’s burger was okay, nothing special. However the fries was a surprise; it seems like they get the potato, slice them up real thin, layer the slices, and cut them into rectangles which make them look like huge steak fries. Super good texture and they were fried to perfection.
We ended the meal with the brioche donuts, which was served with a small cup of a peppermint mocha ice blended. It was good to have the ice blended, as it cleaned the palate. The brioche was served warm, and it was good, but a too much on the oily end. Freshly fried, of course! it was pretty heavy and were of regular size, and they served 3 of them that was shared between us two. My oh my.
This brunch was prettttyyy expensive. The mimosas, 2 dishes, and the donuts came out to $ 99, before our tip. I wouldn’t mind if the food was great… but it was not, to me. Also I was disappointed that the dim sum cart was not available the time we went. Sorry, not a fan!

I was looking for a brunch place to start my birthday celebration at and being that it was for my birthday, I wanted to make sure they served bottomless mimosas. Being that it is also for my birthday (meaning. I’m getting old and takes longer to recoup) I wanted to find bottomless mimosas on a Saturday! SO thankful and glad I found The Church Key.
I called a few days prior the weekend to ensure I could reserve the spot for my friends and I’s shaninagans. I was so excited! The place was chill and not crowded so it felt like we had reserved the whole place for ourselves, which was definitely very nice. The mimosas quickly started to get poured and our glasses were never really empty (love it!!). I ordered the deep fried french toast which was outstanding! It was nice and crispy! Tasted amazing! The mint was a nice touch to the crunchy and sweet french toast ($ 16). The serving portion was a tad bit small but quality over quantity for sure! The service was friendly and attentive. They never rushed us even though we stayed there for a well over 3 hours haha. In the end, we all shared the brioche donuts. They were good but not as great as I expected.
This place is super awesome! Loved their friendly customer service and their mimosas sure did their job. I took a nap on my way back home and had a memorable birthday brunch for sure.
Tip:
* Bottomless from 10am-​3pm $ 13!
* They have valet parking. We were able to find metered parking across the street.
#95/​2015

Interesting piece of info: This restaurant competed in Bravo TV’s Best New Restaurant. I haven’t tried the dinner yet, but this review is for their brunch. The restaurant is so bright and spacious, and while I expected a wait on a Sunday morning, there were still tables open. The seating hostess and our waitress were both friendly and attentive. We were able to hang out and indulge in our bottomless mimosas ($ 13) without feeling rushed. The mimosas are premixed and they come around with the carafe to refill your glass.
All 8 of us genuinely enjoyed our meals. I indulged in the Toad in The Hole «Croque Madame». It was fantastic! The dish consisted of a nice thick slice of brioche with 2 beautifully runny eggs inside, a bit of melted cheese on top, gruyère fondue and crumbled pieces of smoked bacon. Its a hearty dish that is worth every bite. The runny yolk brought everything together. Another favorite was the El Chuy Burrito. This huge burrito was filled with eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes and smothered in a guajillo sauce. Needless to say, we all left full and happy. I would love to return at night for the dim sum carts.