We Ate at Netflix’s New Restaurant—So You Don’t Have To

“Welcome to Netflix Bites,” our waiter, sporting a black apron with a red Netflix logo, greets us, “where we invite you to share food and not passwords.”

This little joke elicits a number of groans and utterances of “too soon” from my table at Netflix’s new dining experience. When Netflix first announced their new Netflix Bites installation, opening kitty corner to Los Angeles’ historic Farmers Market and The Grove, fans spread the same line all over social media. If Netflix is cracking down on password sharing, would they also slap your hand if you tried to give your date a bite of your meatloaf?

The answer is no: Netflix Bites is somewhat of a family-style dining experience. But the restaurant is trying desperately to be in on the joke when it comes to the Netflix backlash—while also cushioning you with Netflix-themed pillows and drink coasters. If you’re willing to pay over $100 per person—take a look at the menu here—you’ll also get to witness that self-deprecating humor from the nearly $200 billion company.

The Daily Beast’s Obsessed was invited to a preview night for Netflix Bites in Los Angeles, where we tried a number of dishes from celebrity chefs featured on Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend, Chef’s Table, and Drink Masters. Even some contestants from Nailed It!, a series where terrible home bakers fumble at recreating edible masterpieces, appear on the menu. (I know it’s not a Netflix Original, but what this menu was missing was some names from The Great British Baking Show. Give us Paul and Prue!)

The Netflix Bites “limited run” pop-up—which operates out of the Short Stories Hotel—opened on June 30. There’s no official schedule, but the restaurant is slated to stay open until at least August. It’s already booked solid for quite a while; in fact, reservations were nearly full before the company even released the menu. As of this writing, there are no reservations available at all for the restaurant’s two-month run.

Is the hype worth the hefty price tag? And is Netflix Bites good enough to hope that it becomes more than this one-time-only opportunity?

No and no, sadly. Although the dishes are tasty, you’d have a much better time navigating the touristy crowds of The Original Farmers Market to grab some grub than sitting down at the way-too-high-concept Netflix restaurant. Still, if you’re still hellbent on going—you snagged one of those coveted reservations, and you’re going, goddammit!—let’s dig into what you should and shouldn’t order.

The Netflix Bites preview event was a four course pre-set menu. Before dinner, there was a happy hour, where waiters walked around with platters of tiny bites of menu offerings like lamb ribs (tender and tangy and delicious, worth the $25), Japanese fried chicken (wonderfully crisp; again, worth the $17), and roasted cauliflower with Tahini sauce (a bit bland, definitely overpriced at $17). We also got to try a number of cocktails, like the Cornbread Old Fashioned, which tasted like an average Old Fashioned, and Everything But the Alley Cat, a fun frozen rum drink with a side of plantains. Drinks range from $18 to $22. Skip the Elderflower & Freshly Cut Green Grass Spritz. I was intrigued, but it’s a bit too true to its name—in the fact that it tasted exactly like grass.

Netflix exec Ted Sarandos showed up to seemingly eat one lamb rib and fire up one pizza before ducking out, and the celebrity chefs whose food we were about to eat made some quick statements. We were then seated at our communal dining table. (It’s unclear if Netflix Bites plans to use this communal dining set-up when it opens to the public.) While my new friends and I had a blast trying out barbecue and honey cake together, I’m not sure I would pay such steep prices to dine next to strangers.

We began the meal with two seafood dishes as appetizers—though, on the actual menu, they’re both billed as “big bites.” First came Curtis Stone’s Iron Chef-inspired dish, the Whole Dungeness Crab Curry served with finger limes, crispy shallots, and garlic. Though delicious and fun to crack open, at $65, this not-so-filling, small “big bite” is missable. As was its counterpart, Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend star Ming Tsai’s Smoked Black Cod with grilled Koshihikari onigiri and soy-yuzu syrup, which will run diners $52. The cod was delicious, even better with that delectable crispy rice, but certainly wasn’t filling enough to satisfy me. (Our table of six people received two of each dish.)

‘Is It Cake, Too?’ Is a New Low for Humanity—or at Least for Reality TV

As we ate, Tsai came to visit us with a gift: some mushroom bing, topped with freshly grated truffle. This was one of the best dishes of the evening, though we were only given four pieces to split amongst six people—Netflix has to work on the sharing aspect here, too—which was not on our menu. It is, thankfully, on the official Netflix Bites menu. At $27, you should definitely squeeze this into your meal.

Then it was time for course two, one of the best courses of the night: Chef’s Table: BBQ star Rodney Scott’s Pulled Whole Hog with collards and ribs. Again, we were only served four ribs, so it was tricky to split them up. Though I did not try a rib, the pulled hog served on fresh white bread, dolloped with spicy vinegar sauce and crunchy-soft collard greens, did the trick. I was hooked. If you have a reservation, it might benefit you to only order this $46 dish as a meal split between two people. That and the mushroom bings—those are enough to make up a whole meal.

Our third course had two offerings: Chef’s Table star Dominique Crenn’s Roasted Savoy Cabbage with smoked creme fraiche, sauerkraut, and pickled mustard seeds, as well as Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern’s dish, My Grandmother’s Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and beef gravy. Both plates were tasty but small, considering the $29 and $32 price tag, respectively. James Beard-winning celebrity chefs obviously merit high prices, but the neon-lit, colorful Netflix experience definitely feels more casual, leading to a bit of sticker shock.

Dessert consisted of one huge winner and the silliest dish of the night. Nadiya’s Time to Eat host Nadiya Hussain’s honey cake with salted hazelnuts is a total melt-in-your-mouth delicacy. It’s one of those rare desserts that is good enough to make an appetite for after any completely filling meal and, although it’s a pricey $17, I’d order an entire cake if I could. Then there’s the Nailed It! make-it-yourself dessert, a $22 tiny chocolate dessert with pipettes that allow you to give plating a shot. If I wanted to make my own dessert and had $22 to do so, I’d be heading to Trader Joe’s for some sugar and flour. Skip this one.

Netflix has had success with immersive experiences involving Bridgerton and Stranger Things in the past. But the company doesn’t seem to be ready to make the foray into the world of fine dining, where their guests—who will be paying Michelin-star prices for food from very famous, award-winning chefs—will be greeted with pink lemon pillows that look like children’s arcade prizes, and a giant pizza oven adorned with the Netflix logo. Netflix Bites doesn’t feel like a date night spot, nor a place to taste the dishes of Iron Chefs—it feels like a tourist trap. The restaurant feels like Applebee’s got a Netflix sponsorship.

Ironically, Netflix Bites is just down the street from the Writers Guild of America West headquarters. (It is also a hop, skip, and a jump away from the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures—maybe Netflix can invite some AMPAS members for dinner to convince them to finally award the streamer with a Best Picture win.) As the WGA strike continues, with writers negotiating for livable wages while studios profit off of content without paying their workers residuals, it feels somewhat cruel and ironic for Netflix to try to rake in more dough (no pun intended, though I missed out on the pizza) right down the street from the people they are screwing out of livable wages. But, as Marie Antoinette famously said (or didn’t), “Let them eat honey cake!”

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