Sebastian's - The Kitchen Nightmare

Below is an email I sent to a local blogger that was looking for posts on Sebastian's Restaurant, pre and post Kitchen Nightmares.

I’ve been to Sebastian’s once, before Kitchen Nightmares had debuted. They had great salads to offer and it was really good.

I went to Sebastian’s tonight to join in the celebration of the restaurant being featured on Kitchen Nightmares. I’m a Toluca Lake resident, and am a huge supporter of local businesses. I was surprised that Sebastian’s had available seating for tonight, because it looked really packed inside, and I assumed that they would close off tonight to friends and family. I was both delighted and excited for the night. Unfortunately, the service and food was nothing to be excited or delighted about.

My date and I came in just as Kitchen Nightmares started. We arrived at 8:55pm and we’re seated at approximately 9:05pm. Our order was placed by 9:10 and from there we sat and watched the show from our table. I ordered the lobster and crabmeat ravioli, and my date the Shrimp “Nicky” pizza. By 10:00pm, the show had ended, and the only service we received was one refill on our water. The party to the right of us, was seated approximately 15 minutes after we had been seated. To our left, the party had been seated 5 minutes after them. All of us in parties of two.

In short, both parties received and finished their food before we were even served the complimentary appetizer that we were offered. I’m highly suspicious that the party to our left received the pizza that we had ordered, and the staff was rapidly back-pedaling to catch up. My date and I had set certain exit times if we had not received our food. Our appetizer arrived at 10:24, one minute shy of our walk-out time of 10:25. From there, we set 10:37 to receive our main dishes. The ravioli arrived (warm, on the verge of being cold) and the pizza followed ten minutes later.

All in all, the food was sub-par, the service was miserable and the experience brutal. I was so excited for this revamp, and now I’m left disappointed.

I was such a supporter.

- Mark