The Hart & The Hunter

Small plates, bit prices. But free dirt in the roasted veggies… Is that a thing?
Ps… The staff is awesome

Oh man! I kinda loved this place… and I’ll explain the «kinda» later. Came here with a friend for DineLA2016. The place is located inside a hotel. Don’t get lost, it’s right on the corner but it’s under the name of the Palihotel. Parking is funky on the street but they have a valet.
The FOOD:
I couldn’t get enough of the Biscuits and the pimiento cheese spread! OMG it was such a great pairing! This was my favorite appetizer by far. The Trout on toast was good too. You must get the Pork Collar! HEAVEN! It was so delicious and almost creamy. How do they do that?!? And the desserts were lovely as well. Their take on the beignets were good but what stole the show was the Vanilla Pudding! I want more…
I LOVE the ambiance! Country lodge meets Victorian South. Super romantic and a lovely date spot. It can get a bit loud but that’s the family feel of the place. There is a large family style country table in the middle of the small dining area that facilitates large groups and smaller ones around the ends. Which I think is a nice touch for this place.
So here’s the reason for the 4 star and not 5 star review: As great as our service was, it was rushed. We hadn’t even started on our second appetizer when they brought out and placed the main courses in front of us. Ok fine… we’ll get on it and rush through the Trout on Toast no biggie. But less than halfway through our entrees, the dessert was brought out and placed in front of us. One of the dishes had ice cream and it was already a little melted when it got to us. I wasn’t about to knock back the last few pork collar bites in a hurry and not enjoy the flavors. I felt unnecessarily rushed by the urgency of the kitchen to get their dishes to my table. :(It impacted the feeling we had of enjoying that southern comfort feel of the place.
Also my friend mentioned that he was disappointed in how things weren’t as Southern as he thought they might be: more spice in the shrimp and grits, a bit more buttery goodness with the pork collar… I disagreed and thought the food was impeccable. I’ll be going back again!

I came here for brunch with my girlfriend she’s has been wanting to an avocado toast. After looking at different restaurant we decided to come here and try it
This place is a really small place it’s inside the Pali Hotel in Melrose. But it’s really nice. The hostess told us it would be about 35, but we got sat in about 5 – 10.
We started off ordering mimosas plus side of this is that they have unlimited mimosas. So she ordered her Avocado Toast and I got their Breakfast Sandwich.
Their Breakfast Sandwich was delicious. The sandwich comes on sourdough, lettuce, tomatoes, pimento cheese, breakfast sausage, avocado and sunnyside egg. I really loved the tomatoes and the sausage.
I also tried the Avocado Toast and it was very very good. I would order it again also.
I would MosDef come back.

Okay, what started off shaping up to be a horrendous evening ended up being a pretty good experience, saved by some really good food!
So we arrive and the valet wants us to pre-​pay but he doesn’t have any change, so I spend 10 minutes wandering around first the hotel then the restaurant until I can find someone to give me change to pay the valet. Then, walking through the nondescript hotel lobby and into the restaurant (still looking for change), I feel like I just walked into some hotel diner. Now I’m really worried!
We finally get the valet sorted, and get seated, and our waitress informs us that it’s Dine LA, and they are only offering a set menu. Alarm bells are going off in my head! But we’re here, might as well give it a try.
The food starts arriving, and everything turns around for the better. Since we had such a limited range of choices, we decided to order both choices for each course. For starters, this was the trout crostini and the biscuits. The trout was good, piled very high with a lightly smoked trout with eggs and avocado. Good but not great. The biscuits … great! Not your typical, fluffy southern biscuits, they look a bit flat, but the taste was wonderful, and the home made pimento cheese was to die for! The thinly sliced country ham was also a really good compliment to the richness of the biscuits. We practically licked that plate!
For the main course, we had both the shrimp and grits and the pork collar. The shrimp and grits were a very nice rendition of this southern classic, and we especially liked the fresh, sliced shiitake mushrooms in the sauce, which gave an unusual umami to the dish. The pork collar was also nicely done, not over cooked and coated in some sort of glaze, served on top of what the menu said was barley, but we almost mistook for risotto. Of the two, I’d tip my hat to the shrimp and grits, but both were tasty.
Dessert was bread pudding and homemade donuts. The bread pudding was fabulous! Custardy, not at all dry, and laced with bananas and chocolate. Delicious! My wife loved their homemade donuts, little dough nuggets coated in sugar and served with ice cream.
The service was okay. From some of the other reviews, it looks like we were fortunate it wasn’t worse. Could have been more attentive, we had to wave our waitress down a couple of times, but they seemed pleasant enough.

Such a cute and classy place to eat inside the Pali Hotel. Love the atmosphere and usually the service is also very good and attentive.
Food is always on point. My favorite is their warm butter biscuits made to order with their honey butter. Also love their Idaho Trout avocado toast. So much flavors and so tasty!!!
Definitely one of my favorite brunch spots in LA!

Loooooove the biscuits. Fresh of the oven and delicious. The shrimp and grits is also good.
The service sucks. Bad.
Get it together.

Food is delicious, service could be better. I’m going to be optimistic and think that our waitress was just having an off day and not go on and on about all the things she did wrong (or didn’t do — which was also wrong). My friend said that the food was so good maybe it’s one of those places were they can afford to have snotty waitstaff. I told her that that cannot be an excuse. Delicious food must come with great service if they want repeat customers. Since this is my first time there and the food was memorable, I would go again in heart beat. But if at that second time I get the same type of service, it would be hard to convince me to go there let alone recommend the place to friends and family.
They say that the food comes out when it’s ready so they recommend you order and eat family style (share). Our waitress recommended their 1) biscuits so we put in an order while we per used the menu. Between the 3 of us, we ordered: 2) croque madame, 3) French toast bread pudding, 4) avocado toast, and 5) pork hash.
1) Biscuits ($ 10 for 3) come with honey butter, jam, and pimento cheese spread on a wooden board. They are delicious, but they are small, especially for $ 10 (which is about $ 3.33 each — a bit ridiculous if you think about it). But they were so good that I’d be easily suckered into ordering it again. The only issue I had with this is that it came out LAST. When we ordered it about 10 minutes before we even put our main dish order in.
2) Croque Madame ($ 14) is also delicious. This dish was the biggest portioned dish we got. I’m glad we shared because it’s very rich.
3) French Toast Bread Pudding ($ 13) is sooo good. I’d Coke back just for this dish! Must get!
4) The avocado toast is also delicious and also ridiculously priced at $ 7 for 1 thick slice of sourdough bread with avocado spread on it, salt, and tomato. And… I’d order it again. My wallet hates me.
5) The pork hash ($ 14) came out first and it was our first impression of what our meal was going to be like. It did not disappoint. It was a salty goodness that warned our tummies.
Overall for food: I’m really glad they recommended we share our dishes because with the exception of the French toast bread pudding and the avocado slice, I don’t think I would have wanted to eat any singular dish by myself. Aside from each dish being rich, even though I’d be loving what was in front of me, I’d be envious and wanting to stick my fork into the dishes others got.

Best things here are the biscuits and the trout. I could eat these forever.
The biscuits are perfectly flaky and taste of pure butter, but in the best way. Seasonally, they serve it with different things during the year. And the trout is just perfect. Love the pickles on top.

Came for their dineLA menu and had an overall great experience. For starters, we got the Smoked Trout and Butter Biscuits. I’m not a huge fan of fish, but the trout on top of the avocado toast was delicious! It didn’t taste too fishy which I liked, and the pickled onions were a great touch. The biscuts were BOMBBBB. They came out hot, fresh, super buttery, and it melted in my mouth. For the main course, we got the Shrimp and Grits and Grilled Pork Collar. The Shrimp and Grits were amazing, but the Grilled Pork Collar was the true star of the night. I’m usually not too fond of pork because it can easily taste dry, but the pork was perfectly cooked and it was so juicy! The dirty rice that came with the pork was also very delicious. I couldn’t stop eating it.
The only reason I took one star off is because of the service. To start off, our waitress brought out 2 biscuit dishes when we clearly ordered 1 biscuit and 1 trout. And then, when we were only halfway through our main course, the waitress brought out our dessert. We were clearly nowhere near finished with our main course. And when we told the waitress that we weren’t ready for our dessert, she looked at us like WE were the crazy ones!!! A simple apology would have sufficed, but the waitress left making us feel like we did something wrong for not being ready for the dessert… Not acceptable.

Who knew that The Hart & the Hunter was located in a hostel? I remember a couple of years ago when this hostel used to be a sore to look at. Now, it is completed remodeled and has a great restaurant located inside.
Since you cannot really tell that the Hart & the Hunter is located inside. When entering the front doors, go straight to the back and you will be there. The establishment is small with tightly fit tables and chairs next to each other. They offer communal dining so if you don’t mind sitting next to someone and getting to know them, it should not be a problem.
I came here for brunch so the brunch menu to me seemed small. Everything is made to be ordered tapas style. Sharing is caring right? The portion of the tapas are fairly small that I would say it would be good to share between two people. I ordered the butter biscuits and condiments, the french toast bread pudding and green salad. Of all of the three items, I found the french toast bread pudding to be the best. It had a crunchy crust top that was moist in the inside and paired with strawberries and whip cream. The butter biscuits were good eating plain or with the jam.
The service here was good. My friend and I came at a peak time for brunch so waiting for our times were expected. However, we did not have to wait long. We were seated fairly fast arriving at peak time so that is a plus.
The décor of the establishment reminded me of a lodge. You know. Old and musky. The chairs and tables looked as if they came from a cabin or so.
They offer outside seating.
Street parking.
All in all, I would say that I was pleasantly surprized with the Hart and the Hunter.

Amazing brunch, food is delicious. BUT. I could look the other way on grossly overcharging for *gasp* store brand tea bags, but not giving you more than a single one and refilling with hot water until you taste the paper bag is unacceptable anywhere. Those tea bags come out to 5 cents each. Ridiculous.

Really amazing brunch. But they gave us green tea bags from Pavillions. Wtf!?!
Brunch was solid. Avocado toast was huge and very good.
Too bad they don’t do poached eggs. But aside from the supermarket tea I would recommend this place.
We walked in at 1 and got seated right away. Parking in the area is always a challenge.

The Hart & The Hunter is too cool for school. We came for brunch and everyone was dressed up in their «cutest» outfits. Ultimately, the scene is a bunch of girls trying to outdo each other and judging each other.
The service was fine, but somewhat detached and a little slow. For food I got their breakfast sandwich, which was actually two open-​faced sandwiches, one with a whole bunch (maybe too much) pimento cheese, and the other with avocado, two awkwardly sized sausage patties, tomatoes and an egg. It was fine, but didn’t really blow me away.
Their biscuits were very small, very buttery and very overpriced.
They also have a bottomless mimosa option, but who doesn’t these days?

Service is okay. The wait for food to arrive was too long. We sat down and ordered shrimp n grits, biscuits n gravy, and pork hash. It took about 30 mins for the first dish to arrive and another 5 mins for the second and third. Because my girlfriends and I are sharing all 3 dishes so it was fine that everything didn’t come at once. If we didn’t share, then it would be awkward to finish my plate before others get theirs or wait until my food is cold to eat together.
On another note, shrimp and grits was really flavorful. Their dishes are on the smaller portions but it’s so rich you really shouldn’t eat more. Biscuits n gravy is so so. The gravy is lacking flavor but the biscuits are buttery and light. The pork hash was the most forgetable. Most of our hash was burnt and it was bland.
Overall, I would get shrimp and grits again but nothing else. Do make a reservation. For my money, BLD is much better tasting.

Really cute place to have brunch, love the ambiance and décor! I don’t know why but it reminds me of a place where someone would throw a bridal or baby shower. It’s small and intimate.
The food, however, was okay. Nothing was really special.
Biscuits were flaky and buttery, but this didn’t come out until we all finished our meals. What? Haha. The waiter even told us to order this to share BEFORE our meals came out.
French Toast — TOOOOO sweet. I definitely have a sweet tooth, but for french toast, this was completely overbearing. We only ate about a fourth of this because we couldn’t handle it anymore.
Pork Hash — Simple, nothing amazing.

Our hot server, Malina, put the heart in The Hart & The Hunter.
I was instantly attracted to everything here, not just her.
The visual stimulation started the moment we stepped inside the hotel and sat on the couch at the entrance, extended to the lobby lounge (which made me so relaxed that I was actually in no hurry to be seated for dinner), and hit the next level once the restaurant’s doors were opened. I appreciated the view of the kitchen accessible from our table, the mismatched china in front of us, the light blue wall tiles, and our server’s hair (which was so good-​looking that it erased all the images of man buns that I had seen earlier throughout the day). Oh, yeah, back to the décor…
I would describe it as casually classy. It’s quaint, but sexy and mixed with modern touches. The dining room is cozy, which some would call small, but it’s just right and almost feels like you’re in someone’s home. The menu may also appear compact as it’s displayed on 1 page, but it fits in well with their overall feel, and anything more would be unnecessary. It’s Southern influenced food in a boutique hotel (Palihotel) on Melrose. This is what we had:
BUTTER BISCUITS: their signature plate. We added ham for $ 3, but it was all about the jam! They also provide 2 other condiments, pimento cheese and honey butter. The biscuits are light and flaky, and tend to fall apart easily.
SHRIMP AND LOCAL GRITS: I’m not much of a grit expert, and 99% of what I know about them was learned from watching the movie My Cousin Vinny. There may be no such thing as «magic grits,» but these were creamy and the bacon bits, beer, and chili in them contributed to pulling off the trick of making me a fan (which worked out well since my friend isn’t into grits, so she let me have all of them).
MAC & CHEESE: excellently executed (like a true «Hart») with a nice crisp texture and plenty of melted cheese in the dish.
DESSERT: the item this night (it’s not listed on the menu) was explained by Malina to be an apple tart with Cheez-​Its used as the crust, and a splash of Dr. Pepper on top. It sounded unconventional but I was interested, plus it’s not like I was going to say no to her. The Cheez-​it taste was pretty pronounced (more so than the apple in my view), and the dish included a pile of whipped cream. It was definitely different, but something I’d probably only get once.
That may not have been the climax I was hoping for, but I definitely still left satisfied.
TL;DR: hot, yummy, well textured, and captivating — but enough about the server. The food was pretty good too.

This place was a little difficult to find only because it was tucked away in the Pali hotel, but it’s certainly quaint and cute.
First of all, it’s tiny! It’s a little little room and it’s so loud with bumping music. If it was at full capacity, I would be extra irritated due to people noise and music noise combined. Second of all, the hostess looked like she had something up her bum because she sat us in a weird right area enclosed by other people and when we asked to move to a bigger space (this place literally has nine tables, 6 small and maybe 3 larger ones for big parties), she made it seem like the biggest hassle when the restaurant was virtually empty except for the people around us. But we couldn’t hear each other and we were next to a wall! Maybe we’re picky… but this was at 2p and she was disgruntled that a larger party was coming. At 2p? And there are two other huge tables to accommodate. We were rather disturbed by this service.
Otherwise! Food was decent. I got the smoked trout plate and the bf got the pork hash which he thoroughly enjoyed. Smoked trout was a mash, so it wasn’t what I expected, but if you like that type of tuna salad type concoction, then it’s good. It’s not my favorite, but I enjoyed it for what it was. Lattes were good as well. However, we were both still hungry, so we dropped by bouchon! We wanted to get out of this loud place that didn’t like to serve us anyway!
Overall, it’s a novel experience. It’s very earthy and retro/​modern hipster, but it’s not at all impressive if you’re looking to eat at a good and cute place in the area. There are so many options, don’t be too set on the hart and the hunter unless you just don’t want to wait on republique’ line!

Really cool place, but the food was not good.
We tried several dishes at Sunday Brunch and didn’t care for any of them.
The biscuits were delivered to us burnt, so our sever, who was wonderful, apologized and took them away and off our check.
The trout was drenched in oil and just not very good.
The morning grains were not bad, but still just ok.
The iced lattes, were off too. I’m not exactly sure what it was, but they had a strong aftertaste, like soap.
Even with our not so great experience here, I’d like to give another try. They allow dogs on their patio which is nice.

I was Hunting for delicious brunch, and this place stole my H (e)art.
…yes, I am the champion of lame puns.
Superb Shrimp and Grits ($ 17)
Bombtastic Biscuits and Condiments ($ 10)
Perfect Pork Hash ($ 14)
Beautiful boutique hotel housing the café ($?)
…awful alliteration is another forte of mine.

This review is for their dineLA menu — 3 courses for $ 30.
APPETIZER
Smoked Bone Marrow — rich and delicious with a nice onion jam to counter balance the fatty goodness of the marrow
ENTREE
Shrimp and Grits — nice, deep flavors. 3 shrimp cooked well. The grits were very lumpy. The portion was fairly small for an entrée
DESSERT
Funnel Cake with Strawberry Ice Cream — the dough was extremely dry and lacked much flavor. The ice cream was just ice cream without anything remarkable. I’m very familiar with what a true funnel cake is like, and this is not it. It completely missed the mark.
Cornbread Strawberry Shortcake — again, the cake was very dry. There was nothing special about this dessert.
The service was efficient, but there was no real warmth or personality to our server. The menu was worth a try and seemed like it would be a good value, but with the small entrée portion and desserts that seemed like afterthoughts, I would not venture back.
parking — metered or free, limited residential parking