Ox & Son

Yum! Located in the same cute Santa Monica neighborhood as a bunch of other restaurants and shops, Ox & Son has low key been on my list for a while now. Came here for dinner with a Blackboard Eats deal (30% off and free glasses of sparkling wine!), we left stuffed to the brim.
FOOD:
— beef tartar — probably the most interesting presentation of beef tartar I’ve ever seen. Flavor was good, we never really figured out what the sauces were, and had plenty of bread triangles to pair with it. Texture was different, less chopped.
— kitchen sink salad — this really did have a ton of ingredients in it! Fresh, loved the dressing and flavors were really good and also different depending which bite you got.
— duck and ramp risotto — mix this up so you get all the duck and duck juices at the bottom of the bowl. Creamy and flavorful, yum!
— ham and corn griddle cake — this was VERY sweet — the honey drizzled on top really made this more dessertlike than anything. Eating the griddle cake with the ham helped to cut the sweetness, but still a bit overpowering.
— soft shell crab — I loved this! Went so great with the purée and sauce and fresh veggies.
— bbq pork ribs — one of their specials, pork was tender, sauce was good but nothing special. Fries were yum and so was the coleslaw
— coconut and jasmine black rice — this was very interesting! Very flavorful and the rice is black as ink so visually really pretty as well.
SERVICE:
So friendly and great! The hostess was awesome, helped us take a billion pictures and even posed us in front of the restaurant. Our server was friendly and knowledgeable and food came out quickly but was paced out well.
VENUE/​PARKING:
A pretty small space. The current configuration is apparently new and the servers had a hard time squeezing between the chairs and tables, lots of bumping and swerving. Bathrooms are nice and clean and have upscale soap and lotion. Valet is available, but street parking was pretty easy to find nearby.
Foodwise, I think I would give Ox & Son 3 – 3.5 stars. but service was so friendly and great, bumps it up for me every time!

This is the BEST place ever!
We always come here for brunch celebration.
The staff is incredible super nice, caring, always coming to check if we need something.
The food is incredible, funky cool combinations.
I love the avocado toast and I always order it with a sunny side egg. My husband loves the bacon, bourbon pancake, they have bottomless mimosas. The food is clean and fresh.
Also the first time I came here I was preggo and I went into labor a few hours later just a few days away my due date.
Prices are good!
The atmosphere is really nice, good looking people all ages. They have been kid friendly with us.

Located along wistful boutique-​filled part of Montana, Ox & Son is a casual yet fancy restaurant with great food and presentation.
Came for Sunday brunch — bit of a wait for indoor tables, but they had plentiful outdoor as well as bar seating (it was a dreary, cloudy day). Servers here are awesome and fun to talk to; we sat at the bar so it was easy to bounce in and out of conversation with them. Off the brunch menu, we ordered the Ox & Son Benedict and the Protein Scramble. The benedict was pretty tasty and was presented well — the color scheme will be different from what you’d expect given they use charred leek hollandaise and black bread. Still awesome, esp. with the nimble-​sized fried potatoes. The Protein Scramble received good feedback as well and came with some sizable chunks of chicken upon a bed of lentils, egg whites, and goat cheese.
The drinks here are great as well — they put in lots of fruit as well, making it quite colorful. A good place for brunch in Santa Monica!

Jumped through so many hoops just to make brunch reservations for a party of 8. I had to send in a copy of my credit card and my license and pre-​buy a certain amount. It was so stressful setting it all up and then begging my friends to arrive precisely on time so that they wouldn’t cancel our table and give away my deposit.
Then my party showed up — there were plenty of tables, no one had pre authorized my card, no one knew who got the email with my license. Oh boy. But we were seated and served immediately.
The staff were friendly, the seats were comfy, and the food was kind of forgettable. We were excited for certain dishes that I can’t even remember — because no one can remember them. The mimosas were flowing through and service was fairly attentive. We also got overcharged for a few things and it took some time to straighten out. Staff were all nice about it and since it wasn’t crowded we were not in a hurry to gtfo.
Bottom line — forgettable food, well-​intentioned staff, comfy place, probably paid too much. Average all across board for brunch — I wouldn’t completely dissuade you from going but you won’t be blown away.

Came for dinner without a reservation at 8 PM on a Wednesday and our party of three was seated immediately. To start off, we enjoyed the cocktails, especially the Champagne Sangria which comes in a beautiful tall glass with fresh fruit. We shared dishes family style and they came out when ready. The dishes we ordered were: Chicken Fried Duck Confit, Grilled Octopus, Sticky Braised Pork, and Charred Brussel Sprouts & Carrots! Everything was delicious… We were too stuffed for dessert but I want to try the homemade ice cream dessert next time (you pick 3 of the available flavors to try).

Amazing food, service and most of all the energy! I love the Malinandgoetz in the restroom makes it perfect and homey

There’s many things to love, and not love, about Ox & Son’s Brunch
Love:
— Banh Mi bowl was fresh Vietnamese flavors and textures, blended in a way I haven’t had before. You mainly taste the chewy black rice, egg yolk, and sweet savory Lemongrass sausage, accented by the various pickled veggies. Highly recommended.
— Porcelain cows that spit cream out of their mouths for your coffee
— Bacon-​bourbon pancakes is a great execution of savory sweet, with little nibble-​balls of bacon in the pancake
Don’t Love:
— Hipster-​pleasing bacon flavor aside, pancakes were pretty ho-​hum (no crisp caramelization on the cook, somewhat soggy)
— French toast under performed, could have been from Denny’s or IHOP
— Soju-​based Bloody Mary tasted like dilute tomato juice
The beet salad was aight (but who orders beet salad for brunch?)
Could’ve been a case of poor ordering, but didn’t love it as much as I had hoped I would.

I went here because of Blackboard Eats and it was a good experience. The pork chop was my favorite. It was cooked to perfection. We shared a bunch of appetizers. The grilled octopus was excellent as well as the ham and corn griddle cake was over the top. One of the few complaints would be the Brussels Sprouts we way on the dry side but it was one generous portion (too bad as they could have been better). A little on the pricey side but the quality is good. It is definitely worth a try.

One of the more disappointing dining experiences I’ve had in some time. The service was great — enough to get me to go back someday perhaps. And the wine and beer lists are fantastic as well. But the food, especially for the price (as so many others have mentioned), is ridiculously mediocre.
I have zero experience in the culinary arts and even *I* could identify several rookie mistakes in what I ordered. The avocado toast was pretty good, but here’s the thing — parsley is a garnish. When you add it into a dish, even a little bit, its bitter taste overwhelms everything else. Come on, man! The other two plates I ordered suffered a similar fate. The charred Brussels sprouts weren’t bad, but again — the apple cider gastrique was so strong that it overpowered the dish and you couldn’t taste anything else. Same goes for the sticky braised pork cheeks — the black vinegar glaze is so pungent that all you notice is the texture of the meat, you might as well not include other ingredients at all.
There’s definitely a lot of drive behind Chef Miller’s cooking, and that much is admirable. But food like this should be nuanced and detailed and complex and so many other things that make dining so exhilarating. And the food here is the equivalent of the kid that pours Sriracha on everything because he likes it, and the details are drowned as a result.

Came here for a late brunch with the man this past weekend and we both left with smiles and very full stomachs. Maybe a little tipsy too ;)
Off the brunch menu:
–Tomato braised eggs and chickpeas: Simple dish but full of flavor! Highly recommend
–Chocolate bacon bourbon pancakes: I’m sure I had most of you at bacon lol. man approved and he normally isn’t too crazy about sweets
–Ox french toast: AVOCADO HONEY!!! So effing good!
–Charred brussel sprouts and carrots: Must order side dish! That apple gastrique will warm up your soul
–Leo Pascual Bloody Mary (without the bacon): YES! I was a little afraid of this since it has soju (Korean vodka) and I don’t mix well with soju but could barely taste it and perfectly spicy
–Bloody Bull: My man really enjoyed this one. probably cause of the beef broth lol interesting concept
Only comment. it’s a tad bit expensive! Everything is $ 15+.even the basic tomato dish was like $ 16 but it’s ok since everything was so delicious
This place is tucked in the more older parts of SM and I love it! Very chill and laid back atmosphere but still got that edge. Their lunch and dinner menu look amazing. oh and they had a pretty killer beer list and we all know I love a good brewski so I’ll be back soon!

Went there for dinner and was underwhelmed.
The hostesses were wonderful but the waiter was not. He had an attitude when I sent back my salad that had raw bacon on it.
Apparently, it’s an artisanal way of eating the bacon as I was told.
Well, I don’t eat my bacon raw
That should be noted on the menu.

Craving something meaty & savory. A friend recommended me to try out Ox & Sons for the burger.
Located on Montana in the old side of Santa Monica, OC & Sons is a small modern restaurant for people to hang out after work and catch up after a long day.
The restaurant is pretty busy even on Wednesday. I had to wait 25 minutes to get seated. Luckily, I got placed in a nice cozy corner under candle light. I decided to ordered the Braised Pork with blacken rice, while my friend order the O&S Burger. The braised pork was a bit buttery and sweet for my taste. My friend’s burger was amazing. Meat was cooked medium, and juicy. The side of crispy fries with spicy ketchup and lime aioli sauce was sooo good.
I would recommend the burger!
Nice cozy place to catch up and chow down on the burger.

Couldnt have been happier with my lunch experience at Ox & Son. Unfortunately, the fried duck confit sandwich wasnt available and although I was tempted to get the fried chicken sandwich as I usually do, I was talking to the bartender and he swayed me in the direction of the burger. A great call! This wasnt his only great call. A very knowledgeable staff really goes a long way. Id rather you say, I personally dont like something than tell me that everything is great. Not to say that I was told he didnt like anything but there was no doubt for him the burger was the play and man was it ever. I personally dont like mayonnaise and forgot to tell them to keep it off but it didnt matter one bit. This burger has easily made it into my top 10 burgers in LA.
I was also given a great breakdown on their beer selection. Far too many times do I go to a nice restaurant and the beer selection is uninspired or overwhelming and this was not. I tasted one of the best pilsners Ive had and then got the Tank 7 Saison, which I love.
I cant wait to go back for more. Till then… enjoy!

Don’t. Even.
Malin + Goetz in the bathroom. Let’s start with that, shall we.
Next up: Elliott Smith rockin’ through the speakers. Then we have La Fin Du Monde on tap, gorgeous steel-​and-​leather barstools that scream John Varvatos with an extra touch of fabulous, tuck n’ roll velvet couches (the color and the material hark back to the days of Mr. Tom Ford’s first unsupervised collection for Gucci that would change the Italian fashion house forever) and industrial lighting that screams top-​shelf Restoration Hardware selection.
Geezus. I don’t think I’ve seen ambiance like this since me and daddy’s credit card aggressively strolled Europe some years back.
Hmmmm, what else.
Well, the staff are all fantastic. I know people in high places so was fortunate enough to meet two of the managers as well as the owner, all of whom were incredibly down to earth yet sticklers for every detail that passes through O&S’s doors.
Oh, and the food! Yes, well, the oysters were delightful. Kimchi shaved ice? What kind of purple manna from heaven this is, I do not know, but it was aesthetically pleasing plus delish.
The pièce de résistance, however, was the chocolate-​bacon pancake with bourbon maple syrup. I have both waited for and dreamt about this scrumptious concoction since I first perused O&S’s website several months back, and it was better than even I could’ve imagined: The bacon was chunky-​pancetta-​like and the pancake was done to perfection. I asked one of the two lovely bartenders who attended to my every need what kind of chocolate O&S uses to which she replied, «Oh, we make our own.»
ARE YOU KIDDING ME! How Katrina Markoff is that!
Finally, I wouldn’t be so narcissistic as to think anyone actually follows my reviews but if you know anything at all about me, it’s that I suggest Kewpie mayo at just about every turn. But here at O&S, my new favorite everything, the chefs are of course already using the creepy naked baby (read: Louis Vuitton aioli) from the Land of the Rising Sun. Because these krazy haute food kats, dear Unilocalers, are just that specfuckingtacular.

Came across this place while we were brainstorming places to go for Sunday brunch. I was a little reluctant to come here initially mainly because it seemed pricey for a casual brunch, but I left feeling satisfied and would come here again. The restaurant is located in a fun neighborhood, and the place itself had a positive energy. Make sure to call ahead and make reservations– we didn’t know that, tried to walk-​in, and had to sit at the bar, but it was a nice place to sit and was actually quite comfortable. The bartender was nice and attentive to us.
They have a lot of options on the menu, several for vegetarians as well, and I ended up getting the A&B Omelet, which was their asparagus and broccolini omelet with white cheddar. (I was debating between that and the Tomato Braised Eggs & Chickpeas dish, which the waiter told us was interesting.) My omelet also came with a side of crispy herb spiced potatoes. I enjoyed the omelet combo– it was pretty flavorful vs. a lot of other omelets I’ve had at other places that turn out to be disappointingly bland. The only downside was that the omelet was $ 16.
I also had a sweet craving halfway through the meal and ended up ordering a side of their chocolate bourbon pancake (typically comes with bacon mixed in, but I got the vegetarian, bacon-​free version). Great decision, because it was very fluffy and delicious! Basically like a buttermilk pancake with chocolate bits inside. The maple syrup that came with it was also not too sweet and paired well with the pancake!
I was worried about finishing my food, but ate it all and was very content. Overall, a fun place to check out if you’re in the mood for brunch and don’t mind spending a bit more that day!

A very cute and quaint steak driven restaurant on Montana. We were encouraged to share an appetizer and side, but we also decided to share the tomahawk steak. The cesar salad had sumac in it which was a nice addition. It was large enough for two people to share as a starter. We also loved the steak. The seasoning was perfect and since it was cooked on the bone it was tender and easy to cut into. It retained all its flavor! The paired sauces were also very good, i used the miso dipping sauce on the truffle mashed potatoes as well. They do not have a hard liquor menu but make some fun drinks with wine and the beer list is extensive. Looking forward to going back again soon!

Great brunch spot. The food is delicious but keep in mind the portions are small. Great for babies. Great for a breakfast date.
There’s always a little bit of a wait if you come on a weekend.

Decided to give this spot another chance as the food was delicious, and this visit surpassed my expectations by far! Upon walking in, the hostess was very welcoming, and we were seated immediately at our table. After studying the menu, we decided to order a bunch of dishes to share as well as a giant berry punch bowl! The punch bowl serves four to six, and since we had five people, it was the perfect size for us.
The punch bowl was fruity, light, and refreshing, and our table could not stop drinking it! They are also extremely generous with fruit, and there were a ton of giant strawberries everywhere which was the icing to the cake.
Baked Avocado and Eggs, smoked salmon, aged white cheddar, pickled onion, arugula– this tasted as beautiful as it looked! You can’t go wrong with avocado, eggs, and smoked salmon, and this was no exception.
Banh Mi Breakfast Bowl, coconut black sticky rice, pickled vegetables, poached egg, pork sausage, cilantro, jalapeño, cucumber– this was better than I remembered! Mixing everything created the perfect combination of spicy and savory, and I was really impressed at the ingredients they used to create this dish. This is definitely a MUST ORDER!
Just Breakfast, two eggs, spiced potatoes, bacon or sausage, bread & jam– I personally did not try this, but it is your staple breakfast dish! My friend enjoyed it though.
Oysters– we got a half dozen of Kusshi oysters, and of course they were sweet and super fresh! Kusshi is one of my favorites as they are smaller and sweeter than the usual oyster. I loved how they displayed the oysters; the tabasco came in a dropper and it also came with a variety of sauces.
Bucatini Pasta & Sweet Pork Sausage, 8 hour tomato sauce, pork sausage, basil, parmesan– this was DELICIOUS especially since Ox & Son isn’t a pasta spot. The bucatini was cooked perfectly, and they added a little bit of crisp on top to add texture. Yum!
Avocado Heirloom Tomato Toast, pecorino, pumpkin seeds, radish– add a fried egg on top for even more deliciousness! Presentation of the toast was so pretty, and it was yummy! Definitely a great option if you don’t know what to order. We actually didn’t see it on the menu until later as it was in the sandwich section.
Kale & Preserved Lemon Salad, kale, radicchio, onion, cucumber, heirloom tomatoes, pecorino cheese, buttermilk lemon herb dressing– this salad was crisp and refreshing! I actually could not stop eating this even though I am not a big fan of kale salad.
Prime Beef Tartare, truffled egg, soy, onion, apple, sesame brioche– I love a good steak tartare, and this was divine! The meat was marinated well, and the hint of truffle just sealed the deal for me. Presentation is cute as well!
Uni & Eggs, soft egg, sea urchin, black bread– I finally got to try this dish, and it was delightful! Uni and eggs pair well together, and it was a softer dish.
Fresh House Cut Kennebec Fries, spicy ketchup, lime aioli– I love thick cut fries, and this one was seasoned and fried perfectly! Great side to complement the main dishes.
For dessert, we decided to share the churros and the butterscotch coffee cake. The coffee cake was by far the favorite of the table– love the meringue crisp they utilize in their dessert!
My friends and I had the most amazing lunch here, and this time around, our server was fantastic! He was gracious, accommodating, and friendly, and he definitely took care of us. I’m so happy I returned!

Rounded down from a 3.5.
With the incentive of a BlackBoard Eats deal, we tried Ox & Son for the first time. Tempting cocktails and a good beer list. Started with a Caesar salad, which was very good. Also had the chicken croquets and the uni toast. Both were fine, nothing spectacular. Mains were the brussels sprouts, filet, chicken fried duck confit and the sticky braised pork. All were good, but seemed to be lacking something that would take it to the next level. At its best, slightly elevated comfort food.
Family style and plates came out as prepared. Friendly and attentive service. Walked away satisfied, but not with the feeling that we need to come back and experience more.

Fabulous!!! If you want an incredible meal and good wine with a delightful atmosphere… this is the place!!! I ate at the bar and it has an incredible Caesar Salad along with the Burger and Fries! Although most of the items on the menu are exquisite… I wanted a burger. The music was light but hip and the bartender was very knowledgeable! Actually, it’s evident he was well trained! I’ll be back tomorrow!
Thank you for an incredible meal along with great conversations with the bartender!