Review: Encounter Restaurant LAX

Ben, the site redesign is gross. VFTW went this same route (humongously wide left-hand-side navbar taking up 30% of screen width) a couple months ago and verily, it sucketh there as well.

Please tell Boarding Area to stop imp0rving blogs that are working just fine. Thanks.

+ 1 on website design. Horrible. Only reason it is not worse than horrible ? I am used to layout/font/size from VFTW.

The ONLY reason to go there is for the views and honestly, at those prices, it's just not enough of a draw being that you can get nice enough views of airplanes at other locations. Everything else about the restaurant is disappointing and unacceptable given the prices as you noted.

I am sorry to pile on as well, but I agree regarding the website. I noticed a change a few weeks back, that I didn't like, but this is even worse. Can't we just go back to the way things used to be?

Welcome back to the States. Can't wait to read your report on ANA.

How recent was your visit to Encounter?

I like the way the pictures change. Way too big of a left margin, with much wasted space.

Thanks for the feedback, folks. As you can see, the blog is back to the old format for the time being.

@ Despina -- What change did you notice a few weeks back? Don't think there should have been a change, and if there is, please let me know so I can change it back.

@ Will -- This was a month ago.

The blog looks great again! Thanks for taking our view into consideration. The change I noticed a few weeks ago was actually for boardingarea.com.

Previously it was so easy just to go straight to your blog, now a little more difficult, but not a big deal :).

@coins, Encounter is a place to go for drinks and the view. You're the first person that I know that's eaten there. With age... comes wisdom.

I think the cheesy decorations and elevator ride are comical enough that once is funny and worth it. But maybe just order beverages as @Dan suggests. As such I've only been there once.

@Lucky - I'm sure your entree also included a lot of rich creamery butter to go along with the cheese and cream and add just a bit more fat and calories to the nutritonal makeup of the dish!

I visited Encounter with a friend after an In-N-Out layover run for drinks and just to check it out--despite having lived in SoCal and passed through LAX 30 times, I've never been. It was as cheesy as you say, but I found the cheese factor a bit charming. The restaurant was completely empty while we were there (1:30pm or so on a Tuesday afternoon), but the hostess, bartender, and manager were very friendly, and their signature martini list was cheesily impressive ( http://www.encounterlax.com/encounter_cocktails.html--I had the Bossa Supernova, and my friend had the Black Hole, which changed flavor as he sipped down to the Chambord "black hole" at the bottom of the glass).

For food at LAX, I don't think you can beat In-N-Out (just make sure the Parking Spot Sepulveda shuttle drivers think you're picking up a parked car!), so I'm not likely to bother eating there (especially based on your lackluster review), but in the absence of lounge access, I may find myself there on my next transit for the views over a Jetsonian cocktail.

It's SO doesn't look like in the pictures. The place and the view is nice but that's about it. The service is bad, the food smells like dog's ears and basically it's the worst food you've ever tased. And don't dare to complain because the manager will find something to blame you in and take your money.