We had a fantastic night out at a delicious but pricey spot in West LA. If you haven’t been, it’s worth a visit if you need a restaurant for a special evening.

Why We Went Here

Jenn and I have been trying to have a date night away from the kids once each month, such as our visit to Bestia. It’s just one way we try to maintain our identity and not just always be a parent. She has been to Baltaire once before for a work dinner and she wanted to share the experience with me.

Arrival and First Impressions

Baltaire has its own valet immediately outside the entrance and the attendant quickly helped us out of our car. Rather conveniently, the car ended up sitting immediately outside the restaurant the entire time and was ready for us on our departure. That of course makes me wonder the true value of valet when I could park the car on the street myself but nonetheless I appreciated a short wait for the car at the end of the night.

We met the host just inside the front doors and we were quickly seated. We came here on a Sunday evening and the restaurant seemed a bit empty, though we did arrive right as it opened for dinner service (5:30pm). The atmosphere felt a bit classic, with a bar that looked great for just spending an evening with friends.

The Menu

We were handed menus and we started off with cocktails. Jenn had the Bees in the Garden and I started off with the 50/50 Old Fashioned. They certainly do make the drinks strong here, which is good to see when the drinks cost at least $20 each. The drinks were good enough that we did each order seconds.

Next up for us was some bread. Jenn’s weakness at restaurants typically is warm, freshly-baked bread and soft butter. The bread here didn’t disappoint.

We moved on to the appetizer course, which consisted of fresh oysters (three each from both east and west coast) and some burrata and prosciutto. Jenn is the bigger oyster fan than I am, as I’m not as much of a fan of tasting the sea, but the oysters still went down easily. The burrata was excellent and I debated ordering more of it but ultimately resisted as I knew how much food was ahead of us. The dish does come with some bread of its own and it’s all deliciously filling.

For steak, we ordered the Global Wagyu Tasting. From left to right, the options were American (Snake River Farms), Australian (Westholme), and Japanese (Miyazaki). The steak continues to cook while sitting on the little grill placed at your table, which allows you to control how done you want your dish. If you want everything with the same doneness, you better take everything off at the same time.

If I only ate one of these individually, I would have been satisfied, but having sampled all three. I would instead suggest not wasting your time with the American and Australian options and instead only go for the Japanese option. The Miyazaki had noticeably better flavor. I would have liked to compare with the Sanuki but there was no way I could eat more steak after this.

Jenn always gravitates to the Chilean Sea Bass whenever it’s on the menu, so we shared this dish as well. The fish had a nice crisp to it without being overcooked. But I’ll be honest, with all the food we ordered, I didn’t have enough room inside my stomach to fully savor this one.

Completely unnecessary, but we also chose onion rings as a side dish. These were huge and very filling. Don’t get me wrong—they’re good but here is a case where my eyes were hungrier than my stomach. At $17, this was the most expensive onion I’ve ordered in my life.

The restaurant knew we were here to celebrate my birthday, so they gave us a complimentary dessert (butterscotch pot de crème). It was nice of them to offer us something extra. The dish itself is very sweet, which made for a good finish to the meal, but of course I decided to pair it with some 20 year port.

Recommendation: Good for Fancy Occasions

Yes, the meal cost us but the quality is excellent, both in preparation and ingredients. If you come here, skip the wagyu tasting and go directly for the Japanese options. While we didn’t bring the kids, we wouldn’t be averse to bringing them. Others brought kids here and there were some items on the menu that would appeal to our kids, but it would cost more than the average kids meal of course. And while I can appreciate the quality here, I’m not sure my kids could at this point.