It's great! The atmosphere is nice, too--quite different from a typical Chinese restaurant. It's…read moreworth a try.

Everything was absolutely delicious from beginning to end! We started with the Basil Mojito and…read moreWatermelon Drop, and both cocktails were excellent. The potato croquettes and chili with beef fat were superb and definitely set the tone for the meal. For supper, we had the smoked duck and pork chop entrées, and both were outstanding. And because apparently we believe in thorough research when dessert is involved, we sampled all of them. Not really; that was my one regret. The baked apple with ice cream and the fresh berry dessert was delicious! Our server was wonderful as well, attentive, personable, and added to an already fantastic dining experience. Excellent food, creative cocktails, wonderful service, and a meal worth talking about afterward. We will absolutely be back!

I was taken to Nick's today for lunch for the first time. I was surprised that I had never taken…read morenote of this restaurant. I was great food, service and atmosphere. I will definitely think of it again when dinning in Pasadena.

We decided to try Nick's for lunch to celebrate my birthday. OMG!!!!…read moreWhat a great place to dine. We had a reservation so we were seated right away on the second floor, just above the bar. The music was a little on the loud side so conversation was a little strained. The food was absolutely amazing. Our server was very friendly and informative but was not quite as attentive as we would expect for an establishment like this. This was our first time here, so we had to try the Asparagus Fries. The asparagus was cooked to perfection but the batter did not have much flavor. Members of our party ordered the California Salad, a Veggie Burger, the Meatloaf and a Picante Pizza. The California Salad was smaller than expected but delicious. The Veggie Burger was excellent! The Meatloaf was the hit of the table. It was so good that my wife did not offer a taste to any of us. She was in food Heaven. The pizza was exactly as described and tasted wonderful. Since we were celebrating my birthday, our server brought me a delicious piece of double chocolate cake with a candle in it. Nice touch!! We also had one of their Warm Butter Cake's with some excellent vanilla ice cream on top. Absolutely wonderful!. This may be our new "go-to" place. Looking forward to return to savor the other items on the menu. Their drinks looked delicious as well, so we will definitely try those too.

Absolutely amazing. Stopped by randomly after seeing a show nearby…read more Food, atmosphere, and service (Drew) were all outstanding. Would literally make the trip from San Diego just to come here again. Well done.

Spent 2 years in Fort Worth so I bring a Texas BQ bias to this review…read moreI had lunch Brisket - a little dry 3/5 Texas Toast - 4/5 I added a side - Mashed Potatoes with Brisket bites 4/5 Dinner rolls - 4/5 Service just barely adequate and I was one of three tables in the restaurant Side was over priced for a cup of mashed potatoes-$9 Not bad SoCal BQ experience but I miss Texas hospitality and great brisket

we loved it all especially Brenda! Food is always great!…read more Thank you Brenda! Great service and atmosphere!

Came here with a group of friends to try the Dine LA Dinner Menu for $65 per person…read more The Dine LA Dinner Menu includes an Appetizer, Main Entree, and a Dessert. For me, I selected the followings: Appetizer - Spicy Tuna on Crispy Rice Entree - 1886 Steak Frites Dessert - Fosselman's Artisanal Ice Cream (Vanilla) All items were very delicious. Service was good despite some minor issues. Overall, had a great time here.

Wonderful local spot. The food is always fantastic, and the service as well. We love to see about…read moretrying the specials and the Wednesday all day happy hour. They have a really nice patio as well, but we mostly hang at the bar. Foothill Old Fashioned is my personal favorite. Cheers!!

Great food selection. Their burgers were so yummy! Our…read moreservers so far were a bit slow. I think they are down on staff but they were quick to address questions about the menu. We've gone both brunch time and midday lunch. Highly suggest going when it's slow. The noise is super loud during busy service. The place should consider turning down the music volume a notch as everyone's already loud trying to talk over the music. Their parking lot had been good and there's always been a spot when we get there. Will come back!

Came here for some good happy hour, and it did not disappoint. It has great happy hr deals on…read moremartinis and mixed drinks. We tried the braised pork belly, bolognese, spicy calamari. All were really good and flavorful!

Didn't order food just stopped in to check it out and have a quick cocktail with a friend. The…read moredrinks were nice and the atmosphere is good but the employees seemed in a bad mood, they were unfriendly, short and honestly just kind of rude. It felt like they didn't want anyone to actually be there. Hoping it was just an off day for them and next visit is more friendly.

Went for Dine LA lunch and really enjoyed the experience and getting to try all these dishes…read more Service was very friendly and food came out pretty fast. The restaurant has a nice, natural light filled space, and though it was busy, it wasn't too loud. It worked out well to go with two people so we could try almost all the options... - Scallop aguachile, avocado, salsa macha verde: Came with two shells, each with a little scallop, avocado, zucchini, radish, cilantro. Nice and refreshing to start. - Strawberry and vanilla French toast fingers, pistachio marzipan: A very generous portion of French toast with strawberry jam and pistachio sauce. Nice and crunchy crust. It was an interesting contrast to the aguachile first course! - Crab cake eggs benny: Two poached eggs on crab cakes. This was good, nothing unexpected, though I was getting pretty full at this point. - Summer berries, Scottish shortbread, white chocolate mousseline: This was the only dish we were disappointed by. The shortbread was pretty bland and the texture was lacking crispness. - Profiteroles, vanilla ice cream, strawberry ice cream, hot fudge sauce: Simple dessert but put together well. We both also ordered Purple reign cocktails, which went well with brunch. Overall it ended up being quite a bit of food and a good value for two.

What I cherish most about Dine LA, is that it reveals restaurants that I have never heard of…read morebefore. After researching and making the trip to Pasadena numerous times, I never discovered the Pez Coastal Kitchen. I was here for lunch and walked into a small but impressive space, elegantly decorated, with both a dining and bar area. My seating was in the latter, not on bar stools, but at a table for two, because I was dinning solo. For appetizers, I chose the scallop aguachile. There were two small portions, each in a plastic shell, sitting on a bed of ice. While I am not fond of aguachiles because of the general overdose of citrus in them, this one really surprised me. While there were only small pieces of scallop, it had an abundance of small cubed cucumber pieces that provided the nicest contrast of crunch, juice and texture. The citrus was mild and well balanced. A wonderful start. I selected the fried fish burger for my entree. The fish was mildly battered, yet lightly crisp, to highlight the big pieces of fresh, flaky and moist fish that were literally, falling off the burger. It was a good stack, with minimum lettuce, tomato and sauce, so as to not take it away from the star, the succulent, perfectly prepared, flavorful fish. The bun was also well crafted, nice and fluffy on the inside, not dry, with a buttery brown on the outside. Easily one of the best fish burgers I have had. For dessert (the third course), I had to have the profiteroles with ice cream. One was with vanilla, the other with strawberry. Both came topped with dark chocolate sauce, that had hardened by the time of eating. A superbly assembled concoction, that provided the crackle and exhilarating mouth feel. I cannot remember the last time where at a Dine LA restaurant, all three lunch courses were so well presented and satisfying. One was better than the other. Overall, it was worth the drive, for an extraordinary dining experience.

Pasadena is one of my all-time favorite cities and they have some great restaurants. We hadn't been…read morein this side of town in a while, so I asked my son to find us a new spot to try today. We ended up at Magnolia House for a late lunch/early dinner. They also serve breakfast/brunch only on weekends. Walked in around 4:30pm and we were greeted by Brian, one of the managers. Brian was the standout star of the whole experience! His energy was exceptional and he is such a great conversationalist. He checked on us several times throughout our meal and made sure we were doing well. He on his own was HANDS DOWN a five star human being. At first, he wanted to seat us in the back corner but I told him the table was too small and he accommodated us with a bigger table. Our server Kiana came up to the table with a pleasant smile and greeting to take our drink orders. I got a glass of cranberry juice along with some water. My son got the American Dream cocktail along with some water. We skipped on dessert. From 4-6pm, they have a happy hour menu with some of their cocktails and shareable plates. The portions are just a bit smaller and the prices are a little lower. It's a good way to sample different items. I think we got a good variety of food to enjoy. To start, we got the Little Gem Salad. It was such a unique combination of flavors and SUPER delicate/light. My son and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The next starter was the Zucchini and Feta Fritters, which was good but not the best out of everything else we ordered. The zucchini was a bit mushy but the batter it was fried in was crispy. Another starter we shared were the Moroccan Spiced Chicken Wings. These wings are gigantic and very flavorful. They definitely pack some heat, so be careful. I don't think the A/C was NOT working to begin with, so the place was already hot. The wings made us sweat even more. For entrées, we got the burger and the pork belly. Brian said they are known for their burger and after taking the first bite, it's clear as to why. It was absolutely PERFRCTION. So delicious! The bun, the meat, the cheese, the onions, and the crispy bacon...all of it mixed together into the perfect burger. I had wanted to add some mushrooms and avocado to it, but Kiana said they were unable to do it. I also asked for lettuce and she said that would be an extra charge. What extra charge for lettuce? We still got charged for avocado when the bill came, but they took it off once we mentioned it. The pork belly was also very tender, flavorful, and crispy. It's just hard to compete with the burger! We also got an order of the Belgian Fries to share and we were both pleasantly surprised at how good they were. The fries are salty and cut pretty thick. The sauce that came on the side was so yummy. We asked for a small extra cup to-go. All in all, the food was great and we liked everything. The vibe of the restaurant wasn't really all that for me. Brian genuinely made up for anything that was lacking in the atmosphere. He is such a wonderful asset to the restaurant and their company. The restaurant itself has been here for about 15 years now and it used to be a very old house. You can tell when you look around. They did a good job with the renovations, but you can see the different areas/rooms. I think they tried to keep the casual comfort of a home, while making it a slightly elevated experience. It was very clean everywhere, especially the bathrooms. They have one gender neutral bathroom, one for men, and one for women. No private parking, so you'll have to park on the street and put money in the kiosk. They also had an outdoor seating. Pretty BIG, only took picture of one side. They also have 2 small TVs. In the bar area and inside their cute lounge. I normally like to try new places, especially when I'm in Pasadena, so I'm not sure if I'll come back here. Maybe if Brian is working, it would definitely be worth stopping by again! Thank you all..

Magnolia House was the place to go 10-12 years ago. But the last 3 times I've been here recently,…read moreit just really doesn't have the charm or class it used to have. Service is really really slow. You may see 5 or 6 waiters on staff...but they aren't stopping at tables to check up on guests. Alot of them are just hanging around the bar or front desk chitchatting with friends. The food quality dropped tremendously. It tastes like bland bar food now. $19 for 2 meatballs laying in tomato paste....and they were not even room temperature. Felt like they had these already prepared and sitting somewhere, just waiting for the next guest to order them. Got a mojito that may have been mistaken for a "virgin" drink....cause no one at our table could taste any alcohol in it. They all said it was watered down mint with ice. I wish this place would go back 10 years and make it like "the spot you want to go to"....versus the spot you now avoid.