This is my first time writing a review. I felt the need to do so because I think others should take into consideration my dining experience last night at BLT before choosing to eat at this trendy establishment. My boyfriend and I made reservations for 8:30 but unfortunately were not sat until one hour later. Once seated we asked if they could open up the bottle of wine that we brought, but they told us that they do not allow outside bottles and they would have to ask the Sommelier. He came over and said they would wave the corkage fee since we waited for so long. We asked him to clarify if there was a fee or were outside bottles not allowed. He said they weren't allowed. Our food arrived in 8 minutes but the steak was rare on the inside and black on the outside. Since we asked for medium this was unacceptable and he took it back. When it came back 5 minutes later it was so charred on the outside it was uneatable. We felt we had to ask our waiter for the manager, but the manager never came. After 20 minutes we flagged down a manager on our own. He told us that it is custom for their steaks to be burned/charred on the outside and still very pink in the middle. This was unacceptable to us as the steak we ordered was $43. He said that if people don't want it charred on the outside then you should order it ""no char."" We laughed at this as we knew it was a copout. He ended up taking it off our bill. We thought the disastrous part of the night was over, until we got the bill with a $50 corking fee! It was like every corner we turned there were problems at this restaurant we had heard other talk so fondly of. We completely vowed then and there we would never be back. It was was too noisy and crowded for a ""fine dining"" restaurant. If trying to choose a steakhouse in LA, I would recommend Mastro's hands down to BLT.
Pros: Free parking
Cons: Bad food, too noisy, long wait even with reservations, bar too crowded, do not allow outside bottles of wine to be corked there
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