Buddha's Belly

I met a friend for lunch at Buddha's Belly the other day. I drove over from work around 1pm and found a meter across the street and parked. There is some other free parking during some hours around the corner and valet and other meters around. Buddah's Belly is on the corner and it isn't very big--basically what you see is what you get. They extended the real estate by putting in a nice patio that is partially covered AND walled off from the street by some vine covered trellis walls.

I arrived before my friend and was absolutely floored by the friendly hostess. I felt like instead of walking into a restaurant, I was walking into a friend's house. I was offered either a table or to wait at the bar. I opted for the table which didn't seem to be a hassle at all. The restaurant was crowded but not packed. As I waited I perused the menu and the waitress, who was also VERY nice came over to get my drink order. The menu is Asian Fusion. I recognized some Thai and Chinese dishes but I'm sure there were more. The menu isn't very long but there is a large selection of appetizers and then a good variety of other dishes.

Once my friend arrived the waitress, who was very attentive came over for her drink order. We ordered and waited. All the food around us looked very delicious and smelled even better. I was also impressed that all the decor and features of the restaurant fit together. For instance, the glasses had a bamboo shape to them, the music was not noticeable, the seats were modern-fusion. I also liked the different shaped dishes they used. The dishes were white making the food stand out but they also had very interesting shapes. It seemed like every dish came with a different shaped dish.

After we ordered, our food came rather quickly. It was piping hot though and seemed to have been just made. We both ordered the same thing (which I don't like to do). We had the Red Ginger Fried Rice. It had shrimp, steak, bell peppers, mushrooms, onion, egg, possibly some other vegetables and red ginger in it. The red ginger made the rice look like Mexican rice instead of Asian rice. The food was delicious. The dish had tons of flavor, the steak was tender, the shrimp was delicious. All the flavors worked together and none stood out too much by themselves.

The portion was large and I was able to take half of my meal home for dinner. The waitress, being super nice, offered to box up the food for me. I like when they do this at restaurants because then you don't look like a fool at your table trying to get the food into the box and not all over the table.

I had a great time at Buddah's Belly, the service was outstanding, the atmosphere was relaxed, the food was delicious and the price was very reasonable.





Buddha's Belly
7475 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036-2702
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