Fleming’s

LA Live
800 West Olympic Blvd. #A135
Los Angeles, CA 90015
(213) 745-9911
Flemings at LA Live

Parking: $5 for 1st 2 hours, $5 each 30 min. thereafter – OR take the Metro – nearby stops on the Red Line (Civic Center station) and Blue Line (Pico station)
Days: Daily
Times: 4-6pm
Drink Deals: Five $6 Cocktails; Five $6 Wines by the Glass
Food Deals: Five $6 Appetizer Selections

One of my favorite current sayings is, “Not to be rude,” because it’s invariably followed by a “but… something rude." In the case of Fleming’s Steakhouse at LA Live, I’d say, “Not to be rude, but the best thing about Fleming’s was their after-dinner mints.” To be fair, the mints were quite tasty, but unfortunately, that really was one of my favorite things about the Happy Hour.

Plenty of booze for everyone!

The deals are okay; they have what they call the “5-6-7 Bar Menu” – featuring 5 cocktails, 5 wines by the glass, and 5 appetizers for $6, 7 days a week. Since we were on a Happy Hour Tour, we decided to save our appetites for another stop that might we might like more (and that wouldn’t smell like a used dishrag, seriously).
The appetizers did sound good – Tenderloin Carpaccio, Sweet Chile Calamari, Roasted Mushroom Ravioli, Seared Ahi Tuna, and Wicked Cajun Barbecue Shrimp. And if we’d been hungrier, we might have been interested in the Prime Burger Bar with several sandwich selections from $10-18, served with a Mini-Wedge Salad and Fleming’s Signature Onion Rings. We wanted to try just the onion rings, but a single order cost $9.50. Try again!

Tropical Martini & Tickled Pink Cocktails (both $6 during Happy Hour)

So, JG & I ordered one $6 cocktail apiece and both of those were good. JG continued with the rum theme of Trader Vic's and got the Tropical Martini w/ Malibu Rum while I went for the Tickled Pink w/ Belvedere Vodka and Prosecco. In one nice touch, maybe as nice as the dinner mints, the Fleming's menu clearly notes the light drinks that are 100 calories. In an afternoon of boozing and chowing down, low-cal drinks are always appreciated!

Crowd-wise, steakhouses always seem very manly to me and Fleming’s was no different with reddish-wood surfaces and tv’s discreetly playing at the bar. I’m completely fine with this; we really do like all kinds of Happy Hours, but the man-ly crowd that was there during our visit left something to be desired. We don’t mean that in a vain kinda way, but the crowd was pretty cold before it grew into something entirely strange.

Manly Men Bar!

When we got there, there was only one other couple and a solo guy pounding beers and talking rudely to someone on his cell phone. A new couple arrives and maybe knows the bartender? The bartender, who has some scratches on his face, tells them about some incident that may or may not have ended with his scratched face. Next thing we know, the Tool Academy cast that’s joined the bar asks “Cat Scratch Fever?” and proceed along this line of uncomfortable “humorous” dialogue. Uncomfortable humor in dude-land isn’t always cool, so we got our check and JG left her drink as one of the tools tells the bartender, “I’m glad you didn’t hear what I just said…” Yikes!

The next couple spots Happy Hours were a little lame/non-existent, so I’d say Flemings ends up in the middle of the road of the LA Live Happy Hours – especially since it runs daily and most of the other HH’s only run Monday-Friday (and because they have good mints :). But all-in-all, I didn’t feel like there was a nice warm vibe – it felt a bit cold and in the end, uncomfortable.
--JB

Rating: 3 Martinis