Fraiche

9411 Culver Blvd.

Culver City, CA 90232
310.839.6800
www.fraicherestaurantla.comtwitter.com/fraichecuisine

Parking: $6.50 Valet & Public Parking Garage
Days: Daily
Time: 5- 10pm Sun-Thurs, 5-7pm Fri & Sat
Drink Deals: $5 Well Drinks, $6 select Wine & Beer
Food Deals: Appetizers, $4-$10

Why hello there, fellow Happy Hour enthusiasts! After a month hiatus of new happy hours, I am back and ready to report on all things happy hour.

Unfortunately, my first new-to-me happy hour fell flat.

After some research, I figured that it was finally time to check out Fraiche in Culver City. There was a time where other fellow bloggers were into it and I can’t help but wonder if they still are or maybe Fraiche was having an off night on my Saturday night visit.

I feel that Fraiche may be one of those nice restaurants that put all those efforts into the dinner patrons but give all happy hour patrons the leftovers. Seriously. On my visit, my friend June initially ordered a glass of the tempernillo wine ($6) but thought it did not taste fresh, like it was left out from another day so she sent it back for a well vodka tonic cocktail ($6). By the time I was ready to order, the bar got with the program and opened a new bottle of wine because I was served a better glass of tempernillo.

Prior to arriving, Junebug was excited about the happy hour food because the happy hour menu on the Fraiche website features mussels for $8. However, the menu in the restaurant does not. When asking the server about the inconsistent menus, she replied flatly with “That’s old.” We’re probably not the first ones to ask to about that, I guess. FYI - As of this posting the website still has the old menu.

For happy hour eats, I decided on a turkey burger ($7) and fries ($4) and June ordered the salmon tartar ($6). The turkey burger was decent but served so piping hot so I burned my tongue, even after letting it sit for a bit. June’s salmon tartar was quite the disappointment… and I eat almost everything, but in this case I was not able to eat it. The crostini was ROCK HARD. It was hard to break off a piece and it hurt both my tongue and the roof of my mouth. Plus, it took away from the taste of the main dish – the salmon tartar. When we told this to the server, she looked as us like we had never been to a restaurant before and explained to us what a crostini was. We explained that we know what it is and that’s why we ordered it. We even demonstrated how hard it was to break off a piece and banged it on the plate. I asked what day the crostini was toasted. Lucky for us, she took it away… and we weren’t the only ones since witnessed a neighboring table sending back food, as well.

Turkey Burger

The Salmon Tartar

While happy hour was a bust, the dinner scene was banging, which is why I figured that happy hour patrons must get the leftovers – old wine, old bread, etc. Unfortunately after my unappetizing experience, I doubt I will be returning to try dinner.
- JG

Rating: 2 Martinis