Chelsea Restaurant

My sons surprised me with a dinner this evening at Chelsea to celebrate my birthday. It was a wonderful experience from the moment we entered and saw the facility dining room and dim lights, a perfect ambience. The Restaurant also has private rooms in the back which I noted for future larger groups. The server was engaging and the food was fantastic. We started with the truffle fries and I had lobster squid linguine, which was phenomenal and my sons had a duck dish and a boar ragú which they both loved. We ordered one piece of a unique Matcha chocolate cake, which they brought out with a candle. The cocktails look really nice. We had a Prosecco and a glass of wine. It really was a lovely evening and I’m so glad we’ve discovered this little gem.

Overall good food but we left disappointed. Where a dish had phenomenal flavor the texture was off so it just missed the mark for us which was surprising at this price point. The cauliflower steak was way too tough and difficult to cut with the regular dinner knife, the sea bass was undercooked and the rice with it was overcooked and mush, the bananas foster bananas were too starchy and there was not enough rum brown sugar sauce so all you could taste was the starchiness of the bananas, the escargot mushrooms were good but very rich. We also got early fog cocktails which just tasted like a gin sour, no notes of earl grey as the menu promised. The green curry mussels however were very good but not enough to save the meal. Might be a timing issue on dishes in the kitchen, not sure.

Chelsea is such a gem in Santa Monica. The atmosphere is cozy, stylish, and perfect for both a casual dinner and a special night out. From the moment we walked in, the service was warm, friendly, and attentive. The food was outstanding - everything we ordered was beautifully presented and full of flavor. You can really tell the ingredients are fresh and high quality. The menu is well curated, with great options for sharing, and the cocktails were just as impressive as the food. What really stood out was the vibe: relaxed but elevated, with great music and a fun crowd. It’s the kind of place you want to come back to and also recommend to friends. Highly recommend Chelsea if you’re in Santa Monica and looking for a great dining experience!

Food was excellent. Good portion sizes. Nice presentation. Highlights were the harissa lamb tartare, chicken tikka, and the sweet corn ravioli. The Brussels sprouts were the one thing that were a little disappointing - not crispy and flavor was just eh. Recommend getting the naan if you do the chicken tikka so you have something to dip in the sauce. Cocktails were great as well. Nice cocktail menu and well executed drinks. Only reason for the lower rating was for service. Server himself was great - knowledgeable about the menu, friendly. Issue was timing - they took forever coursing out the items. We got there at 6:00 and by 8:45, we still hadn’t gotten all of our dishes - we ended up cancelling the last few items and skipped dessert since it took so long.

My wife and I come here for dinner often and always have an amazing time. We love this place so much that this was our first choice to host a private event on their back patio and the entire night was an incredible experience. The entirety of the staff from the GM to our wonderful servers and entire bar team made our night so memorable, everything was perfectly executed and they really went above and beyond to curate such a memorable and welcoming experience for us. Thank you to the entire staff of Chelsea for the delicious food, expertly crafted cocktails, and top tier service. Highly recommend.