La Table de Sophie

A friendly enough bare-bones, casual diner with super high prices, inconsistent preparations.
We were clearly told by the owner that the hamburgers were cooked MEDIUM and they were on the rare side $27 without tax or tip) .
I wanted medium rare so I ordered Flank steak ($44 without tax and tip) This turned out to be a skimpy piece of medium well cooked beef with about a teaspoon of thin chimichurri sauce smeared across it. Other items on the menu were changed so that the dishes had to be described The chips look superb but almost all of them were soggy in the middle.
This could have been because the oil temp was not hot enough.
The chatty Russian-born owner who lived in France) insisted that her products were impeccably sourced.
The tired salad was clearly from one of the box mixes with pieces of spinach in it. The small place had one other occupied table of two who left and no more customers.
Still the service was unprofessional if not unfriendly.
It wasn't clear whether the guy in a non uniform t-shirt who brought water and our check and asked if our meal was OK after we finished, was kitchen kitchen staff or other. I would not recommend this place.
It's a shame because it could be such a welcome addition to the UCLA neighborhood

The food was good but the service speed was honestly really bad.
Pricing is also higher than usual compared to similar bistros nearby.
We had to hunt down our waitress for our single drink refill, she didn’t check on us during the meal, and it took 55 minutes for our entrees to come out after our appetizers did, so we passed on doing dessert given the super slow service time.
Also we had made reservations weeks prior, but half the restaurant was reserved for a private party and the live band was incredibly loud.
So loud that no one near us could talk at their tables.
It’s located in Westwood and there is no dedicated parking lot, but paid meter street parking is easy to find. We started off with the French Onion Soup and an Empanada and both were very good.
They came out fast and were extremely hot, but good.
Then we waited almost an hour for our entrees to come out which were the Sole Meunière and the Beef Tartare.
The sole was very good and although I wasn’t a fan of the quinoa base it still enjoyed it.
The tartare was not very good however; not a strong beef flavor and it was ground too fine, closer to ground beef instead of the chunkier, authentic version. Overall pretty good food but the inflated price and the slow service made the experience a stressful one.
I don’t plan to return.

Owner response

Perfect drinks and food, and the best espresso martini ever! They use a fresh pulled espresso and make it the traditional way.
The service, atmosphere, everything was perfect.