Valentine’s Day at a restaurant almost always means a fixed-price menu, a table turned in two hours, and a room full of people having the same rushed experience. This year we tried it anyway, at La Monique inside the Oceana Hotel on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica — a spot known for its jewel-toned, Old Hollywood interior designed by Martin Brudnizki. Here’s an honest account of whether the prix-fixe menu lived up to the room, plus what we’d do differently next time.
The Menu
The Valentine’s tasting menu was structured in courses. The Prelude was an Eclair with Confit Vegetable Mousse, a savory riff on the French classic. For the next course, we could choose between the Perfect Egg (wild mushrooms, French toast, green espuma) or the Asparagus Agnolotti with langoustine sashimi, tarragon brown butter, and pecorino — the agnolotti was the best dish of the night. The main course was a choice of Filet Mignon & Lobster or a fish option, and dessert came down to a Chocolate Heart (chocolate biscuit, mousse, salted caramel) or the Mac-Love, a raspberry macaron with lychee sorbet and rose coulis.
The Service Didn’t Match the Menu
The food read well on paper, but the execution on Valentine’s Day itself was rushed. Courses arrived on a mechanical schedule rather than paced to the table, service felt strained instead of the invisible, unhurried hospitality you’d expect at this price point, and it was obvious the kitchen was firing the same two or three dishes over and over for a fully booked room. None of that is unique to La Monique — it’s just what tends to happen when a restaurant swaps its usual à la carte menu for a rigid prix-fixe on a night every table is full at once.
A prix-fixe Valentine’s menu here runs about $175–$225 per person with two choices per course and roughly 90 to 105 minutes at the table, compared to a normal night with the full à la carte menu and no rush. That gap is real, and it’s worth knowing before you book.
The Verdict
If you want to see what Chef David Fricaud’s kitchen can actually do, don’t go on a major holiday. Book a quiet Tuesday or Wednesday in March instead, when the kitchen isn’t cooking the same dish fifty times in a row for back-to-back seatings.
Practical Tips for Your Next Visit
- Avoid the big holidays. If you want to see La Monique at its best, go on a Tuesday or Wednesday night outside of a major weekend.
- The lavender butter is a constant. Regardless of the night, the warm baguette and lavender-flavored butter are worth ordering more of.
- Ask for a corner table. With only 14 tables in the room, the corner spots have the most privacy and the best views of the interior.
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