Checkers Downtown

A group of friends and I went to Checkers Downtown purely out of curiosity as we happened to pass by and discovered that there were a lot of unique places to eat. It’s not hard to find inside the beautiful Hilton building, as the furniture arranged outside was quite luxurious. What we came to find was that the menu was average (it sounded better than it tasted and was VERY EXPENSIVE).
The service was good, but wasn’t good enough to settle my empty rumbling stomach. I wouldn’t recommend if you are hungry and on a budget, but if you have some money to blow, sure… why not?

In the busyness of downtown, this is a place that allows conversation (to hear and be heard). The service was just right, attentive but not hovering. The mushroom soup was a nice starter and the sea scallops were ok.

Excellent service/​staff that remains attentive and professional even when they get a sudden crowd.
Fairly robust cocktail menu for a hotel bar. The dinner/​late night menu has something for everyone. I had the ahi tuna melt with crispy fries. The tuna melt was good but the star attraction of the meal was the crispy fries.
The overall atmosphere and cleanliness of the bar was also good.

Overpriced, hotel food type restaurant. I had a Caesar salad that was wilted. For breakfast, the options are limited and overpriced. On a busy morning they were understaffed and wait times were long.

Very disappointing hotel restaurant. I’ve stayed at this hotel a few times. About a month ago, I was here for 5 nights. The first night, I decided to go to the lounge for a drink and then have dinner. Arrived about 5:30 pm. Only one other person in the lounge. It took at least 5 minutes for the bartender to ask me what I wanted to drink. My glass of red wine arrived a few minutes later. That was it, he never asked me if I liked it, if I wanted a refill, nothing. After an hour, I couldn’t find the bartender anywhere & I was ready for something to eat. So, I pick up my nearly empty wine glass & head a mere 20 feet to the restaurant entry. Not a soul to be found. No one to greet you, no one anywhere. There was one table with guests who looked pretty neglected. After standing there nearly 10 minutes, the bartender shows up. He’s finally noticed I’m not in the bar anymore & is worried that I haven’t paid my bar bill. I ask him how to get seated in the restaurant, and he says, oh, she must be busy but she’ll show up eventually. And, shoves a slip of paper in my hand so I can pay him.
10 more minutes & finally someone comes out from the kitchen & shows me to a table. Fifteen minutes later she’s back to take my order. Half hour later food arrives. It was ok, but nothing fabulous. I was surprised at how limited the menu was & so I ended up ordering two Appetizer items — brussels sprouts & a calamari dish. The brussels sprouts were good other than an odd, very greasy piece of ‘toast’ nestled near the bottom of the plate. The calamari was overcooked & rubbery.
Now, about 2.5 hours after wandering into the lounge, I’d like to leave, but it took another 20 minutes to get a check.
For the remainder of the evenings when I dined in the hotel, I ordered room service. The menu was more extensive & the service was great. Food always arrived less than 30 minutes after ordering. If you are a guest, use room service. If you are not a guest and thinking this is a good hotel restaurant, well, I’ve warned you.

After and evening at the art galleries my girlfriend and I decided to come here… What a great decision that was. A great dining treat all the way around. Neat dining room with great photos of the old Mayflower Hotel.
Now down to business…
The food is awesome.
We shared the apple blueberry salad. It had radishes, brie, apples, blueberries, mustard lettuce — all together a very interesting combo! I almost ordered another.
I had the rib eye, cooked perfectly and served 3 of the biggest and best onion rings I have ever eaten. I am a steak lover and this is up in my top 5!
She had the striped sea bass. She loved it… I do not like fish so I will take her word on how good it was.
Well worth going — the place is neat — the food is AWESOME! The bar is a bar with travelers and the hotel bar sort…
Go — you will not regret it.

Horrible bar service in the lounge. Am I invisible? When there are only 3 people at the bar, how can you ignore a new customer? As I awaited 1 of the 2 bartenders to ask me what I would like to drink, they took it upon themselves to wait on 2 different people who came in after me. Talk about making someone feel unwanted. After finally being acknowledged, I was served a beer. ¼ gone, ½ gone, ¾ gone, empty — at no time did either of the bartenders ask if I wanted another drink. Even when he cleared my empty glass, the bartender didn’t acknowledge me or ask if I wanted another. Of course I could have asked for another drink, but should I really need to??? Wouldn’t a bar tender want to sell more in order to get a bigger tip? Smh…

I like this place for a quiet lunch in downtown. Food is okay but it is a very clean pretty place without the crowd.

3.5. This review is for the lounge only. I met mi amigo for drinks after work, and this place was ideal because of its location a few blocks from my bus stop. The surroundings are very relaxed, and bartenders are friendly. The crowd is… very mature. Like senior citizen mature. Not a problem for me, amigo and I are never in for a scene, but I do think this is something that should be considered for those of you fellow Unilocalers that are reading my review thinking this is a possible HH meet-​up. There are no deals that I could see, and my first drink ran me a cool $ 13 and some change. It was sweet and didn’t taste like it had much liquor, but it did creep up on me later. I did really like the little sofas and chairs that they have set up, and this was just a nice place for mi amigo and I to have our monthly meet-​up and catch up. Because of the location I can see us meeting here again, though if I was planning a larger get together I don’t think it would be in the running. Good choice for an intimate and casual meet-​up.

Wow so disappointed in this place… can’t believe it’s suppose to be fine dining. I feel bad because my boyfriend took me here for my birthday dinner and I wasn’t impressed at all.
The service was poor — they were not busy but it looked like they had one big party about 20 people maybe inside this room — we were seated five tables away from that private room but the outside there was only one other table besides us. There was one waitress serving the party as well as us… she was overworked and I felt bad but it really took a long time for everything — especially at the end of the meal we sat around for 20 minutes waiting for the bill — there was another person working but he didn’t get us the bill — had us wait for the waitress but at the end she took so long that he got us the bill after all so I don’t know why he made us wait at all.
The menu was pretty simple — choice of starters and entrees — about 7 – 9 items listed on each side. I had the Ribeye because the Blue Cheese Butter appealed to me however I was very disappointed with the steak — it was rough and chewy — and it’s quite embarassing to spit it out and at one point there were some pieces of the tendon/​fat stuck to my teeth. There were no vegetables accompanying my steak but three fried onion rings… which was really crispy but I think I would have liked some greens instead. My boyfriend’s Downtown Braised Short Ribs were okay — it was soft and tender but I wasn’t very fond of the flavor — like they soaked it in red wine and it was overwhelming and the vegetables were mediocre nothing fancy — thick old asparagus and potato salad… not very good combination.
Since we had a Laker Vs Clipper game to catch at the Staple center — I thought we should get the check and go but my boyfriend ordered sorbet — two scoops — mango and raspberry — again not very unique.
For the price of the meal — I really expected much more but am sorely disappointed from the service to the meal. The only thing I liked was it was very quiet — probably because it was a weekday though.

My boss took us here for our holiday luncheon. I didn’t pay for it, but the menu prices looked reasonable for lunch. We split the artichoke and margherita flatbreads, which were both delicious!
I ordered the open-​faced «BLT» which I fell in love with. I’m still pining for another one to this day. A plate-​sized, thick slice of fresh bread topped with pesto, arugula, prosciutto, and burratta, with sliced cherry tomatoes encircling it. It was incredible. I love burratta and would have been excited to eat a bowl of it alone, but this dish was fantastic and perfectly executed.
Service was excellent!
It’s a nicer, upscale hotel restaurant, with classic, clean décor, and a small enclosed courtyard. Would be good for a business lunch or something a little classier than most other DTLA happy hour spots.

Really good food and creative craft cocktails. The staff was extremely friendly and the aesthetics upscale. There are lots of choices downtown but this is worth checking out.

For the price, I’ve definitely had much better. This was one of the places on my list that I always wanted to try. As a young lawyer, I remember my boss talking about going here with clients. Yee haw, classy & classic steak place… I can’t wait to try it.
After a lovely show at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, it was time for a birthday treat and Checker’s was the place. I checked it out on Unilocal.I saw the mixed reviews & thought we’d try it anyhow. Yeah, put us in the not-​so-​much category.
We arrived around 5:30. Yes, the blue light early bird special. I like to eat early with the blue-​hairs. So sue me. We were the only people in the restaurant. Ok, fine, the Unilocal reviewers mentioned that.
We pulled up to the valet, but stayed in the car for a minute while I called to check if we can get a table before sending the car to valet. Silly me. When we were ready to exit, the valet went to my husband’s driver’s door, but no one came to mine. I guess it wasn’t the doorman’s job to open car doors, only the hotel/​restaurant door.
We walked into the hotel/​restaurant. I thought it was a restaurant only, I didn’t know it was the Hilton too. There was the reception on the left & bar on the right. There was no sign of the restaurant anywhere. We walked in and looked around and had to ask where it was. Walking down the hall we saw the menu, but no restaurant, it was still the bar. A little further down we saw the dining room, but no people, no maitre’d, no one. We looked around, confused. Soon a young man came up to help us & seat us.
Since we were the only ones there, we took a nice table by the window. It was pleasant, sorta sub-​terenean below the old LA Library. It was nice. The dining room was nice.
Well, turns out the maitre’d was our waiter. He was OK, but hard to find on occasion.
Hubby ordered the rib eye, medium rare. I ordered the filet mignon, medium. Both arrived well done. At $ 36 (+/​-​) for a steak, I want it perfect. We couldn’t find the waiter. Finally hubby went to the kitchen & found the waiter giving the chef instructions. What???
The waiter/maitre’d was gracious & took my steak back (hubby didn’t complain) and re-​did it. I told him to tell the chef to make it medium-​rare and maybe it would turn out medium.
I’m not sure what they did to it. It was not pink on the inside but kind of grayish, as if maybe the grill was not hot enough to sear the outside & keep the inside pink. I don’t know. I’m not a chef. I leave the steak cooking to the pros.
We won’t be coming back. Sorry Checkers, I’m glad I tried you & I won’t wonder any more.

Not your typical hilton hotel restaurant! Well, breakfast is very typical, but dinner was quote good. Fresh ingredients and a seasonal menu made for a tasty dinner. I started with the diver scallop small plate that came with fresh succotash and pea shoots. Main course was a Mediterranean snapper with tomato confit, capers and olives. Portions were more than adequate and service was excellent. Multi-​lingual server Heidi from Switzerland was excellent and I only wish I had her lovely accent. It was a little cool this eve, otherwise I would have asked to sit in the secluded ivy covered courtyard.

Staying at the Hilton and having arrived somewhat late in the evening, I was pleased that the Hilton Checkers offered what appeared to be a nicely appointed restaurant. I left more than happy.
I dined at the bar, as is my custom when dining alone. The service was most attentive. They offer an ample variety of wines by the glass and the menu has something for everyone. I enjoyed a flatbread with chicken and artichoke that was absolutely delicious. Top that off with college basketball in the TV in front of me and I’m one happy camper!

I was staying in the hotel and tried the restaurant 3 times during my 4 night stay: one breakfast (didn’t go back), one cocktail (was never waited on), and once for an afternoon iced tea (took 10 minutes and a visit to the front desk to get waited on).
Clearly in my experience, their hosting needs some work. Granted, I went at an odd hour for iced tea, but it’s not as if the restaurant was completely empty, so, where was anybody to help me?
The cocktail was ridiculous because the bar was crowded, I was seated, and still, no one came to take my order. I finally just stood up and left.
As a tea drinker, I will say that the way they serve their iced tea is fantastic, though the quality of the tea itself is low.
This is just a standard Hilton restaurant, imho. Not what they’re known for.

= BEAUTIFUL RESTAURANT IN HISTORIC DOWNTOWN HOTEL =
After driving past the CHECKERS HILTON HOTEL daily for the past year, I finally came here for lunch and got a taste of the delicious California cuisine that my coworkers were talking about. According to the restaurant’s website, its California cuisine is rooted in fresh, market-​driven ingredients and seasonal cooking.
=RESTAURANT=
You can easily find the restaurant after walking through the front doors on Grand Avenue. Every hotel staff welcomes you as you walk in and definitely give you the VIP treatment. It is a small restaurant, but it is beautifully decorated. Perfect spot if you want to take someone out for a quiet and relaxing lunch. Definitely recommended if you want to take client or business partners for lunch.
= FOOD =
I ordered the LOCAL FLUKE ($ 29) for lunch. They also had a 3 course menu for $ 6 more. However, I don’t want to be suffering from a food coma so I just stayed with the entrée. But if I could’ve ate an extra soup/​salad and a dessert for $ 6 more. The fluke was fresh and seared to perfection — nice & juicy!
= SERVICE =
Service was top notch during my visit. Received quick, attentive & courteous service from the staff. Again, makes me feel like a VIP during my entire visit at the restaurant.

Onion rings. BOMB. It’s served with the ribeye. Super crunchy yet soft on the inside. The ribeye was good too.
Don’t come here if you want to people watch. We were the only customers here on a Saturday night at 8:30.

Nice bar atmosphere and the flatbread is delicious. But $ 10.50 for a glass of Chardonnay means I won’t be a regular here!

I must admit that I wouldn’t normally go to a restaurant like this. In fact if it were different circumstances, I would have missed this place. However, we were staying at the hotel and there was a mixup, so our meal at the restaurant was comped. The prices are a bit high, but the food quality and technique is amazing.
I had the pork chop. Probably the best seasoned, juiciest most tender chop I’ve ever had. Unfortunately licking of a plate is frowned upon by our culture, so I stopped and what the fork would pick up.
My wife had the fluke with lobster and mushrooms. Out of this world flavor and texture. Every part of the dish just shined.
Even the shrimp cocktail had shrimp cooked to perfection, which so rarely happens.
Bottom line, is that this is a little pricey, but it will make any occasion very special. If I had the means and was in the neighborhood. I would definitely return.