No Reservations Catering Truck

Our company hosts these ‘gourmet’ food trucks pretty much every day. I like to test them out every now and then to see what the next big thing might be. Since this place had decent reviews I decided to try it out. I got the rosemary baby wrap and my coworker got the good fellas wrap. We split some truffle fries as well as the wraps so we could both try more things.
First bite… good fellas wrap. NASTY!
I looked at my coworker and he took his first bite of the rosemary wrap. He said… hmm… not bad. I tried not to make a face. I’m really not a picky person, but I don’t like those crazy strong stinky cheeses that my wife likes. This had a BUTT load of crazy strong stinky cheese! I figured I just took a bad bite. So I play along with it since I’m hungry and there is some meat in there that seems to be decent if I can just get my mouth to ignore the crazy strong stinky cheese!
Okay fine… lets try the rosemary. It couldn’t possibly be worse than the bad fellas wrap. I think this one saved the image of this truck a little bit. It wasn’t outstanding, but it was pretty good. The cous cous stuff inside was interesting. Definitely overpriced, but it was okay. As for my coworker… har har har… his turn to try the crazy strong stinky cheese.
I watched him take a bite and it looked like he gagged a little bit. He didn’t get past that first bite. Threw the rest away. it was pretty nasty. The truffle fries weren’t bad though. Super crispy. Tasted like Carl’s Jr. fries. not bad. I wouldn’t pay 4 bucks for them though. Overall experience… blah. Not again.

Obviously as with most food trucks, I felt pretty ripped off at this place. I paid $ 12 for a wrap and some fries on the side.
The wrap was pretty decent, though. I ordered the «Good Fellas» wrap. It came with juicy, succulent steak and some other toppings — one of which was pink and tasted like what flowers would taste like. I didn’t really like that pink sauce, but the rest of the wrap was good and it was filling. I definitely did not need the extra fries. I ordered the truffle fries and they were extremely oily. In fact, they tasted like gasoline or something. It was just way too much to handle and in the end I had to toss out about half of them.
Overall the food wasn’t bad but it was a big strange-​tasting.
When I initially ordered, they mixed it up and they thought I had gotten a plate instead of a wrap. They were happy to wrap it up for me.
The food is decent but still a rip-​off for $ 12.
Unfortunately, I do have some reservations about ordering from No Reservations again. I think I may skip them next time.

Ain’t gonna lie. I was wooed into trying this truck by the snazzy sales pitch the owner gave as I walked by the menu. Once I stopped and looked at the menu basically every single thing sounded so damn delicious.
I ordered the Rosemary’s Baby wrap + truffle fries. Heaven. Yum. O.M.G. Coworker adored his Illusionist sandwich too. My only minor complaint is that there was a lot of oil coming out of my wrap. Otherwise the food was f-​ing fantastic and I can’t wait to work my way through the entire menu. Next up for me is the Atlantic Salmon wrap.
While we waited for our orders to come up the owner was crackin’ jokes and bantering with customers totally making me want to order from this truck even if I hadn’t absolutely loved the food. He even offers to buy your meal back from you if you don’t like it. How can you pass up an offer like that?

«Have I had No Reservations before?» I asked the guy I’m seeing at the west side food truck central.
And that about sums up my experience there, pretty unmemorable. I had the good fellas wrap, and remembered the wrap itself to be a little dry and kind of tasteless. The rest of the wrap was also kind of like that, how does something sound so good on paper come out so meh?
That being said, on my second visit to No Res. I decided to just get the truffle fries (I’m a sucker for anything truffle) and WOW. The fries are wonderfully crispy on the outside and delectably warm and soft on the inside, just the way a fry should be. The sauce on the side is fine, but the truffle really stands alone.
The lady who worked there wasn’t particularly friendly so that rounds out this review at a 3, 2 for food and service, 4 – 5 for the fries!

Dammit, I so wanted to like this truck…
Out of all the trucks at the SM Food Truck Lot this Tuesday night, I took a chance on the special burger, and was thoroughly disappointed — by more than just the food.
I placed my order, the special Bistro Burger, rare. When she said that it was a 6oz patty, I asked for an extra patty — and was given a quizzical look before she called the owner over to give her a price for my request.
He came over and said it would be an extra $ 4 — then looked at me and asked if I realized how big that would be. 1^st of all, I’m asian so it’s a safe bet that I can do basic math. 2^nd of all — why are you questioning how hungry I am?
Whatever. I told him that I only will eat the meat, so he tells the cashier — «oh, just make it bunless for her then».
HE got a quizzical look from her, and she asked «bunless?». I realized this confused her, so I said it didn’t matter, that I could just eat around it. But the owner says «no, just make it bunless».
I guess she got it, because she wrote something down. Then I asked for no added salt, and got another quizzical look.
Really? Am I THAT difficult? It’s is, after all, just a burger. She said there was already seasoning in the meat, and I said fine — just no added salt then.
So she repeats back to me — double patty, no added salt. And I say «don’t forget rare» — and she says «oh, that’s right» — and writes something more down.
My burger was up pretty fast, and it was hot, and it was definitely rare. But this is what it was supposed to be:
«Hamburger Hill» Bistro Burger, rare, bunless, add extra patty ($ 8 + $ 4) — topped with muenster cheese, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions and a sweet chili sauce
and this is what it really was:
2 burger patties, rare
Thousand Island dressing
Shredded iceberg
A slice of tomato
No cheese
No grilled onions
No sweet chili sauce
(unless the Thousand Island dressing was that chili sauce and I didn’t realize it)
The burger patties tasted like sausage — either it was the seasoning mix, or there was actual ground sausage mixed in to the meat. And the rare middle was brown — not pink — even though it really was rare.
Sigh.
Eek! Methinks not is right.

No reservations is right. And you should hold no reservation in trying the food. Hey, it may even make you part of the crime family…
At least it did for me. I had to choose the Good Fellas when I saw it on the board and let me tell you, it was an offer that I couldn’t refuse.
Grilled steak with roasted garlic potatoes and all the rest just hit the perfect spot. Especially with the horseradish crème
Their grilled cheese was also much better than a certain other food truck’s grilled cheese specialty. It may have been alike in price, but in the taste department it was damn good. You really can skip the line from that other truck because this one, while it takes no reservations, walk up’s won’t keep you waiting around.
Another bonus for those of you who just don’t carry cash on you, is that the truck accepts your credit card. So you can stop bitching about food trucks not taking plastic.
The service on the truck is second to none. It’s really on its game with friendly and fast turn around. I guess the only thing that I could think negatively of this fine establishment is that the prices are up there. But really, you’ll be more than happy to pay it once you taste their food.

We’ve eaten from this truck a few times, so when it came to our school in Beverly Hills yesterday we were hemming and hawing. Ya, we know the gourmet wraps are exceptional, but it wasn’t really a rosemary and cous cous kind of afternoon. Then we saw the specials hanging, the Heavenly something or other. Pulled pork grilled cheese with gouda and apples and cranberry aioli. We were sold at the pink yogurt looking aioli.
I’m so serious, even with blocks of butter hanging off this thing, it was so good it made us cry.

I have to do it… I have to save my readers!
The really nice owner of this truck told me that they cook the best lamb and made the best award-​winning garlic fries in Los Angeles. He also had 3 people standing by the truck saying «Yeah, it’s delicious! You HAVE to try it,» and to prove it, he brought out a sample piece of freshly cooked lamb for Tony to taste. His face said it all, along with «Wow… that’s pretty disgusting.»
The guy was intently waiting for us to order something, so I thought, «Hey, even if they don’t have the BEST garlic fries in LA, you can’t exactly fuck up garlic fries right?» So I ordered a basket.
Wrong… They fucked up garlic fries for me, for life.
To begin with, they weren’t bad. But about 5 bites in, I bit into a few pieces that were stuck together, and the whole experience accelerated downhill from there. It tasted like it had been rubbed in someone’s sweaty armpit or had camped out inside the cook’s dirty, smelly shoe for a day or two. I seriously had to run behind the truck and throw it up because I didn’t want any of the people at the other food trucks to see and get grossed out.
I was UPSET and sick for the rest of the day. I hate being tricked, and that’s exactly how I felt after I saw that the 3-​person stand-​by real-​life marketing-​crew was actually STAFF and not faithful followers of the truck.
Sincerely,
Pissed Off.

Three times! That’s how many times I have been to the No Reservations truck and they have been sold out of that delicious looking grilled cheese sandwich!
So… after checking out the 9 other trucks at this weeks Farmer’s Market, I made my way back to No Reservations and ordered up the Good Fellows wrap. Steak, potatoes, gorgonzola and a red beet horseradish crème fraîche. It wasn’t on their list of best sellers (Rosemary’s Baby & Silence of the Lambs) but I can never go wrong with steak and potatoes. The Truffle Fries were suggested over the Garlic Fries.
Food came out really fast — under 5 minutes — and presented well in a paper boat. I’m not sure what kind of wrap was used but it was colorful. Maybe tomato basil? I had asked for the horseradish on the side and was a little disappointed to find it was on the wrap but ate it anyway. Fortunately, it was pretty subtle and tasted good with everything else in the wrap. The beef was really tender and potatoes were seasoned well, but the gorgonzola really added a nice kick of flavor.
The Truffle Fries were really delicious. I didn’t even use the Berry Anchovy Aioli it came with. Once I offered to share them with my friends, they didn’t stop eating them which was fine since there was a good amount of them.
Next time, I WILL come early and get a damn grilled cheese sandwich!

Oh the Chicken Little…
I took a major chance ordering this dish off the special menu, cuz i’m a proud member of the «Bring back KFC’s Chicken Little» campaign. I was expecting a fancified chicken sammie and i got something very different.
Maybe i didn’t read the specials menu correctly and just got very excited to see the words Chicken Little.
It translated onto the plate as a filet of chicken breast, with a bread roll with a side of garlic mash and veggies. It was certainly not a chicken sammie as i was picturing!
In the end, the chicken was moist with yummy sauce, the brussel sprouts were delicious and the garlic mash potatoes were filling. The only thing i didn’t care for, was the dry bread roll. i would have been happy if it were a soft hawaiin roll even. 8 dollars was a little steep. I should have ordered their signature wraps for that price. Next time!

Once my best friend and I saw the line to the Grill Cheese Food Truck at the Santa Anita Food Truck Festival we decided that getting food was going to be ridiculous! We walked around and jolly behold! The No Reservations line was short! At first, I thought of Mr. Anthony Bourdain with the show No Reservations and figured it should be good (even though Mr. Bourdain had no connection with the food truck haha). We quickly went over and looked over the menu. I figured this truck should be good since they specialized in French fusion cuisine in a wrap.
The Green Mile wrap sounded quite tasty and so we ordered it. The wrap consisted of a wonderful blend of roasted vegetables (zucchini, bell peppers, squash, eggplant, brussel sprouts, onions, and garlic) and with buffalo mozzarella. It came with horseradish crème fraîche, but my friend and I decided to leave it out. My goodness, it was indeed good a good eat! We had the option of adding some couscous! WOW! LOVED IT!

The food truck fest at santa anita was a complete mess today. The lines were 2+ hours and the trucks (including No Reservations) were running out of BASICS like fries after 1 hour of being open. Maybe they didn’t understand how busy this fest would be, but there is absolutely no excuse for how rude they were amongst this madness.
After waiting 1 hour in line planning to order the vegetarian wrap (the only vegetarian item on the menu), a lady came out and added a «sold out» sign on top of it, adding to the list of the many thing that were sold out. At this point we’ve already invested the time and being the laid back veggie i am, I thought no big deal, I’ll order «rosemary’s baby» wrap and ask for it without chicken. Maybe they’ll even give me a discount! Instead when I finally got up to order and asked for the wrap but without chicken, the lady told me No, very rudely. She leaned back to half ass-​ley ask her manager who also told me NO. I guess they were NOT in the mood to save their chicken which is funny because as we were waiting for our wrap the lady came out and put a «SOLD OUT» sign over the rosemary’s baby wrap. Maybe if they had saved their chicken…
I will also mention that it took over 30+ minutes to receive a VERY basic wrap that should’ve taken no less than 5 minutes to assemble. It was very oily. $ 8 for a wrap the size of my fist is kind of a joke…
Again — I totally realize that most of these trucks had no idea what a mess they signed up for, but there really is no excuse for being rude and not accommodating very simple requests (especially when the customer has invested as much time as we did and they were selling out of things left and right).
Extremely disappointing experience at «No Reservations» and I can say I will never go to a food truck fest ever again.

My first time ever experience with the food truck culture hit me hard and hit me good. At the food truck festival in Santa Anita, the lines to most trucks were up to 3 hours long… yea, I’m not joking…
As I was wandering around to look for a truck with a short line, I saw the No Reservations Catering truck… and their line were short! JACKPOT! The reason the line was so short, was because they only had 2 items left to choose from, which was chicken and lamb. I decided to try their lamb wrap, which consisted of lamb, Middle Eastern styled rice and hummus and a few more items I can’t remember. One word –DELISH. I had no idea truck food could be so good. I’m totally hocked now, and I’m blaming No Reservation Catering for it.
People had to wait for their food for over 1 hour after ordering, so the sweet manager (I believe it was Sheldon Katz who is the owner/​general manager) gave every waiting customer her business card where it said we get one free chips plus drink for our next visit, and we also got to choose a free bag of chips or a muffin from the truck. That was so cool of them to do that since other guests had to stand in line for hours for the other trucks.
I am giving them 5 stars even if I had to wait for over an hour because they tried to make the best out of the situation and gave us free snacks as an apology.

When I planned this review in my head I was going to make some witty quip about the reservations I had going to eat at the No Reservations truck. But it seems that Ciara G. beat me to it so good on her.
For whatever reason, and honestly I have no idea why, I had little interest in the No Reservations truck. I’m not sure what the problem is but I just didn’t care to eat there. Lucky for me I had no choice one lonely Thursday night in SCV. With the family out and after 2.5 hours on the freeway I couldn’t bear the idea of cooking. Thankfully, Rodney H. had given me a heads up about some trucks in front of Billy’s so I hurried over there.
All of the ingredients in all of their regular wraps and sandwiches sound amazing but it wasn’t them that sang to me that lonely Thursday. As soon as I walked up I was swept away in the dream that was «The Heaven’s Gate» sandwich. It was a grilled cheese on acid. Cheesy goodness filled with pork, onions and on top some fruity relish/​chutney (I’m pretty sure it was berry based). I know this whole cheese, pork, onions, fruit in a sandwich business sounds pretty questionable but I assure you it was anything but.
The sandwich was $ 8 and well worth it. Just a second too late I noticed that they have orange cream soda. I asked to add it but she had already rung my order through. She happily gave it to me on the house. And I tipped her $ 4 for her trouble. It was a super good soda too.
I decided to drive my food home so that I could curl up in bed, watch the Penguin’s game and enjoy my heavenly sandwich.
I wish I had eaten the sandwich right when it came out of the truck so that it was super fresh and hot because the five minute drive to my house made the bread a little hard around the edges.
Either way, my first bite into that sandwich totally blew my mind. My cat really liked it too. I just kept eating and wishing that I had ordered two sandwiches. It was the perfect balance of all it’s weird and wonderful ingredients. I’m looking forward to giving it’s other less special but I’m sure equally delicious sandwiches a try.

I am bumping up my stars another .5. Since Unilocal doesn’t allow halfsies, I have to round up and I am comfortable with that. As I continue to review more and more, I try to be stingy with my 5 stars, but the experiences I’ve been having with NoRes has hit all points.
Shortly after my first visit and review of NoRes, I found out that they were nearby my office and I changed my plans for lunch to visit them. I already had a late brekky so I didn’t plan on eating alot. I headed over mainly to give a little support to a foodtruck since trucks in downtown seem to be fading. It was funny to be recognized by Sheldon and his wife because of the review I had written a few days before. HAHAHA.
I was a little disappointed that the grilled cheese sandwich that was a special the previous week was no longer on the menu. Well my loss, it was a special after all. Instead, I scanned over their permanent menu as I chit chatted with Sheldon. He had already mentioned his favorites before and I kept reading and re-​reading the menu, waiting for something to pop out at me. The Off the Hook wrap wiggled its little fish tail and caught my attention. I thought I would try a sample bite and be content with that.
Sheldon (that evil man) just grinned and said its his wife’s favorite.
The Off the Hook wrap was simply marvelous. By the way, salmon is one of my least favorite fish to eat. I usually only eat it because its so readily available at eateries. One bite of it left me in fascination of what I was tasting. The wild salmon and basmati riceis prepared with lemon dill and added asparagus. Along with it is a wasabi aioli that took me by surprised. I even had to dissect my wrap to see what was inside to double check. The little fish roe were just perfection. I wound up eating the rest of the wrap with a spoon so I could get each little salty pellet with the salmon. I didn’t want to waste a single bite of it. I wound up eating the whole thing because it tasted so good. The wrap was not heavy at all.
I found out the mastermind behind some of, if not all, is Chef Tony inside the truck. I had to give him proper praise and thanked him. I turned and found Sheldon doing that mischievous grin he does. I knew I was in trouble.
Jin, have you tried one of our desserts? Cheesecake perhaps?
DAMMIT.
My wife is a pastry chef and these are all her creations.
DOUBLE DAMMIT.
I had a hard time choosing between the Key Lime and the Raspberry White Chocolate. I chose the latter. Very very good. So silky smooth was the texture. Because it came in a tiny little foil cup it likened itself to a rich pudding or budino. A nice surprise was the chocolate crumb on the bottom. I highly recommend their dessert. Look for it in their little window on the side.
I finally leave with this… I read from other reviews that NoRes is slightly pricey. Yes, I would readily admit they aren’t cheap food, but they make very good food. Some of the tastes and flavor profiles I am experiencing from NoRes would easily be charged $ 3 — $ 5 or more if they had their own brick and mortar bistro. Grab a Happy Meal if you’re trying to scrimp and save on food.

I will be honest and say that I had some reservations about the No Reservations Truck. But when the lovely Beth from the Lake Street Creamery Truck said she has had some awesome eats from them TruckStar Jin N. gave into the friendliness of Sheldon and ordered a Rosemary’s Baby Wrap.
It’s a truck that serves mostly wraps, kind of pricey to be honest at $ 8 bucks but what the hey. It was made and handed over in no time and we were off. Bite one from each of us was all it took. We both said after our bites «Oh wow that’s good»
Flavorful chicken, dressed up couscous, diced veggies all wrapped up in a warm soft flour tortilla (maybe sun-​dried tomato flavor?). If I wasn’t stuffing my face from all the other trucks on Wilshire Blvd today I would have been able to fill up on this wrap easy.
We headed back to LSC to eat and hang with Beth and she actually let us try the Garlic Fries that Sheldon gave her earlier. As we were waiting for the wrap Jin was chatting with Sheldon about his fries and Sheldon claims his garlic fries are the best. Oh boy he wasn’t lying to us when he said his Garlic Fries were good. And when we got around to trying them they were barely warm! And the aioli… Oh that Caper Anchovy Aioli was heavenly. Jin took the cup with him and finished it off solo as we strolled down to the next truck.
No Res accepts credit cards with a minimum $ 5 purchase. Check out their Specials board as that Pork yummyness Beth was telling us about was a special.
My reservations about this truck have been set aside and I’m looking forward for a return visit.

Full disclosure: No dollar bills exchanged hands.
The down-​to-​earth gentleman who runs the «front of the house» of this truck just wanted to brighten my day and he did just that with the Rosemary’s Baby wrap. This tortilla housed a whole lot of flavor in the form of couscous, chicken, etc. It was a little messy, so eating in the car on the go isn’t ideal, but man was it an excellent lunch. Not one of those wraps that makes you feel full for a nanosecond and then you’re hungry an hour later. This wrap meant business so that I could keep conducting business without having to stop for a snack break. I can’t wait to try the fries because they sounded heavenly.
Thanks again, Sheldon!

If Mary had a little lamb, she must not have been at the No Reservations Truck. I know because I ate there today and unlike poor Mary, I had a lot of lamb in my «Silence of the Lambs» wrap.
Now I don’t know if the fleece in my lamb was as white as snow; but it was served with Spaghetti Squash, Middle Eastern Rice Hummus and a sweet, but not too sweet pomegranate red wine sauce.
It was a generous portion, and made a pretty good meal, but the lamb chunks seemed a bit on the bland side. It’s hard to say, but the marinade seemed to be a little overwhelmed by the flavors of the squash, hummus and sauce.
Still it was a hearty meal and filled my tummy for the day. I also liked the fact that they had Boylans Diets Root Beer on ice. A lot of the trucks will carry the regular bottles of the premium sodas, but not the diet I am glad the No Res people got it right.
«Gourmet Food Truck #23 on my never-​ending quest to try every truck in So Cal»

The Definitely-​Meant-​To-​Be (DMTB) and I were in the area running some errands. She had told me that there was a get together with the debut of a new truck on the miracle mile, so off we went.
We got to the truck and see that they’re selling, wraps, fries, and dessert. Not bad. We order the «Good Fellas» wrap. I’m not sure how they managed to fit such big taste into such a small package. It had gorgonzola cheese, steak, potatoes, and red beet crème fraîche. Definitely looking forward to trying their truffle fries with caperberry/​anchovi aioli.

Catch the wave! The No Reservations truck is not hard to miss with its big blue wave and bright red & tan surfboard logo.
Before you get too excited or jaded, Anthony Bourdain has nothing to do with this truck. No Reservations Catering, Inc. is a catering company with a history and now they have a food truck.
Today they stopped by Beverly Hills Porsche to feed a mass of hungry Porsche technicians. The first thing I noticed, all of their wraps are named after movie titles. I stayed back and watched what everyone else ordered before diving in. I was intrigued by the «Rosemary’s Baby» wrap with rosemary chicken, smoked Gouda, couscous, sun dried tomatoes, pesto and balsamic. A few co-​workers opted for the «Good Fellas» New York steak wrap, but I finally decided on the «Off the Hook» salmon grilled with lemon, dill, basmati rice with asparagus and tobiko wasabi aioli. This was fish done right! I’m posta eat more fish and lay off the red meat so this was clearly the right choice. I was dying to order the garlic fries, they smelled sooooo good but I had clients to think about. Next time!
There is a lot of great flavor wrapped up in these creations. I only wish I had the capacity to try all of them today. Next time I’m going to go for the «Silence of the Lambs» roasted leg of lamb with middle eastern rice, squash, red pepper hummus and pomegranate red wine sauce. I’ve never been a big fan of sheeps but I was told this wrap was amazing by someone I trust.
Everyone was pleased with their food and only a couple complained at the $ 8 cost but in reality it’s a great value for what you get. Gourmet food at street prices as their sign says.
Looking forward to chasing them down again!
Twitter: @NoResCatering