Brilliantshine

Came for a nightcap. The bar area is small with around 5 tables and 28 seats or so. The drink menu here are all tiki bar classics with a paragraph description on the history of what made those drinks famous. Chill, relaxed ambiance. Not deafening loud thank goodness.

In town for business; came here a the recommendation of a local Santa Monican. Works on all levels.
Ambiance– mixture of alley/​courtyard, meets coach-​house. Indoor and out door blend. Patio heaters for cooler nights.
Cocktail menu split between shaken/​sweet and stirred/​savory. Tried a couple of cocktails as well as a gorgeous syrah-​grenache; and a hoppy handcraft ale.
Food was tremendous. Recommend the duck egg stir fried rice; the braised short-​rib, and the mussels/​frites. Tuna toast was mediocre.
Service was five-​star. very attentive, courteous and well informed. Will definitely come back.

Decided to give Brilliantshine another try and I am glad I did.
Gotta start with the drinks since this is definitely a bar driven establishment. There are some great and creative cocktails on the menu that span the gambit. Just pick whatever looks like it will whet your pallet.
The food has a Peruvian flair, but isn’t strictly Peruvian. For better or worse (mostly better), it is all over the place. Some of the highlights were the The shrimp fried rice with a fried egg (a wonderful twist on Korean beep Bibimbap), Bok Choy (Great veggie dish with a, though note that there isn’t as much bok choy in it as we were expecting), kampachi crudo (though small portion size), Lamb Merguez Burger (really juicy and tasty!) and the Duck Lettuce Wraps.
Things I’d skip: Massaged Octopus and the Maine Lobster Rice with uni.

Every time I have brunch or dinner here, chef Richie Lopez blows me away. He is so talented and yet such a sweetheart. The staff here is always so hospitalble and nice.
I love having brunch here and then going to the beach.
The cocktails are fabulous, the bartenders really know their stuff.
This place is a must if you’re in Santa Monica!

This is really a 2.5. I’d say the whole experience was pretty «meh.» I’m not in any sort of rush to come back here for the food, but I probably wouldn’t object to drinks. Went here last week with a few friends for dineLA. We had the ceviche, lomo salteado, and the bread pudding. I didn’t think anything was particularly good nor was it worth the price (even with the increased value the dineLA menu offered).
The service was pretty off as well. Waited around 20 minutes to be greeted by a server and we realized pretty quickly she was a lost cause, so we ordered everything in one fail swoop to avoid being forgotten again. While annoying, I am going to assume it was just an off night.
I would probably give this place one more shot and order completely different items (and hope that the service was just off), but I would say don’t rush to come try this place unless it happens to be very convenient. There are far more places in LA that strive for a similar experience but execute far better.

Decided to check out Brilliantshine because it has been getting buzzed reviews for 2015. It is tucked away in Santa Monica and your best bet is to find meter parking unless you want to valet.
The entrance is an alleyway and there is a bar to the left. Our reservation was at 930 but we arrived around 900 hoping we could get seated earlier. The hostess said yes but we ended up getting our table at 945. We decided to order the Tuna Ceviche, Moules Frites and Stone Pot Lomo Saltado Bibimbap. Before we ordered, we had to wait and actually flag a waiter to take our order. The Ceviche was overloaded with lime juice, but the tuna was fresh. The Stone Pot Lomo Saltado seemed like it needed more rice compared to a overload of fries. The best was the mussels. The tomato broth it came with amazing. The waiter asked if we wanted bread to dip the sauce. It wasn’t until our bill we realized they charge for the bread!
Overall, Brilliantshine seems to be a overhype from a «Must try 2015» restaurant. They need to refine their dishes more and work on customer service from hostess to waiter. If I come back, it won’t be until this place gets more adjusted.

The décor of this place is adorably hipster and kind of feels like a hidden spot. They have a really cute outdoor patio area and small bar area.
Loved the food! The highlights were the ceviche, lomo saltado, duck lettuce wraps (I think the duck was my fav of the night). The drinks were also delish and presented in the cutest fashion. My friend thought they were a little heavy on the ice and low on the actual alcohol but I enjoyed my ‘Refresher’ drink.
The service needs a little work… the waitress was helpful but the busers seemed to kind of rush the process of clearing our plates. I think they were trying to be efficient and keep the table clean but it ended up making our party feel like we were being rushed off the table. Also, they served us the dessert before we had finished our meal. So, the ice cream melted and the donuts weren’t hot/​fresh.

First of all, I refuse to come here on a night that’s busy. Give me Sunday at 10p or give me an eye pillow and a Benadryl, because this place looks like it would be PACKED. Although this guy who was on a first date was loud enough to make it seem like the place was packed, yikes man, lower your voice. Also it feels like the service might be reaaaaal slow during busy nights.
Their food is expensive, okay? Don’t expect to come here to eat and drink for two without putting down a hundo. You might think you can exercise some kind of restraint, but the food here is so good — and the drinks are lovely — so you’re going to want to sample pretty much everything.
The duck lettuce wraps were phenomenal. Pulled duck in bibb lettuce, with pork rinds, pickled daikon, and a sauce? Are you fucking mad? Yeah. Yeah I’m mad. I’m crazy. This works so goddamn well. I dunno, order two.
The shrimp fried rice with a fried egg. Yeahhhhh I’m gonna have to go ahead and order this again. It was so delightful, and perfect. I ended up not finishing it to have for lunch the next day.
Boyfriend’s alcoholic drink of a Bee’s Knees was fantastic, along with something else I keep forgetting. Does it matter? Order anything, it’ll be good. I couldn’t have alcohol so I opted for a mixed non-​alcoholic drink — I’ve never been so excited to not have booze. UGH. It was so good! What the fuck do you put in that?! How beautiful to offer such an amazing option for people who can’t drink! Seriously. I’m fucking serious. I’m so sick of coke and 7up.
The agnolotti was amazing. I’d order three of those. A Michelin star restaurant in SF couldn’t get these right — they should take a lesson from Brilliantshine.
For dessert, we had the kombucha doughnuts with ice cream. I mean, they were good — but I feel like they could do SO much better, especially with the ice cream. Kinda boring. Still delicious.
I’m glad we finally made it here. They have fried chicken and waffles on the menu for brunch so… guess you’ll know where to find us on Sunday.

I took a dinner restaurant recommendation from a friend for Tinga, and was looking forward to getting a fix of Mexican food. When we arrived we found that the restaurant is now called Brilliantshine. We were starving so we walked in anyway. And boy, are we glad we did! Cutest little hidden gem ever!
The host desk is out on the sidewalk, next to the first room, which our host said it is intended to be a specialty bar. I can’t remember if she said whiskey? Then you walk down a short path to the awesome saloon-​style doors to the smallest yet most peaceful outdoor dining area. Copper table tops, park bench-​like booth, and doors to all other rooms, including the kitchen, all under tree canopies and a giant balcony. It makes you feel like you’re dining in someone’s home’s outdoor patio. Everyone there was so hospitable! We felt relaxed and in good hands. Our server was very attentive and knowledgeable.
And the food! We were light eaters so we didn’t try many dishes. But we did try the Lola Rosa Lettuce (lettuce, pears, beets and perfectly fried goat cheese fritters) and the Moules Frites (mussels, pork jus, fries and chorizo!) and both were amazing! The salad was perfectly dressed and complemented the cheese so well. The mussels were tender, the chorizo was cooked to a sausage consistency rather than the runny ground chorizo you see at Mexican restaurants. We considered ordering the Crispy Duck Lettuce Wraps, but we were too full.
The drink menu was great too. I want to say the bartender there created all of the drinks on the menu, but I can’t remember exactly. All I know is that my glass of caramelized pineapple, gin and cayenne pepper was delicious.
So, in conclusion to my lengthy-​but-​hopefully-​helpful review, I love this place and I can’t wait to go back :)

My Cambodian wing gal who lives in Santa Monica and I were at a charity event around the dinner hour and there was no food. So we came to this new tapas place located on Wilshire just North of 5^th.
Small plates include ceviche ($ 11), moules frites ($ 16), and massaged octopus ($ 16). In addition, there is one entrée (35 oz rib eye — $ 75). We ordered the duck lettuce wraps ($ 14 — w/​pickled daikon and chicharrón) & Mary’s wings ($ 12 — kale, gochujang, aji Amarillo and honey). To drink, we had Malbec from Argentina ($ 10).
The lettuce wraps were kinda weak. The duck was nothing special, the portion was small for the price, and the chicharrón was like store bought: 2 Stars. On the other hand, the wings were pretty good. They were meaty, and had a unique flavor. However, the price was too high, and the kale tasted sour: 3 Stars.
The ambiance is very nice. There are double doors as you enter, an open air dining area, and a bar towards the rear of the restaurant: 4 Stars. The service was pretty good. The food came quickly, and the bartenders and servers were nice: 4 Stars.
Despite the nice ambiance and good service, I would have a hard time returning here. The menu is limited, the items are overpriced, and the food I tried was so-​so. Lastly, PF Changs is up the street and prolly has equal quality food at ²⁄₃ the cost.

Literally a hole in the wall, tucked within an old taqueria (when I went there was just a BRILLIANTSHINE sign on top of the old signage). But when to duck beneath the sign and through the saloon doors, you are transported into a different era — I guess this is what a speakeasy would look and feel like. Super dim lighting, short candles everywhere, random tables of people in dark corners (for doing dark deeds, no no, but could be!). But their piece de resistance are their bartenders — yes, the bar area is cool, but their BARTENDERS know their sh*t and can whip anything up for you — just tell them your favorite liquor and a preference (sweet? boozy? no problem!). Bonus, their food and service were great too.
I highly recommend — come for the drinks, stay for the atmosphere and food.

Nope, nope, and nope.
This place.
I’ve been told that this is a better bet on a weeknight than a weekend. And after last night, I can totally see why.
I ordered two drinks off their (albeit imaginative) cocktail menu, only for the waitress to tell me that they were «out» of both. Midnight on a Friday, I might add. At this point, I said, nope, no thank you; I couldn’t handle the potential of a third strike.
Everyone else in my party enjoyed their beverages, but after one round, we quickly moved on.
I don’t know. On the one hand, I realize that some of those drinks are made with more obscure ingredients. On the other hand, of you know you use said ingredients in your more popular drinks, why not keep them more plentifully stocked? It’s entirely possible that it was just an off night, but the whole ordeal just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Dinner party rsvp was canceled a few weeks back, so Brilliantshine was still on my mind when another group of friends and I were looking to do brunch. Reservations for brunch were easy to make and actually unnecessary as it wasn’t too busy on a Saturday morning.
The place is really intimate and I can see where the ambiance would be really nice at night with an open, central patio, strung lights, textured walls and cozy seats. For brunch, there was just enough sun shining down to be warm but not hot.
Service and drinks were great and spot on. The food unfortunately, was lacking. The chicken and waffles didn’t have much flavor and the breading wasn’t crunchy. The side of bacon were half pieces. The steak and egg was nothing original and price to serving size ratio was pretty pricey even for elevated dining.
Still looking forward to dinner as it sounds and looks much more promising and exciting. Brunch on the other hand is not worth the time or money.

Really wanted to try their lightbulb drink but they only have it at night, so I just had brunch. Started out with the Gordon’s cup which was very light and refreshing, a bit sour though with the many limes squeezed in there. Loved the straw in my friend’s drink! Super cute. The restaurant was very rustic and hipster with its metallic tables and minimalist design.
Eggs benedict– It was on brioche with bacon, eggs, and hollandaise sauce. No sides, just eggs benedict. It was good as the bacon was crunchy and added nice texture to the eggs benedict, but nothing special.
Hanger steak and eggs– the steak was delicious. Tender and juicy. At only $ 8, it is a steal; its cheaper than their drinks!
Bacon on the side– charred and super crispy. I usually cant eat bacon by itself but this one was bomb!
Wish we sat outside, as it seems to be more cutest and brunch like out there. Brunch was good, but nothing special or memorable. I want to come back to try the drink and their dinner menu!

Man oh man. It has been rare that a new restaurant has fallen flat on its face, but Brilliantshine managed to do just that. I am not optimistic about its future if everyone experiences it the same way my group did.
Firstly, I do have to say that I adore the ambiance. Open spaces, gorgeous wall details and intimate lighting. That’s pretty much where the fun ended.
We were seated shortly after our arrival, but it took at least 10 minutes for a waitress to show up. She wasn’t sure if we’d been helped for some reason, but after our drink orders, it took another 15 min for them to arrive… and 20 for my water. Mystery. Everyone did seem to enjoy their drinks, but since I didn’t drink, I can’t speak for that portion of the meal.
Anyway, we ordered a bunch of plates, all of which came out in a slow and staggered fashion. I wish the waitress had told us the items were small, because some were a bit of a struggle to share amongst 5 people. The items that actually showed up include:
Bok choy: soy sauce, tomato, caulflower, and red onion. This was good.
Surprisngly flavorful considering it’s bok choy.
Salmon flatbread: Was this on special that night? Can’t remember but it was also good. Nothing special, but I love smoked salmon.
Scallops with sea urchin — not a fan. SUPER tart /​citrusy. Is that the uni flavor?
Shrimp fried rice — I like shrimp but this was really fishy flavored. The rice itself was good and I liked that it came in a hot stone bowl, but the shrimp somehow made the dish worse, not better.
Duck lettuce wraps — The duck itself was fine, but the sauce really hit the spot. This was pretty rich, so I didn’t want more than one.
Lamb shank — Too gamey for my liking. All the flavors and sides were delicious but I disliked the actual meat. One bite in and I stopped eating.
Items that didn’t show up include the chicken wings, merguez burger, and pasta. Cool. I hope we weren’t charged for them…
At that point, nobody was full but we were too tired to order and consequently wait for more food. So another 15 minutes later to get the check and we high-​tailed it outta there, never to return.

This new joint is all sorts of sexy, from the strong, innovative cocktails, to the dimly-​lit patio, to the shared plates, and the hipsters who frequent it. It’s all just SAXINESS.
Although some of the food were misses, the whole of this place is quite enjoyable and a great joint for a double-​date with happy couple friends. The best drinks were the not-​too-​sweet Obligatory Vodka Cocktail and the ah-​mazing Walking Dead, which has so much rum in it, the bar puts a 2 drink limit on each person. Yes, it’s potent and it’s served with the top on FIRE and yes, it’s all sorts of sexy.
We didn’t like the Uni & Scallop plate which was way too cold so there was no melting in your mouth deliciousness. But the duck wraps, the sweetbreads, and the liver and onions were all delicious. By far, the most memorable thing on their menu was the fried rice served in a Korean hot pot. YUM and worth the burnt tongue effect.
I wouldn’t recommend this place for dinner per se, since the plates are small and expensive on their own, but it is a great place to stop for wonderful cocktails and tasty small bites before or after dinner.

Brilliantshine is a new-​ish Peruvian tapas restaurant in Santa Monica. Although I think it still needs to completely embrace a vision that connects all the disparate parts of the restaurant together, I do think there is a lot of potential.
Coming in on a Tuesday night, we made a RSVP for two and we were surprised that it was actually fairly busy around 7PM. Still, it’s not overly crowded where it doesn’t seem impossible to get seats. There is a small outside patio area, an inside dining area and a small bar area.
The drinks were solid with a mixture of both sweeter and stronger drinks divided to give you a better sense of what to get. I got both a sweet and strong drink to try both (one was more tequila based while the other was their take on an old-​fashioned). The old-​fashioned was good although nothing I think I haven’t tried in other places. Drinks will cost you about +$ 10 with also wines/​beers also available.
Food-​wise, you’ll see a list of tapas dishes (and one or two entrée dishes) that go for about $ 10+ (although the angus beef which was an entrée went for about $ 75). It quickly adds up but you’ll be looking to get at least 2 – 3 dishes per person to properly fill up. Some of the food we had included:
–a rice bowl dish with quail egg (delicious)
–ceviche (it was okay — a little lacking in taste for us)
–mussels and fries (not bad — the fries were okay but the mussels were deilcious)
Perhaps what didn’t click with me the most here is the atmosphere and the look. It has a very saloon look with a piano, the Western double doors, a skateboard utensil holder and a Peruvian tapas dish menu. It didn’t all click for me and felt really disparate from one another. Would love to see something a bit more unified in vision or more complementary as I wasn’t completely sold on the idea. The service though was super on-​point and very helpful with the dishes and explanations.
Cost-​wise, do expect to pay about a $$$ amount as our bill for two came out to about +$ 100.
All-​in-​all, Brilliantshine has a lot of interesting potential that I hope it puts all together and I look forward to seeing its evolution in the coming months. (3 ½ stars)

I would say 3.5, but the service pushed it down to 3 for me. This is actually a much bigger place than it looks like from the outside. And it is pretty cute. The forks and knives rest on little skateboards (although thinking about this I wonder how sanitary this is – do they wash them after each guest? I hope so). They have a small menu and a ton of specialty cocktails. The food is mostly small plates. We tried a lot of them. The shrimp ceviche was great. The kanpachi was OK. The quinoa salad was pretty good, nothing too special. The salmon flatbread was pretty bad. The duck lettuce wraps were a hit. The angnolotti was good – the squash purée was quite sweet, but the mushrooms were awesome. I can’t remember what else we had.
The service was pretty bad. We sat for about 30 or more min before the server took our order — he just disappeared. He was also pretty unhelpful. One person at the table had allergies and after telling the server these allergies, asked about a couple of dishes. The server said he would check. He forgot, returned 20 min later and then had to go ask the chef. So, we sat for a little under an hour before we ordered. Then when the server came back he said only 1 dish of the 3 that were asked about were allergy safe. And that was it. No offer to find out about any more, etc. So, a couple of us ate a bunch of things, one person in the group pretty much had nothing to eat. But, when you have allergies, you know that you can’t always have an amazing meal everywhere. But, you kind of expect the server to come to your table, remember to ask the chef, and make a couple of recommendations.

This review is for brunch!
Food/​drinks: We ordered the chilaquiles which I really enjoyed. It had good savory flavor and came with two sunny side up eggs. The fried chicken with waffles were served with drizzles of chocolate syrup and the batter of the fried chicken tasted like some sort of granola cereal mix. The flavors were unique but the portions were VERY small and the chicken itself was undercooked. I believe chicken should be eaten well cooked, as in no red should appear on the bones. The bones on our chicken were bright red – no bueno. We informed our waiter but he did nothing to rectify the situation. As for drinks, I highly recommend the NA/​BC (nonalcoholic bartender’s choice), it was very refreshing and tasty.
Service: The service was decent, though they appeared short staffed because there was no one at the host table for at least 5 minutes.
I liked the overall décor and ambiance, but the space is small, I literally sat inches away from the guest from the next table.
I think this place has great potential, and I would definitely give it another try sometime in the future once they fixed some minor issues.

3.5 stars.
This new bar has a decent variety of cocktails, but only a couple that I would consider really innovative. One of these was called the «Cobblestone» — rye whiskey, dry vermouth, some other liquer, and cucumber — it was very fresh but strong and dry at the same time. The Rye ‘n Goslings sounds interesting but is served in a julep glass with crushed ice which kind of waters it down. Still, I appreciate the care the bartenders take when making their drinks and that they’re really responsible to their customers (I witnessed a bartender serve a group of happy drunks some water without them having to ask — kudos!). Plus, the relaxed hipster vibe is a welcome change from much of LA in general. I don’t know if I’d say Brilliantshine is brilliant, or that it shines… but it’s certainly worth checking out.