Pretty much what NS1 said. For those prices I can eat at Night + Market where the food seems much better to me in nearly every way.
Things are spicy at Jitlada but not particularly flavorful to my palate and I like spicy food. My standard spice level is Howlin at Howlin Rays. The wait time and service are also always horrible.
Have never enjoyed myself there and it is the only Thai place I’ve eaten at and thrown up afterwards. I just don’t get the place.
Is eat at Ruen Pair, Luv2Eat, Kruang Tedd, Pailin, or Isaan Station over Jitlada any day and they’re all much cheaper…
Is t the service that puts you off Night + Market? I can’t believe someone into Thai food doesn’t like their pork toro, khao soi, jungle curry, startled pig, complex larbs, nam khao tod, or Panang curry… Without mentioning their whole salt baked fish and many other things.
Okay, have to try there! They have an entrail soup!
We only order from the southern Thai menu at Jitlada. They have some things I can’t get elsewhere, like the sator beans and pig ear salad. And that soup…
The service at Night & Market was fine, and the food was good, just overall not as good as the things we like at other places. But so much comes down to personal taste! The way I love the blood soup at Pho79 but not at all at Pot.
Pretty much all their proteins. Their pork chop is almost $60, which is ridiculous. It’s a very good dish but should be no more than $35 imo. Last time I went, they had a very simply prepared spot prawn and were charging $18 for ONE prawn.
Republique is still striving for fine-dining food levels, or not far off… I am pretty sure spot prawns are an ingredient thing. Everywhere I’ve ever seen that has them serves one prawn for like $15-$20.
Can you point me to a place that sells spot prawns for much less?
But a less than 20 oz pork chop for $60 is farcical, I agree.
Although I paid $95 for tournedos Rossini there and was pretty happy about it.
You’re still talking about $15, $18 doesn’t seem comically overpriced.
You have to assume sushi bars are selling way more spot prawns than Republique as it is more of a normative order (but I could be wrong about this?). Plus at top sushi bars you’re already spending $200++ per person, so the leeway to price lower seems like it would factor in somewhat? Not sure, but seems plausible to me.
Open to being wrong. I personally have never understood spot prawn pricing, but they never seem like an essential part of any menu to me, just luxury items on certain types of menus (or, apparently, additions to expensive omakases).
I always enjoy my meal at Republique, but they are comparatively expensive. Seems a little disingenuous to deny that. Going down the menu, everything is at least 20% more than comparable restaurants. Factor in the increased tip and the final bill often leaves me wondering if next time I shouldn’t go elsewhere.
The fact that Republique is so tasty ensures I return, but the QPR ensures I don’t go back as often as I’d like.
Sorry, not sure if I made it seem like Republique is cheap eats, it certainly is not. Even, perhaps, comparatively expensive let’s say; but where do you actually compare Republique to? Comparatively expensive also seems like a much lower mark than “comically overpriced” to me.
That fact that it is good enough/unique enough that it draws you to return despite the higher prices seems to indicate that it is fairly priced. I guess that is just my personal view though; to me if something is worth the money, it isn’t overpriced by definition; whether I can afford to eat it every day is a separate matter that is more about my bank account than the food at a place.
EDIT: I misspoke, looked at lunch pasta prices at Spring. More comparable are the rabbit pasta for $24, and Republique’s pork pasta at $29. Also, of note, spot prawns are $15, not $18 according to Republique’s website. The 20% figure does seem potentially true, but is an extra $5 worth it for their pasta for example? It very well could be. However, $58 for a 20oz pork chop would be nearly 2x the cost of other places, and it is difficult to imagine it being worth it. Still, overall, I am not sure Republique is quite as horrific in general as my first comparison made it seem; the pork chop seems to be a little bit of an outlier.
Other than pure quality/flavor, I am not sure why they price so high. I wonder if their space is significantly more expensive than other places? Or are they literally just taking as much profit as possible because they know they’re good enough to justify it?
Your post is little all over the place, mainly as a function of responding to multiple posters at the same time. To be honest, I’m actually not sure what your point is.
My point is that Republique is comparatively expensive in its class. At a quick glance, most dishes seem to be about 20% more expensive than similar dishes at restaurants with similar food and service. Those statements seem factual.
Whether a food bill that’s 20% higher is worth it for Republique’s food and service is largely a function of the person and circumstances. I go on occasion and when I do it’s because I’ve decided the higher cost is worth it. I’ve chosen elsewhere on occasion specifically because I didn’t think the increased cost was worth it that time. I may be alone, but I suspect I’m not.
I truly can’t tell what you’re advocating in your posts. Are you suggesting that you can’t fathom why someone might hesitate to choose to eat at Republique given a conservative estimate of a 20% higher base bill?
Can you list some specific places you have in mind? I am not actually sure what the alternatives are if you want their specific style of food. Which is admittedly a bit tough to pin down, but seems very French-leaning, without being as classical as, say, Spring or Petit Trois.
I’m saying that it’s not their fault. They make food they feel is worth certain prices and sell it at those prices. They haven’t gone out of business, and seem fairly busy, so one imagines their quality is worth the increase. Just as a side note, I think 20% more is not “comically overpriced” in general, even if it’s expensive.
Yes @frommtron. I was wondering if it was me. I’m not one to complain about how expensive things are. I actually had to look up QPR after seeing it on FTC. But we haven’t been able to bring ourselves to Republique, even though we live in the neighborhood. We first avoided it out of mourning for Campanile. Republique was the usurper. Yes, I know that’s unreasonable. But, in looking at the menu it seemed overpriced for what they were serving. I don’t want to feel like a sucker. On the other hand, I don’t think I’ve read one bad review about Republique. So, we’ll probably get around to going. I’ve actually recommended it to others. It’s just every time we think of indulging ourselves, we always end up somewhere else. Hmmm…
Where do you usually end up going intead of Republique? Just trying to get an idea of where people compare the place to regularly, not really any particular reason other than curiosity.
I usually go there because it’s simply unlike anywhere else I can think of in LA, although I have yet to try Spring.
It seems to me like the best part of Republique are its French elements, for example, if you want French pasta instead of Italian, but also if you are fine paying a premium for scarce old-school things like Tournedos Rossini made according to the original Escoffier recipe. If things like that don’t appeal to you, then maybe the market cocktails might, but it may be entirely skippable in terms of food.
Go for breakfast. It’s on the expensive side of bearable. Just get ready to fight the urge to get one of everything in the pastry case, then give in and do so. After that, go to Sycamore Kitchen up the street and kick yourself for not doing so in the first place.
