aaqjr is right; that policy was under the original family management, and 'way gone by the end of the 20th Century. I do have to say that its existence was why my father-in-law was forbidden to go there by his mother, a proud and confirmed snob, who considered anyone short of money as a moocher and parasite, and saw the free-meal policy as coddling the bums. He asked us to take him there when he was 80-something, and was clearly delighted when the family’s tab came to something like $18. Somehow I don’t think that would be the case nowadays.
for those of you familiar with the edison downtown, clifton’s has essentially been edison-ized, which should come as no surprise as both places are now owned by edward meiran, who was quoted as hoping “to continue the clifton’s incredible legacy as the cultural. social and architectural landmark in los angeles”. to that end it’s become a popular venue for a number of the best swing dancers in the southland on friday & saturday nights as they not only book live bands that appeal to that crowd, but they also have a dedicated dance floor. it’s somewhat reminiscent of the derby in its heyday back in the 90’s in how a lot of the dancers show up do so dressed up in or in art deco-ish vintage wear. the point is that any place that’s geared to bring in substantial numbers in terms of experienced social dancers dressed in period wear is not going to be primarily about the food. the bottom line is that you can eat at cliftons’s but clifton’s has become a destination for reasons other than the food.
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Dancers aside, fallingleaves’ assessment of Clifron’s as " dorm food" is pretty much spot on from my experience. I don’t know what that means to most people but, for me, it’s pretty unimaginative and mediocre. Not very difficult to improve upon if you care.
‘Dorm food’ is fine at the right price I suppose. It just seems like this was a missed opportunity to do something special. There’s a special feeling about Clifton’s interior design and the food just doesn’t match up.
Call it what you like, but what I got for probably less than $5 was (among other things) REAL mashed potatoes as good as Mom’s, and pot roast better than hers ever was. On the other hand I’ve got maybe 20 years at most left to be a customer, so I can’t realistically expect them to cater to my taste …
Well to be fair, they are on their 3rd or 4th chef so I imagine food quality has changed.
As a follow-up to this thread, we did go - the place is very cool, and as someone noted it does seem to be a dance hotspot on Sat nights.
We had a few drinks that were pretty good, then went to Guisados / Uli / Peking Tavern for food.
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When a restaurant cooks for large customer bases, especially in something like a ‘cafeteria’ environment, the food is usually going to be middle of the road and fairly bland. How you feel about it, in light of your own experience, is really just a matter of opinion. I didn’t mean to say it was ‘bad’, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as you seem to have. Never did even way back when.
A “pretend” ‘cafeteria’ is more like it. But no excuse for the food to be “dorm grade”.
Look at it this way, Langer’s Deli also cooks for a large customer base but their offerings are far superior to dorm food at about the same price level.
I get your point, and perhaps Denny’s would be a more correct comparison, but I don’t know that a dorm cafeteria charges $13.50 for a pastrami sandwich (as Langer’s does).