The Exchange at The Freehand - DTLA...any reports?

Hi Folks…

Have been for drinks both in the Lobby and Broken Shaker. Food surprisingly good at the bar. Wondering if anyone’s been to The Exchange.

TIA.

I go here fairly regularly. The restaurant is small and the chef brings in influences from many different cuisines, not just Israeli or Lebanese.

Wouldn’t necessarily call it a destination worthy restaurant for the FTC crowd, but it’s a good option downtown and I like the vibe.

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Thanks! Much appreciated.

The date biscuit is awesome (dessert menu).

Get it. Thank me later.

For me the whole fried fish over hand pulled noodles is destination worthy. Was at Ham and Eggs across the street last night

I’ve been about 6 times. It’s a good addition to DTLA dining and worth trying. My main gripes are that I find many dishes over-salted and that portion sizes can be stingy. I really like the homemade sauces on the table.

My friends and I held our annual holiday brunch at The Exchange this year. Gorgeous space, though small. My friend who hosted had to cut the guest list down to 8 since that’s the largest group they can accommodate without reserving a private room. I enjoyed the breakfast platter, though one flatbread wasn’t quite enough to scoop up all the delicious hummus, labneh, and housemade sauces. The breakfast burrito that another friend ordered looked delicious, but they wouldn’t let her make any substitutions (just omissions). In fact, everything looked appetizing…pancakes, shakshuka divorciados, even the scrambled eggs (which were just that, no sides, for $12). Some items seemed priced rather high, but the quality of ingredients and execution made it seem mostly worth it. Great service for our large party. I wouldn’t hesitate to return.




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Went back… yogurt cocktail is gone… had something else that was nice though but not as good… pate/mousse is really good but served without bread or crackers? yea that’s not gonna work for me cute server with hat… yellowtail collar quite good though i’d like to see a bit more charring… the one at chi spacca is easily twice the size and obviously better but i enjoyed it… but what a weird place with the bread thing… friendo says they’re trying to not fill people up so that they order more dishes… guess that makes sense. had to ORDER bread twice at a place billed as Israeli haha. It’s just pita people, calm the f down

Garcons de Cafe and Ham & Egg are really great to hang and have good wine

really wanted the whole snapper over noodle but they only had a 3.5 pounder left

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Best happy hour in DTLA

What’s it like? Wasn’t on on a saturday obviously

Great for wine lovers. Very chill atmosphere. People are there to enjoy the wine (and food) and take in the ambiance, unlike your typical happy hour scene where people are mostly there for a cheap dinner (and drink). And maybe some action between the sheets later that evening.

Warrior: This restaurant has finally reopened, but unfortunately, it has declined greatly. While the ambitions were high, the cooking was amateurish, as exemplified by a whole branzino that was sashimi raw at the backbone. We sent it back—the first time we’ve ever sent back food, I believe. [Peony: They did apologize and didn’t charge us for the fish and gave us a 15% discount.] I wouldn’t recommend any of the five dishes we tried tonight. Hopefully, over time, this restaurant will return to its pre-pandemic standard, which was worthy of FTC attention.

Peony: I had some good pre-Covid memories at The Exchange. They had several dishes that were done pretty well and that were interesting. Tonight’s meal was one of the worst of all the visits. The dishes that I think were closer to their previous level are the white sweet potatoes and the grilled cabbage. Other dishes were disappointing.