Citizen Smith Restaurant

I took my wife out for a show at the Pantages and we decided that a dinner near the show would be a nice start. We made reservations at "Citizen Smith" for 6pm on a Friday. We were seated very quickly and our waitress took our order. The atmosphere of the place is quite entertaining. They had "Easy Rider" playing on a large TV up behind the bar and had "Pink Floyd" playing in the background.

To start off with, we had the "citrus glazed shrimp". The dish is 5 pieces of tiger shrimp wrapped in bacon and herb with a citrus glaze on top. A truely wonderful dish. Our main course consisted off the "panko crusted tuna" and the "grilled mahi mahi". Both dishes had huge portions and were cooked to perfection. The tuna came with an avocado vinaigrette. I asked to have it changed to a balsamic vinaigrette. There was no problem with that. The desert I had was the "apple tarts". Another wonderfully prepared dish.

The wine selection is limited but has quality wines. The dishes range from around $24 up to $60 for a huge (24oz) steak. Most of the dishes run in the $30 -$35 range. The servers were all very nice and very helpful with the selections on the menu.

Good things
- Dishes were quality.
- Portions were large.
- Atmosphere was excellent.
- Prices were good.
- Service was excellent.

Bad things
- They need to work on lighting. The booths are dark.
- The booths can be a challenge to scoot around.
- Bar drinks are $10 for a basic drink.

If you get a chance to try this quality establishment, I suggest you try it. Our server said that it can get hectic on the weekend and Friday evenings. She also said that from 6-7pm, seating is not a problem.

Comments (1)

FemmeM - 12/11/07
great to hear there's a solid, convenient option near the Pantages!

Slick yet chill spot in Hollywod: We went three days after opening so the experience may be a little different now, but when we went, there was no line or list and the service was excellent. Our party of four walked straight back to the patio and grabbed a table . We fully expected to be booted since we were eating dinner, but the wait staff was very relaxed and said it wasn't a problem if we wanted to just have drinks. Smart move on their part, after we sat there a while, we ended up ordering appetizers and more drinks anyway. The atmosphere was slick and on the romantic side with the clean white drapes of fabric on the patio and copious candle light and the crowd definitely seemed to be there to mix and mingle.

Loud, Well Lit Hollywood Atmosphere: If you're looking for a cool place to go out in Hollywood, this is it. Although we still had to wait for our table for about 45 minutes even though we had reservations, it didn't ruin the night. Atmosphere is beautiful people and lots of conversation and music - not a quiet place, but there are some very cool booths tucked into the corners. Menu is simple but covers all areas - from burger for 15 bucks to steak for close to 50! Head chef came over to say hello to our table. Oh yeah, and the food is EXCELLENT! Bruschetta appetizer is complementary..I think - but we also had BBQ shrimp and some sort of fried chicken skewers - both were GREAT!