Best Cozy Restaurants in El Segundo

Thanksgiving Dinner at FwD!!! My daughter and I automatically passed on the yardbird and defaulted to the best hole in the wall seafood joint west of the Mississippi……..the sun was setting on a beautiful, warm day in MB and that called for the Queen Mary…..the “Mother of All Raw Seafood Platters”!! Oysters, clams, mussels, jumbo shrimp, Maine Lobster, King Crab, freshly chilled, plus all the special FwD dips and vinaigrettes and the Cape Cod Squash Rolls for some extra carbs. Next was the so delicious and creative Harissa spiced Octopus a la Plancha with a Peruvian cauliflower and hummus sauce…….Wow, that dish was so well executed by the boys in the back!! Of course I had to order the tried and true Maryland Blue Crab Cake and my daughter always gets the FwD signature grand slam Koshihikari Rice, a traditional Japanese umami dashi risotto style dish with raw egg yolk that I guarantee Shohei would love!! And of course that iconic Key Lime Pie is the only way to end a fantastic meal here……..hats off and super thanks to server Akela and Manager Katie, Server Jess and Hostess Kaylee, the entire FwD crew working hard on Thanksgiving!! Happy Holidays!!!

My husband and I had a memorable dinner last night. Service was impeccable. My husband uses a Seeing Eye Dog and we felt welcomed. Kudos to the service staff and the chef! The food and drinks (try a Bloody Mary here) were sublime. We wish we had a restaurant of this quality near where we live! Happy Thanksgiving!

We had the best lunch today! The service was friendly, accommodating, and prompt, even during a busy rush. We were seated right away for our reservation, and our server quickly greeted us and took our order. Drinks and food arrived timely, which was perfect for our lunch meeting, allowing us to finish within an hour. I had the yellowfin tuna salad and really enjoyed it - it was tasty and impeccably presented. The staff were very friendly and attentive from the moment we entered the restaurant to when we left. An all around 5 star experience!

I would love to start off with saying that our experience at Porterhouse was one of the best restaurant experiences I’ve had to date!! Last night, I took my best friend there to celebrate his work anniversary and requested beforehand that we have Old Fashioneds waiting for us. As soon as we were escorted to our table, our Old Fashioneds were delivered to us, and the shock on his face was priceless! Marie was our server, and she made our time at Porterhouse a memorable experience!! Not only is she the sweetest, she’s extremely knowledgeable about everything and delivered top tier customer service! She is seriously a gem, and can’t recommend her enough!! Our food was AMAZING!! We ordered the fresh oysters, Caesar salad, ribeye, mushrooms, mashed potatoes, and marble brioche bread pudding. This was the perfect dinner to be split between the two of us! I hope the bread pudding remains a permanent dessert item because it is seriously the best bread pudding I’ve had!! The ambiance of Porterhouse is nothing short of beautiful!! We sat in the patio area and would highly recommend sitting there! Do not be fooled by it being a patio - it is covered and warm/cozy!! This is officially a new favorite restaurant, and I can’t wait to come back again!! Thank you all so much for making the evening one to remember for many years to come!!!

Felt rushed. Food was good… We were offered 2 tables to chose from even though the place was not full. Asked to to sit on the benches by the fire but we were told that there was a reservation for 14 people at 6:30pm (only a couple sat there until we left around 7:15pm). We sat on one of the tables they offered us and at around 7pm they told us that they needed the table for another reservation (We were still drinking our wine).