The Misfit Restaurant + Bar - Santa Monica

So on Friday Cayla and I headed up to LA County on a trip that she had planned for us.  First stop, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.  Soooo cool!!!!  So much cool stuff to see there, including the plane that he used as Air Force One!!!  Anyways, this is a food blog, SO LETS GET TO THE FOOD!!!  After some research we decided to go to The Misfit located a few blocks in from Ocean Ave near the Santa Monica Pier. We had high hopes for this place!

As soon as we walked up to the front of this place we immediately got a "cool" vibe.  Older brick building, large red neon sign outside, and dim lighting inside.  We walked in, both looked at each other and said "This is so cool!"  The bar was packed, but lucky for us the restaurant side still had some tables open. *This restaurant does not take reservations*  We got there a little after 6 o'clock which was perfect because not long after we were seated the restaurant side got packed too!  This place has a very cool hipster type vibe with out being pretentious at all.  The music is played moderately loud, and with all the people inside it was moderately noisy, but not to the point where we couldn't hear each other talk ;) 

We got there during happy hour so we took advantage of that.  They have happy hour EVERYDAY from noon to 7:00pm!  1/2 off well drinks, signature cocktails, sangria, and $5 draft beer and glasses of wine. AWESOME!!!  To start with I got a few Old Fashions (pictured left) during happy hour ($4) and after that I switched to Knob Creek on the rocks (pictured right).  The old fashions were good with an orange twist and some sort of berries in it.  Cayla went with a glass of red wine.

All their dishes are small entrees that are perfect size for sharing so you can sample a few!  To start with Cayla and I shared the Prime Rib French Dip Sliders.  Two come in an order with au jus for dipping.  These are GREAT!  Each little sandwich is piled high with shaved to order prime rib, a small amount of creamy horseradish, and served on a Hawaiian sweet roll.  There's something about the sweetness and softness of the sweet roll that compliments the perfectly seasoned prime rib that makes this sandwich OUTSTANDING!

Next up for me was their soup of the day, the Mushroom Soup.  I can say without a doubt that this was the best mushroom soup I have EVER had.  PERIOD.  Unlike most mushroom soups there is no cream in theirs, which makes it very light where you can taste the mushrooms more.  As far as mushrooms, the soup is packed with them!  Mostly oyster and crimini.  I think that mushroom soup should be just a little bit on the salty side and they NAILED it!  Perfect amount of seasoning!

For dinner I ordered the Fruit de Mer.  It's meant for two people (or one as your main course) and has shrimp cocktail and snow crab claws served over a bed of ice.  This dish is GREAT!  The cocktail sauce it comes with is made in house and has just the right amount of freshly shaved horseradish on top of it.  It also comes with drawn butter, but for chilled shellfish I'm more of a cocktail sauce guy, so I stuck to that.  Both the shrimp and snow crab claws were very good and very fresh.  Word of advice: they don't bring a cocktail fork out with this dish, so be sure to ask for one so you can dig out the hidden crab from the claws ;)

For dinner Cayla ordered the Backed Mac + Cheese and had pancetta added to it.  She thought it was out of this world, and I agreed!  This is definitely not a "watery" mac and cheese like so many restaurants serve today.  Their dish is a hearty dish filled with several different types of cheese, green chile, and brown rice pasta.  It is so melty that when you take a bight there are strings of melted cheese coming from your mouth :)  I think what really separates this dish from the rest is the flavor they get by adding the green chile.  It is such a unique flavor that you can not miss out on this dish if you go there!

The food and atmosphere at The Misfit is AMAZING and not to be missed.  As far as how they treat their customers, a lot of restaurants could take a lesson!  After I finished my seafood platter Cayla offered me the rest of her mac and cheese.  I gladly accepted the offer, but Cayla asked the waitress to have the kitchen put it in the oven for a minute to get it melty again.  Sounded good to me!  The waitress came back and told us that the chef had accidentally left it in the oven too long and had burnt it.  She immediately followed this by telling us that he was making us a brand new order of mac and cheese for us and to apologize that the restaurant wanted to buy both of us a round of drinks.  Well done Misfits, everyone makes mistakes sometimes, but you know how to make up for it!  Cayla and I loved this place and can not recommend it enough for anyone who might be in the Santa Monica area.  We can't wait to return!

P.S. After dinner we walked outside the restaurant and found an awesome street performer set up right near the restaurant's patio on the sidewalk.  I wish I had gotten a picture or video.  Picture a black gentleman in his 50's singing Barry White's "Can't Get Enough" and then Billy Paul's "Me and Mrs. Jones".  He sang with a microphone while the melody of the song played on a speaker.  He even had Barry White's deep voice down for the talking parts of the song.  TOO COOL!!!