"I'm finding it increasingly frustrating that many restaurants are closing earlier than their stated hours, which seems to be a trend that's been growing since the pandemic. Maybe I’m one of the few who typically dine out between 8 and 9 PM in LA, but I really don’t think it should be so hard to find a place to eat, other than fast food, after 8 PM.
Now, here’s what happened: the restaurant claims to close at 9:30 PM. We drove 20 minutes to get there and arrived at 8:48 PM. When I asked for a table, the hostess informed me that they had already taken their last call for food. I thought the atmosphere inside was great and we were looking forward to eating there. When I inquired about their closing time, she confirmed they close at 9:30 PM but had stopped taking orders for food at 9 PM. I pointed out that it was only 8:48 PM, and she promptly changed her story, stating they had actually stopped taking orders at 8:45 PM. We both chuckled at the absurdity of the situation.
It felt like a clear indication that they didn’t want our business. I asked to clarify, “So you close at 9:30 PM, but really you're closing at 9, and no more food orders are taken after 8:45 PM?” She nodded. Then she said we could place an order for takeout, but my fiancé and I decided we didn’t want to eat Thai food in our car or make the 20-minute drive back home. Instead, we opted to give our money to someone else.
We ended up going next door to L&L, which closes at 9 PM and happily accepted our order at 8:50 PM. We left them a generous tip, were grateful for their service, enjoyed our meal quickly, and even cleaned up after ourselves knowing they were about to close."
