Wolfgang Puck Cafe.....not what we expected
 

There used to be a WPC at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. Right before it closed, a friend and I were there for lunch. We ordered the popcorn shrimp salad and got an extra bonus -- live maggots.

The manager was horrified, but not nearly as much as we were. He gave us each his card, with a handwritten note for a free meal there anytime we wanted it. Nearly five years later, I still haven't wanted it.

They really are bollocks arent they? I too had high expectations when I spied my first WP at ORD many years ago. Been badly disapointed at every one of their airport locations but I keep giving them the benefit of the doubt (silly me).

I've been to the WPC in Terminal 2 of LAX. I thought it was typical overpriced, uninspired airport food.

Good review.
 

ALadyNCal,

Thanks for "takin' one for the team." I was thinking of going there with a few friends, simply because it is now an iDine restaurant. Having never been there, I didn't know what to expect. After hearing your review, I asked a few of my other friends that had been to other WPC's and they said it wasn't all that great either.

Guess we'll try some other iDine location.

Thanks,
Steve

I went to one. Once. Never again.

I ordered a "signature meatloaf" dish, but it tasted terrible. According to the waiter that was normal, "because it is European".

Idiots.

I got a good laugh out of that one. Yeah, those Europeans - especially the French and Italians - don't know a darned thing about food. :D I *always* avoid Europe because the food is so terrible and, amazingly, across the entire continent. :rolleyes:

Anyway, I've eaten at ORD & MSP airport locations. Completely underwhelming, though maybe a preferable alternative to a fast food burger. Or maybe not. My conclusion is to get nothing but pizza if I go there because everything else has been completely disappointing -- especially the burger.

I too was completely underwhelmed by my experience there, but I don't believe that a restaurant or cafe or whatever is good because some famous chef puts his name on the place.

On what planet is a Puck restaurant considered good? He sold his soul a long time ago, and remains the most over-extended, lowest-quality-managing, most-infrequently-visiting superchef ... an order of magnitude more over-extended at Ducasse, Robuchon, Emeril and others.

A Puck name on a resto has as much to do with Puck as a YSL logo on a Chinese knockoff has to do with the former coutorier. Heck, a McDonald's has more to do with Ray Kroc than a WPC has to do with Wolfgang.

An Applebee's menu with prices doubled and a Wolfgang Puck logo is just like a K-mart jacket with a piece of paper that says "Armani" on it stapled to the lining.

Actually, I've eaten at the WP in ORD a couple of times (fool me twice, shame on me) and I would prefer Applebee's.

That was *exactly* my thought when I read the previous post. Give me Applebee's over Puck's (which I have for sometime been calling Wolfgang Puke's) anyday.

We went to WPC in Denver:
-Bad service!
-Lousy food!
-Not expensive.

Bottom line: It's a fast food thing with a famous name .. I guess Wolfgang has never been there.

I agree on the cafes, but Chinois on Main is pretty good (they just did a complete revamping of the menu for the first time since the opening in the mid-1980s).

I had a dining experience at the same location as the OP sometimes last year. Good but highly overrated. Not worth making a 2nd visit.