CHEEBO

As my dining companion on a recent night at West Hollywood eatery Cheebo stated, it should be called “cheapo!” Not because it’s inexpensive, but rather the opposite—they jacked-up the prices on us, while we ate!

I had always heard about the place, and thought it was supposed to be a hip, cool cafe. So, we were happy to finally try it after a near-by screening.

The ambience was okay, and, of course, I loved the old school paper-to-color-on and crayons on the tables. The host was also amiable enough, but the niceness ended there.

The food was mediocre, at best, but what they did with the bill is shameful. Here’s the scoop on that:

I ordered the pasta with sausage, which the host/waiter said was a great choice. I was watching the guy next to me slurp up spaghetti and my mouth was watering. But mine was far form appetizing. First of all, I hadn’t realized that what I ordered was rigatoni, as opposed to spaghetti, so that one was on me. My bad. But it wasn’t long sausages in red sauce, which I couldn’t have known without the guy telling me, which he didn’t; it was ground-up sausage with cream sauce!!! Ugh. What a nauseating combo!

I didn’t want to waste food by sending it back, so I asked the busboy if they had any red sauce I could throw on top of it. He brought me a small dish of sauce, and it was delicious! It would have tasted better without the cream sauce underneath, but oh well. When the waiter saw it, he told me that I could have ordered it with red sauce to begin with, but how was I to know???

Meanwhile, I had to ask for bread, which should have come without my asking, and with my pal’s salmon, too. My friend was exhausted, so I asked for the rest of my pasta to be packed-up, and could they please put more red sauce on it? He then began to whisk the bread away, but I said I needed it to finish my meal at home. Very surprisingly, he didn’t even include new bread!!! He just put the same portion in the package, even though he had already bussed it! Kind-of gross.

But here’s the best part (and by “best” I mean “worst.”): He charged us four extra dollars for the sauce!!! Which should have been on the pasta to begin with!!! I could have just sent the whole dish back, and ordered something with red sauce, but I was kind enough to not waste their food, or the chef’s time, and for that, they charged us extra! In reality, four dollars isn’t much. But it brought the total for a plate of not great pasta up to $20! That’s Dan Tana’s figures! The spaghetti at Scarpetta in Beverly Hills is considered outrageous at $24., but it’s also one of the town’s top destination eateries. Cheebo is a little casual, stop-by type of place, and should not equal those others in price.

And my friend ordered just a piece of salmon, which the waiter said is “a side.” So, she asked for a side of spinach, too. He charged twenty-four buckeroos for those tidbits. My friend has never said anything about a restaurant’s bill ever. But she was pretty appalled over this situation. Not upset, just appalled.

So, to recap: Cheebo is outrageously expensive and nothing special. And not at all what I expected.

No info necessary.