180 Restaurant in Los Gatos
Jason wrote up a good review of our dinner at this place. Check out his Yelp review but I’ve copied the text here since I’m unsure of how to link directly.
After reading the other Yelp reviews, I was excited to dine at 180 Restaurant last night, looking forward to what was no-doubt going to be some great cuisine and nice atmosphere.
Well, I was right about this cuisine…not so much about the atmosphere.
Let me start with the big negative. At about 8pm, just after we had ordered, the band started playing. And not some cozy background music that improved the experience and lightened the mood. The band was a couple 50-year old guys who obviously had a lifelong dream of playing crowded nightclubs, mingling with the patrons during their set, and being the center of attention.
The lead singer walked through the restaurant with his microphone and saxophone “serenading” the dinner guests, and encouraging them to join in the verses. While it was bad enough to have the loud background music, getting an earful of sax while trying to eat and having to listen to random folks in the crowd singing parts of the song just wasn’t the dinner experience I was hoping for. On top of this, the band continually brought up a 14-year-old girl — who no-doubt had aspirations of being the next American Idol — to sing. I’ll be curious to watch next season to see if she makes it to L.A. My money is on “No.”
That said, the food was superb. We started with the “Chef Sampler,” which consisted of pork ribs, spicy grilled shrimp and crab cakes. The ribs were tender and juicy, the shrimp were well-spiced and tender, and the crab cakes were typical California crab cakes (I’m from Maryland, so you’ll be hard-pressed to get me excited by any crab cakes around here). A couple people in our group ordered salads, which looked great and were well-portioned.
For the entree, I ordered the Angus Filet Mignon topped with cheese and a veal demi-glaze, along with asparagus and Yukon Gold mashed potatoes. The filet was perfectly cooked, tender, and delicious. The asparagus — which is far from my favorite vegetable, but seemed to be the most-common side-disk on the menu — was also quite tender and very flavorful. I had actually asked to replace the asparagus with broccolini, but the server forgot to put that request into the kitchen, so she brought me the broccolini on the side. It too, was perfectly cooked and delicious.
As I’m currently trying to lose a couple pounds, I choose not to try the potatoes or dessert, but if the rest of the meal is any indication, I’m guessing they would have been superb as well.
Let me also note that I was able to find a coupon online for a 1/2 off any bottle of wine. The server accepted it without hesitation, and we used it to get a wonderful bottle of Silver Oak Cab.
Overall, while the background “music” was horribly annoying and made it very difficult to hold a conversation, the food was fantastic, and I’m still giving this place 4 stars (I’d probably give 3.5 if possible). Without the obnoxious band, the place would have gotten at least 4.5 stars.