Stepping Out
Restaurant Review: Marriott Hotel Escape Lounge
by Greg Jacobs
(Updated: Wednesday, June 8, 2011 5:49 PM PDT)
Any of you out there catch the finale of American Idol? I know, you’re reluctant to admit to it, but according to the Nielsen ratings, a lot of you did. Anyway, they offered up a lot of star power that night, right? I mean, Lady Gaga, Tim McGraw, Beyonce… But who was the only entertainer honored that night with a complete medley of hits? Tom Jones, that’s who. Yes, your mother’s Tom Jones, (or grandmother’s, as the case may be). Does that mean America is ripe for the return of “cool”? If not America, what about the South Bay?
The Escape Lounge at the Marriott Hotel in Manhattan Beach thinks so. And they’re jumping at that opportunity. With Tuesday night jazz from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., Wednesday night “dinner with the chef,” and a five-night-a-week happy hour from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m., they’re making a play for that portion of the South Bay crowd that’s not out trolling the Hermosa Beach Pier for action.
And “cool” is a pretty good description of the place. It’s a great setting — a large, spacious grand lobby all done up in oranges and faux bamboo, with an expansive view of the manicured greens of its very own nine-hole golf course. (Come on, beat that for cool, they’ve got their own dang golf course.)
They’ve got four large-screen TVs (with more on the way, they tell me) and every sports package yet invented. But don’t mistake this for a beer-drinking sports bar. They carry a boutique wine menu, and every night at six, they host a complimentary “sniff, swirl and sip” toast of the night’s featured grape which then goes on sale for $4 a glass.
Marriott Hotel Manhattan Beach, Escape Lounge
All the prices are surprisingly affordable here. On the Happy Hour menu, beer, wine and well drinks are a mere three bucks. Or as an alternative they offer a $5 Beach Diva Martini, a vodka, coconut rum and pineapple mixture perfect if you need a sweet way to end your day’s work. The happy hour appetizers are priced at $5 for items such as sliders, dips and an excellent honey buffalo wings dish, made all the better because it’s not drenched in a sauce that ends up dribbling its way down your shirt sleeve.
On the regular menu, they offer a shrimp ceviche appetizer with homemade tortilla chips ($12). Ceviche is a dish that you typically only find in a specialty restaurant, and I know these chefs spent a lot of time working on this recipe. What they arrived at was a very accessible dish, not too spicy, not too tomato-heavy, but rich in flavor.
They also serve dinner entrees such as salmon, steak and ribs (priced from $20 to $24), which I did not try, opting instead to sample their popular specialty hamburgers. They offer six different burger concoctions for $10 as lunch specials, including side and drink. I tasted the Black and White, served with caramelized onions and heavy on the bleu cheese, but I was taken by the turkey burger, a bold zesty sandwich spiced with guacamole and pepper jack cheese. I know it’s turkey, but no need to whisper when ordering this burger in front of your guy friends. It’s large and sloppy, and nobody will be calling you a wimp when this thing gets slid in front of you.
The crowd on the night I visited was a mix of hotel guests and Rosecrans-corridor business types. Patrons were dressed casually, wearing anything from bass-fishing T-shirts to button-down collars. The place was a little male heavy, but this led my girlfriend to see the opportunities for her next girls’ happy hour outing (presumably for the benefit of her single friends…?), so ratios are bound to change.
The energetic management at this Marriott seems intent on reaching out to the local population with specials like hosted wine and dinner events, girls’ getaway weekends and other opportunities to take advantage of the resort-like setting. Both bar and kitchen are open until midnight, which is a great advantage, and if it’s a weekday, they’ll even valet your car for free.
So if you’re looking for a place to get your “cool” on, this could be your lounge. I’m not going to promise you Tom Jones, but the female singer in the jazz band — she wasn’t bad at all.