Fork In the Road

Great experience at Fork in the Road. They have a wide variety of small plates which I appreciate because I love sharing so i must come back and try the other dishes I didn’t get to get this time! The restaurant is a little small so try to avoid prime time dining hours.
SMALL PLATES: cauliflower | curry | labneh | almond zaatar | 14
and brussel sprouts | lardons | shallot | acid | 12 (cauliflower is much recommended on Unilocal and did not disappoint).
FLATBREAD: pork belly | hen egg | mozzarella | potato | spring onion | 16 (this was pretty big! I fall for anything with eggs).
MAIN: Got some lobster dish with corn, tomatoes and other veggies but don’t remember the name :(this one was so good and so full of flavor. I was trying to remember everything in here so I could write about it, fail. Now I have a good reason to go back :)

I’m updating my review.
This place has became my new favorite, local go-​to restaurant. The staff is very friendly and goes out of their way to make you feel welcome and apart of the local vibe.
Their recommendations have all been excellent for food and cocktails.
They have a great happy hour that I believe is offered almost everyday and even have a late night happy hour from 10-​close.

I love all of the different tapas this place offers the charcuterie board is a must, you actually get to choose the combo of meats and cheese you receive. The cauliflower is also a favorite of mine… be sure to try a cocktail as they specialize in them. We always make reservations on open table as to avoid lines… sit at the high tops or bar and take advantage of the
happy hour menu
6pm-​7 pm Tuesday-​Sunday
10pm-​1 am Thursday-​Saturday

Rly good homemade ice cream (thyme and honey).
Rly good cocktails (I got the smoking rose — it was very dramatic, like a science experiment).
Fried chicken was A-​OK.
Oysters were nice.

Be prepared to have your taste buds explode and dance in your mouth with giddiness. The food is Devine! We started with salmon tar tar. It’s a good thing the toast weren’t silver dollar size, or I’d have eaten them all. The presentation of all the salads and appetizers were stunning! Almost too beautiful to eat. The pita & humus were incredibly fresh. I lost track of how many salads we had. Thr salmon was cooked to perfection. Gorgeously seared on the outside, the flesh was nice and moist and perfectly flaky. And don’t get me started on the magic they do with the artichokes. They are bloomed like little flowers, have a reddish garnish that is paired perfectly and completely melt in your mouth!
I strongly warn anyone to wears skinny jeans or restrictive clothing and thinks they want to eat here. The food is so good, the atmosphere is incredibly friendly, and is incredibly addictive. The owners and chef are incredibly sweet and friendly. I strongly recommend coming for any meal. You won’t be disappointed.

Fork in the road is loud gem on Main Street. Fairly small rustic and very cool but it can be way loud. There creations are good and some are very interesting. There salad in a cup is a great starter. Their flat-​breads are really good.

Menu keeps changing because the ideology of the chef is to introduce new plates for each different seasons based on what’s in season. However SMALL PLATES are the way to do it at this unique restaurant… The Cauliflower plate is a must to have! The flat breads are amazingly yummy & great portion to share, especially the date flatbread… Who would have thought that date on pizza tastes like heaven!!! If you have any dietary restrictions & you want to modify the dishes, just ask them & they will gladly do that for you. A great place & ambience to go with a group of people & order different plates to share! Great drink selection, great food presentation & great ambience to enjoy a night out!

I must say this place is small but the food is amazing. The dishes are served very cute and very fusion way. This is a must try place if your on this side of town. Definitely come for dinner since lunch menu is differ from each other. Dishes are small not share portions besides the appetizers of course and flatbreads. The salads come in a plant pot with tweezers, now where have you seen this before. It’s a definite 5* but would give 10 if I could. Came here for lunch which was not busy and perfect with my child. Crew was very friendly and the service was great as well. They have been open for a year and a half and wish them lots of luck. Oh and btw all the products are organic.

Sehr gute kalifornische Küche (Achtung: große Portionen), nette entspannte Atmosphäre, freundlicher Service.

Fork in the Road reminds me of some of my favorite farm-​to-​fork (aka «F2F») eateries in New England, especially if you’re familiar with ‘Earth at Hidden Pond’ in Kennebunkport, Maine.
F2 °F restaurants are only considered genuine if staff attitude reflects the theme of the restaurant, and, of course, if the food matches the ideal. Glad to say that Fork in the Road is the real thing. SOLD!
F2 °F food has a very distinct taste to it, that many people unfamiliar with it might not be accustomed to. It tastes «real», and perhaps more earthier (or purer) than anything you’ve had before.
I love eating at the bar because that’s where you get to see both bar and kitchen magic happen. This is the best «reality TV» you can ever get, and I never get tired of visiting. Highly recommend you visit!

The food was not out of this world, like some of these review suggest. I think they have some improving to do. The place is cute, but extremely noisy. You can hear every conversation in the restaurant because everyone is speaking so loud.
The drinks we got were delicious, Pinot noir and Desert Rose (with vodka not gin). We got the cauliflower dish which was also delicious, lots of different textures and flavors. The sunchokes were awesome! Lots of flavor and perfectly cooked!
The disappointments started with the yellowtail Crudo, it was super fishy and WAY too sweet! The fish was obviously old and there was no acidity to balance out all the sweetness in the dish. It was like eating old fish for dessert. The second disappointment was the burrata flat bread, it was overall a little too smokey and the kale was flavorless and full of greasy oil. The last disappointment of our evening was the trios chocolate pot de crème. The consistency was SUPER dense and the flavor was like Hershey’s chocolate milk syrup. There weren’t enough fruits to balance the heaviness. Pot de crème should be airy, this was the opposite.

I am really between 3 ½ and 4 stars on this one…
Came in with a reservation. We were seated about 5 minutes after we got in. That worked out fine.
Restaurant is very intimate, dark, some communal tables and good music. I really liked the vibe in there. Fun for a group or a romantic dinner.
We ordered a bottle of prosecco to start. It was nice. Then we ordered a vintage red for dinner. Our friend who ordered the red was very familiar with the wine. When it came out it was already in the decanter and they never showed the bottle. He asked to see it. The server came out with the bottle and it was the WRONG wine. Oops! He then went on to say that the wine we had actually ordered was not on the menu… WHAT?! Our friend pointed it out to him on the menu. The server apologized and then brought out the correct wine. Well, unfortunately the correct wine tasted awful and our friend who again is very familiar with this particular wine said it never has tasted like this to him. So we told our server and they gave us a little discount. Thanks, but I almost wish they had just taken that wine back and given us a suggestion for another wine.
Anyway, besides the wine fiasco we had a cheese and meat board which was really good. All kinds of little jams and spreads and the cheese was just delicious. Also, the presentation was very nice.
Had the salmon tartar which comes in a jar with crostinis on the side. I love smoked fish and anything salty but a lot of people are not into that so just keep that in mind when ordering. This was way too salty for the average person. I enjoyed it though.
The mushroom truffle flatbread was a bit less flavorful than I would have expected but it was good.
The small plate of olives was huge, which was awesome because I love olives. Especially when they come out warm.
One person in our group ordered an oyster shooter that never came.
Overall I felt that the environment was very nice, the food was pretty good and the service was friendly but has potential to be better.

What a hot mess this place is… It’s one of those places where after 30 minutes of being there, I just wanted to leave.
The service:
It’s in your face at the times you don’t want it (food being served, check being dropped) and then nonexistent when you actually want it.
Our server, an Asian woman who also seemed to help with the hostess duties, was somewhat loud and pushy in her demeanor. She would also disappear in the back and rarely checked on us. This resulted in our table being covered with plates from our appetizers, which we had finished maybe 15 minutes prior. And when the food was dropped, she strangely rearranged our plates such that the flatbread was hanging off the table (seriously?). I’m not trying to be mean, but she shouldn’t be waiting tables — she can’t be helping this place’s chances of survival. And there were a variety of other miscues along the way, including a server touching the food with his arm, use of salad forks, and refilling wine at the table into a glass that had been sitting empty for a while.
The rest of the staff was busy in the back, doing seemingly nothing (literally congregating at the end of the bar), and there really seemed to be no explanation as to why things were moving so slowly for a couple of salads and a single flatbread. And when the staff did return from whatever they were doing in the back, there was the smell of smoke (not the tobacco kind) wafting into the dining room. Do whatever you want on your own time, but that’s just rude to your customers.
Bottom line, it was a really crappy experience & the people who work there either don’t know what they are doing, don’t care, or both.
The food:
If the service was bad, the food was worse. It truly just seems like they’ve staffed this place with people who are cooking beyond their means.
The biggest head scratcher of the night were the eye dropper bottles that came with some of the starters (see the pics I’ve posted). SERIOUSLY? Does whoever prepared the food not have enough skill or confidence to apply the appropriate amount of curry to roasted cauliflower? And do you think that I like a dingy, reused eye dropper lying on the plate with my food and literally touching it??? While it’s questionable as to whether or not this is sanitary, it’s definitely unsightly to have a used bottle (complete with a dingy and poorly attached label from a Brother P-​touch label maker) touching your food. How about those greens… Could the chef not dress the greens with the right amount of olive oil? And olive oil in an eyedropper? Whatever you are trying to accomplish with this… It’s a major fail.
So the flatbread… If I were at the Cheesecake Factory, I might be satisfied (certainly not impressed) with the «burrata» that’s actually mozzarella (unless they have some secret burrata that’s stringy and oily when you put it on pizza) and the «flatbread» that’s made with flavorless crust that certainly doesn’t taste house made. Really, it’s just not good.

I hope this place sticks… unlike it’s many predecessors! I’ve seen this spot change from a club… to a bar… to a Persian Restaurant… to being empty for years…
My friends and I are huge fans of brunch. And booze. And booze at brunch! This place definitely accommodates!
Mimosas, whiskeys and Mezcal, oh my! Since FITR has a full bar, the drink options were endless! I stuck with my basic mimosa, but it definitely wasn’t basic… it had a hint of lavendar and rosemary along with a little rosemary branch. It’s the little things… And most cocktails were $ 10.
⁴⁄₅ of the table ordered the beautiful Benedict Flight with 3 different Benedicts… $ 17
— 1 with salmon, cream cheese, a perfectly poached egg and Hollandaise sauce on top of an English muffin… I don’t usually like raw salmon, but this was amazing.
— 1 with just a perfectly poached egg inside a tomato with burrata cheese and Hollandaise sauce (no bread)
— 1 with a perfectly poached egg wrapped in delicious piece of pork belly bacon and Hollandaise sauce.
The flavors were explosive and delicious… not to mention beautifully plated. And emphasis on the perfectly poached egg… cause it really was… made at 63 degrees… no runny whites… just a runny yolk that flowed all over the plate. It was a beautiful sight.
¹⁄₅ of us ordered 2 salads for her brunch… and one of them looked like a floral arrangement. It was seriously the prettiest salad I’ve ever seen and came with a dropper of olive oil along with salad dressing on the side of the plate. Her other salad was a beet and Humboldt fog cheese and while I heard that it tasted better than the former, it was overlooked in presentation. See picture!
One thing I didn’t dig… was that I had so much Hollandaise sauce left on my plate (this is a plus) and didn’t want it to go to waste, so I had asked for a croissant side and to my dismay, they told me they don’t sell croissants separately (big minus!)! What the… The croissants were sitting across from us and taunting us the whole meal… so I was sad that I couldn’t get one! The server said they only served it as part of their bread board… which was $ 12. This makes no sense to me… if someone wants a croissant… you sell them a freaking croissant, right? They’re probably missing sales because of this. The server did, however, make this right and gave us a buttered English muffin so that we could sop up the rest of the Hollandaise from our plates… Yes… it was that good. So bonus points for her! Thank you! She also turned down the music when we got there cause we couldn’t even hear each other speak… so thanks again for that.
Good food. Good service. Good booze.
I can’t wait to come back again! And hopefully try their croissants!
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My boyfriend and I had been long intrigued by the giant fork outside of this restaurant we kept walking by during the day. The menu always looked wonderful and we planned on coming here at some point.
Last night, a Friday, at 7:45pm, we called them to see if there was room. The nice hostess said there were some bar spots open so we hopped in an Über and rushed over from Venice. There was one open table being held for a res so we did indeed sit at the bar to start. The bartender was busy and after handing us menus, he never came back. But around 5 minutes later, the res had shown up and only had 2 instead of 4 so they split the tables up and the hostess offered the other one to us, which was really awesome.
Since we had already looked at the menus at the bar, when our server came to greet us, we ordered everything straightaway. We selected the sunchoke, wildflower salad, brisket with bone marrow, fried pickled oysters, French onion risotto, and the date prosciutto flatbread as well as the High West and the Twilight Gold Rush.
The small plates and salad came out pretty quickly and everything was so tasty but my favorites were the wildflower salad with its lemony vinaigrette and the risotto! The salad looked like it was fit for unicorns, absolutely gorgeous and the risotto tasted like being home, snuggled in a blanket with your favorite comfort food! The brisket was good but I didn’t care for the somewhat slimy marrow.
I spent many years working at a very taste-​forward and adventurous restaurant so places like this or Aframe, which use a lot of flavors to bring you in, are my absolute favorite! We can’t wait to go back again! Since we had ordered so much we were able to take some leftovers home and have them with some eggs for brunch.
Re: the drinks, I loved my first one, the Gold Rush, but the second one which was the Midsummer Night Dream was a bit too basil-​y and not enough bubbly, making it too herbal for my taste. The High West is strong but good if you like those kinds of drinks where it’s all alcohol.
I read in someone else’s post they have a late night Hippie Hour? I’ll have to look into that!
We will definitely be back to explore the menu some more and look forward to dropping in there for a Sunday brunch at some point.

Fork In the Road forking rocks. We came in at 9:30 PM on a Friday night. Naturally the place was packed. We waited 45 minutes for a table for our group of seven, and the food was worth the wait.
Their late-​night Hippie Hour rocks. Our server Shane was attentive to our tastes and table (not to mention he’s a total babe). He asked what we’d been drinking prior to arrival, so when we ordered the Bartender’s Choice, he catered to our drink preferences. My Mid-​Summer Night’s Dream cocktail was delish. Muddled grapes and Thai basil? I’ll take two.
I got a wild hair and ordered the oysters. No exaggeration, these are THE BEST oysters I’ve ever eaten. They are perfectly seasoned and fresh. If you like oysters, these are a must. I also nibbled on the tuna tartare, tabouli and Cesar salad. Yummy doodle.
As for seating (which some people complained about), if you’re looking for a giant, generic restaurant in Santa Monica, there’s a few down the street. Fork In the Road is a cozy, candlelit space.
So the next time I face a fork in the road regarding restaurant selection, I’ll be back. Fork In the Road is a new SaMo favorite.

Party of 8, Friday night. Made reservations but yup, you guessed it, we had to wait 20 minutes for our table.
It’s a really small, horribly loud, crowded, dim place. Not good for large parties, like ours, or for intimate dates, since you would have to shout in your person’s face to be heard.
First off, the service was HORRIFIC. Maya was her name. Starting with our drink order, she had nothing but attitude. Here’s a sample convo:
Us: What’s this Interesting Reds section on your wine list? Can you tell us what those are?
Maya: I don’t know. I didn’t create the menu.
Us: But are they grouped together because they’re like a pinot, a cab, a merlot?
Maya: Well, this is a…(and starts reading the names of the wines off the list, as if we couldn’t read)
Us: Is there one on here similar to a Malbec?
Maya: If you want a Malbec, then you should just order a Malbec.
True story. And that’s how the rest of the night went with Maya.
We ordered $ 350 worth of food and $ 140 worth of alcohol — the food was ⁵⁰⁄₅₀.
Good things:
The salmon tartar was one of the best. Lamb was delicious. All the flatbreads were good. Short rib ravioli was good. Charcuterie and cheese plates were fun and tasty. Beef brisket was gross looking but tasted ok.
Bad things:
Skimpy on the # of brussel sprouts. Salmon was super boring in terms of flavor. Steak was not tasty and overcooked. Cauliflower was AWFUL. Like I spit it out b/​c it was so terrible. It was as if they dunked a head of rotten cauliflower in salt and curry powder, and then served it to you.
We still had 2 more dishes that we had ordered, but the busboy started clearing our plates. I asked him, are you bringing us clean ones? He said yes. We waited 15 minutes and Maya comes over and asks us for dessert orders. We ask her about the 2 orders, and she says, oh really? Let me check on that. We watch as she walks over and orders the two dishes at her little station. She comes back and says, «Oh those are two of our longest cooking dishes, they’ll be right out.»
Oh really. Crappy cauliflower and overcooked steaks take 2 hours to prepare? Of course they do. Maya, you are a terrible liar. Just admit you forgot and we’re all good.
We had one of every dessert — pot de crème, crème brûlée, and the cobbler. They were all meh. I’d save up and go to another restaurant for dessert. They didn’t have any of their ice creams either b/​c their ice cream maker was broken.
Conclusion:
Maya should be fired.
Food is NOT worth the money you pay.
Never get the cauliflower under any circumstances.
Go somewhere else to spend lot of money on food.

I admit it, I usually pick a restaurant based on their ability to make me a good cocktail. Usually, if I find a good cocktail, the food kind of falls into place. This place certainly proved me right.
It is difficult to chose something to eat, though, when you want to eat everything on the menu. I mean, I know that most of the dishes are small plates but still, I would probably max out on 2. Luckily I was able to convince my friends to share with me so we could maximize our potential.
While we were deciding though, I decided to start with a drink. Of course, I couldn’t decide on one of those either (I’m a nightmare, I know), but after discussing with our server, decided to go with the Blasphemy on Waterslides. It did not disappoint, it was well balanced and exactly what I was looking for.
All of the menu descriptions looked so good. The combinations were all so interesting but ultimately, we kept seeing the plates that were coming to our neighboring table and decided to try some of those. We went with the curried cauliflower, pig tails, venison tartare, sunchoke, kale salad and a flatbread.
The presentations were so pretty, we almost didn’t want to mess them up by eating them. That lasted about 5 seconds, though, and we dove in. Everything we had was very good. Two small plates per person was more than enough food for everyone to share.
Of course I couldn’t stop at one cocktail, either. I also tried the Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee and the High West. The cocktails were definitely a highlight, I would come back for a drink in a heartbeat.
Overall, it’s a great spot. The atmosphere is cool, the food is great, and the cocktails were tasty. Our server was super helpful and friendly too. Perfect place to start the night.

Great food!
Portions are not small trust me. The food is a little pricey but you get what you pay for. The atmosphere is great just a little too loud. The music they had playing was drowned out by all the people in the place.
I would come back. I recommend the cauliflower appetizer! Anything you order is going to be tasty.

This is so the new spot on Main Street! Magical atmosphere is tough to create, and sometimes the stars just need to align and in this case, they have!
The lighting is gorgeous, not too dark, nor with those weird spot lights some ambient places have. The bar was a fun hang and right near a little indoor herb garden.
We started off with the Crudo and the Palm Salad. Both were bright and a nice start.
The Truffle Mushroom Flatbread was perfect… super thin and crispy. I think this was my fave, so go on your cheat day and have a carb!
The Short Rib Ravioli was unique. The sauce was a brown comfort style that was comforting with a few added roasted cherry tomatoes for some acid. The pasta was cooked nicely.
Desert was a Smoked Almond Cookie that came with some rosemary on fire on the plate that added a nice aroma. I love desserts with a savory side.
K ready? Let’s talk about the pickles. Yes, I just said that. So one of the amazingly adorable chefs puttering around like a mad scientist put a mason jar of pickles in front of me… think like those Southern pickled okra jars you can get at the farmers market but more awesome. This pickled veg variety was spicy and flavorful and interesting and fun to eat and I’m coming back for more.

Stumbled upon this place on a Saturday night while walking along Main Street. It’s a small restaurant without a clearly marked exterior, but so glad we found it. The indoor space is beautifully decorated — there is a fireplace in the back with lots of outdoorsy decorations. The right word for the restaurant is RUSTIC.
Based on Unilocal recs, I ordered the Cauliflower small plate, Tabouli, and pork belly carbonara. The cauliflower was amazing! It even came with the stem, which I didn’t even know was edible. Loved the spices they used in this dish. It’s huge too, not really a small plate. The tabouli was great too. Instead of couscous, they used quinoa for the texture. The pork belly carbonara was good, but I don’t recommend it because there was barely any pork belly in there. Also a little too creamy. There were so many other dishes I wanted to try! The presentation of the food is phenomenal.
As for dessert, we ordered the almond cookies with ice cream, smoked. It was a delicious ice cream sandwich cut into quarters, on a plate that had a flaming sage. Loved the presentation. You can definitely taste the smokey nature of the ice cream sandwich. It’s unusual, and although I liked it, I can see people not being a fan.
In any case, 5 stars for the overall experience and beauty of the dishes.