Lawry's

On Monday, Eddie and I had a meeting with the Special Events Manager at Lawry's House of Prime Rib in Beverly Hills.  I think that it would be fair to say that Lawry's is a bit of a Los Angeles destination, yet neither of us had ever been there!  After our meeting, Ellen (the Special Events manager) offered to set up a reservation for us to dine in the restaurant as their guest (i.e. free).  We gladly took her up on that offer that very same night.  Let me tell you, we ate well.  And Lawry's is definitely now a contender.  Here's what we had that night (pictures via Yelp):

Top: Lawry's prime rib with mashed potato, creamed corn, yorkshire pudding, and creamed spinach

Middle: creme brulee with berries

Bottom: Chocolate fantasy cake with ice cream (ours didn't have a birthday candle...)

However, I have a secret to share.  Don't tell anyone but...

I'm not really a big fan of steak.  I know, I know, I'm horrible, and I'm definitely a meat-lover, but a steak just doesn't do it for me.  However, this is hardly an issue when it comes to our wedding food because I don't think I'll really be able to eat much at the wedding since I'll be greeting guests and going back and forth changing the whole time.  I actually really liked the prime rib that we had when we visited Lawry's.  Steak just isn't something that I really crave or anything.  I just thought I'd share this little secret. :)

Anyway, back to our experience so far with Lawry's.  It sounds super expensive, right?  But it's actually super affordable.  If we were to go with Lawry's, this is what we would get, for $50 or less per person (which is very very affordable in wedding land):

Three passed hors d'oeuvres

Lawry's spinning bowl salad (it's pretty cool, they have a bowl sitting in some ice which they spin while they pour dressing into it... pretty tasty)

6  oz. cut of Lawry's prime rib ($5 per person to upgrade to 10 oz. cut) with mashed potato, creamed corn, and creamed spinach

Flourless chocolate cake with Haagen-Daz ice cream and berries.

Are you drooling yet?  Plus, they have a VIP membership program where you can get a $25 gift certificate for every $250 you spend.  So, as you can imagine, we'd get A LOT of gift certificates.  Can you say wedding helper thank you gifts?!?

Sounds like a great option, right?  But there's only one thing that is making me pretty unsure about this place: the decor.

I think that TTO described Lawry's as "Sherlock Holmes-y," and my first thought going in was "Masterpiece Theatre."  But while I was talking to Eddie about the decor and especially the "brown ladies" (the female servers wear what kind of look like brown french maid uniforms with orthopedic shoes), I decided that Lawry's looks like the game "Clue."  There are tapestries and large paintings everywhere of random men and bicycles and horses and things.  There is also a strong dark wood, green, Victorian feel.  (You can check out TTO's wedding--photographed by Max Wanger--here or of course on her blog to see what it looks like.)  Don't get me wrong, it's definitely nice, but the aesthetic just isn't necessarily what I was thinking about for my wedding.  But the price is right and our guests would definitely be happy if we had it there, no doubt about it (and yes, they have yummy-sounding vegetarian options as well).  So, what do you think?  Should I shelve my doubts about the look of Lawry's and go for the good food?