Citizen Smith: Sex and Inebriation Preferred

Citizen Smith
1600 N Cahuenga Boulevard
Hollywood, CA 90028
(323) 461-5001

Category: American (Traditional)
District: Hollywood

Just came back from Citizen Smith (Sunday night with reservations).

Overall: Go here for the drinks and the Sunday night band and burlesque show. Great band and talented dancers. Get beers and the fried green tomatoes. Don't go for the food. If you inSIST on dinner, reservations make it easier to be seated. I'll be back only if I wanted the darker ambiance for a drinks only date.

The Scene: Mix of actor/actress/model wannabes with producer looking salt-and-pepper hair men at the bar. Lance Bass was there with his boyfriend and their party. But you know, since we LA people see "celebrities" all the time, no one harassed him. We focused on the semi-naked dancing ladies instead. So Hollywood.

The Show: The Sunday night burlesque show came with dining and drinking there (with no cover charge) and that was definitely worth the show. The ladies were fit, trained and sexily tasteful dancers in skimpy lingerie. The Miles something or other band was actually really professional, tight and good. Their music made for a creative show of burlesque dancing (up on the bar too!) The band was good enough to have been pleasing entertainment even without the dancing.

Food and Value: Entrees were just "meh." (Burger was big but uneventful, chicken alright as well). We paid too much for just "meh." (12 dollars base price for the tomatoes with micro greens, 21 dollars!! to split the burgur with fries...fries were nice and crispy though) The tomato basil soup with gruyere toasts was also mediocre for the 12 dollars paid...stick with drinking it out of a Trader Joe's Tomato & Red Pepper Soup carton.

Spirits: The Pinot Noir was suggested for me by the eye-candy waiter to pair with the burger. Not a good choice. Nearly 10 bucks for a glass...pass me the Newcastle.

Service: The hostess was snooty. The bouncer harassed me for no good reason and capriciously decided to let me in because I stated I had reservations with a party that was already seated. Weird. The secondary waiter/busboy that poured our waters went off about how he has had such a bad night because he had dropped a trayful of glasses and it was the woman's fault for bumping into him and he just wanted to go home. Yeah. Too Much Information.

Parking and Transport: I opted out of the pricey valet parking by hitching a bus on Sunset Blvd to Ivar. Convenient.

Total Cost: I paid $40 for the split burger, fried green tomatoes, glass of pinot noir, tax and tip with some bucks for the birthday girl whose dinner and drink we split among three ladies.