JW: New Hotel in DTLA

The JW Marriott opened its doors approximately 2 weeks ago. The towering blue hotel is easily spotted when in Downtown Los Angeles. However, as you approach it, you almost miss it because it’s tucked around LA Live and near the Regal Cinema.

Walking in, I was struck how large the hotel was. It almost had a convention hall feel. But unlike a typical convention hall, it was beautiful. The lounge was very comfortable to enjoy a couple of cocktails and some food.

We got a round of drinks. My first cocktail, the Broken Dream was pretty good. At $10, I wasn’t complaining. Well, I did have one nitpick. The bourbon was mixed supposedly with Luxardo liqueur and it was served with generic maraschino cherries. I expected Luxardo cherries. Ah well, I liked the cocktail better than the others including my second cocktail, the Sweet Reserve.

The drinks decorated with strawberries weren’t very pretty. First, they were cut in half and then the tops were cut off. But friends agreed this round was better.

For instance, this Mandarin Thyme was very licorice-y due to the Aperol in it. The staff was more than happy to take it away and remix it.

As for the food, it was pretty good.  At first, we had ordered from the Glance lounge menu but then we discovered we could order from LA Market, Kerry Simon’s restaurant at JW. I got the salad which I enjoyed very much. The greens were super fresh and crisp.

I thought the burger was good. I also enjoyed the mezze platter and shishito peppers. All these things are fairly basic. I suppose you could think of it as upscale comfort food. I spotted a $24 meatloaf on the menu and there are no other words to explain why ground beef was so expensive other than the fact it’s LA Live. It’s JW. It’s Kerry Simon. Still, my love of ground meat is so strong, I might actually order it one day.

We did however get the meatballs which were very good. The sauce wasn’t too sweet and the cheese was just right.

Another cocktail or dessert? I opted for a couple of bites of the chocolate cake. Unfortunately, I thought it was very dry. The saving grace was the bourbon ice cream we requested (it normally comes with vanilla bean ice cream). The ice cream is house-made so it’s very fresh.

Perhaps I should have gotten another cocktail after all. Finally, a drink pretty enough to drink.

JW Marriott at LA Live

900 West Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90015
(213) 742-6855