One of my very favorite places to eat in Santa Monica.

Hostess told us she had to seat us inside, but we had a reservation. She told us it could be a 35 minute wait, but a table opened up after 2 minutes. Our waitress was rude. Food was medicore. No thanks.

Everything we ordered was delicious. Lots of space and good patio dining and bar.

Really like Areal, especially when they have the guitarist playing . Last night was fine: excellent service & good food. BUT the classic Disco coming from the bar was too loud. The patio was not crowded, but we struggled to talk over the music.

Food was fair overall. Service was EXTREMELY slow....should say the waitress was slow. The food came out immediately. Our waitress was always MIA. Had to get up and get her couple times. Both times she was chatting away with another waitress in the back.

I mainly picked this place out for its location, and figured it would be the Santa Monica standard: decent cocktails, and food that is good, but slightly overpriced. It ended up being much more disappointing than that. I had a reservation and only two-thirds of the tables were filled, but it still took them several minutes to seat us. Once they did, a busboy brought us water, and then we weren't spoken to again by any member of staff for 30 minutes. Eventually I got sick of it and asked a busboy to go find our waiter. He did, and the waiter showed up and introduced himself 5 minutes later. We quickly ordered, and waited another 25 minutes for our food to come out, again, not hearing anything from any members of staff. The calamari was tasty, but no better than the average decent Italian restaurant. The pasta dish we ordered was also fairly good, but not really as good or inspired as you expect it to be when you're spending 30 dollars on an entree. Overall, our favorite part of the whole place was the guitarist playing weird mashups of top 40 pop and old classical tunes. I can't stand places that don't take service seriously, and the food was nowhere near good enough to overlook it.

Waiter too attentive. Brought out entree before we were through with appetizers.
Not good. Felt like we were being rushed, but I do to think that was the case.

Great patio dining. Good pizzas. Very dog friendly.

Nice patio and setting, attentive service but Father's Day brunch buffet was tasteless, unappealing , offering poor quality and variety.

food meh, slow waiter. my credit card was scammed that evening.

Enjoyed a very pleasant Mother's Day Brunch at a busy yet cozy atmosphere. Delicious breakfast line and bottomless mimosas. Best of all, they welcome dogs so no member of the family had to miss out. Would definitely go back again.

Areal was a great experience. I love to come here for Happy Hour. The deals are great and the service is awesome. I decided to help my brother out for Mothers day. His wife loves to go out for Brunch so I told him about Areal. We all had a very nice time, the service was amazing and the food was really good. we will definitely be coming back!!

Went for Mother's Day, but they overbooked and did not honor reservations.

We were seated almost an hour late... On Mother's Day. There was little to no communication as to why we were so delayed. Food was average, but not worth $32 a head. Never going back.

Great place but I would skip Mother's Day brunch. Food is better when ordered off menu and not as crowded

Amazing cocktails, excellent food, great ambiance and superb service. We sat in the outside patio and they had an acoustic guitar player that was excellent. He set the tone for a great dinner and wine buzz.

Wasn't as good as the prior visit there.

While the inside was somewhat lacking in charm, the outdoor patio was very nice. As for the food, the Pizza and Bacon wrapped dates were delicious. The "New York" Steak & Frittes on the other hand left much to be desired. It is a great summer outdoor setting with descent food and a nice ambience.

Areal is a favorite I frequent both day and evening. We even did a super New Year's Eve dinner one year. I prefer the patio, which is sublime if you catch it on a pretty day. Also less noisy than inside, though indoors during the week seems to be less noisy for lunch. Dinner can be a bit noisy, I always prefer asking for a table in the corner. The bar, however, is super noisy since they put in the sports tvs. But then some people like that. They also do a great Happy Hour menu.

This place was very nice for a quiet dinner with my husband. We saw individuals with their dogs which was a nice touch and we will be doing so in the future.

Everything's good about this place, but I thnk the price of some of their dinner items is too high.

Food was fair, nothing to rave about. Place is nice though with outdoor patio dining area. But I don't think I will be back again

I can't honestly say the restaurant was bad. But the service was terrible. I made a reservation about three hours before hand. Once I arrived I was informed that there weren't any meals being prepared because of some special even. The staff never tired to contact me about that. All I was told was that there would be a limited menu, which I was ok with. Otherwise a bad experience when the staff neglect to inform you about exclusive events that will not allow entry.

We all four loved the delicious food. The patio is attractive and enclosed, with heaters and blankets available. It was quiet when we arrive at 6:00 p.m. on Friday evening, but when we left at 7:30 the noise level was high because there was live music and dancing.

Menu is varied but rarely changes. Nice outdoor atmosphere.

The only thing that brought the experience down was that our waiter gave us the bill before we were done ordering as though he wanted us to leave. We were going to order more food and dessert, but we decided to just leave instead. Other than that, the experience was nice. It was likely not the waiter's fault, but it took awhile for our drinks to come too.

Hos test was incredibly rude. Service was incredibly slow for only maybe six tables. When I asked for the wifi I was told different reasons by two different people; it doesn't work and I can't give it out.
The hostess was rude from the beginning. Folded napkins and took a phone knowing I was standing there waiting to be helped. Told her I had a reservation. In a very snarky tone, "um we do not take reservations before 4." "Perhaps your owner Shiism speak with OpenTable as it allows for reservations well before then."
I will never go back to this Areal despite throwing friends baby showers there and having Areal be apart of our bar crawls. Way better service just about anywhere else.

Wouldn't suggest for a romantic date due to the loudness of the bar right beside it but food was great.

It was my second time at Areal. After my first enjoyable and tasty lunch I returned the following week with two friends and we had a wonderful lunch. We all will be back!

An interesting restaurant that has abundant outdoor dining space and open to the indoor dining area so the indoor tables do not feel closed in. From the website I mistakenly thought it would be a quiet dining spot but it is located right at a busy corner (lots of parking in the back) with much foot and vehicle traffic around. If I had been looking for a more energetic feel with live music (we were there for Sunday dinner), it would have been great. The food was fine and good portions.

Great but the noise level was a bit too loud for a Monday.

Below average food and bad service.

Awful awful service

I havent been to Areal in eons. The food has greatly improved and we enjoyed our server immensely. The restaurant was gracious enough to take back a pizza one of the kids ended up not eating/liking. This has now made it onto the list for regular rotation for us. I plan to come back soon, and often.

If you remember World Café, you will notice how not much has changed, in terms of ambience, décor and food quality, which is good (except for the food part). The food is not horrible, it's just not great, however it is fairly priced, so the restaurant is a good choice when you want to have a nice night out in a good atmosphere and not spend too much money.

Areal is a real gem. Great food, service and ambiance. It is my favorite LA eatery for brunch.

Didn't know that this mostly known as bar based on review. They over sold and set up tables everywhere including the bar where we were seated. Loud music and a very long line for a buffet that was out of most items so we left without eating.

Food was okay. Seems if they are going to compete with the new restaurants on the Westside, they'd better step up their game. Place could use a power wash as well.

We ate a very good dinner here, but my memories of this night are of an incident that the restaurant handled amazingly well. A man and a woman were dining at a table and the woman went to the bathroom. A diner at the next table saw the man put something in the woman's drink. She notified a waitress, who told her manager and the woman in the bathroom. She came back to her table and acted like she knew nothing, while the restaurant called the police. We left as the police arrived to question the man, and safely escort her home. It was the most amazing thing and it really takes a village to keep everyone safe!

The bow tie pasta over seasoned inedible, the Mediterranean pasta tasteless awful, bean soup and tortilla soup flat and tasteless, squash blossom appetizer soggy and mushroom fries heavily battered and greasy. How does this place stay in business?