RESTAURANTS : A Night on Town Becomes a New Battle of Hastings

Thanks to convention-goers, tourists and big reputations built on past glories, many hotel restaurants in Orange County are heavily booked throughout the year, even when in serious need of restructuring. Hastings, the flagship restaurant of the Anaheim Hilton, is just such a restaurant.

Hastings is an ambitious restaurant with above average food. But on my visits so many little things went wrong during the course of an evening that it hardly seemed to matter.

First there was the adventure of the parking structure. Friday night, the valet refused to help us. His portion of the garage was full, he said, and we would have to self park. Indiana Jones couldn’t have helped us either that night. We finally found a space after 20 minutes.

By that time the maitre’d had given our table away. He clucked in sympathy when we told our story, but the restaurant was overbooked. Twenty more minutes passed before we could be seated.

Finally, we sank into big, comfortable high-backed chairs, but then another 20 minutes passed. Our waiter, who darted by after four minutes saying “I’ll be right with you,” promptly disappeared. When he eventually returned, he seemed puzzled that we weren’t ready to order. Then it dawned on him. We had no menus.

Hastings is an intimate, clubby room with dark wood walls, brass rails, etched glass and plenty of predictable hotel dining room accouterments: airport lounge carpet, mall gallery contemporary art, handsome table settings. The menu is surprisingly simple and attractive. There is no tendency toward complicating dishes perfectly capable of standing up on their own. If you haven’t been nettled to the point of losing your appetite, it should make you hungry.

We began with a sumptuous lobster ravioli in a delicate Chardonnay cream, and a plate of smoked salmon carved from a gorgeous whole fish sitting on a silver cart by the door. I haven’t had softer, smokier, more buttery salmon anywhere. After a few bites, I was in a very forgiving mood.

But then things slipped again. Seafood Caesar sounded irresistible. It was supposed to be served with ceviche of scallop and fresh shrimp and a creamy garlic dressing. My mouth watered when the waiter brought it from the kitchen; the greens were nicely coated with thick dressing and I could smell the garlic. I was blissfully happy, until I noticed that the seafood was missing. “Where is the seafood?,” I asked the waiter, after waving at him for 10 minutes. “Oh,” he said casually, “they must have forgotten to put it on.” Oh.

After the appetizers, bread arrived. (They must not want you to fill up on it.)

Hastings has a house specialty called “hot rock cuisine,” dishes you cook yourself at the table on a hot slab of porous rock. Chicken, seafood or steak brochettes are available. The idea’s cute, but the food sticks to the rock and you get steam all over your suit.

But many of the other main dishes are better. The restaurant’s filet mignon is one of the best pieces of meat I’ve eaten--flavorful, juicy and melt-in-the-mouth tender.

Medallions of veal in a Calvados cream sauce with apples and spatzle is a near miss. The meat, again, is spectacular, but the sauce is a tad too salty and the spatzle (little flour dumplings) are as chewy as packing material.

Grilled shrimp with garlic, coconut milk, rum and yogurt isn’t nearly exotic as the menu leads you to believe. But the shrimp served on a bed of basmati rice ringed by a medley of baby vegetables are subtly delightful. Excellent salmon is accompanied by chanterelles and leeks; fine Dover sole is masterfully understated with fresh herbs and shiitake.

After some adequate desserts--chocolate meringue torte, mixed fruit tart, and genoise with Bavarian cream--the most annoying thing of all happened.

I handed the waiter cash to pay the check, and waited patiently for the change. He never brought any. “Why didn’t you bring me my change?” I asked as I got up to leave. His reply? Because I had said “thank you,” he felt that I had wanted him to keep whatever change there was. It was the perfect ending to the evening.

Hastings is expensive, but no more so than any big hotel restaurant. Appetizers are $6.50 to $8.25. Soups and salads are $3.25 to $6.50. Main dishes are $15.50 to $29.95. There is the usual, wedding album-thick wine list with a few excellent, moderately priced reds. An ’85 Vichon Cabernet and an ’86 Sterling Cabernet are both $22.

HASTINGS

In the Anaheim Hilton, 777 Convention Way.

(714) 750-4321.

Reservations are essential. Open Friday through Tuesday for dinner from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., and for lunch Monday, Tuesday and Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. But days vary according to occupancy.

All major credit cards accepted.