Are they both talking about the same restaurant?

Talk about mixed messages.

The same week that the posh Belvedere Restaurant at the Peninsula Hotel Beverly Hills received a glowing review from the Mobil Travel Guide, the Los Angeles Times published a devastating critique, saying the service "unrolls like an outtakes reel," the food is often overcooked and the decor is "stodgy."

The reviewer was Leslie Brenner, the paper's food editor (regular critic S. Irene Virbila was on vacation). She paid three visits to the restaurant, and each time she described the service as haughty and many of the dishes lackluster.

In her review, Brenner summed up her battles as a patron: "If the service had been professional, if the overcooked steak had been returned to the kitchen to be cooked to the right temperature ... if the sommelier had acknowledged our choices then

suggested a terrific Burgundy we didn't know about at an appropriate price ... if the bread was replenished without my husband waving his arms ... then I might have won."

The restaurant's managers were caught off-guard. Not only did the Mobil Guide reaffirm its four-star rating, but the Belvedere moved up in the much-watched Zagat Survey, released last month.

"While we certainly don't ignore food critics, they are not high on my credibility list," said John Rucci, executive assistant manager of the Peninsula Hotel, who oversees the restaurant. Still, he said he has taken the criticisms of the service "very seriously" so that the kind of experience Brenner had doesn't get repeated. But the damage may already be done.

"The L.A. Times is pretty powerful in this market, especially among locals. It definitely can take the buzz off a restaurant to get a review like this," said Randall Hiatt, president of Fessel International, a Costa Mesa-based restaurant consultancy.