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I am writing to you regarding my experience at your restaurant on June 11th, 2005. My girlfriend and myself had planned a Saturday night stay in Laguna Beach that weekend and were looking forward to some good food, good shopping, and time at the beach. We are from San Diego, and friend had originally recommended that we try Bandera in Newport beach, as it is one of the Houston's chain of restaurants and is supposedly very good. The day before we were to leave, however, some family friends from Orange County gave us your restaurant as a recommendation. We checked some other reviews online, and although a few commented that the food was pricey, they all said the food was excellent and atmosphere unique.
I called Saturday morning, June 11th, at around 11am to make a reservation. A machine picked up and said that reservation requests can be left on the machine and someone will call to confirm. I left my full name, phone number, and request a table for two at 8:30pm. I waited until about 6pm that day and never received a call back, so my girlfriend called to check and they had no record of the reservation. Luckily she was able to get one at the desired time, 8:30pm. That was apparently the first time slot they had open for the evening.
We spent some time shopping beforehand, then ended up at a local cigar shop across the street from your restaurant. The owner of the shop was in and said that the food at your restaurant was great and have nice things to say about chef Kang. We were quite excited for the meal.
We got to the restaurant at 8:30pm and were promptly seated. Our server came by to take drink orders, however we were only drinking water this evening. She came back and answered our questions about the menu and gave her recommendations. Being a big seafood lover, I saw the menu and was VERY excited to order and eat. I was already going through my list of friends in my head that I was going to recommend this restaurant to, based solely on the menu items and their descriptions. Although we were not drinking, I was quite impressed by your extensive wine list.
We ordered our food at approximately 8:45pm. I ordered the "Beyond Sushi" Ahi with soft shell crab, asparagus, and mashed potatoes. My girlfriend was torn between the kung pao chicken and the 5 feet catfish, but after hearing what the server had to say about the catfish, she decided on that. We also decided to start with the seared ahi appetizer. We were both very excited and very hungry!
The appetizer came out promptly, within 15 minutes. It was excellent! We finished it just after 9pm.
We then waited for over an hour for our entrees to arrive, we were not served until 10:10pm! The server also only came by 3 times during that hour long wait. She seemed to avoid eye contact with us during this unbelievably long wait, and it wasn't until 9:45 when she came by to apologize for the wait and offer us a free dessert. That was appreciated, however we already had dessert plans at a local frozen yogurt shop down the street (being the health conscious dieters that we are). It was apparent to us that we wouldn't be able to make it there in time (they close shortly after 10pm) so we accepted the offer of dessert. There had been parties at the tables surrounding us that had come and gone by the time we had recieved our main course.
The food finally arrives, the catfish looked and tasted amazing! It was a definite treat. The "Beyond Sushi" dish, despite being one of the most expensive on the menu, failed to live up to expectations. The fish was overcooked, the menu description lead us to believe that this fish would be seared or nearly raw. It was cooked so much it was white in color, not red. Also, the dish had an overpowering lemon taste to it. You could not taste the flavor of the tuna through the lemon juice. The Lemon juice was so strong the soft shell crab and mashed potatoes both tasted of fresh lemon. Finally, the dish did not have any asparagus, as described on the menu, and no other vegetable was included as a substitute.
The server came by to ask how the food was at around 10:15pm. I told her that the tuna dish was not good, that the lemon flavor was overpowering, and that there was no asparagus. She offered to bring me something else, however at 10:15pm (after being seated at 8:30pm) I was not interested in waiting for another entree. She half mockingly offered to bring me some asparagus, I said to just "skip it."
We finished our meals, the server came by and offered us a dessert each which we accepted. Those came out promptly, we finished them and left shortly after 10:30pm.
At no time did the manager come by to explain the delay, or apologize for the extreme wait. We were never told why there was such a delay, was our order lost? Was the kitchen backed up? The place did not seem unusually busy, and we did not ask for any special modifications to the entrees we ordered. We received the food so late that we were not able to make it to our dessert plans, and had I wanted to return my entree for something more enjoyable, we could have been there as late as 11pm.
I called Saturday morning, June 11th, at around 11am to make a reservation. A machine picked up and said that reservation requests can be left on the machine and someone will call to confirm. I left my full name, phone number, and request a table for two at 8:30pm. I waited until about 6pm that day and never received a call back, so my girlfriend called to check and they had no record of the reservation. Luckily she was able to get one at the desired time, 8:30pm. That was apparently the first time slot they had open for the evening.
We spent some time shopping beforehand, then ended up at a local cigar shop across the street from your restaurant. The owner of the shop was in and said that the food at your restaurant was great and have nice things to say about chef Kang. We were quite excited for the meal.
We got to the restaurant at 8:30pm and were promptly seated. Our server came by to take drink orders, however we were only drinking water this evening. She came back and answered our questions about the menu and gave her recommendations. Being a big seafood lover, I saw the menu and was VERY excited to order and eat. I was already going through my list of friends in my head that I was going to recommend this restaurant to, based solely on the menu items and their descriptions. Although we were not drinking, I was quite impressed by your extensive wine list.
We ordered our food at approximately 8:45pm. I ordered the "Beyond Sushi" Ahi with soft shell crab, asparagus, and mashed potatoes. My girlfriend was torn between the kung pao chicken and the 5 feet catfish, but after hearing what the server had to say about the catfish, she decided on that. We also decided to start with the seared ahi appetizer. We were both very excited and very hungry!
The appetizer came out promptly, within 15 minutes. It was excellent! We finished it just after 9pm.
We then waited for over an hour for our entrees to arrive, we were not served until 10:10pm! The server also only came by 3 times during that hour long wait. She seemed to avoid eye contact with us during this unbelievably long wait, and it wasn't until 9:45 when she came by to apologize for the wait and offer us a free dessert. That was appreciated, however we already had dessert plans at a local frozen yogurt shop down the street (being the health conscious dieters that we are). It was apparent to us that we wouldn't be able to make it there in time (they close shortly after 10pm) so we accepted the offer of dessert. There had been parties at the tables surrounding us that had come and gone by the time we had recieved our main course.
The food finally arrives, the catfish looked and tasted amazing! It was a definite treat. The "Beyond Sushi" dish, despite being one of the most expensive on the menu, failed to live up to expectations. The fish was overcooked, the menu description lead us to believe that this fish would be seared or nearly raw. It was cooked so much it was white in color, not red. Also, the dish had an overpowering lemon taste to it. You could not taste the flavor of the tuna through the lemon juice. The Lemon juice was so strong the soft shell crab and mashed potatoes both tasted of fresh lemon. Finally, the dish did not have any asparagus, as described on the menu, and no other vegetable was included as a substitute.
The server came by to ask how the food was at around 10:15pm. I told her that the tuna dish was not good, that the lemon flavor was overpowering, and that there was no asparagus. She offered to bring me something else, however at 10:15pm (after being seated at 8:30pm) I was not interested in waiting for another entree. She half mockingly offered to bring me some asparagus, I said to just "skip it."
We finished our meals, the server came by and offered us a dessert each which we accepted. Those came out promptly, we finished them and left shortly after 10:30pm.
At no time did the manager come by to explain the delay, or apologize for the extreme wait. We were never told why there was such a delay, was our order lost? Was the kitchen backed up? The place did not seem unusually busy, and we did not ask for any special modifications to the entrees we ordered. We received the food so late that we were not able to make it to our dessert plans, and had I wanted to return my entree for something more enjoyable, we could have been there as late as 11pm.
