Alexandria B.
Yelp
As a native Californian who is proud of these business owners for opening up such a beautiful restaurant, I wanted to give Cali Kitchen & Bar a higher rating, I really did... But I've visited twice and I simply can't go higher than a 3 right now. Allow me to explain why:
FOOD: Decent, unhealthy eats that are good cheat meals and great for hanging with friends. I don't even remember what I ordered the first time but I remember it wasn't bad just not amazing. Yesterday I got the garlic noodles with shrimp and crab for like $40 and unfortunately they tasted like straight teriyaki sauce. A highlight is that they have koolaid on the menu which I for sure remember loving but they were out of that yesterday so i had to settle for ordering a $6 lemonade. The lemonade was not good. I ordered a peach/strawberry lemonade based off the photos I saw on the self-serve kiosk only to be given a cup with like red syrup mixed in. The photos had actual fruit in the lemonade and I was told while my drink was being given to me that they didn't have peach flavor. I wish i had just saved my $6 for a smoothie elsewhere because the lemonade had no signs of real fruit being used anywhere in the process.
DRINKS: Alcoholic drinks are cool from what i remember. They usually have more than one frozen drink flavor in the machine, yesterday it was just one. They put yummy candy in some of their signature drinks and I love that.
AMBIENCE: This place is ideal for going out and having drinks/ vibing with friends. The music is good, they have games and even hookah if you're into that.
SERVICE: The first time i came, we had a waitress and food came in a timely manner. Only thing that sucked was people being able to smoke hookah right next to our food. Now yesterday, my friends chose to sit in the "self-serve" section so they wouldn't have to wait for a table. This section is where you get your food after paying for it on a kiosk. This would be cool if servers checked on you at least once or twice while you're eating but they do not. You have to get up and order your own drinks at the bar, go get your own to-go boxes, etc. It's really self-service but I still tipped so I wasn't a fan of having to get up so much. The staff I communicated with was really nice though.
The last thing I'll say is that the restaurant clearly invested in a California aesthetic and it deserves to be busier than it's been both times I've visited. I think the location (not near much else entertainment) is the issue but it's really not super far so I wish more people made the trip. That way, they'd be able to have servers working in sections and have folks turning up as I'm sure the owners intended.
Would I visit again? Yes but only if friends invited me. It wouldn't be at the top of my mind especially since I feel like I wasted $50 yesterday.