Andy L.
Yelp
I found this restaurant on Yelp after reading some reviews calling it a "hidden gem." I chose it for a date night with my girlfriend, as we had tickets to a local event at the Richard Nixon Library nearby. I generally avoid writing negative reviews, especially for small mom-and-pop restaurants, but this experience was too disappointing to ignore.
We started with an arugula salad as an appetizer before ordering our entrees. At first glance, the salad looked fine with fresh arugula, sliced red and yellow tomatoes, and purple onions. However, as we began serving ourselves, we noticed some discolored leaves. A few bad leaves wouldn't have been a big deal, but as we continued, we found more that were dark and rotting. My girlfriend and I each set aside several bad leaves, and I decided to politely bring it to the waitress's attention, requesting a Caesar salad instead--thinking it would not be hard to mess that up.
Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse after that. We could hear the waitress talking to the kitchen staff about our complaint, and soon after, we overheard the kitchen staff complaining and cursing loudly in Spanish. This was especially upsetting because I understand a little Spanish, and my girlfriend understood it fluently. We could tell right away that they were angry and badmouthing us, which made my girlfriend uncomfortable to the point of tears. She eventually excused herself and went to the car, visibly upset.
At that point, I went to the front desk, explained what had happened, and told them we were leaving. The experience left us with such a bad taste, not just literally but in terms of the atmosphere and service as well. We ended up driving 13 minutes to Olive Garden, where the service was fantastic, and the food was much more enjoyable. It had been years since we'd been there, and it was a much better experience than what we had just endured.
We won't be returning to this restaurant. It was our first and last time. In hindsight, I wish I had filtered the reviews to see some of the more recent negative feedback before deciding to go. Unfortunately, the staff's attitude and poor service ruined what could have been a special night, and it's not something that can be easily overlooked or forgiven.
This was the only video I've taken before we got our appetizer. Unfortunately, I did not take pictures of the salad because I didn't think we would've ended up in this situation.
