Last weekend, while my large Filipino family were spending time together and remembering my grandmother who passed away 16 years ago, we started to plan our Easter. My mom, the designated family cook, announced that she was going on vacation, leaving on Wednesday and coming back on Saturday night so she was not going to do the cooking this year. The family had decided to let other people worry about the food for us and we were going to brunch. Sounded like a good plan. My uncle made reservations for 18 at the SouthBay Fish and Grill at the Chula Vista Marina.
Okay let me preface this story with this in mind: I never complain about the service at restaurants publicly. No matter how bad the service or how gross the food was, I do not go on Yelp or any review sites and leave comments. I leave that to other people. I sometimes give a place one more chance then if the experience is the same that time around, I just never go back. (The first time I went to this place was back when it was called Jake's and my parents had their wedding reception there). The first time I went to SouthBay Fish and Grill was for Mother's Day Brunch, 2010. I had made reservations way in advance and requested a table by a window because my mom wanted a view. That day, we got there on time and they were going to seat us in the overflow tent area. I had explained to the hostess that I specifically asked for a table with a view. We didn't get that table until about 45 minutes after my reservation time. Other than that, the food was decent and the service was pretty good for brunch on a holiday. Easter Brunch 2011 was a whole lot worse. I would have left it alone this time around but today was something special. I tolerate a lot of stuff but this one takes the cake. I know this is mainly a baking blog but I wanted to do a service to the people of Chula Vista, CA.
At around 12:45, we were seated in a much too small table for our party of 11 and it was practically a foot and a half away from the next table of 10+ people (thank God there were less of us...who know how they would have squished 18 people at a table!). We went to get food and there wasn't much of a selection and dishes were not labelled....it was a game of guess what mystery dish you will be eating! The omelets/waffle/carving station was understaffed so the line was long for omelets (scrambles more like it), the incredibly undercooked prime rib (I swear to you it could have still been mooing!), incredibly overcooked roast beef (my aunt's silverware went flying while she was trying to cut into it), and the ham...well...it was just a bone. When the name of your restaurant is SouthBay FISH and grill, you would think you would be stocked up on the seafood. It was barely 1:00 and there were only a few crab legs available (what my uncle and mom were definitely looking forward to because that's what they advertised). They asked the manager if there would be any more available only to be told about 30 minutes later that they had run out. The rest of the dishes were okay....nothing fantastic since it was mainly breakfast food which is pretty hard to mess up.
The saving grace, as far as food went, were the desserts (this is where I get the relevance of my rant to my blog!) There was certainly no shortage in desserts today: Endless mound of chocolate covered strawberries, brownies, cookies, creme brulee, cannolis, black forest cake, apple crisp, pecan tarts, bread pudding bites, strawberries w/ whipped cream. Too bad I couldn't eat most of it *sad face* or I might have just been at this table the duration of brunch. I did take bites of the creme brulee which was very creamy and had a nice crunch topping. The bread pudding bite was moist and the chocolate strawberry was tasty (too sweet though...I ended up taking off the chocolate). Props to the person who prepared the desserts...lots of selection, presented well, and yummy (from the few bites I could take).
We then got a little rushed when it came the the check. At this point, the crowd was dying down and there were plenty of vacant tables. The waitress kept asking if we wanted our check so we finally took it and gave a mix of cash and 2 credit cards. She came back a few minutes and said that half the power in the restaurant was down, including the credit card machine. They were working on getting it fixed but...."could we pay for cash?" Nope, not with a bill for a party of 11 at EASTER brunch (prices are of course increased because of the holiday). She disappeared again and came back...."could we pay with a check?" Who really carries their checkbook now a days with debit cards handy? The power came on long enough for her to run our cards. We then took our time, enjoying each others company and sipping champagne since we weren't too happy with the food. Could we have some coffee maybe with our dessert? Sorry....they had run out of coffee, said another waitress. Hmm what restaurant runs out of coffee?
We finally got up to leave and were heading out. The manager was standing there on our way out and my uncle commented to him about the coffee. The manager said there WAS coffee....hmm, odd. Then it happened (At this point my mom and I were in the parking lot, waiting on my aunt and uncle so they recounted what follows, outside). One of the waitresses (not our regular one..the one that said there wasn't any coffee) stopped my aunt, "You didn't pay." Right in front of the manager, the waitress said again, "They didn't PAY." When they retold this to us, I couldn't believe it. My mom had a completely confused look on her face. They were actually accusing my family of dining and dashing! First of all, how do you dine and dash with a party of 11?!! Second, we were one of the last families there....why would we wait over 2 hours to dash and when the restaurant was practically empty. Third, my uncle had a receipt for his credit card which he promptly showed the manager. "What did the manager say?" I asked my uncle. "Nothing." Seriously? The manager couldn't even do basic customer service back when things first started to go south. He couldn't even go around the restaurant and apologize....we weren't even asking to be comped anything....just an apology would have been nice. Then to be accused by one of his staff members who was obviously wrong and he again did not offer an apology? Yup, you're time is up buddy....you just lost some customers and gained a bad review on my blog (probably a Yelp review from my uncle too...hehe). I DEFINITELY will NOT be back. If you live in the South Bay, please do not waste your time at this place.
On a more positive note, if this was the worst thing that happened today, I'm okay with that. I KNOW there are millions of people who are much worse off and I pray for them. I'm grateful every day for my family. I'm grateful we are able to spend time and meals together when so many others cannot at this time. In the end, Easter is a time to spend with family...even when it's like an experience like this.
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