Bernardo Winery — Attraction in Poway

Michelle (who happily self-proclaimed as a "Karen") kicked three families out of the winery because "children are no longer allowed"

My friends and I got to the winery and it was chilly outside. We saw two women leave their table (next to the only heater) and we moved over and patiently waited for staff to be available to clear the table. She came out and stated "great, you just sat yourself at the table (which is open seating) before staff cleaned it, cool" We had already shared with the waitress that there was absolutely no rush in cleaning and that we had moved over to be next to the heat. All night she kept coming to our table only (excluding any other families there that had children running around) to tell us the children need to be seated at all times. She eventually grabbed one of her poor workers and forced him to come tell us to leave. She came out smiling and you could tell uncomfortable he was. He even told us that it wasn't his choice and that she was the general manager and was making him. As someone who is a manager, I've never made my staff do my dirty work. She then went on to tell us she doesn't have kids and never wants them and offered a disgusted look to ours. She smiled and smiled as we talked to the manager. I asked for her name and she said "Michelle, actually it's Karen, I'm a Karen". She had it in for our group the minute we arrived and it was so blatantly obvious that other customers made comments about it in small talk with our group.

We have come many times with our families and never had an issue, until meeting her. She was so unpleasant and smirked the entire time while forcing her employee to do the job she was hired to do. The worst kind of incompetent manager that takes the credit without doing any of the work.

Discrimination on the basis of parental status happens where a person is treated less favourably because of their parental status than someone without the same parental status in similar circumstances.

There are no signs or warnings at this establishment of a kid free policy. In fact, she walked past several kids on the way to us. She was hovering around us all night and made it so uncomfortable that other people noticed. I supposed if that's the kind of person this winery wants representing their name and their brand then they've won the lottery. It's so unfortunate that she would stand there and smile and keep walking back and being petty. I've never seen a person with such poor management skills, I almost wonder if this is an instance of nepotism or a pity hire. I hope she can be properly trained, I'm sure the winery values family people and this is a person who openly boasted about never...

The Winery has 2 restaurants and a coffee house. The food is excellent but very pricey at "The Kitchen". There are many choices but unfortunately no gluten free choices. Also in the past I have had my favorites but they are gone now. I was disappointed that their Ceasars salad with salmon is no longer on the menu. The White balsamic vinegarette is very spicy. It is served with their modified Ceasars salad. They have panni, i had the salmon one...very yummy. My friends opted for panni without the bread. The waiter was kind and put the panni contents on lettuce for them. That was very nice of him. They do have Gelato for dessert...chocolate..YUM. My friend who has dairy restrictions got to have a lemon, rosemary sorbet. That was perfect for her. If you don't have a lunch or dinner reservation at the kitchen you can order from a more limited menu at the wine tasting counter. Still they have a variety of pizzas, house Salas with salmon or chicken and two kinds of Antipasti salads. Not bad. Still pricey. I paid 25 dollars for the salad. It was a good size but still. Of course they charge me more because I added salmon. Tasty and they left off the onions as I'm very allergic to them. Unfortunately the little coffee house had been busy on Saturday and was out of almost everything I like on the menu on Sunday. This was a great disappointment. I would think between Saturday and Sunday they would restock. I like it there, peaceful atmosphere. Nice clothing store. Cotton Cottage and Icarus which is a wonderful art shop. You can get unusual gifts there and arrange for classes with your friends with the owners. Lots of fun. Unfortunately The Kitchen no longer has as many meal choices as they once did. I wish they had some sandwiches with normal contents gorgeous a quick bite as you are wandering around the Winery. The goid thing is that you don't need reservations anymore except maybe for Sunday brunch. The Cotton Cottage has changed to a new style of clothing that does look well on me, but the Italian styles might suit other people. The Winery has added a Gelato shop. I did not find that it is very good. It's mediocre. The Winery is still a peaceful place to go. Icarus is still a most wonderful art store and a place for prearranged individual or group lessons in painting or mosaic. Both Theresa and Bob are great artists and...

Went there tonight to celebrate my daughter's graduation. We have never been there before and were confused as to where the restaurant was, specially since I had asked where I could drop off my disabled mom that would be closest to the restaurant. I was told to drive around the garden area. However, when we did that, there was a wedding so we decided to turn around. The woman in charge of weddings came to our car and was incredibly rude. Worse than her was this young man who apparently thinks he is a character from the movie Goodfellas because he started acting like some mafioso-wanna be, standing in the middle of the road and staring us down. THERE WAS NO SIGNAGE WHATSOEVER INDICATING NO TURN THERE...NOT EVEN A CHAIN OR ROPE BLOCKING THE ENTRANCE... NOT A ONE. AT NO POINT THERE WAS A SINGLE PERSON ON THE ROAD. Absolutely nobody was in danger, lol, the wedding was in the garden , not the road. In the future I would strongly suggest, S I G N S. In our car was an 85 year old lady, a 14 year old girl, and two middle aged women and these two people acted like we were criminals. Instead of politely telling us where to go, they behaved like two classless bouncers and this made my elderly mom very uncomfortable. If this is who they hire to run their weddings, I don't think I would use this establishment for that. The restaurant itself was decent and we had a delightful waitress. However, the rude behavior of those two individuals that apparently lack the imagination to understand that some people may have never been there before and is easy to get lost, put a damper on the experience . Your employees are a reflection of your business . I hope they are more like the waitress and less like those two very rude individuals. So overall , the good parts about it do not compensate for the classless personnel , specially considering the crazy prices. Too bad but thankfully there are many other wineries...