California Bakery — Restaurant in Milan

Okay, I apologize in advance because I really hate having to be THAT person that complains through a review but I also think it’s important to hold both the server and the restaurant accountable when service is poor. Having worked in the food service industry for years now, I am probably the last one to complain about food or service unless it’s absolutely atrocious. That being said, this place was high up there.

I ordered the Chicken Caesar Salad and was really disappointed that the dressing seemed to be purely mayonnaise. I asked if this was the correct dressing or if they accidentally used mayo, but the waiter assured me that it was Caesar dressing. And I’m not a fool, I realize that mayo makes up a big part of the original dressing but honey, it is not JUST mayonnaise. In the end I had to send it back because for €14 I was expecting something closer to the American version (seeing as it is called California Bakery). Cmon, €14 is pretty darn pricey for a salad, and if you are just going to put mayo on lettuce, bacon, croutons and cheese 🙄 that is a joke. Now if this was a traditional Italian restaurant and I got this, I probably would have bit my tongue and just blamed it on myself ordering something not Italian in Italy. But no, this is an American-inspired restaurant so there aren’t too many excuses I can make there.

So the waiter took the dish away but told me that I was going to have to pay full price anyways because “we made it for you”. Doesn’t matter if I ate 2 bites, doesn’t matter if I ate none. Love the ‘logic’ there. Now as much as this irked me, I tried to reason with him and asked if it was possible to get something else (cheaper) at the cost of the dish. So if I ordered €6 pancakes, I would still pay the €14 in exchange. I didn’t think that was an unreasonable request…in fact, I shouldn’t have been the one trying to reason with him in the first place but I was trying to reach some sort of middle ground. But nope. He was not having that either. He told me that I could order something else and he would charge me for both.

I then asked to speak to the manager and he told us that the manager would say the same thing, but refused to let me speak with them. So on top of that bafoonery, on principle I didn’t order anything else. I mean, I was already paying for a dish I didn’t eat, why would I chance ordering something else?

As for the rest of the service, he got my friend’s order wrong 3 times, dropped off things to the wrong table and while normally I would overlook these things as I can understand that their job is not easy, it just became clear that he was more interested in checking himself out in the mirror above us than caring for his tables.

After about 45minutes into the service he begrudgingly asked me if I wanted a slice of cake on the house and while the gesture was ...something...the fact that it came a little too late into the meal made it seem disingenuous.

Overall it was a bad experience, be warned. While this might only be a reflection of one waiter, do note that this place is a gamble. If you want to be overcharged to play Russian roulette with both the staff and your food, this is the...

Unfortunately not a good experience.

Partner ordered the American burger. They changed the baconnaise sauce to burger sauce, which contains mustard seeds. He is allergic to mustard seeds. They never made us aware at any point that they swapped the sauce.

I ordered a Sesame chicken bagel no tomato. It came with lots of tomato. I was also given a multi seeded bagel instead of a Sesame. I have an almond allergy too, so I've had to take an antihistamine as a precaution as fully unsure what was on it.

Told us they didn't have Bud on draft. When we left, we noticed they had.

We complained to the lady and no apology for ruining the food, infact she twisted it onto us, saying it was our fault and that the burger sauce didn't have mustard in-it did when we read the label. That we should have told her when she was swapping the sauce, even though we weren't asked if it was OK at any point. He chose the American burger to make it straightforward to avoid his allergens.

Looking at the receipt, I'm sure she's over charged too on Dippers French fries. I've paid for 2 but only had one.

Was going to buy a couple of cakes for later but after the attitude I decided not to and will go elsewhere.

Utterly disgusting attitude from a small business. They need to do better. If this was the UK, or we had more time in Italy,we would be taking them to trading standards for nearly killing my partner and being non allergy aware. They need to do better and be better in their...

It is a very nice place for breakfast and late breakfast. They have a very nice menu for breakfast. My wife and I came 3 times for breakfast and brunch during our trip to Milan. The dishes we ate in 3 days were Bagels, Pancakes and cheese burger.

Bagels: We had Italian and Greek style bagels and they were really good, full bagels. We drank orange juice with it and it was fresh orange juice.

Cheseburger: The meat and the cheseburger itself is very filling, a bit low on cheese but it's good enough. The bun could be better but overall it was good and tasty.

Pancake: We had the Salty pancake, the portion was really big and the best I've ever had. It didn't leave an egg taste in your mouth like other pancakes.

The staff are friendly but for a large place 2-3 people are working and it seems not enough. That's why the service is a bit late. I wouldn't recommend you to go if you are in a hurry and want to have something to eat and drink right away.

It is close to where we stayed and you can take the metro. So it has a good location. The roads are narrowed due to the work done in the neighborhood but I don't think it will...