California Dreaming — Restaurant in Augusta

My family and my sister’s family went for dinner. None of us ever ate there before. My family is from out of state, my sister’s family lives in another town close by the restaurant. The hostess and waitstaff were attentive and friendly. We had a large party and instead of moving 3 tables together we split up and sat at 3 separate tables. I don’t know if the tables weren’t moveable or what. I think that caused part of our issues.

We had two separate members of the waitstaff waiting on us. Although we requested everything be put on the same bill, we paid two separate bills. Each table received their food at different times, which was not what we expected. My son and his girlfriend’s food came out at least ten minutes before ours. After our food came out, my sister’s family’s food came out fifteen minutes later. We believe they forgot to cook my niece’s food which is why theirs was so late. My niece’s food was hot while my brother-in-law’s and my sister’s was cold.

For our appetizers, my son and his girlfriend ordered the famous croissants. They really liked their croissants because they were covered in honey-butter. At our table we ordered the traditional nachos minus jalapeños with chili on the side. My son and I are the only ones that like chili, we ordered it that way to make everyone happy. My sister’s family ordered the honey-butter croissants and the buffalo dip. They also really liked their croissants and buffalo dip. My son and his girlfriend’s appetizers came out first, when they were finished with them ours came out. When we were finished with ours my sister’s table came out.

Another issue we had was the way the food was cooked. My brother-in-law wanted his steak medium rare, it was very well done. The center was cooked and the outside was very dry. His shrimp were ok, but not very flavorful. My son ordered his cheeseburger medium, with a warm, pink center. He was very disappointed because it was well done and flavorless. He smothered it in ketchup to try and improve the flavor.

My sister was satisfied with her blackened chicken pasta. She said it has really good flavor. She also liked her cob salad. The bacon in the cob salad set the flavor off. One of my nieces had the children’s shrimp and fries. She ate everything on her plate. She said her shrimp was really good. My other niece had the chicken tenders platter. When it came out it was so hot she couldn’t even eat it. She had to take it home with her before she could eat it.

My son and his girlfriend ordered two racks of ribs and mashed potatoes. They shared it. The racks were like a rack of riblets. My son loves ribs. He ate one rack plus three bones. His girlfriend had the rest of the ribs. He was still hungry afterwards.

For our meals, my husband had the two racks of ribs with mashed potatoes. He said the ribs were good, but they didn’t have enough meat on them. He mind the sauce but said it was a little too sweet for his liking. He really liked the mashed potatoes. He took a rack home.

My youngest son ordered a kids hamburger and fries. He liked it. He ate half of his hamburger and almost all of his fries. My daughter ordered the kids chicken strips and fries. She didn’t like the dipping sauce or the breading. She liked the chicken, minus the breading, and the fries.

My nephew ordered the pork chop with a fully loaded baked potato. He said the pork chop was really dry. He ate all but a chunk of it. He liked his baked potato and ate all but the skin. I ordered the shrimp San Francisco. It said it had a garlic wine sauce, but it tasted just like alfredo sauce, I am not a big fan of alfredo sauce. It was decent, not really a garlic sauce like I was hoping for though.

If you have a large party I would suggest going somewhere else for dinner. I would be willing to try it again in the future, but not with that many people, and maybe earlier in the evening. I don’t believe that they were prepared for a party as...

8/21/23 12:30 pm - Was looking forward to my first experience at California Dreaming- and the salmon salad sounded wonderful ! Your waiting staff and assistant manager were top notch. My meal was delivered and it looked fabulous ! As it was placed in front of me I caught a very displeasing odor. I smelled around trying to locate it. Couldn’t pin point it .. so I took a bite of the salad and a tiny bit of the salmon thinking it was most probably ok - and when I slightly moved the food around - the odor amplified - I smelled all around the plate again - could not determine exactly what on the plate smelled so foul - asked my dining friend to tell the waitress and went to the bathroom to try to get rid of the small bites I had taken. The waitress and assistant manager came out and kindly apologized and offered another meal at no charge. I repeated asked all who came to serve us did they smell the plate? All said no they did not. I was interested in seeing where the foul odor came from - we all would assume the fish but with my family in the restaurant business I knew it could be from other sources and frankly thought the management would want to know the same. Long and short my stomach and mind just couldn’t eat anything so I denied a meal. My friend ate her meal and when we were ready to leave - they gave us a ticket for my friends meal. I asked if management would absorb that meal - as a courtesy. They said no.

While I know every management handles things differently the fact was that I was personally turned off and a bit frustrated with the fouled foul but the way the management handled the situation with me and his/ her employees was more disturbing.

My family extended and close is and has been in the restaurant business for over 40 yrs and going. So serving fresh food delights and customer satisfaction and experience is a priority and the base of their business practices.. knowing that building strong hospitality services is vitally important- but also the management is the backbone and the key - of that service and courtesy.

This manager stayed behind the scenes and made all of his/her service people do the trouble shooting and service courtesies - exhibiting cowardly leadership and poor hospitality services leadership- to all involved. Im disappointed in many ways.

Evidently I sufficiently purged my stomach contents and had no digestion issues, but strangely my friend who was dining with me wasn't so blessed. And her meal was a salad too but didn't have salmon on it.

• • So - something is going on in that particular restaurant that is less than satisfactory : with food management and care as well as with customer/employee leadership hospitality service and training that sure could use...

Me and 6 of my coworkers went to California Dreamin & after we’d eaten our appetizers, another coworker came and we asked the waitress (Katelyn) if it was ok for her to sit with us. She sighed but said, “If yall think it’s enough room”. So we started making room & the waitress left. One of my coworkers said that the waitress’ seemed “bothered” & I said that it seems that way considering she sighed. While she was gone, we discussed tipping her really well. Another restaurant employee came to our table about 10mins later and asked if everything was ok (if the service we were receiving was up to par). We said yes and was confused as to why he asked this. But then I told him that the waitress didn’t seem very happy. All the while, the last guest is still waiting for her order to be taken and we’re waiting on food as well. ANOTHER restaurant employee comes to the table and says that she’s sorry for what happened but apparently Katelyn didn’t think what we said was a joke. We were all completely confused (because nothing happened). She tells us that Katelyn told them that WE SAID WE WERE GOING TO GET HER FIRED. A complete LIE. We never uttered such words. We didn’t even talk to Katelyn aside from ORDERING & asking about the last coworker joining the table. They gave us a new waitress who was tipped very well but I just CANNOT believe that this lady told a complete lie on us. Ewwwww what a gross individual. I posted this to social media & low and behold, others have had similar issues with this LIAR. SHE NEEDS...