Wence House California Cuisine — Restaurant in Brentwood

Husband and I had been wanting to try this place for a year, so we headed over this morning to arrive just after opening. Upon arrival, there were only 3 tables of 2-tops in the entire restaurant. The hostess was friendly and welcoming. It took a good 7-8 minutes before a server came by to greet us and pour our waters, but she was friendly and smiling. I took the time in between sitting down and receiving service to use the restroom, which was mostly clean and orderly. I ordered decaf, which she needed to brew, understandably. A few minutes later we ordered our food, and 5-6 minutes later, my coffee came out - lukewarm at best. Our veggie omelet, berry french toast and side of medium-well bacon took over 25 minutes to arrive and, though the plates were thoughtfully split for us to share, both orders were really disappointing. The omelet was missing avocado slices on top, it was mostly onions - long stringy ones with the "filmy" skin still attached - but, worse, the temperature was barely warm. No one wants to eat cold eggs. The french toast, though pretty to look at, was simply cold - cold bread, very tough to chew. The strawberries and blueberries were fresh, but the large raspberries not so much. The bacon, however, was hot and cooked perfectly - still sizzling just a bit. So, it was shocking to bite into cold french toast and a room-temperature, onion-filled omelet while holding a perfect specimen of bacon in my hand. To us, it appeared our main meals had been sitting "ready" quite some time while the bacon was being cooked. Unfortunately, as it was a late breakfast for us (especially waiting nearly 40 minutes between walking inside and actually receiving our food), we opted to eat it "as is". The immediate desire to send it back was overrun by grumbling tummies. It wasn't until after the server dropped our food off that I realized there was no jam for the toast. So, 3-4 minutes later, I stopped her in passing to ask for jam, which she retrieved from the kitchen for another piece of cold, chewy bread. A few minutes later, I stopped her again as she passed by, to ask for a coffee refill. At that time, I informed her the food was disappointing, specifically the cold french toast and coffee, but I forgot to mention the missing avocado on our omelet. She apologized and offered to replace the french toast, but I responded that we were too hungry to wait longer on hot food and also had somewhere else to be. We finished our plates quickly and, again, I drank lukewarm coffee. Even the table next to us complained to their server that the "fresh" coffee was "cold". Another server came by and picked up the majority of our plates attempting to clear the table. By now, it's approx. 11:45 and business was picking up. Since we hadn't received the bill yet, my husband headed to the restroom. While he was gone, our server came back, presenting me with a full order of french toast - as she took the last small stack of plates and our forks away. I explained that, while I appreciated the gesture, we were ready for the check. She suggested I take it "to go", stating she'd get a box. She did just that and presented the bill, which I thanked her for. Granted, it wasn't the worst experience ever. The server was sweet, just less attentive than what we'd consider average. As former industry professionals, including a Food and Bev/Banquet Manager and bar/restaurant owner - we trained our servers to check all plates against tickets before serving to ensure "correctness". Servers should know menu items top to bottom, especially the relatively small brunch menu they offer. Complaints re: cold coffee from guests warrant checking the machine and offering to heat it up in the microwave as a quick resolve. Most importantly, when food is "up", it goes out hot - don't hold it for a forgotten side dish. If we hadn't been so hungry, we would have sent it all back and left...which we have never done. It's frustrating to read the reviews and expect a wonderful experience. Maybe it was an "off" morning, but there were multiple issues. Hence...

Wence House California Cuisine Restaurant on Lonetree Way, Brentwood Ca. Review

WARNING!!! Customers BEWARE!!! Make sure you know exactly what you're paying for!!!!

My family and I had dinner at this establishment on 6/2021. My mistake was not checking my bill before paying, putting the restaurant on the honor system. The menu clearly stated that an 18% gratuity will be added to parties of six or more. There were 25 in our party and I was charged 30% post tax gratuity, which is very unusual. This is the only establishment I know that calculates tip percentages after taxes. Not to mention, an additional $20 cake fee was added for cake that they did not cut nor serve. These were never mentioned at the time of booking the reservation. We ordered a variety of things, I wouldn’t have known if they added extra items on our tab or not.

The next day I called the restaurant to inquire about the charges. I spoke to Norma who introduced herself as the manager. She couldn’t really explain so I asked to speak to the owner and she said Lizbeth the owner, will call me back at her convenience. I finally spoke to Lizbeth who is an employee and claimed the charges were made the way the owner wanted it to be and was uncomfortable to tell me the owner's name when asked. I googled the owner's name. Norma who I spoke to at the beginning, along with her husband Alfonso are the owners of Wence House. It was shameful and dishonest that Norma couldn’t speak to me directly and had passed on Lizbeth, as the owner; very shady and unprofessional.

It’s too bad, Wence House made nearly $1100.00 from us that day because of unusual charges. We have a lot of family members who celebrate their birthdays at restaurants and when we like a place, we will return. Wence House just lost our business for lack of integrity and not being up front with their additional hidden cost. Unfortunately, we won't be returning to The Wence House anytime...

First of all my wife did like this restaurant and goes there from time to time.

WARNING!!!!!

We had the most horrible experience. My wife does not do spicy foods she ordered the pork chop the menu does not mention spicy so why??? The pork chop was very spicy she could not eat it. Our waitress then told yes they had marinated in hot spices. I spoke with the manager she had no care about my wife acid reflux. We ordered the lamb chops I asked the manager if she would be willing to reduce the price she said no.

my wife became very ill I asked for the manager and she refused to come to see what we wanted no care at all that a customer became ill in their restaurant.

I told the waitress I refuse to pay then the managers comes outraged. We began to walkout. The manager threatened to post on social media that we walkout without paying. I told her that is fine because of her non caring attitude. Then I told her okay here is my card I will pay but do not agree with her attitude. She told me no don’t pay just walkout I will just post you on social media. Her staff was there and heard her say she will not take my payment.

The bad part of all this is that they knew that the pork chops were spicy but; they fail to tell their customers about the pork chops. The waitress told us that yeah another person said the same thing. This will be the last pork chop we will be serving. Because the restaurant ordered the wrong paprika and it was spicy. If you knew this why not tell your customers what is going on instead of just throwing food at you.

This is like adding peanuts and giving it to a person who is allergic to peanuts. No care or empathy for their customers.

If she post us social media that we walked out without paying this is her choice and incorrect I offered to pay and she declined. The facts are here and the witness are her staff.

Never come here this could have been a life...