Catalyst Seafood Restaurant & Lounge — Restaurant in Brookings

I had a very disappointing meal at this place last night I've had some of the best meals I've ever had there and now this is by far the worst that I ever had They must have hired a new chef I'm not sure and they're policy of being out of something that's supposed to come with a dinner and charging you for a replacement instead of offering you the replacement for free is really really not a good thing I'm not sure why they think they need to charge somebody for a side dish when they're out of the side dish it's on the menu It makes zero sense to me The food last night was horrible The salad I had to pay extra for dinner salad was totally wilted and not fresh The shrimp which are supposed to be large prawns were three very small shrimp The last time I had that same meal once again they were out of something that came with the meal I had to buy the replacement That's nuts nothing was fresh last night at all It was almost as if that's a meal somebody passed up on or something in it and it picked it up off the counter and serve it to me So now I've had a great meal and an absolutely horrible meal The service is okay but when I asked about why they charge people if they're out of something why don't they just replace it often them something off the menu and replace it free it's not The customers fault that they're continually out of stuff last night it was potatoes Last time it was vegetables I think it honestly seems like they use that excuse to make additional money and that's really sad The meal I had last night was exact same meal I had a few days earlier and absolutely 100% different One was amazing the last one was horrific The waitress didn't like it when I asked her that question about why we get charged for something to replace something they're out of That's what I'm instructed to do that's our policy Well sure doesn't seem right to me seems unethical but they have absolutely no problem doing it they've done it both times I've eaten there so I'm not sure I'll be back If I go back and I get a meal like last night's meal steak surf and turf and it was as bad as that one was much inferior cut of meat then the first time and nothing on the plate was fresh very very disappointing to me Time will tell like I said if I go back and have a good meal I can chalk it up as just a bad day for the shaft or whoever and the food supplier that doesn't order food so they don't run out or it might possibly be that's the way it is all the time and I got lucky the first time I posted an amazing review on social media after my first meal there and I referred everybody I know my thousands of followers to go there and have a killer dinner if they really want something fresh Now I can't live for anybody there because it's so hit and miss now The vegetables were absolutely horrible There were some kind of peppers and onions or whatever that like it came out of a leftover shrimp fajitas wouldn't even really vegetables It was terrible soggy anyway Hopefully we're just having a bad day but beware you're not always going to get a good meal there Take this for me I found out the hard...

Me and my family (9 person party but only 7 actually eating and ordering) visited today. We said our party number and I expected a wait so that was fine, waited the hour needed for enough tables to become available. We was seated quickly enough once we was called upon, unfortunately that's where complications started picking up.

One of the first things was told when we entered was our party wouldn't be able to split the bill, which kinda struck us due to this being our first time hearing this anywhere (small business included). That left a sour taste off the initial period we was there. We sat down for about 15 minutes before they brought drinks (That we didn't ask for but rather informed us that was on the way and we wasn't able to say what we wanted but I suppose was complimentary water).

We waited for about 25 minutes after being seated for our appetizers to arrive (Only two items). In that meantime I personally pointed out something that really had me feeling indifferent, I saw I woman who was an employee carrying a dog into the kitchen area In a sling. She stayed In there for about for about 3-5 minutes till she existed with another employee chatting dog still In sling so I knew I wasn't just seeing things.

After 35 minutes food arrived, which I have little complaints for since I enjoyed It (Granted I could be bias due to being hungry but I got the fish tacos and I liked It).

After we eating some a member of our party called for the manager, we waited about 10-12 minutes before the woman we asked to go get the manager originally returned to the table and asked If the manager came over yet so we responded no and the employee got a bit of an irritated facial expression for a moment before going and fetching her. They returned together and after negotiations we was able to split the check which was the main moment of satisfaction service wise. We then payed In full and left.

(Other things that some may be critical on Is there wasn't any changing stations for babies, we had two babies In our party so that would of been good to have available.)

Personally I think If you come In a smaller party that the experience you have will be much different. I watched a party of 3 who came In 15 minutes after us (Which they walked up to the front desk and said they was waiting 30 minutes then was quickly seated outside) was served a decent amount before us with similar meal choices.

I think the main redeeming quality was the food for me personally

However the main Issue I had was the woman with the dog walking Into the kitchen area, I personally had some hygiene concerns with that and It kinda made me feel a certain way but I was far to hungry to ask the party to go somewhere else.

Hope...

Terrible food and terrible service. We were seated in the bar, great atomsphere and looking forward to their fresh crab features. Leanne was the bartender and server - took ages for her to acknowledge us. I ordered the feature - steak with crab. She came back saying they were out? Must have been the bernaise as my husband had steak. I then ordered the steak and crab sandwich. Medium rare - on the rarer side. When it came, it was over cooked and could barely see the crab. All this for $29? I also did not have a knife. I tried to get the bartender’s attention, she finally acknowledged from across the bar, asked what I wanted and then asked the bus-person to get me a knife. After 10 minutes of trying to chew through the tough and over-done steak, my husband waives her down again to explain the food was over-cooked. There was no apologies and she said “you should have told me and I would have them re-do it”, My reply to that was “you should have come checked and seen how our first bites were”. She just looked at me with a shrug. Again, no apologies, not even a let me make this up to you, a comp, etc. She never did come back and we had to ask for the bill.

In addition to this terrible meal, she had the nerve to charge me an additional $3 for the onions rings - She led me to believe you had a choice, fries, salad or onion rings. In Canadian dollars, this was a $39 steak sandwich that tasted like cardboard.

I am going to put this down to terrible service and poor management as my husbands steak was cooked perfectly.

Leanne needs to find a non-client facing job.

I would not recommend going their to the over-priced menu and...