The Cauldron Spirits & Brews — Restaurant in Buena Park

I was super excited to try this place as it is completely my vibe. Everything started great, my friend and I decided to order a variety of food and drinks from the menu to share so we could try a little of everything. Our server Courtney was great in the beginning but said everything on the menu was amazing so it was hard to really tell if she was being truthful. We chose this place for the ambiance but the food for the most part was from Costco in fact I made the croque Monsieur sliders myself two days ago from a tik tok recipe. The pretzel bites are from Costco and in my freezer at the moment. The French onion soup was watery and had very little onions in it despite the fact that we were told it was amazing because the owner made sure it was the best she had ever tasted. The bread pudding is not bread pudding more like soggy bread with chocolate on top. Even after the food disappointment we were still in good spirits talking about the decor and the drinks having a great time and then it went downhill. Apparently there is a 90 minute time limit to your visit. Granted it’s a small place so they want to be able to sit as many people as possible which is fine however we were never told of the time limit. As we were leaving I did see a sign on the back door with it and my friend said they saw something on the menus about it but it was easily overlooked. Once we hit that 90 minute mark we were treated like squatters and rushed to pay our bill. My friend and I were splitting the bill but since she was standing there waiting for us to pay, as soon as my card hit the folder she grabbed it and started to leave. My friend literally had to throw her card down to pay her half and the server barely caught it and never asked how we wanted the charge split. She decided on her own to split it down the middle and in her rush she charged my friends card twice but when she got to the table told me she charged my card twice. I asked for a to go cup for my drink (mocktail) since I was not able to sit and finish it and as soon as we paid the bill I was ignored. I finally got fed up with waiting and went out the back door to my car only to walk straight into my server smoking a cigarette instead of getting the to go cup for me. Worst restaurant experience I have ever had. I will not...

To begin, we did visit the Cauldron on a Knotts Scary Farm night, however that should not have made such an impact on the quality of the service we received. We joined the wait list on Yelp as requested by the restaurant at 4:30pm at which the wait time was projected to be a 1 hour wait. We arrived about 45 mins in to that 1 hour wait and we were told they are running late. No problem, I get it. After we waited an additional 45 mins, we asked how much longer and we were told that they would call us when it's our turn. My family and I were standing at the 'please wait here' sign when the same greeter/host asked, "Why are you standing there? I told you we will call you when your table is ready. You can wait over there." As she gestured to the parking lot. Now I wanted to forget this place and move on, but cooler heads prevailed and we waited another 30 mins. All during this time, other people are coming and going. The Yelp line system had us listed as the next party to be sat for about 30 mins. At this time, I went back to the host and was told that it would be another 1 to 2 hours or we could fit all 6 of us at a small fire pit. Ok, fine, we'll take it. 15 minutes later we got sat at the fire pit. Now the food and drinks themselves were great and really enjoyed. However, the service was poor at best. Server was friendly, but the drinks took quite a while and the food (all basically appetizers) came out 1 plate at a time with about 10 minutes or more between each plate and the kid's plate coming last. By this point, everyone else was done eating. We did ask about halfway through the meal if the kids plate could come next and we were told we will get it when it's ready. Although the food was delicious, drinks were above average, but overpriced for their size, and the indoor decor was neat (only seen on the walk in to the bathroom), we will not be going back and I would not recommend this...

I brought my sister here for her Bachelorette weekend. We booked the secret room for the evening. We decorated the room, lit some candles, and then one of the hot servers turned out to be the manager, and we had to blow out the candles. They did, however, try to keep our vibe going and brought over some electric candles ✨️

Staff is pretty here, they're all friendly. Bathrooms are interestingly decorated. Boys bathroom has only one room.

The food is WOW. We had steak tartare as a starter, super yum. The French onion soup isn't good. The bourguignon is AMAZING (don't expect it to have noodles). The chicken crepe 😍 The escargot was also delicious. All of the sweets we had were very good - both crème brûle flavors were incredible.

Decor was so cool & very witchy. I recommend having a witch themed-attire to really amp up the energy.

The drinks were creative and tasty. I drank Cerridwen's drink. I didn't realize I loved cherry until then. Their long islands are dangerous ! So watch out.

At some point in the night, Alyssa (our waitress) ran up to tell us that a tarot reader was there. He made the night very interesting and magical.

We made friends in the bathroom, sat down with others at the bar, made more acquaintances, and all the while staff was so much fun and brought the vibe. They made this one of the most memorable nights.

At the end, our responsible friend ushered us outside where we came face-to-face with the manager who had us blow our candles out. We challenged him to a battle... a dance-off. I don't know how many of us did it, but honestly it was ridiculous and amazing. When our Uber arrived, he ensured we were getting in the right vehicle and safe.

The whole night was amazing and we loved how involved/fun the staff was. The whole night felt playful like we were all already friends with everyone there.

Highly...