Max's of Burlingame — Restaurant in Burlingame

Right off the bat, everything looks fantastic. The bakery shelf, the menu, everything. Then we get a waitress that hardly speaks English. We asked very normal questions about the menu like "What kind of cheese do you have?" And she goes "oh, uh, I don no. I ask kichin." She asked one of my family members how he wanted the skirt steak on his quesadilla cooked... which is obviously not normal. But nonetheless, he said medium rare (note this). That happened about 3 times while ordering. Then, we get the food. For the appetizers, we got the Munich pretzel (I think that's what it was called) and the fried calamari. The pretzel was small, and obviously frozen from a box. The white cheese was MIXED with the mustard (not enjoyable). The fried calamari was small, one inch rings, with flavorless batter, and lots of fried vegetables as well. The cocktail sauce was clearly made with horseradish in it, which some restaurants do, for why I don't know. They were just not good, and were left half eaten. For entrees, we ordered some sandwiches, fries, ribs, and quesadillas. The quesadillas were large, and cooked well. However, my family member who ordered it with skirt steak said that the steak was so over well done, it was almost tough. This was odd, because the waitress specifically asked how it was to be cooked. I ordered mashed potatoes as my side, and that they were. Mashed potatoes. The most plain, flavorless, sad mashed potatoes your mom made for you when you were a kid. Very disappointing. Other than that, the entrees were okay. The DESSERT on the other hand, don't even. There's that large beautiful case with beautiful cakes and decadent desserts in it. it's a lie. It's a bitter, ugly lie. We got the cake, the first one listed that was white and had chocolate drizzled on it (I dont remember the name) it specifically said it had buttercream frosting, and chocolate ganache, with chocolate cake. Oh my GOSH, it was terrible. It wasn't even like gross, it was so utterly flavorless and not as described. It was NOT buttercream frosting, it was whipped frosting, the ganache was not ganache, and the cake was dry. There's nothing worse than a dry cake. Then we ordered the macaroon cookies that were half dipped in chocolate. They were.... literally just coconut, so they were okay. Nothing special, wouldn't recommend it. The BROWNIE was dry and bread like. It had the weirdest savory flavor, YES SAVORY. It was so bad, it wasn't even like flavorless bad, it was nasty. You may be wondering why we ordered so much food, its because it all looked so good. Dont be deceived. It's absolutely not worth the California price. There's so many other good places. I know it's near the airport and convenient, PLEASE go...

8/4 was our anniversary. We walked in about 5 pm, and were greeted by a wonderful, vibrant female server. We told her what we were celebrating. She was so EXCITED for us, we got even more energized!She sat us in the bar area along the windows in a plexiglass booth and never came back. She took our drink order, though. But, it was someone else, the bartender that brought our drink order over. We were waiting awhile which was an interesting observation.

Another server came on over, a male, and gave us a choice...we could have him, because basically the area we were in was "his section." And, he just clocked into work. We were in his area!We didn't know any better, so we went along with him. ( Note: We guessed we walked into a shift change).

Well, this server, did not meet Max Laws, #1,#9, #11. We need not to be embroiled in "who's" section we were in, to be served! And, then, service was not prompt. He said he knew it was our anniversary! BTW, our hotel recommended this restaurant!

Well, we ordered an appetizer. And, he was late with our appetizer... it was COLD NACHOS. In fact, we heard the bartender and another man yell about nachos that were just sitting, "waiting" to be served! Then, we said we would like to order our main meal in about 5 min; he did not return per our request! We were waiting and waiting. Time for another glass of wine.. couldn't get it. Nothing could get responsiveness.

By this point other people who were in after us, were already served by the bartender and leaving! Boy, wish we had him! Not a good situation! When our server finally returned, we told him how we felt; he said, he would throw in free desserts, "on him"! No way!

His lack of care, concern, promptness, and efficiency was terrible. Wish we didn't stop here for a Special Day in our lives! We were there for 2 hours for nachos appetizer and "Just Tacos!" That tells you about the service.Horrible. The server just didn't get it. We should have been out of there in 50 min.

The only saving grace was that the food was excellent! How I wish we had that bartender. That man worked hard on bar side of the restaurant, taking orders, and serving folks.

Overall, not a great customer experience. Since thats overall in importance, the rating is 3 stars. That's being generous.

Not sure if this server is new or what...in need of customer service training. Big time! If mgmt is interested, will...

Update Feb 2024. It WAS one of my favorites. It no longer is. When Max owned the place years ago, it was beyond great. But like so many restaurants they Change hands. What used to be is now,NOT. The new owner messed with a good thing. Their ego always get in their way of good business practices. You can tell by empty it is. Don't waste your time if you want a good meal. Over priced and mediocre food. And if you want a REAL corn beef/pastrami sandwich. You will be disappointed. Nothing like what Max's served. Don't waste your time and money.

One of my favorites.

Especially if you are near Burlingame California. Hell, even if you not close by, I suggest making a trip there.

So If you love all made in house desserts, soups and cornbeef, in that order, you must not miss a chance eating there.

Now I consider myself a quasi vegetarian/vegan. And that has nothing to do with the pandemic, climate change etc., It is simply for animal rights. (Yea yea yea we can debate that later on) But after years of trying different eating, lifestyles and diet habits. It is apparent, you must discipline and titrate your own eating habits to your own personal health and happiness that you seek/require. And just as importantly it will have to fit into your current lifestyle and economics.

Max's will fill you up to the brim. But maybe instead of eating that enormous chocolate eclair all by yourself,  either share it or take it home. It usually takes me 5 or 6 days to finish that eclair.

Remember life is short so eat dessert first. But don't eat it all at once🙂.

Teach yourself discpline. It will help in all aspects of your life.  That brings me to sex. However, this is not the place to discuss that. So I will finish with Max's has a piano bar, you know the kind your grandma played. And a lot of singles find that kind a bar is a lot less intimidating than a "meat rack" (if you don't understand that term, look it up and I am not referring to the "gay" type).

So it just might be more than a good dessert you take home.

I will say it again.

Life is short eat dessert first, but save some to take home. You might have someone to...