Mimosa House — Restaurant in California

My wife and I actually stopped by earlier in the day and looked over the brunch and lunch menus, and decided we would have to come back to the Mimosa House to cap off our weekend date.

Outdoor seating was our only option, as a private party had already reserved the indoor tables. The weather was decent, as the rain had passed and the temperature was around 72 degrees... Much more tolerable than the 90+degree weather we would have had to endure a few weeks ago. We were very close to asking for a propane space heater, but service was quick so we just got down to the business at hand... Ordering dinner!

My wife ordered a Pinot Noir, but something more like a Pinot Grigio was served. No problem--she normally orders that after a meal, but enjoyed the refreshing change.

Our private discussion about Red vs. White was interrupted as a gentleman presented himself at our table. "Lou" welcomed us formally, surveyed us re. our gastronomic preferences, and our tolerance for spicy food. During our short conversation, we learned about his culinary experience, his inside knowledge about Cajun cuisine, and his son's time in Italy that authenticated the selections on the Vacanza Romano dinner menu. All while Lou was "out-of-uniform".

After confirming that the lasagna was indeed prepared with two kinds of meat, Lou's description of the 15-layers of pasta construction made my dinner choice a no-brainer. My wife had a taste for spaghetti, and Lou politely asked permission to put a meatball on top. We decided to add a Caesar salad to balance out the heavier entrees.

Lou dismissed himself, but returned within a few minutes--this time wearing a sky-blue Hawaiian shirt, along with a sample plate with Jambalaya on one side, and Gumbo on the other. He wanted to ensure that we could distinguish between a roux made of beef broth reduced with first-fried Andouille sausage... and seafood, versus the rice-based dish with chicken. Between this taste of New Orleans, the salt-crusted focaccia with olive oil and balsamic, and our Ceasar salad, we suspected that we would be taking our entrees to-go.

Our entrees arrived with the presentation of both the lasagna and spaghetti almost too beautiful to eat! All of those layers of lasagna sheets were fanned out across the plate, covered with a surprising (for me) béchamel sauce. The first forkful had a subtle taste of the sweet-cream base (and--nutmeg?). At least ten layers of al dente pasta, parmesan, romano and the lightest brushing of tomato made this as nice to look at as it was tasty. Overall, I would not have been mad if there was a little more Italian seasoning simmered into the marinara, and a little less béchamel. I am used to a crunchy, broiled mozzarella top and I did miss that.

About my wife's spaghetti--Lou got permission to add meatball, and that he did. Three, almost three-inch round meatballs were balanced on top of a bed of bucatini pasta (looked like pappardelle), lightly tossed in what appeared to be that same lightly-seasoned marinara. Another beautiful presentation, and again, I imagine my spiritual Italian mother saying,"Mangia, mangia!". Still, "una porzione per mio fratello, non per il mio coniuge". To-go box, please.

My wife and I thought that we had finished the course, but the server reminded us that there was still dessert to consider. My wife's weakness is lemon cake--really lemon anything. I am not normally a desert guy, but one word changed everything--tiramisù.

Needless to say, we also took the desserts to-go, with no regrets.

Lou came over to check on us once last time, and to get our opinion about our meal and dining experience. We live in the foothills near Kirkwood, 1.5 hours away, but enjoyed ourselves so much, that we have already made plans to return with friends for a birthday celebration.

Though he never mentioned it, Lou-Lou Dedier, is the chairman of The Mimosa, Vacanza Romano, and the Undercover Burger Company.

Lou, as someone who has run a small business, I tip my hat to you for the great food and enjoyable dining experience. See you...

DO NOT MAKE RESERVATIONS FOR LARGE GROUPS HERE

I will say that the food is ok (a little salty) and the server we got was good as well, but I'm guessing this place is mismanaged. The front of house staff are either untrained in customer service or just over it.

I made a reservation 3 weeks in advance after looking around at several venues to host my mom's SURPRISE retirement party/brunch. After coming in and talking with the woman behind the counter and explaining I was looking for something indoors to accommodate 20 people, older folks, younger kids and 8mo pregnant wife, the person said "no problem", they would push the high tops in the bar area together. I confirmed asking, are you sure that will be ok on a Saturday? Again she replied, yes, you might just want to get here a little early. No problem.

Day of event, 1 hour before guests traveling 3 hours away are set to be there, I get a call from Yvonne, the "manager" telling me to give her a call back and that she wanted to confirm some things for the reservation. I call her back letting her know I'll be there soon 15-30 min before the reservation. Then she lets me know that they do not do reservations for 20 people and she has no idea how it got in their system, AND we would not be able to sit together. I questioned her about putting tables together in the bar area. She let me know that they are not allowed to push tables together in the bar area, but we can sit next to each other inside. Ok, no problem - it's too late now, everyone is on their way.

We get there early, some of the guests are already there and they have been seated OUTSIDE, in 90 degree heat, with a couple umbrellas shading a few seats. I go the the front and let them know I have a reservation for 20 inside. They respond, "you can't sit inside". We took our seats, and then I get a text 10 minutes later that says my reservation has been canceled. We spent the next 30min trying to get some shade and make the surprise go off clean. Lots of brave faces, but you could tell everyone was melting. I take my daughter to the bathroom inside, which is right next to the bar area and low and behold, there was a large group of around 20 people sitting there enjoying their brunch and all the high tops were pushed together to accommodate them. While in line for the bathroom, me and one of the people from that group got to talking and it turns out they were just walk-ins from out of town. So much for Yvonne and the rules she couldn't break, right?

So after getting there at 9:45, we finally started getting served around 11:30. Everyone was pretty done by that point with the heat. Some left early. It was pretty disappointing. The server was busting pretty hard and we new it wasn't her fault, just some poor management, poor training, and/or perhaps some falsehoods for no reason?

In the end, no apology or acknowledgement for any misunderstanding or misrepresentations when making the reservation, the seating, etc.

I'll steer clear of this location for any...

I've been here a few times with my husband, and we've always had a great experience. The food is delicious, and it's reasonably priced to a little pricey. It really depends on what you order. The last time I was there, I had a strawberry french toast, and my husband ordered biscuits and gravy. The time before that, he had an omlett, and I had belgium waffles.

I prefer to sit on the opposite side where the bar is because I'm allergic to the smell of wine and champagne. It makes me very sick, very quickly, and the wall in the restaurant (and other food aromas) helps cut out the smell of it the further I'm on the opposite side. It was not our lucky day.

First, we got seated at the far corner table on the bar side. The tables and our normal side were all full. It's not a good start, but it was mid-morning, and I didn't think anyone would be drinking all that much, so I'm like, whatever, it will be fine. I'm hungry.

Second, my husband ordered water. Not only did it have a large dead fly in it, but the glass also had someone else's lip prints on it! EW!!!!! So clearly, the glass was not washed.

Third, we were continuously ignored. I'm sure it was because we got put in the far corner table. We were overlooked or, at times, purposely ignored. That made my husband very upset, and I started getting irritated because now the smell of champagne is getting to me, and I'm trying my best not to get sick with an upset husband. My husband is not one to make a scene, so I took his cup of water and got out of our booth and went straight up to one of the waiters and asked them to replace it. They did.

Our meal finally came. As always, delicious! The smell of our food was enough to take away the aroma of champagne. Thank goodness. Unfortunately, despite the number of times we have been here, I don't think I'll be able to convince my husband to come back again because of one bad service. So if I decide to go here again, it will most likely be without him, and that sucks for me because I enjoy my husband's company when...