Roy's at Pebble Beach

Compared to the Original Roys in Hawaii, this Roys is not it. I have been to both the Roys in Hawaii and the Roys in San Francisco and this one at Pebble Beach is by far the worst one I have been to and it was my birthday too.

The reason I say this is not based off the food. The food is good. The sea bass my mother ordered was dry. I had the mahi mahi and my father had the lamb, which were both good. Aside from the food though, the service and atmosphere were the downfall.

Beautiful view of the ocean and sunset of course, but when my father made the reservation and chose to have us at a table next to the window so we could enjoy said sunset, we were placed away from the window in the middle of the section we were sat at. It doesn't seem right to me that when a table is available next to the window and it has been requested that you place people in a different table and ignore their request.

The room was also very hot. I can understand that the outside can be cold and all, but it was not cold enough to have the heaters on in my opinion. The chairs at our table were also all loose and we were wobbling around all night. There was also no space for the servers and food runners to walk between tables as throughout our dinner I had servers, food runners, and bussers bumping into the back of my chair. I tried to move my chair up to make room for them but moving it farther up would have meant I was eating with the table in my stomach. Nobody even said ‘excuse me’ or ‘my apologies’ every time they hit my chair.

While we ate, our server set our entrees down and came back 5 minutes later asking what we wanted for dessert. I don't know about you but I don’t want to think about my dessert when I have barely gone through my entree. It just felt like we were being rushed the whole time.

Our server seemed rushed as well. The restaurant looked to prioritize turning as many tables as possible over the experience of the guest. Really disappointing to see at a restaurant with Roy’s name on it. I also thought it was odd that all the servers and food runners were all in different uniforms. Some people had sunglasses hanging from their shirts, some had sleeves rolled half way, some rolled all the way, some not at all, collars flipped half up, buttons all the way, buttons half way down and I can see your wrinkly grey shirt while your other counterparts are wearing different shades of white and grey too and some with a black shirt. Its just odd to me seeing a restaurant that is supposed to be high-end and that I pay premium prices to eat there to look so dysfunctional.

To put the cherry on top, we came to Roy’s for my birthday and I had no idea we were coming until we walked up. My father put on the reservation that it was my birthday. I don’t expect to be given free food but when other tables were given the same dessert with a birthday candle on it by their server and I was not even wished a happy birthday by any of the staff it makes me feel very disappointed. It does not take much as a host or server to see that one of your tables has a birthday and to atleast just say happy birthday when the guest made the effort to notify the restaurant ahead of time of this fact on the reservation.

Also, the coffee is terrible. Tastes like diner coffee that has been made in the same pot 5 times without washing or changing the coffee filter or grounds.

All in all, I enjoyed most of our food and I am very disappointed in the quality of service the restaurant provided and I am disappointed that they represent the Roy’s image when Roy’s in Hawaii would never show this level of service.