Capers Eat & Drink — Restaurant in Campbell

Went to the Capers website and booked this place for our anniversary dinner at noon for 3:20 PM. The reservation went through, no indication there was a problem. Nothing on the site said anything except normal business hours- sounded good. Showed up on time and was told the place was booked for a private event. The lady at the entrance had no clue when I said we had a reservation. We had gift cards so we tried the downtown SJ location and it was also closed for private event, which they did not post any indication of until opening (we were walking around waiting 30 mins for it to open at 4).

Just to be sure I wasn't tripping, I checked their site again AND was able to make ANOTHER reservation for 6:30 when they were still supposedly having this private event!

I emailed the owner and manager of both locations (same guy) at 4:45 PM as we were finally getting served at a 3rd restaurant (not Capers). I sent him a screenshot of my second successful reservation and complained about how this should not have been possible if the place was not taking any customers - they literally were not even allowing to-go. 15 mins later I got 3 emails... 2 declined reservations and a terse answer saying that he had replied to every reservation and notified people that it was closed.

Yeah, he did... AFTER I complained to him at almost 5 PM and 1.5 hours AFTER I'd showed up with my wife at his restaurant only to get a clueless staff that had no idea we had a reservation. That was also FIVE hours after I successfully submitted that reservation. A lot of good that did. It was actually rather insulting; it would have been better if he'd just not answered and let me think it had been a technical problem. I'd already gotten the same info from his staff at both entrances to his restaurants and he knew it, so why even respond to the reservation requests now?

In fact, all this did was to show me there was absolutely nothing wrong with their reservation system. They got the reservations, they just didn't bother to say anything... With full contact info given including my cell #. This wasted 2 hours of our time driving around and parking in downtown SJ while we had a babysitter watching our kids for this 'special night.'

And not even an apology given. If you've just upset a customer this badly from mistakes that YOU the management clearly made, don't you think at least a 'hey, sorry' is in order? Honestly, if he'd at least been apologetic I probably would not be posting here. I get that sometimes people are just too busy, and I don't believe in taking honest mistakes public, but the owner clearly did not care. He even had (apparently) accidental profanity in his response to me and didn't even notice. It is my observation that the way upper management handles customers is going to be how everyone else in the company does the same.

We won't be trying for a third...

CAUTION: Be very careful before booking here.

We had a deeply disappointing experience at The Loft by Capers. They engaged in bait-and-switch tactics when we called Capers to book a month in advance and, without warning much less asking for our approval, they set us up at The Loft which understaffed the event, and kept a portion of our food.

Initially, we agreed on a price for a group of 60, with the corkage fee waived since we were considering other venues. When our group size dropped to 40 (due to issues with the east coast hurricane in early Oct 2024) they refused a price adjustment, which we accepted, but requested the food for the remaining 20 people to be packed for us. They agreed without issue.

On the day of the event, we are expecting to go to Capers East & Drink, that's where we called on day one, and they moved us to a completely different, rundown location in downtown San Jose (The Loft) without asking for approval. The venue was nothing like what we had seen on the pictures, it was dirty, scary location, with paid parking. Despite these frustrations, we decided to proceed as we had guests from all over the country.

Upon arrival we dropped off wine for dinner, requesting that the white be chilled and the red kept cool. This simple task took over 30 minutes, and the red wine was left sitting out. The service was disorganized and inattentive throughout.

When it came time to settle the bill, I asked for the leftover food as promised. They told me it was already given out, which was absolutely not the arrangement. The manager was not present but over the phone, Kan, was dismissive and rude, even accusing me of being drunk when I questioned where the rest of the food had gone. I insisted he could check with his staff to confirm I was not drunk, it did not matter. He threatened to call the police if I didn’t pay the full bill.

It was a terrible experience—poor communication, unprofessionalism, and broken promises. Be careful if you’re considering this place, especially if you’re from...

We came at around 7pm with a reservation and were promptly seated. Starting with the seat placement, our table was right next to the kitchen; while the sounds of the sizzling food didn't disturb us, the occasional loud clamor of banging plates made us cringe. The waitress forgot our fourth member's order, thus prolonging the wait. Total wait time for the rest of us though was about 25min, which is not too bad. Complimentary bread to begin the course was decent, and the sauce that accompanied it was oddly addicting. The fried calamari appetizer pictured below was prepared well, but it didn't stand out from any other calamari dishes that we've eaten. The entrées, however, were amazing! The meat of the lamb shanks was tender and was easily pulled off using only a fork. The distinct taste of lamb was not overbearing at all. Mashed potatoes tasted good, and the side of vegetables complimented the dish well. Be aware though that while the lamb shanks appear to have a lot of meat, the large bone accounts for about 70% of the size. Two were enough for me, but order accordingly. The chicken parmesan was the first dish that I've ever seen to have TENDER AND SOFT chicken breast. I don't know how they did it, but it was not dry whatsoever, a common problem of chicken dishes. Vegetables as a side were decent as well. The grilled steak tasted good, although it wasn't cooked as well as my party member wanted. The scalloped potatoes had WAY too much cheese, which made it a little overbearing to eat. Portions of the panko pork were a little small and the taste didn't stand out, but it was worth giving it a shot. Overall, we would eat here again. Prices are a little more expensive than other places, but we found it to be...