Eureka! — Restaurant in Carlsbad

Last time I visited a Eureka was two years ago, at the UTC location on a Friday night. I loved it. It was an amazing experience; food was great, service was impeccable, ambiance was very inviting. This Bressi Ranch location is FAR FROM THAT: I was utterly dissatisfied. I went last night (Friday March 26, around 730). It was the first time I had been out to a Eureka in almost two years. After being sat down at the table, nobody came to help or even offer water while looking at the menu. Our nachos were delivered cold and hard (the cheese was cold, yet baked onto the plate). Not once did anyone come to check on us. The fries were terrible; old and hardly crispy, and the truffle sauce was dull and bland and had a skin on top. By the time the burger came out, I was ready to leave. The burger was alright, but for $22, I expected more than just an alright burger. Keep in mind... I have had this burger several times at the UTC location and loved it. After looking at the bill, (which initially was wrong, as it had another group's charges) it was a disappointment that I spent nearly $95 (after adjustments) on two sad attempts at dinner. The only reason I stayed was because it was the first time I had seen my friend in a long while (with whom I had been to the UTC location 2 years ago), and he had his mind set on this place. I wanted to bring it up to a manager, but he begged me to brush if off and forget it. I am writing this now to let you know I will never patronize this location again, and would struggle to return to any other location. Oddly enough, I had plans to come to this location with 7 co-workers on Monday; needless to say, plans have changed. I'd like to give the management some true feedback; having worked in food and beverage and hospitality management for 7 years, I understand how valuable feedback is. I'd like to give management the opportunity to make it right, though I called the next day, and they just told me to email customer service.... still haven't heard back from them in the last five days, so their chance of reconciliation is pretty much up. Considering I turned down going to a steakhouse for this, I feel like I played the fool, and lost big time. It pains me to share such an experience; two stars because the burger was alright, the location was sanitary, and the wait was not too long for a Friday night... All of these expectations are reasonable, plus nobody takes a one star...

Eureka in Carlsbad was good. I didn’t give Eureka 5 stars because when my friend and I arrived , there were no servers / hosts around to to seat us. We stood near the area where the host’s usually stand and waited but no one came up. We waited a bit beside an empty table and after 10 -12 minutes we sat ourselves. Soon we saw servers bringing items to other tables Finally it became another 22 minutes and I got up, went to host area now with at least 3 people with Eureka shirts on milling about. We mentioned to one female we were sitting and said “sorry we had seated ourselves” she looked up and then walked away .. a thin older woman with blond hair with messy ponytail. My friend and I were engrossed in talking until we both noticed still no one had approached our table yet to take drink order… or bring menus…just as my friend got up to check why.. a server came over .. my friend mentioned we had been waiting a while but we did self seated ourselves but we also told the hostess that we were ready/—,at that moment the waitress said to us both “well, that is what happens when you decided to self seat”. We both were a little taken aback by this response… there was no apology at all even when we politely stated there was no hosts in sight when first arrived and then we were ignored for another length of time. We decided to stay because primarily I have been to Eureka multiple time and while service is always initially slow the food is great and so are the beverages. However, my friend was not so forgiving as this was her first time and she was not impressed by the subsequent attitude and the “comment (a little snarky) made. I get it that you should wait for the hosts so tables can be assigned proportional for the service staff, but it was NOT crowded.. many many places to sit. We were actually sitting at a long table but only taking up two chairsand we were very close to where the hosts was standing. I think the comment made to us was unnecessary… and...

Walking up to this place is unique in that 2 other businesses share a number of outside fire displays so, upon entry in the evening, it looks fantastic. As I approached, a sign was shown promoting excellent whiskeys. I asked the hostess what whiskeys make it known to be great and looked confused, but made the best and pointed above where locked bottles were displayed. The atmosphere projects a low light calm yet high end vibe. There's a slim menu w/ Whiskeys and upon asking the server if that was the price, she said I'm not sure and pointed to one at 600 (no dollar sign to assist) stating there's no way this one's $600. Well, she came back in disbelief and stated yes those are the prices and yes that one is $600. The actual menu is great. A one page offering of "American" food. I had the double smash. The set up here is to present as high end. The fries came in the metal holder w/ accent and petite burger. Upon digging in and finishing I can say a couple things. The burger is forgettable. Pretty bland and if it wasn't for my son giving me his other fish (fish and chips) I would've left still hungry. Circling back to product knowledge, I'm concerned the business is losing opportunity for amazing Whiskeys to be enjoyed as the staff doesn't exude knowledge. Although not to be bartender level in that department, at least the 10-12 displayed at each table should be expected to know or highlight. I'd train the staff to ask if this was there first visit, let me tell you about this place, and when you look at the drink menu, here's what it's all about. That way we're engaged and willing to try new items. Lastly, there's a Margarita for $45. There's just no way! Unfortunately won't be coming back nor promoting to anyone based on current standards. Perhaps...