Yellow Brix Restaurant — Restaurant in Carlsbad

I brought my family here on our family vacation after reading the overwhelming good reviews. I was expecting a pleasant evening of dinning. What I got was any thing but. The greeter looked panicked when we showed up and requested seating in side. We were hoping for AC after a long day of hiking and swimming. We were told that there would only be seating for us out side on the patio. We were seated in a corner next to a bug zapper that was not plugged in but Mitch needed as we were quickly swarmed with flys that persisted to make our dinning troublesome. We were seated for 10 mins before we were ask for drink orders. When we finally saw her again with our drinks we were ready to order only to run in to the issue that the 2 main signature dishes they have witch were the Brix Meatloaf, and Chicken Cordon Blue were sold out. Half of us then had to order something else. A few of us asked for a salad and we received it in a timely manner. Except after being there 45 mins already we still had no silverware. The waitress dropped of our salads and rushed off before we could say any thing. I had to go and find wait staff and ask about silverware only to be told there was none clean. And would have to wait for it. After another wait we received our silver ware. My fork is pictured below. Yes that’s how I unwrapped it. Food still stuck to it. The long wait between salad and dinner I was able to look around at the patio struggling to find something I might like. The table I was set at had food stuck to it from another patron’s meal also pictured. My food arrived and I was eager so I went to eat only to find it had already been invaded by flys. It was supposed to be the Brix Mexican Burger. It twisted rancid like raw fish. I was only able to force my self to eat half due to I was paying so much for this meal. It also arrived cold and falling apart as if it had been soaking in its own juices. My food was not the only disappointment. Multiple members of my family were in able to eat let alone finish their meal due to it not tasting right. All had some form of Fettuccine Alfredo. And as we waited for the wait staff to return to complain my chair broke. Also pictured. Causing it to lean back suddenly. I recently had back surgery and the movement of catching my self managed to twerk my back in a painful way. I then stood till the waitress returned. When we complained we were meet with her getting the manager. The manager looked in to our complaints and informed us that multiple meals were cooked incorrectly by his cook. That he had added extra ingredients to the Alfredo sauce and cooked my sandwich wrong. All that was offers was a 25% discount and possibly free deserts. Then when the check was brought to us we were informed to at the manager had also waived the mandatory gratuity of 18% as if to let us know he cared. I can say this is the worst dinning experience I’ve ever had at a highly rated restaurant. 0 out of 10 will...

Poor Management Poor Experience

This Valentine’s Day dinner reflects an experience that many customers had this night. No place is perfect and in this era of post-Covid service, expectations are lowered dramatically as long as the ambience and food is perfect! This was not the case with this restaurant. The evening began earlier in the week when trying to make the reservation for an intimate Valentine’s Day dinner with friends and loved ones. It was difficult to establish a reservation as the person who answered the phone did not know how to do this. As this is most certainly a red flag, we have eaten here before so, no matter. We were seated and waited for service. And waited. And waited. Finally, our orders were taken and the cocktails, wine and, finally, water, arrived not in minutes but in quarter hours. We had to ask for water service several times before the glasses arrived. No matter, as long as we had drinks, all was well. Or was it? The server took our orders from a Prix Fixe Menu, a special for Valentine’s Day. All four of our party received their entrées as ordered. Except for me. I waited, and waited and waited. The server finally noticed that I was not eating—apologized, and said he forgot the order! The wine was excellent. No complaints were filed as the drinks were good, the conversation lively and the room was quiet. The reason the room was so quiet as no one was eating! The table next to us said they had been waiting for an hour for their salad! My entrée finally arrived after everyone had finished theirs. At the same time, the manager came over to our table and inquired as to why we were still there as the table had a pending reservation for the next seating! We told her that the delay was due to the late arrival of my entree, a fact that she was unaware of. We had all lost our ambience at that moment, and our appetites, and were preparing to have our desserts boxed for take away. The manager again came to the table to check us out. I guess that is why we did not get our after-dinner Champagne toasts! I did not expect the service to be this poor but we would never complain about the server! It is hard enough to find good help. I blame this fiasco on poor management that led to a poor Valentine’s Dinner evening experience. At $80 per person, being hounded by the manager to eat and leave (and be in a hurry about it!), I find this behavior and level of unfortunate, tawdry and unprofessional service inexcusable. Management at this restaurant does not seem to care about the hospitality experience; rather, making money seems to be the order of the day at this restaurant. I cannot recommend this restaurant for an intimate evening out as the manager did not appear to appreciate what Valentine’s Day means for couples...

Probably one of the WORST restaurant experiences I have ever experienced! Calamari was so heavily breaded with a very heavy thick breading and only had about 4-5 pieces of actual calamari on the plate. The rest was filled in with heavily battered carrots. The Chicken Cordon Blue was cooked to the point of almost being jerky.  That was definitely not a bearnaise  sauce, like the menu says either. That was definitely a gravy of some sort. Only thing that was okay, but at least edible were the crab cakes. A lot of "filler" in those cakes though.  Complete waste of a hundred bucks for the food alone.

SERVICE

Called ahead to inquire about the patio. If it was open or not and asked of it was pet friendly. They said yes  absolutely! They had a couple servers out there taking care if people. Upon being seated both my date and I both asked for some water to start with and asked for a drink menu and placed our appetizer order(calamari discussed above). The little server girl, kaylee, I think her name was, or something similar, came back with no waters, no drink menus, and had two offerings that she just tried to memorize on her way to the table. So I asked if they had any beer on draft or if it was all in the bottle. She said that they had beer on draft but did not know what kinds. So I went the safe route and just had a Bud light. So we wait about 30 minutes and here comes our appetizer. Before the drinks before any water and was just set on the table and walked away. So we have our appetizer. Nothing to drink. No silverware, no side plates. Just a pile of breaded carrots and a couple pieces of the calamari. Almost done with the appetizer (still no silverware or napkins!) Finally.... Something to drink! Asked again for some water though. By this time, it was starting to get a little chilly outside, noticing the nice propane warmers that they offer, we inquired about turning one on. The little server bee bops inside and returns with what I assume to be a manager type person. He unlocks the cage holding the propane tanks, pulls one out, sets it down, grumbles that he doesn't have time for this, and briskly walks away. So I went over grabbed the propane tank and hooked it up myself. Lit the pilot and got the thing running. Still waiting for entrees................. Still waiting ................ Waiting some more..................... Almost 45 minutes later plus the 20 minutes of the propane issue, we finally have entrees. Chicken cordon hockey pucks and Crab cakes that taste like canned tuna fish instead of crab. Guess what? Just guess...... That's right! STILL NO SILVERWARE!!! STILL NO WATER!!! At this point, we just asked for to go boxes and the check. Worst $110 of my life!!! Is this place really one of the top places to eat...