Village Corner Bistro — Restaurant in Carmel-by-the-Sea

I had lunch there two days ago and I can say in all frankness that I don't intend to get back there anytime soon. The food was ok-ish and the service was not stellar. But what got my attention was that little extra $18 I found on the check when I wanted to pay. I went up to the register and asked what that was for. The waitress turned around to the owner and went like "Oh, remember, that was when I made a mistake and I forgot to correct it". Riiiiiight. Instead of re-doing the check, she just handed me a $20 bill that covered for it and told us to sign the erroneous check, which we did two minutes later when we me and my guest wanted to leave. Call me judgmental, but when someone doesn't apologize, tries to tell a cover story on the spot and can only find the quickest and dirtiest way to make up for it (as in "let's forget about all this"), that means they're lying.

But things got worst. When we stood up from our chairs, the owner grabbed us and said that we should start all over again and print a new check with the proper amount and that we should give back the $20. Why is it that she changed her mind, I didn't know, but it seemed like the correct way to make it right in the first place. I said ok, suddenly understanding exactly what was going to happen: she took back the bank note and the previous check and printed a new one without the extra $18 and had us sign it. And what I thought was going to happen happened: she didn't give back the previously signed check and I had to request myself that she give it back to us.

Now, all I can assume is that since me and my guess were speaking a foreign language all lunch long, she must have thought we were tourists who wouldn't care to look at the check or wouldn't dare to ask. What she didn't know was that I live in the Bay Area and also speak fluent English, which definitely helped in the resolution of the matter. Looking at Carmel and seeing the standard of living of most people and tourists around, that's definitely not something I'd have expected to happen there. Lesson learned.

In short, don't go there unless you feel like taking a look at your check and checking your bank statement the...

My husband and I spent our honeymoon in the area. We went to several great places to eat during our stay but this one really stood out the most! After walking through galleries all day and finally getting hungry around five or six we quickly noticed that every restaurant had a huge long wait time to be seated or required a reservation! This darling bistro seated us right away. There was a beautiful, plant filled, covered patio where we were able to dine next to a gas stone fireplace round which kept us warm all evening. We ordered the artichoke (my first time trying artichoke) and it was DELICIOUS! It came with two different dipping sauces a lemon aioli and a balsamic type dip. We also got the flat bread of the day which was a really good Margherita. But the star of the show was the New York strip steak!!! We literally LICKED our plates clean. There just was no missing the mark at this place! Every dish was remarkable. The creamy potatoes were like nothing I have ever had before. I think it was the owner that we spoke to “Faisal” ? He truly made this place special and memorable. He greeted every guest. Made the rounds and spoke to each table several times in the night and was just so personable and personal! He congratulated us on our honeymoon and shared in our excitement for kids and the future to come and was so gracious in insisting on a dessert on the house. We got the ollalieberry pie… oh. My. Goodness. I’m not even much of a pie person and when I say this pie made my dreams I mean it! I dreamed about this food that night! Anyways, a 10/10 evening for us and I would highly recommend this gem of an establishment. If you are looking for exquisite fine dining food with the feel of an intimate, local, and no pressure or stuffiness environment I could not suggest this place enough. 🤍 we honestly felt so special loved wanted accepted and well taken care of here. All the staff seemed friendly and like they cared about eachother. The owner especially seems to truly care about his staff and knows them personally. I love that in a...

If I could give this place is 0 * I would our visit started off with the server telling us that we are unable to split our bill even though our party was sitting at two separate tables??? As a result for us not being able to have our own ticket we asked the waiter to put our bill on two different credit cards and what ended up happening is my credit card ended up getting charged for my portion of the bill then another charge for the whole entire bill and my friends credit card got charged for his bill his part of the bill as well so $156 lunch turned into over 200 something dollars on my credit card alone. I was visiting Carmel from Sacramento and I purposely brought one credit card with me for the trip so I didn't spend too much money I was at the end of the trip and after the owner put over $200 on that credit card my credit card was actually maxed out when I tried to call the restaurant to let them know what happened no one answered I called over four times with no answer so I had to stop in Monterey on the wharf and turn all the way back around and travel back to Carmel only to have the owner of the restaurant tell me that she was well aware of what she did and she doesn't know why I'm so upset because she wasn't going to post the payment at the end of the night it was just an authorization on the card so I politely explain to her that my credit card was maxed out due to the overcharge and she showed absolutely no compassion whatsoever the funny thing is is that she knew before I even left the restaurant the first time that she did this error and didn't even have the common decency to come out and tell me what happened I will never return back to this place and I feel that the owner is completely rude and out of line for the way she handled this whole...