Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Cerritos

I have been visiting my local Lazy Dog location every 1-2 weeks for the past three years. My wife and I have our favorite table, know many of the servers, and enjoy the "parade of dogs" on the patio every visit.

Regretfully, after my latest visit, I will no longer be returning to Lazy Dog due to its poorly trained staff, misleading Beer Club terms, and the unprofessionalism of its General Manager.

I purchased a Lazy Dog Beer Club membership with many perks, including a $35 food credit. After my meal, I viewed the bill to see all benefits represented except the $35 credit. My server explained that the credit was applied in their system but not on my receipt. We went back and forth for 5-10 minutes, unable to see eye to eye. I was running late to pick up my child from daycare, so I paid the bill and left.

Once I arrived home, I reviewed my bill and confirmed that no credit had been applied. I called and spoke with the manager on staff who happened to handle my issue an hour prior. He apologized and stated that he knew I did not get the $35 discount and that his server did not understand the circumstances. Rather than explaining this to me personally while at the restaurant, he sent his employee out to incorrectly communicate the situation. He apologized, admitted that he should have gone out to speak with me himself, and took down my email address to send me a $35 credit.

I then submitted my complaint to Corporate and received an email from their GM Doug. Doug explained that the credit was for 1st-time members only and that I was ineligible because of my former membership. I asked him to point to how I would have known this prior to purchase, such as on the tabletop signage or in the Terms of Service. Doug had no answer other than it being their own internal rule.

Like any good business, if the intention is that this benefit is used only once, that condition should be disclosed before purchase. Otherwise, Lazy Dog chose to take my $35 without fulfilling their end of the purchase agreement by not delivering what I had paid for. Doug declined to recognize that the Beer Club Promotion itself is flawed. He ultimately chose to lose a customer rather than refund me the $35 credit rightfully owed (and previously recognized and promised to me by his manager Antonio).

My outreach to Lazy Dog before this review was an opportunity for them to make things right and keep a loyal customer, yet they chose to defend their flawed policies. It is an unethical and illegal business practice to take someone's money and not deliver on the terms of the purchase. I will be sharing my experience on several other channels to ensure no other customers are taken advantage of...

The vibe here is very chill and fun. The service was quick and helpful. The ambiance was fun and inviting. The main disappointment was the absolute mind numbing behavior of a small child on a riding toy who tore through the walkways like a he was on a sugar high like no other! The staff just stared at this kid as if this type of atrocious behavior was the norm. Flying down the walkway, sliding into people of their dining table areas and squealing with a pacifier in his mouth. The so-called “mother” just laughed and stood there ignoring the disruption caused to their dining experience, until finally a manager walked over and stayed, “you can’t do that in here!” For 5 minutes this insanity took place while trying to enjoy our meal… 5 min, with not one of the 10 workers standing around walking over and politely informing this person of their poor parenting skills in public. Did I reduce the rating based on this experience, no, but it’s a coaching opportunity for management to teach staff how to deal with absurd parents like this. The food, well, thats where we took a small diverted turn down a road that was disappointing. If that unwarranted form of atmospheric entertainment wasn’t bad enough, we were hit with some less than exciting food pallets. The over all flavor rating of these three dishes was a meh, 6 out of 10. The biscuits with the chicken and biscuits dish were hard, flavorless and did not pair well with the chickens texture. The sauce was rather bland and did not have delicious maple flavor advertised or expecting and needing. The omelet was a decent offering and had a low amount of vegetables and was on the drier side of the desired consistency needed. The burrito had a great size to it, but again, lacked in the flavor department. The bites were followed by bites to complete the meal and not a desire to enjoy the next bite. This is what most miss the mark with on flavor combinations in food. The bite should have you yearning for the next, and that just didn’t happen here. Maybe we were a little thrown off by the pestiferous behavior that disrupted numerous guests...

Okay, so this is a tough one to review. I will be writing out my reasoning for going for 4 stars even though I can simultaneously give a 3 and a 5. I'll start with the good, because the good is what makes this place stand out to me. Dogs! The staff, all staff, not just the ones that attended us, were such wonderful people towards our dog. They even have a menu for the dogs, which is a very good menu. Hell, the dog ate healthier than most people do! It was such a great experience dining outside with dogs at multiple tables, it sometimes got rowdy due to that, but it was adorable most times watching the dogs be dogs around each other.

Now, I don't know if I'm allowed to criticize the food given the fact that we only ordered items off of the happy hour menu. We ordered the Nachos, Calamari, Mac N' Cheese, Buffalo wings, and Cajun fries over a long period of time while we watched a sports game on TV.

The Nachos were great except for the fact that they don't really meet the criteria of what nachos should mainly consist of... which is cheese! They had a whole bunch of stuff on them that would have made them be some AMAZING nachos, but they just didn't have the right kind or even the right amount of cheese on it which just ruined it all.

The Calamari was deliciously made, the vegetables went so well with the Calamari, the sauce really rounded it all out, but... the white rice was probably the cheapest rice they could find out something, because it wasn't worth eating alongside the food. It's not very good rice.

The Mac N' Cheese was okay, nothing special, but nothing bad, three only thing I can see being bad is that it has some spicy topping not everyone would agree with if they didn't know about it.

Both the Buffalo wings and Cajun fries were delicious! Definitely loved...