California Dreaming — Restaurant in Charleston

My husband and I celebrated his birthday today at California dreaming In Columbia we were there around 2:30. Our waiter was absolutely phenomenal. He had beautiful white teeth and a precious smile and dark brown curly hair. He was very knowledgeable about the surrounding Columbia area. He was one of the best waiters I have ever had in my 55 years. He kept I drinks full and was available to provide everything that we wanted the garlic mashed potatoes were out of this world my husband and I both got a 12 ounce ribeye mashed potatoes salad. I have never had anyone ask me in all the years going to California dreaming About the appetizers and little rundown of what all of them were. We usually just get a roll with our salad or croissant however, our waiter included the plate of croissants in his appetizer list. I never thought about getting a whole plate of them. They were absolutely delicious. I would rate our service at 10 it was very difficult to judge the food Since someone from the kitchen brought out our steaks and I ordered well. I’m sorry I ordered medium and my husband ordered well done the staff from the kitchen for our steaks opposite. My courteous husband asked me if my steak was OK and I said yes he did not complain about his However, I knew once he started cutting into it that he got my steak and I had his The absolutely biggest disappointment of our lunch was when I saw my husband picking out a square piece of paper from under his steak. My first thought was oh no, they left a piece of paper that was hooked onto the steak And grilled it. As I got to looking and cutting my steak, I had a piece of paper on your mind also, it may have been a little bit up under the potato dish, but it has soaked up a lot of those delicious juices from the steak. I have been a registered nurse for 40 years. I feel if she had had come in with me today to eat they would have said that it was a dickhead violation for where you don’t know where that menu had been if you have dropped on the floor or if somebody laid raw chicken on it. We live in sumter South Carolina. My husband has been in the retail grocery store business for 45 years. He also does DEHEC evaluations on restaurantsHe was the first person to point out the piece of thick paper that that had slid up under his steak and soaked up half of the delicious juice. I would like to know what type ink is used to print your menus and if it is safe to be consumed. Period if you have so many menus that you need to get rid of, I would suggest coming up with a different idea. I am very allergic to many guys. I really have not felt well since we ate, but I am monitoring for any difficulty and swallowing or breathing from that dye. I called and asked to speak to the manager on our way home to SUMTER. A young lady answered the phone and when I asked if she was the manager, she said she was taking care of everything at the moment. There were no other managers on duty I discussed with her about the Cut up menu under our plate and she said that it was too hold the potatoes in place keep them from sliding. She said. all of the California dreaming restaurants are doing this as a way to bring notice to the plates. I have done enough DEHEC evaluations in Nursing, Facil, and homes to know that this is not sanitary. I am absolutely appalled that someone in y’all’s restaurant change would come up with such a heinous idea. If we ever come back there to eat again, it will be a very low chance I would like one of your managers either from Columbia or Charleston California dreaming to call me and explain this absolutely off the wall. Crazy idea 803406290...

Horrible, I’m a server my self and I will always give staff the benefit of the doubt I have never left a bad review in my life but this was just embarrassing. We started great, reservation was at 6:30, got there and sat down, our waitress came by 5 minutes later and took our drink orders, 3 of my family members ordered alcoholic drinks as well. Our waters came, we waited for our fun drinks, for an hour and 30 minutes. We asked every time we could flag her down where our drinks were and she blamed it on the bartender and made excuses for her self by blaming other staff members for her faults, it was obvious she was ignoring us as she tended to her 3 other tables, I know that can be too much for some people to handle and that’s okay…if u don’t want to work as a server, that is the hustle and we do it all with smiles on our faces. We were very kind to her but her attitude was nasty. Food came before drinks, her excuse was “I saw someone else grab the martini but idk where it went” and “drinks are just very backed up”… yet her other tables were getting drinks, I saw 5 martinis go to the table next to us who sat at least 45 mins after us. Besides the drinks, the food came all at different times (I also understand this as a server) another girl handed my brother his dish with the chicken sandwich and fries spilt fries all over my father and into his water, she said “oh sorry” and took his water and left, she left the fries all over the table and sent no one to clean it up, didn’t return to my father with another glass of water and also took the dang sandwich that was perfectly fine and untouched back to the kitchen with her!!!! Personally I would have left the meal at the table gone back and grabbed more fries and a new drink after cleaning the table up, profusely apologizing and grabbing a manager, but the manager here seemed to ignore us as well, we are very laid back and kind, not rude and very understanding but this was insane, it’s crazy that I’m even reviewing anything at all. My moms salad had only cheese in it, not what she ordered, waitress dropped some flounder meal at the table then when we told her not ours she left with it, my uncles soup was cold, she only came to our table 4 times, we waited patiently there was no hollering at her or waiving it was a lift of a finger if anything, when she finally came I begged her for my drink because at this point I desperately needed it. My family is too kind to ever say anything to her and still tipped 20% and 25%,she brought my drink after every one finished their food and we had the check, I drank it and was surprised to see it was still on the bill honestly, not once did a manager come over and I still wonder what ever happened to my family’s alcoholic drinks. Won’t be coming back….ever lol, that was disgusting service. When my uncle mentioned his soup was cold, which he waited for 30 mins after we got our food, she didn’t apologize she sighed rolled her eyes and went on her tablet to comp it I guess…I was still kind but I wanted to give a fair warning to anyone else, I will not name drop this server I do not want her to take the punishment of this but I do want her to read this and just be better. Please girl. And don’t tell ur table “I’d rather break my arm than make another trip here” as I cleaned the plates and handed them to u. Hey it could have been a joke because u realized how bad u messed up, but still...

What a disappointment!! I have been going to this restaurant since it opened in the 80s. Walked in at 5pm no reservation or crowd. Friendly greeting. Didn't have to wait too long but because we didn't have a reservation we were seated inside interior booth. There were so many open tables next to window but whatever. Friendly waitress slowly came over with all the dishes in her hands from the previous table she served. She told us would be right back. There were only two of us. We waited for several minutes eventually she showed back up and handed us the menu. We asked her to give us a few minutes so we could look over the menu . I don't know what has happened to the menu, but I was shocked. It used to be like a book several pages now it's one solid page. As we studied the menu, there were several items that apparently are still on the menu that have been there for years. The back of the menu with nothing but a bar menu. After studying the menu, we decided that we would just go ahead and get a California Dreaming salad. That was always one of the best items on their menu. The reason we did that was because the list of side items for the main entrées was so tiny and limited. At the cost of one main entrée we were shocked at how limited this menu was. So we asked our waitress if we could get a basket of rolls and she replied. Oh we don't do that anymore "You have to purchase the basket" which runs about five dollars now. Well, we definitely decided to skip that but we always felt that was the main reason we loved this restaurant like when you go to a Mexican restaurant and they bring you out salsa and chips and now that feature eating at California Dreaming has gone away . The salads came out pretty quickly, and they didn't disappoint at all. There was one croissant on the side so we did get one of those rolls. Eventually, she came back and she brought us our ticket and we paid for our meal. The waitress was working extremely hard and probably deserves a raise. The main reason I'm writing this is because I am a local from Charleston and I like to support local business. We had gone to another restaurant that apparently decided they're not open on Mondays anymore. That is why we ended up at this restaurant. Will I be coming back probably not. There are way too many other places in Charleston that at least you get a better menu selection of food. We were never told if there was fresh fish available or what fish of the day was or what side of day was. This restaurant has one of the best views in Charleston. That's another reason to go there but be aware it's a little bit expensive if you're just going to end up getting a hamburger or a basic steak. You're paying for the view not for the food anymore. California Dreaming you can do so...