The Toasted Barrel — Restaurant in Corona

The atmosphere is relaxing and nice. The waiter and waitress were decent. The food however was disappointing. I am a huge lazana fan, and the waiter recommended and said it was a good choice. There was quite a wait to get the food compared to a lot of other resteraunts probley so that you will order more wine ect... once my food arrived I tasted it and it was very blan as if there were no seasonings and the top was burn. To be sure it was not just my flavor being off I let people in my party try it not giving them any indication I did not like it what so ever and they stated the same as myself. The owner eventually walked by and asked how it was one person in my party said you look like a man that wants the truth and told the owner that the lasagna was not good no spice ect... but his meal was fine. The owner stated that he reciepe was is very own and he makes it hisself. The owner did not ask me if I wanted to replace my meal with something different or discount my bill cause it was Burt. Waited for them to return but nobody did until bill was brought and there was my uneaten meal and a full priced bill with no replacement. Waiter asked how was everything and we told him then he asked if we told the owner and we told him yes. The owner at this point was mia. We waited but nobody came to talk to us. I ended up paying without eatting but but on receipt I put was extremely disappointed. It's rare that I do not like something or complain but if I ever have I am offered to have it replaced I mean it was burn I even have pictures. I did not want to mess up my parties plans or hold them back any longer so paid and left. Shocked that the owner himself as a business person did not care about correcting the situation by offering a solution vs....

Good food and ambience. Great for a date or to just go relax with a nice glass of wine. Service was good they were very tentive to my wife and me. My only complaint is with my orders. I ordered crab cakes as appetizers. They lacked flavor and were a bland in my opinion, I didn't taste the sweetness of the crab at all. They were a little redeemable once I added the fresh mango and tomato that comes with it. As for the main course my wife had the scallop dish, which was rather pricey. However, that was not the issue. Unfortunately one of her three scallops was over salted and was not as good as the other two. $52 for 2 good scallops and an over salted one bares no value in my opinion. The veggies that came with it were ok. What stood out the most from her dish were the mashed potatoes. Those were perfectly salted and tasted like fresh potatoes.

As for my dish, I ordered the seared duck with risotto and sauté spinach. The duck was perfect!!! (To my taste). The spinach on the other hand was too too oily which led to my risotto being mush since they place them on top of the risotto. Overall the flavors were good but it could have been more refined and clean. If not for those execution flaws and over sites on the seasonings I would have given it 5 stars. It charges high prices, but doesn't meet it's potential this time.

We will be trying it again over the weekend to take in...

Not really sure how to feel about this place.

Hands down, customer service was terrible, with the only exception of the owner who was very welcoming and entertaining. He goes to every table to check up on the customers which was awesome.

HOWEVER, this restaurant totally failed on the quality of food they serve, and their servers. They were supposed to be a steakhouse/seafood restaurant, but they do not have a clue on how to cook a filet mignon. My BF wanted a medium rare but it came out to rare. They had to re-cook the steak 4 times, and had to cut in the middle so it would cook. By the end of it, it became medium well and tough because they kept on cooking it, instead of serving a fresh one, which all other steakhouse restaurants do. Our server kept on justifying that the meat was thick and it is hard to get it to medium rare. I was so dumbfounded by this comment. Why be a steakhouse restaurant if your chef does not have a clue to cook a filet mignon? They comp us just for the steak but not the extra blue cheese topping.

Comping us was not really the point. The point on this is that the issue should have been taken care of the first time we sent it back to be "re-done", and apologize, and not blame the thickness of the steak.

Not really sure if I would give them another try as they are expensive for the quality of...