Seasons 52 — Restaurant in Costa Mesa

Season 52 has Valet Parking, but we chose to self park. We were meeting friends here for dinner, but we'd arrived before them, plus a bit earlier than our dinner reservation. Upon entering, I noticed their foyer area was tiny, with but 6 chairs-3 on each short wall, facing the host/hostess station.

This wouldn't have been an issue, but all 6 were occupied, plus it was cold & rainy outside, & every bar stool surrounding the bar was occupied. We noticed a couple leaving one of the tables that surround the bar, & were told by the hostess, these were seated by reservation only. So my wife & I were feeling a bit uncomfortable-our backs to the wall, plus borderline in the way of people entering & exiting the bar, until a couple vacated 2 seats, to eat dinner. Space is at such a premium, at new restaurants, that customers are forced to encounter things like this.

Not ten minutes later, we met our friends, & were seated at our dinner table. Things smoothed out considerably. Our server was personable, funny, & very good, which was a nice bonus. She took our drink & appetizer orders speedily, plus brought out 1 order of flatbread, 1 sizable & delicious Crabcake, plus all 4 of our drinks in short order.

Seasons 52 offers a cavernous wine list, with a wealth of choices, in just about all wine types. My wife chose a Daou Cabernet, which is available in 6 or 9 oz. pours. Myself & my friend ordered a New Old Fashioned Cocktail, made with Woodford Reserve Bourbon, bitters & orange rind. This drink was mighty tasty, with an ample pour of bourbon in it. The Cocktail List is fairly small here.

For dinner, I chose Surf & Turf, an 8oz. Filet Mignon, a Maine Lobster Tail, bouldered potatoes & broccolini. My filet came out hot, tender & perfectly cooked. Loved it! The lobster tail was tiny, barely 4 man-sized bites worth, plus the delicious meat proved difficult to extricate from the tail shell. Potatoes were good, & broccolini was cooked nicely. My wife chose the Chilean Sea bass, which came out hot, & was solid. She added a side of broccolini with her creamy mashed potatoes, as you're only allowed one side, with this dish.

About the food: All the food we ordered at Seasons 52 tasted good, came out hot, & was priced fairly. Have we had better- well yes, but for the price & everything considered, I'd give the food a solid 4.

Desserts were quite daintily sized, in tall thin parfait glasses. I ordered the Reese's Peanut Butter one, which was 😋.

Overall impressions: I liked Seasons 52. The food was tasty, the ambience inside the restaurant was nice, plus they offer outside covered-patio seating. We got exceptional service. The bar area was packed, so it'd be nice, if this space was larger. I'd recommend getting reservations, if you want to grab a drink, before...

My wife and I went to this fine restaurant on December 30th to celebrate a couple of events.

Our predinner cocktails were excellent. I had a Bombay Sapphire Martini ($13.40) and my wife had a Mojito ($10.50). The appetizers were very tasty. We had Avocado toast and Artichoke Hummus. I also had a house salad. For main course i had the Kona-Crusted Lamb Loin ($33.50). My wife had the 6oz. Surf & Turf ($45.50). She also had a Beet Salad ($11.00). And as always, the food was excellent.

I did not like: the number of fellow diners who walked by our table with their dogs. And some people had more than one dog. I hate this. I also did not like the very unruly children at two of the tables near us, but I really do not know what the restaurant can do about this.

Now, let's talk about tipping.

When the check came, it arrived in two parts. There was the register receipt with everything that we had ordered listed item by item. Those items are then totaled, the tax is added and that is transferred to the credit card receipt. Then, there was the credit card receipt, where you fill in the tip and sign so that the charge can be made. Good enough. Except there was a problem.

By doing just a very quick calculation in my mind, I became suspicious of the tip percentages and the amount specified for each. percentage. I no longer have the itemized receipt. but the total of everything we ordered was about $158.00. The entire check was $171.22, including the .0775% tax rate for Costa Mesa. Oddly enough, the credit card receipt with the predetermined tip amount was figured using the total that included tax. That was true for the suggested tip amounts of 18%, 20% and 22%.

Honestly, I have no problem leaving a tip. The service was good and these employees work very hard.

But, I draw the line at paying a tip with TAX included in the amount.

Let's say the restaurant does $100,000.00 in business in one day. The tax they collect would be $7,750.00. If the tip is figured at 18% that would mean the total tips for all checks should amount to $18,000. But if you collect tips on the tax, the total amount the restaurant would collect would be $19,395. Who gets the extra $1,395.00? Does the restaurant keep it? Do they give it to the employees?

I find this a little disturbing.

We tipped, but only on the amount that did not include tax.

I suggest you do the same.

I will admit that the difference on our check between the tip with tax and the check without the tax would only be about $3.46. But it's not about the money. It's about the...

My wife and I have been loyal customers of Seasons 52 for years. We celebrate every holiday and birthday here because the food and service have always been consistently great. So when my friends came to visit from New York, I didn’t hesitate to choose Seasons 52 for dinner. I wanted to give them the best experience possible. There were five of us, and I ordered my favorite dish — the lamb — something I’ve always considered a highlight of your menu. I talked it up so much that everyone at the table decided to order it too. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a huge disappointment. The portions were noticeably smaller than usual, but that wasn’t the real issue — the taste was. It was absolutely terrible. The lamb was dry, flavorless, and nothing like what I was used to. My friends didn’t say anything out of politeness, but it was obvious that everyone was disappointed. The service that night was also well below the standard I’ve come to expect — slow, inattentive, and lacking care. I honestly thought the restaurant must have changed chefs or management, and I told myself I wouldn’t come back. However, some time later, our friends invited us out — and it happened to be at Seasons 52 again. I hesitated but decided to give the lamb another try. This time, it was absolutely perfect. The taste, texture, everything — it reminded me why I loved this place so much in the first place. That’s why I’m writing this now. I don’t know what happened on the night of January 22nd, but I hope someone takes this seriously. Reservation Details: Table for 7 on Wednesday, January 22, 2025 at 7:30 pm Name: Ilias Asanov Confirmation #: 2110794480 I didn’t leave a review right away because I was genuinely disappointed. I truly hope you look into what went wrong that evening. One bad night can undo years of...