Maison Cafe + Market — Restaurant in Dana Point

On a chilly, misty morning in June, I stopped by the Maison Cafe. The kitchen had not yet opened, but I was pleased that I could order a coffee and freshly baked croissant at the counter. The kind woman serving me invited me to take a seat anywhere I liked. So, I picked up a menu and chose a table in the corner by the window.

As I reviewed the menu, other people began to drift into the cafe and take seats at tables scattered around the room. This seemed like a very pleasant, serene place to enjoy a nice breakfast. Or so I thought.

A bit later, a large table began to fill with eight young women and one young boy wearing a headset and playing video games. They arrived one by one, and as their table filled, the noise level became increasingly loud.

Over the next 20 to 30 minutes, I saw that diners at other tables were taking notice, and at least one annoyed couple left their table in search of a quieter space in the cafe or perhaps an exit. I considered doing the same. But I was in the midst of eating my gravlax toast, which was delicious! So, I stayed put and weathered the storm.

This group of eight oblivious women was obnoxiously loud, and they behaved more like a team of young soccer players at Chuck E Cheese than a group of women having breakfast in a nice, French-style cafe.

Perhaps people like this should be treated like soccer players. Perhaps a yellow card should be placed on each table in the cafe. If a group at a particular table becomes loud and obnoxious, diners at other tables could ask their waiter or the manager to present the obnoxious group with a yellow card as a warning to reduce their noise level and stop their raucous behavior. If a table receives three yellow cards from three different tables, the manager would give them a red card and ask them to leave.

Restaurants should not have to discipline their guests. It can be an unpleasant task. However, only the managers can control a restaurant's ambience. When a group is disturbing everyone else's dining experience, management has an obligation to act.

A year or two ago, I was having dinner at a very nice restaurant in Palm Desert. They had a full house, and one table of three people was engaged in a heated and vulgar conversation. A friend of mine left our table and talked to the manager who soon appeared in the dining room and escorted the offending party out of the restaurant. The remaining diners spontaneously gave him a loud round of applause. We all enjoyed the rest of our dinners in peace.

Ironically, the young boy wearing a headset and playing video games was the wisest and best behaved person at the table of loud young women. His headset muffled the cacophony, and he bothered no one.

I expect I'll return to the Maison Cafe, because this restaurant offers great food and wonderful service. However, if the cafe is obnoxiously loud, my friends and I will ask for outdoor seating or spend our lunch money elsewhere. Or if I'm dining alone, I suppose I could take a hint from the well-behaved young man wearing the headset.

The Maison Cafe. Great food, wonderful service. But be prepared for excessive noise levels if there is an obnoxiously loud group...

The food was AMAZING BUT the service or lack there of we could have done without. We were excited to try this restaurant as the menu sounded scrumptious and boy did it deliver. Everything was fresh, flavorful and mouthwatering.

Unfortunately our experience was tainted by the really poor service we received from beginning to end from “Server S” (according to the receipt). The host was able to seat us almost immediately. We sat there reviewing the menu selected the items we wanted to try but we continued to sit there and sit there looking around trying to get the attention of any server. We finally flagged down the same host who sat us as she was seating another table. We asked her who our server was. She stated she would let her know and she came back with a carafe of water and glasses. We figured our server would soon be there and yet we still waited some more. From the time we were seated to the time the server finally acknowledged and came to our table, almost 15 minutes had past. Other tables who had been seated after us in the patio area that we had clear view of and indoors, received their drinks and their orders taken. Some even started to get their food. The worse part of it, is the server didn’t even acknowledge nor apologize that she delayed coming to our table. Her first sentence was asking us if we had “any questions on the menu.” So of course I had to respond with a little bit of push back with, “No we don’t have any questions but we did want a server.” She took our food order and because some of us had our blood sugar dropping, we also ordered some pastries. Those delivered quite quickly and we were able to regain some composure to the horrible start of the meal but she continued to ignore us and everything took extra long to get to us. If it wasn’t for the amazing food, I would have only left 1 star for “Server S”. As someone who has worked in food service for 10+ years, this server needs a lot customer care training. I understand what it’s like to be slammed or have a complicated table but you don’t take it out on other tables so that they have suffer your wrath. It didn’t even look like she was super busy but who knows what may have occurred prior to us getting there. Maybe she just didn’t want to wait on our table. Whatever the reason was, we didn’t deserve to be...

Came here to celebrate my birthday.

When reservations were made, I was asked if we were celebrating anything. I said a birthday. When we arrived, the hostess asked, are you celebrating a birthday (they had noted)? I said, yes, mine. I expected to receive a pastry, but neither that nor a dessert was offered. Not sure why they would ask if celebrating anything, then do nothing, so I assume the ball was dropped.

There was 4 if us = 2 couples, so we asked for 2 separate checks. I ordered a $17 "for the table" dish and asked it be put on my bill but when the bills arrived, they charged twice. $17 on my tab and $17 on the other couple's tab, too. We had that tab fixed.

Our 2nd round of drinks were forgotten, so I reminded the server. We were well into our meal when that round was received. My husband described his dirty martini as horrendous (not good). The other guest said he was glad to finish that drink as he didn't like it either. On the menu, it was described with having blue cheese stuffed olives but came with no stuffing of any kind. We brought it to their attention and was told they were out of blue cheese. Wish that was told to us when ordering that drink. We are all big fans of blue cheese.

The other cocktails were bland. The Negroni was good. The food was also okay. I would say a little rich and over seasoned. Their was some spice in the Tartines, of which one of us does not like heat! It was not described like that on the menu.

I would suggest arriving early. We had reservations after 10am, likely a time that a ball or two would be dropped due to being busy.

They allowed dogs indoors that day, but that's always fine by me! They seem to be busy so I assume repeat customers. I won't be back but I wish them...