California Fish Grill — Restaurant in El Cajon

March 02, 2020 Update: (3 stars as the food is excellent and so are the restaurant workers...corporate just a super stinky policy!) The California Fish Grill Corporate Office refunded my entire bill, however, they stick with their policy of asking their customers to pay (if paying with cash) using denominations of $20 bills and under. So please bring your credit card if you don't want to "run next door or down the street to make change for a $50 or $100 bill."

October 31 2019 (1 Star) Well...you cannot write a review with less than 1 star so that's the only reason I gave even 1 star... I work for a local business down the street and last week we ordered lunch twice in the same week and normally order at least weekly for at least 5 of our employees. Never had a problem in the past. Today our total bill for the order was 96.05 and I was trying to pay the bill with a $100 bill. They said that they couldn't take it because they can't take a bill larger than a $20 and told me to go next door to make change. ...mind you, I'm on my 1/2 hour lunch break...I said "That's crazy! What do you do for your Dine-In customers?" and the Poor cashier-not her fault-said "We have them go make change also." So I went next door to make change but they didn't have change. I went back into the Fish Grill and told them that the store next door said they don't have change. She then told me that the customer behind me "just went over to In ' n' out and they made change for him." I said "I'm not running around to make change for you because you can't take a bill larger than a $20 and our food is getting cold. Can I please talk to a manager?" Now I'm already 15 minutes into my half-hour lunch break. The cashier called to the manager who was busy in the back cooking. The Manager said, "I'll be right there." So I waited about 2 more minutes and she started to come out and pointed at another worker (possibly in management) and said "Can you help her?" so I explained the situation to her and there was nothing she could do. I stormed out and before I made it to my car, I decided that my co-workers would be upset if I came back without their lunches. I decided to use my bank card knowing that I will go over as I don't really use the card often. I figured I could hopefully make it to the bank after work to cover the charge. Now my lunch break is almost over and I have not even left the store yet. My office is about 5 minutes away and by the time I made it back, our food was cold...of course. I can't believe that they don't trust their employees to take bills larger than a $20...I mean it's the middle of the afternoon and not the dollar store! The Dri-Mark CFD5PK Counterfeit Bill Detector Pen for Use w/U.S. Currency (Pack of 5) costs $8.39...wouldn't it make sense to just buy a pen? I was given grace by my supervisor and allowed to take a longer lunch so that I could try to enjoy my cold fish and cold brussel sprouts. I can't believe you won't take denominations over $20 and by the way, have you checked your prices on your menu? If 2 people order and their total is greater than $20, which it surely can easily be more, and your customer needs to pay with a $50? Nonsense. Absurd way of doing business. I mean the change back from our order would have been $4.95...actually less as we always tip even with carry-out. I feel bad for the girls who have to ask their customers to go out of their way to pay their bill. Unbelievable. The only thing that could change my review would be total reimbursement for the meals. I will be writing to corporate to see if they will make this right and it is my office's opinion that their ridiculous policy should be changed...I still tipped the girls and told them it's not their fault. I'm blown away that they are expected to ask their customers to go make change....

Disappointing experience last night. Problems were mostly staff related. Ordered 2 meals (dine-in) at 5:59pm. Gave my phone number for text alert and went and sat down. At 6:15pm - still no response I went back to the counter to check. Was told the salmon entree was ready but they were waiting for the fish & chips to be plated. Went back to my seat - two minutes later got a text alert that my meal was ready. Went back up to the counter but there was no food ready for me. Counter staff got the salmon entree on my tray but the sweet potato fries we ordered as a side (and paid extra for) was not there and still no fish & chips. They ordered the sweet potato fries and gave me a plate of fish & chips but it was wrong because I had ordered it with double fries. They found my correct order but it had been sitting there as a "to-go" order so they had to re-plate my order. Waited some more for the sweet potato fries and finally about 6:25pm I had everything (or so I thought). My wife had ordered her salmon plain (no sauce or seasonings) but sure enough, there was a sauce on top that she had to scrape off. So getting the food we paid for was a real challenge. I will point out that all of our requests (plain salmon, double fries with fish & chips) were all accurately reflected on our order receipt.

On the plus side, the actual meals were very good. Kudo's to the cooking staff for that part. The only other downside was that the zucchini side that came with the salmon was barely warm because it had sat out so long on the counter (salmon was still hot). Good food has generally been our experience here. But the staff was clearly not on their game last night. Will we return - probably. They do serve great food at reasonable prices. But the staff here definitely needs to improve over last night. They weren't shorthanded either. There was plenty of staff on hand (guessing 8-10 employees), but definitely not a smooth...

We had been here twice in the same week, (didn't have this issue the first time) ordered two chicken finger meals for the kids, calamari, plus two meals for us. As you know, this is not the cheapest place to eat, but the food is good and generally healthy, so it's worth it. On our second visit in the same week, when we asked for ranch for the kids chicken fingers, we were told if we needed more than 3 sauces we would need to pay for it, now here is the problem, first we ordered 5 things, all needing and should come with sauces and they only fill their sauces half full, so if they actually filled them, we would not have needed anything extra. They were adamant about 3 was the limit unless I want to purchase them, which I did, so I did. I will not be going back again on principal, the customer service and the treatment on this trip was not ok, if they want to be a company that counts their sauces instead of delivering great quality food at a price allows them to be profitable without worrying about someone getting and extra, I don't want to be a part of it. I would expect this from taco bell or jack n the box, but even they don't do this. Food was still good (although on our first visit they screwed up our order) service was the issue. Left a really bad taste in my mouth (pun intended) Much like everything else California, not concerned about the future...