Waverly — Restaurant in Encinitas

🏆Restaurant Appreciation:

Today, we enjoyed a spectacular lunch at Waverly Restaurant, which undoubtedly served one of the finest meals we've ever had, matched by exceptional service.

The staff at Waverly are the epitome of professionalism, combining impeccable manners with comprehensive training. They display an impressive knowledge of their menu, showing an upbeat attitude, approachability, and an astute understanding of dietary preferences and modifications. Our server, Amber, was nothing short of remarkable, while Max, who initially assisted us, was also a delightful presence. Their anticipatory service was akin to an AI predicting our needs even before we voiced them.

👨‍🍳Culinary Delights:

The food, including the dessert, was divine. The team at Waverly was able to deftly modify dishes to cater to our friend's vegan, raw, and gluten-free requirements. Our chosen dishes included a hearty and delicious kale salad, homemade ravioli that was cooked to perfection with a scrumptious sauce, and a roasted cauliflower appetizer that struck a fine balance between flavor and crispiness.

🍹Drink and Dessert:

Our drinks were also impressive, with the Bodega Boy cocktail being a particular standout. It had a balanced blend of mezcal, coconut, lime, and mango juice. For dessert, we indulged in the chocolate cake, a joyous dance of textures and temperatures with its crispy and warm exterior coupled with a melting chocolate interior. Paired with ice cream, it was pure bliss.

⭐️Value for Money:

Every penny spent at Waverly was worth the remarkable experience we had. The unanimous delight shared by our party of four has certainly cemented Waverly as our future meet-up destination.

🥇Service Excellence:

Amber and Max's service was nothing short of exceptional, a fact that certainly merits recognition by the restaurant's management. Amber was our waitress and she was amazing at her recommendations, proactively meeting our needs, being personable and caring.

👍🏼In Summary:

The careful suggestions, delicious flavors, attentive preparation, and appealing aesthetic of Waverly make it a truly wonderful dining destination. As a popular choice among diners, we recommend making a reservation in advance.

This restaurant is an absolute must-try. The Waverly experience is one that must be savored...

I think it was Anthony Bourdain who once said to never eat dinner at a restaurant on a Monday evening. My wife and I made that mistake on our recent visit to the Waverly.

We went for dinner and arrived to find the restaurant was busy with a plenty of light (floor to ceiling windows/sliding doors) and comfortable seating.

We ordered brussels sprouts with garlic aioli as an appetizer. The food was rubbery and very salty. My wife ordered a cocktail which she enjoyed – and said afterwards it was the best part of the meal! I had a glass of prosecco which was partially flat.

When it came to ordering entrees, I was thinking of the NY strip and I asked the waitress what the ‘medium rare’ looks like, expecting an red/pink center type of answer. She replied “oh, it looks like a classic medium rare! This of course is not her fault – she tried and was very personable - but had no training or knowledge of restaurant protocol. The steak arrived and it was dry and seemed to have been warmed up rather than cooked fresh on a grill. It was medium.

I ordered a wine by the glass, Overture by Opus One to accompany my steak. At $60 a glass I expect the wine BTG (by the glass) to be open and ready to drink. The bottle had been opened for me, so I had to wait for the wine to open up. I asked if they had another bottle already open. To my surprise 15 minutes after pointing out the shortcoming, I was brought another glass of the same wine, from another newly opened bottle. I guess no-one here knows anything about wine.

My wife had scallops which were overcooked and again very salty. I just don’t know what or who was in the kitchen but none of the food in this establishment was of the required quality on the night in question.

The waitress did give us a complimentary dessert, but at $300 for 2 the damage was done.

All in all you have to sometimes put things down to an ‘off night’ but with the frequency of things that just did not work, I have to wonder how this restaurant entices repeat business to...

Firstly, this place is beautiful. The team that designed this place deserves an award because it’s so well done. But, that’s pretty much where the stellar experience ends. The service was terrrrrrrribly slow. We sat there for 12 minutes before our server got to us. The server would go up to a table, get their order, disappear, and wait for the drinks at the bar. They did not come to us until we waived to stop them since it was almost 3pm and we wanted items from the full menu. Even when we waived, they said “I’ll be right there”. We waited another 5 minutes for them to come back. We ordered the roasted carrots (very delicious), the pork bao bun and the roasted cauliflower. We specified that we would like the carrots as an appetizer. After 15 minutes, all the food comes out together without the carrots. They did eventually bring it out but it’s frustrating when all that warm food comes out together, now something gets cold. The drinks took a while to come to the table. I’m not sure if they were understaffed or just in need of some retraining. The pork belly bao bun was only photogenic. For $15 you get one little piece of pork belly, to compare the size, it looks like a thick piece of bacon. No sides come with it either. It was just over priced and as my husband put it “underwhelming”. The staff then did a shift change and we didn’t know until we were looking for our server (again) and they were no where to be found. We had to ask the hostess to please send the server. A new one comes over and says “oh they left I am taking over their tables”. It should have been communicated to your customer that you’re leaving and this is your new server. It was just an overall odd experience. I would maybe come back for happy hour if my friends wanted to. I do wish they had wine on happy hour, it is only beer and some cocktails. There is obviously room to improve and I hope they do because this beautiful spot deserves to have top notch food...