The Cellar Restaurant — Restaurant in Fullerton

Terrible restaurant and threatening customer experience. Having spent 30 years of my career in hospitality management I know how important it is to treat customers well and with respect. Last night my family and I had a very unfortunate and unacceptable experience at the Cellar in Fullerton.

First , We were not provided menus and had to wait over 15 minutes after asking and then receiving only one menu for a party of four. My cousin ordered a black label on the rocks and waited over 45 minutes for it having to remind the waiter a couple of times before receiving it.

Two of us split a salad which was only a few leaves of lettuce and nothing out of the ordinary. We waited over 40 minutes for appetizers which were very bland and not tasty.

After we had waited an additional 50 minutes for our entrées I had to ask the waiter how much longer the wait would be. He said that we didn’t know what fine dining was. That was a big insult to my cousin and I who are high-level business professionals And who frequently entertain our clients at fine dining restaurants throughout the world.

After finally waiting an hour we received our entrées one at a time. The steaks were cold and tough despite the steak that my wife and I had which was $98. The potatoes were very cold. I had asked for medium rare but it was well done and definitely not 16 oz as noted on the menu.

My cousins New York State was equally bad and was very cold . When we notified the waiter he just made excuses and was unwilling to redo the steaks without charging us for another round of steaks. I had only had two bites. At any other restaurant they would’ve either redone the steaks to satisfaction or offered another entrée.they did not offer a simple apology only excuses and insults.

We notified the waiter that we wanted the steaks redone but again he said he had to charge. We asked for the manager and this lady Monica Murphy came asking us again if we knew what fine dining was? When we asked about having our entrées re-done she said they would discount one steak by 20 percent but had to. Hardest for new ones. I’ve never heard of such a thing since it was not done satisfactory, was tough , Cold, and hardly edible. She made excuses for it being cold saying the steaks had to rest after being cooked.

. I was very surprised when the lady then said she was the manager because she was so rude and condescending and insulting to all of us. When my cousin complained she said she didn’t care. After all of that the most she could offer was a 20% discount on the one steak. We were not out for a free meal or discount what do you have an enjoyable experience that have been ruined. As the manager Monica continue to insult my cousin wife and his wife the waiter stood behind my cousin smirking at him. After my cousin asked for the bill which included $148 of wine another young waiter came up and was quite threatening to us ordering us to keep our voices down. The management and staff at that as though we were out of order and yet we were very polite and civil under the circumstances.

I have never witnessed such a terrible handling of a customer in my over 30 years in the hospitality business. It really was a reflection from management down to all the employees How they treated us as customers.

My wife and family are from Sri Lanka and felt that they were discriminating Against us because we are brown. They treated us as though we were out of order and made many nasty insults that were extremely condescending.

I am surprised that a restaurant that considered themselves fine dining could treat anyone like this without realizing the damage being done to its reputation just by word-of-mouth. We will certainly let all our friends and family in the area know about the unfortunate incident we had at the Cellar restaurant. It is also very unfortunate because my cousin who just bought a house nearby would likely have entertained many of our customers at the restaurant if we had had a positive...

We came here to celebrate my husband's birthday on a Saturday night. We parked at the parking structure across the street for free. It is very easy to make reservations on open table, if you fail to make it to the reservations, the restaurant will charge you $40 per person. I was not aware the cellar was designed in the 60s by someone that created the pirates of the Caribbean. And so many people mentioned the place is hard to find, it got me nervous that we wouldn't make it to the restaurant on time. After walking by somisomi, you will walk through a gate into a plaza, and the restaurant is located at the end of the hallway to the right. There is a very dark staircase going down into a very dark place. The vibe is very unique with the whole restaurant built underneath in the basement. Watch your steps! Not sure if it's just me, but the place smells a little like dampness or urine.....

Salty food alert

We ordered bunch of food to try. Cocktail: 5 stars He ordered the odyssey, he mentioned one of the best cocktail. Not overly sweet bur great flavors.

Appetizers : Escargot with mushrooms and puff pastry - 2 stars I got so excited for the escargot and puff pastry combo!!! However, I have tried Escargot multiple places, this is the first place Escargot failed me. There is no butter or garlic flavors but salt, a lot of salt. It is too salty to eat. Thank God, the server brought some warm bread, dipping with bread and butter, we managed to ignore the saltiness.

Lobster bisque - 4 stars Very very tasty Lobster bisque with small chunks of Lobster. Order one bowl to split for sharing is a must, it feels quite rich and salty at the end.

Main course: Salmon with black rice : 2 stars The salmon is something that I can easily make at home, rice is tasty but it gets very salty at the end.

Lamb shank: 2 stars The lamb meat is cooked long enough to fall off the bones. However, very salty flavors and kinda gamey. We started to doubt ourselves at this point.... Is our taste broken or this chef very heavy on the salt??

Brussel Sprouts : 2 stars The type of Brussels Sprout easily to make at home with honey, nothing special. But it helped us to balance the rest of the food since they are sooooooo salty. Also 6 glasses of water really help.

Chocolate souffle with caramel sauce: 4 stars It is hot and fresh and very tasty, bit lack of chocolate flavors like any other comments mentioned.

Service : 6 stars Best service we have for a long time dining in OC. The server truly takes care of his table, he is knowledgeable about the restaurant and the menu. He refilled water frequently and cleaned the table often. And he brought us on the house creme Brulee, that was really tasty. Every server in the restaurant carries very high standards, that's very admirable.

Vibes: 4 stars If you can disregard the weird smells and no cellphone reception, this restaurant has a unique dark vibe and we had such a good time with great conversation. And I noticed all the other tables were also having really great conversations without the distraction of a cell phone. It was definitely a very special experience even though the food is not great.

Overall, spending over $200 for very salty not so great food just makes it hard for us to come back. (...I'm not salty about it at all...) I would love to see this restaurant keep going for another 50 years, but with all these reviews mentioning overly salty food. Please gather the staff and try the food yourself. No matter how nice of ingredients or dish preparation, overly salty food kills all the flavors. Even if there is a nice vibe and great service in the restaurant, we are going for food at the...

The food and cocktails here are exceptional and they have the service to match! The restaurant could be a little difficult to find if it's your first time since it's in a tucked away corner of Villa del Sol and down a hard to spot staircase.(I recommend entering from the Villa del Sol parking lot for more ease of access). I would recommend making a reservation a couple of days in advance as walk-ins are not guaranteed.

Do note this restaurant rotates their menu seasonally so certain items are subject to change and certain menu items may change or be paired differently, but nonetheless food and drinks are always exceptional IMO.

Aps: for the appetizers I've had the seasonal crab cake, lobster bisque, and the French onion soup (for the winter 2023 season the chef had added filet mignon to the soup and now it's much richer and tastier). Lobster bisque is always a solid choice, but if seafood isn't your thing, can't go wrong with the French onion soup.

Entrees: if you're a picky eater and nothing on the menu seem too appetizing and most of the ingredients sound too left field for you, I'd recommend the Filet mignon, the meat is tender, the demi glace sauce pairs well and served with mashed potatoes and seasonal veggies (nice so you don't have to order extra sides). The venison is great, nice and tender, cooked exceptionally well and pairs surprisingly well with a pomegranate reduction(fruit reduction may change depending on season). Seared duck breast is tender and typically cooked rare and usually paired with something seasonal (winter 2023, pumpkin ravioli)

Dessert: souffles are always a solid bet, but the one the go for is the sticky toffee pudding which pairs with a nice vanilla ice cream. Trust me just go with the sticky toffee pudding. I'm not a dessert guy, but I could eat many of these.

The food here is great, but in my opinion the cocktail program they have here is what keeps me coming back. I haven't had a single bad cocktail here, everyone I tried is wonderful, but my favorite will still have to be the Irish Goodbye. They offer a rotating seasonal cocktail menu here along with some staples. Something here for everyone, even if you don't drink they have some tasty and refreshing mocktails to fit your tastes.

Last note: if you really want to try a unique experience be sure to ask your server about the cuff for drinks and chef choice for food, you never know what you will be offered that evening since it changes daily.

To round out the entire experience, the service this place has is some of the best I've ever had, the servers are very attentive, sociable and we'll rounded. You simply cannot go wrong with the service here!

Can't really find a fault to this place, maybe if you have a larger party or big and tall make sure to request for a table and not a both since the booths can be kind of a tight fit. Also the restaurant is dimmly lit so just watch your step.

I would recommend this place for date night, special occasion, celebration, or if you simply want an unique dining experience, this...