The Sur House — Restaurant in Gonzales

Stunningly poor institutional handling of a challenging situation.

We were in Big Sur when Highway 1 eroded to the north of the property. ~2,000 people were trapped in the Big Sur area overnight (with hundreds sleeping in their vehicles), and while we were able to convoy out the next day based on CalTrans assessing that the portion of the highway that hadn’t eroded was stable enough to support traffic, there was a real possibility that everyone would be stuck for a week+ ahead of an alternative evacuation plan.

Through all this, the Big Sur community rallied. They supported stranded visitors, distributed food, offered shelter, and worked hard to support those in need.

Everyone except the Alila Ventana and its restaurant, the Sur House.

The Sur House is open to the public, and its lunch and dinner service is commonly frequented by visitors to Big Sur. While not staying on property, we had both lunch (pre-collapse) and dinner (post collapse) at the Sur House the day of the highway collapse. While the food was fine, what really stood out the day of the collapse was the kindness and grace of the staff members during dinner, as many of them were also trapped in Big Sur for the night, away from their homes. They made room for stranded visitors in the restaurant (it became a hub as it’s one of the few places in Bug Sur with reliable cell service and WiFi) and were extremely supportive given the circumstances.

That all changed the next day. We arrived at the Sur House for breakfast on Sunday morning, along with several other weary stranded patrons, expecting to purchase a warm (and overpriced) meal and get some much-needed connectivity to get critical information about emergency response next steps.

We and others were completely shocked to be curtly informed that the Alila management had made the dangerous and misguided decision to ban non-hotel-guests from eating at the restaurant. Total 180 from the night prior, and while the rest of Big Sur opened its arms amidst the crisis, the Alila slammed shut its doors.

Interestingly, while we were there, alongside others who’d just spend the night huddled in their vehicles, processing that we were effectively being told to leave, despite the emergency situation, a State Park officer arrived to tell the hostess that he’d received complaints they weren’t serving food to non-guests (not from us). Before he could finish, the hostess erupted into a diatribe about how it’s their right to refuse service as an “all-inclusive” (as an aside, it’s not all-inclusive) resort etc. etc., which the officer rightly agreed with, stating that as a private business, it’s their right to refuse service to anyone, but he just wanted to inform them of the complaints.

While it is absolutely their right to refuse to feed paying would-be customers in the face of an emergency, the Alila’s management’s decision to exercise that right while the rest of Big Sur rallied to support community members and visitors alike tells you all you need to know, and this particular Alila staff member was incredibly unprofessional.

As an institution, the Alila (and its management), with its vanity room prices of $2K per night (despite the fact that literally 75% of its guests are staying on points 😂), made it very clear to us and dozens of others that it operates under a very different definition of community than the rest of Big Sur.

Save your points, and if you’re considering spending your hard-earned money to stay in Big Sur, look to Post Ranch Inn or Deetjen’s. We’ll...

THIS IS A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND OPTION

I had a dinner at the Sur House. Atmosphere 5/5 One of the best pacific panoramic view in the Big Sur.

Service (servers) 5/5 We forgot to ask the name of the server. However, he is a tall guy with gray hair. He is ver gentle and friendly. He made a great conversation with us which made us feel really amazing. The food and drinks that he recommended are all phenomenal.

Foods (4/5) Respect your elder - well balanced cocktailed with amazing garnished. Taste like Negroni & old fashioned. A method of a cloak - A rich floral cocktail which represents all the flowers in Alila Ventana Big Sur. Hen Egg - This is the must (period) Steak - a bit overcooked but the quality is great. We deducted score from this one. Duck - 10/10. That is.

Manager 0/5 We had a reservation at 8 pm and we arrived on time. We were asked to wait at the couch. Then, It was past 8 pm. we noticed there was another couple checking in after us. That couple was waiting at the couch too.

Then, that couple was seated. I was wondering why. So, I asked the host at the check in counter. The answer I got is "They booked at different time slots". Here is what I have been thinking. How does Sur House prioritize late guests over on time guests? Or they just forget to seat us and try to find a good excuse?

Nevermind, I do not want to ruin the night. So, we got seated a few seconds later.

We got the second row seats. And we notice that there is another table leaving where we would like to move there.

The manager came to talk to us and apologize about the check in process. We accepted it. Then, we asked to move to that table.

The manager said that the table will be taken care of by another server who is already overloaded. Food and services will be delayed.

Me: So, you would not seat anyone there, wouldn't you? The manager: No, we will not seat anyone for a while. Me: Can we move there to enjoy the view and take photos while waiting for food? The manager: If you sit there, we will need to sanitize all again.

Oh my goodness, this is blowing my mind. I do not want to deal with this person anymore. I do not want to ruin the atmosphere and the night.

How long will it take to sanitize? You don't even seat anyone. This makes me feel like being RACISM of being an Asian. I really do not want to feel this way since this is a very high end restaurant where many international travellers visit. This is really unfortunate. She made me feel that way.

Furthermore!!! Next 10-15 minutes, that table got seated and they even received all the food and services and left the table before us.

I really beg Alila Ventana Big Sur and The Sur House to take the action seriously. This should not occur again to any other guest or anyone. I hope my message reaches the management and they will arrange a proper training to their staff, especially managers level who handles the customer issues.

I still love and would like to revisit Alila. Hopefully these...

Disappointing food execution, substandard customer service, overall poor dining experience.

1. disappointing food execution

Wagyu Steak $120 Steak was under seared, did not achieve the “maillard effect”, compound butter was cold solid on the steak, flavor did not make sense, this steak is trying too hard and didn’t really allow the wagyu steak to shine.

Grilled Branzino $75 Fish skin is burnt (like all black on the outside!) covered under a handful of arugula salad

We ordered 2 Wagyu and 2 Branzino...for the price they’re asking for each dish, anyone can expect a well executed meal instead this meal was pretentious and left us feeling ripped off.

2. substandard customer service

I knew of Sur House because I was considering Ventana as a wedding venue. Ventana is luxury hotel, room rates starts at $1000/night.

I wanted to take my mom to a high end restaurant as we are spending the weekend in Carmel for her birthday.

I made reservations 2 days prior. I spoke with a trainee who was helpful but not competent to answer my questions. The day of my reservation, I received a phone call confirming my reservation. I asked the lady if it’s okay for me to bring a cake for my mom and how much is the cake cutting fee. The lady said there’s no need to bring cake, for $80- the restaurant can make a cake for my mom. She asked for my mom’s name and we ended the call.

We are really looking forward for this dinner. With this restaurant’s reputation and it’s association with Ventana, our expectations are high.

Then the dinner happened...see #1.

Then our server brought us the dessert menu. I was confused at this point so I asked about the cake. Our server said she’ll check on it. 20 minutes later, she brought one of the desserts from the menu, flourless cake.

Is this the $80 cake I was told earlier today? At this point, our server is also as confused as me. So she left and was going to ask the manager.

Another 15 minutes later, we are so ready to leave the restaurant, I called our server to bring us our bill. The manager was hovering around our area the entire time but never stopped to address the issue...until the time I called our server to request for our bill.

Manager was nice, but basically said this was an unusual incident because the hostess would never make this mistake. Great, now I must be hallucinating and made the whole cake story up.

Honestly, this is the moment when you realize you just had a bad meal, poor customer service, and the last thing you want is to stay.

We want to leave because we just realized this dinner was a complete waste of time and money.

3. poor dining experience

The view is great.

If you’re coming for food, then lower your expectations or don’t come at all.

Edit: Updating this to report that I woke up in the middle of the night vomiting.

A fitting ending to my entire experience...