Arandas Cafe — Restaurant in Imperial Beach

What a GEM of a place! The pictures will say it all ....but you need to go check it out for yourself. Fantastic ambiance, incredibly great food, warm service... This place has it all! Tucked away behind El Tapatio in Imperial Beach (same family runs Arandas).

My expectations went up as soon as we walked in the door...SO MUCH ATTENTION TO DETAIL! From the overall ambience and decor (black and white, "bistro chic"), to the incidentals like menus, chairs and tables: everything represents "the brand". I was thinking "if it LOOKS this good-- the food must be great".... And we weren't disappointed.

This is an owner / chef that cares about quality.

We enjoyed the stuffed brioche French toast with cinnamon mascarpone, homemade applesauce and berries, with a side of crispy applewood smoked bacon. And the eggs florentine with a side of sausages. A perfect latte breve topped it all off for me. (Bill came to about $45. )

MINOR quibbles (almost too small to mention but since it feels like the owners are striving perfection, they would want to know.... Since It's already pretty darn close to perfect!)

---Our server came pretty quickly and she was very attentive without being intrusive (something I really appreciate)---however the food took a little while to come. We weren't in a rush so no big deal. But the place was fairly slow with only two other tables at the time. (One was a big party of 12 people.... Perhaps they walked in right before us and the kitchen was slammed?) Again. VERY minor complaint. However my friend who recommended this place warned me that the service might be slow... So I thought I should mention it.

--Food came out HOT-- but the plates weren't pre warmed, so it cooled down fairly quickly.

--the French toast was BEAUTIFULLY presented. Eggs benedict could have been dressed up a little bit? (Slice of orange and a strawberry maybe? With a sprinkle of chives or something on top? Just could have been a little bit better--especially compared to the French toast)

--they might want to consider setting the tables with silverware. The food was delivered and then our waitress had to go back and get knives and forks..... While we sat there drooling, looking at our beautiful food 😏😁

Other than that... This comes close to being one of the VERY best dining out experiences I've had in a long time. Almost perfect. Can't wait to try it again... There's so many options on that menu that are calling my name!

And... Let's hope they open for dinner service soon. Currently they are a breakfast through lunch spot. Can't wait to see what they might offer for dinner!

One Last tip: they might want to consider getting a beer and wine license. Mimosas with brunch would be the crowning touch! I could also see them setting up a cute little bar on the patio for people who are waiting for a table? Sipping mimosas or champagne? Arandas is altogether lovely, the perfect neighborhood spot! May...

Upon arrival, we waited to be seated and 3 employees passed by and not a greeting was said. My husband went in and said employees were talking and finally acknowledged him and said they’d be out. Again not a greeting. Then the waitress appeared (again no greeting), and said “I’ll seat you here.” Then we waited about 7 minutes for our drink order to be taken, at which point we asked to place our order. My daughter got the fruit bowl—pretty, but had pineapple core in it, and squishy blueberries past their prime. My husband got an egg scramble and toast. It was a skinny piece of dry toast—one piece. No butter. We asked for butter which they never brought over. I got the avocado toast. It was dry, cold and thin slice of toast. It lacked the flavor of lemon described in the menu. We both had to further season our food. If they’re trying to cut costs this was a pathetic attempt for something I paid $14 for. Our tiny water glasses were never filled. Our coffee was never filled. They never even checked on us until someone came to take our plates. My husband had to go in and pay because we never were brought a check. He said there was no one taking charge to manage the staff. The staff lacked any sort of training, willingness to work or hustle to be good at their job. They need training or to find a new job. I was incredibly disappointed. I have waited tables, worked front of house and in the kitchen of restaurants, this place has potential, but at this rate we won’t return nor will we recommend it to anyone. Quite...

Note to restaurant: Fruit parfaits should have vanilla or strawberry FLAVORED yogurt. Greek yogurt tastes like SOUR CREAM so you should really change that greek yogurt choice because the pound of granola and the sour cream taste coupled with MELON is just nasty. I couldn't muster through it and I left the entire thing but was not offered to have it taken off the bill, even after telling the waitress it was really disgusting.

Our food and drinks came in a weird random order too which had a couple people pretty heated. We waited for a long time before We got a couple drinks. We waited a bit longer then two people got food and then 5.. 8ish minutes later the other two drinks for the first two who had food came out and then the other two peoples food came after the first two had finished theirs and they had just gotten their drinks.

To top that adventure off, the waitress literally leaned over my cousins fiancé and had her whole chest in his face instead of coming around the table to hand out plates. I am not the jealous type to drag a chick over just doing her job but my cousin was ready to literally throw hands because she is the jealous type and it was kind of rude to reach across someone eating and not walk the extra three steps. In a nut shell the food we tried was not worth going back for a second try and that was the general consensus...