Bosscat Kitchen & Libations — Restaurant in Irvine

11 person reservation for Saturday brunch. Seated in their fancy large private room Restaurant wasn't busy. Place is very nice, and they have always delivered excellent food and drinks in my experiences.

Service this time though, was not a good time. We had a very nice server but newly hired and needed to train. That's not a problem, as long as she's nice and tries her best. There were many instances where she was inefficient and needed to confirm a lot of individual things about our order/drinks. She also overpoured sparking wine twice, causing it to bubble up and spill out of the glass and onto the floor. Let me re-emphasize that I'm not so much upset at her or critical of her serving efforts, but more at the lack of help/service from other staff. There should've been someone who was more involved by her side, or helping her with our group, but it just seemed like the staff decided it was best to give the newest hire the largest party and let her figure it out.

We were notified of the 20% auto grat for large parties, which is fine, but these restaurants and companies should know: customer tipping is based on service provided. If you "pre-set" our tip, please be prepared to match that level of service that we expect.

We were celebrating one of our girl's birthday, and I asked if they offered anything special (i'd be cool with a candle and chocolate cursive writing on a plate lol) and one of the guy staff said they could bring something out for her. Our server came to our table and asked what spirit the birthday girl prefers so the bartender can make her a "birthday drink". I'm thinking oh that's very unique and a nice gesture. It was phrased as if it were on the house, and it can be inferred, given we're a large party with a large tab. Drink comes out, she enjoys it, I assume that was what the guy server made happen upon my ask. Gee, was I wrong. Bill comes out and there's a $9 charge for a WELL GIN.

I don't want to sound entitled or expect free stuff when I go out, but this restaurant should take better care of its customers, and its staff in training. Initially, I didn't mind the 20% auto-grat despite our training server, but after reflecting on the restaurant's service as a whole, our brunch experience, and that $9 "birthday drink" for our girl, it's really hard for me NOT to complain. The dining experience goes beyond the...

Let me start by saying I genuinely don’t like posting negative reviews. I understand every business can have an off day, and I always try to give the benefit of the doubt. But then I remembered—that’s exactly what these platforms are for: truth and transparency.

I’ve actually been to Bosscat several times, and I can confidently say their food has always been consistently good. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about the service.

We dined there on Sunday, July 6th as a party of six. Surprisingly, the restaurant was pretty quiet—maybe 10 to 15 other patrons total—so I was hopeful for a smooth experience. Unfortunately, the service we received was beyond disappointing.

It took our server 7–10 minutes just to greet us and take our drink orders.

Another 10–15 minutes for drinks and waters to arrive.

Then 30 minutes for our basic brunch items to be served.

We also ordered the popular donut burger as an appetizer to share before our meals. Not only was that forgotten entirely, but when we followed up halfway through eating, the server didn’t acknowledge her mistake. Instead of admitting she forgot to put in the order, she blamed the kitchen—which was clearly not at fault, as all of our meals came out just fine.

This wasn't a one-off slip. She was inattentive and borderline absent the entire time. To make matters worse, she messed up our check three times, and when we politely pointed it out, she seemed annoyed—as if her mistakes were somehow our fault.

Then, the final cherry on top: she added a 20% automatic gratuity to the bill—despite providing subpar service. I’m also aware there are new California laws around automatic gratuity (as of July 2024), which makes this even more questionable.

I’ve left multiple voicemails to speak with a manager to discuss this directly, but no one has returned my calls—which speaks volumes about how they handle feedback.

Lastly, I noticed something troubling on Yelp: Bosscat has “563 not recommended reviews”, which seems to include most of their negative feedback. It raises questions about how review visibility is being managed.

I wish I could say this was a one-time issue, but based on this experience, I can’t recommend Bosscat anymore—not because of the food, but because of the consistently poor service and lack of...

I’m thinking that brunch and happy hour are the ideal times to visit. I’ve had my eye on this restaurant for a while, so I chose to celebrate my birthday here for lunch with mom and sis. There were highs and lows, but I definitely would like to return. What I want to accentuate the most was how great it was to dine somewhere without being served by someone wearing a mask! It was a throwback to 2019 and it was so refreshing!!! We were a bit taken back by the hostess initially and didn’t seem very welcoming. It was as though we had shown up to a party we weren’t invited to. There were 5 of us on a Monday afternoon without a reservation. We waited maybe 7 minutes only to be told that we had a 2 hour time limit at our table. I understood, as I was a server myself. Our server was very friendly and was very excited to hear it was my birthday. He was knowledgeable about the whiskeys, and made some great suggestions. Although, addressing my mom and I as “love” was a bit uncomfortable. Poor guy probably has no other greetings to use; you can’t say “ma’am” or “sir” with all the other pronouns these days; can’t say “folks” or “guys.” “People” or “persons” would probably be out of line too. So I suppose “love” works. If you’re looking for a drink to try, get the Boss Lady! It was light and refreshing with a perfect amount of sweetness that allows you to get the full flavor of the whiskey. I made the mistake of ordering something on the healthier side rather than some of the fat-cell- increasing-artery-clogging-goodness on the menu. I got the Kale-fornia salad, and WOW. That kale was very fresh and rich! It’s not a salad that calls for light dressing. I suppose I could’ve requested more dressing, but I took it home and had it for dinner the next day. I have an obsession with anything strawberry. So, naturally I chose the strawberry cake for dessert. I should’ve listened to our server when he made OTHER suggestions. He hinted without hinting. It was not strawberry at all. It was a custard with a crumble topped with strawberries. A bit anti-climatic…especially when you see what this place serves for breakfast. At any rate, I will be back for breakfast and some more whiskey. Thank you...