California Grill — Restaurant in Madera

Stopped here by chance on Mother’s Day and we were BLOWN AWAY by the service and food. I ordered the filet mignon special- my husband ordered the rib eye and both were cooked to perfection with generous sides of a salad, baked potato, mushrooms, asparagus, breaded/fried shrimp and toast. They made a side of broccoli, zucchini and carrots for our daughter (which wasn’t on the menu) and at the end they gave ice cream. They were offering strawberry ice cream with whip cream but our 3 year old daughter kept talking about how she wanted chocolate ice cream. Then—get this— they surprised us with a bowl of chocolate ice cream just for her at the end! Her eyes lit up and that’s when I realized we’d found a real gem of a restaurant. So glad we supported this local mom n pop instead of where we were initially...

They make a good effort. The place seems clean, inviting and friendly. But the service is just strange. Normally when someone takes a drink order they go get your drink while you decide on what you’d like to order. They took my drink order and left me there for another 5 minutes, then took my food order and then later came back with my drink just before my food came out. Not even a glass of water to tie me over. And then, my biggest peeve - no offer to refill my drink. I did the set the empty glass at the edge of the table and still nothing. I wish I could say it was because they were busy - but there was only one other person in the restaurant. I have no desire to go back even though the...

What happened? The Chicken Alfredo was just MEH. All the ingredients were there but Not Put Together Right.

The Fish 'N Chips review is mixed. ° All the Seasonings were Perfect!! ° FISH was Beautifully Cooked - flakey, moist, golden-brown lightly breaded, generous portions. ° Great house-made tartar sauce + malt vinegar available. ¬ The Fries (house-made?) were NOT Beautiful - they were a pile of well browned, but skinny, greasy, semicrisp, potato "strings".

[Hey, CaliGrill, work on a chunkier dinner-fry with light fluffy interior!...