Chart House — Restaurant in Monterey

Went here for my birthday last night and there was really not much to celebrate. It started as soon as we walked in the door and the continued poor service until we walked out. We were a bit early for our reservation and was told we got checked in but no anticipatory guidance on what to expect around seating or waiting times. Then after waiting 30 minutes, my husband went to check and see what was going on and was told we were second in line. But, I thought we had a reservation? Anywho, not that big of a deal but still not what you would expect from a restaurant that comes highly recemmended with an advance reservation. Then, once seated, we waited 15 minutes for our waitress to come greet us and order drinks. It then took another 15 minutes to get the drinks. It was so obvious that we had been waiting nearly 30 minutes at the table with menus, another server came over to make sure we had at least ordered drinks. Once I got my hot tea we then waited another 10 minutes for my husband to get his non-alcholic beer. The waitress did not ask or bring me honey or sweetner for me tea so I had to ask and wait for it as well. Also, she did not show my husband the bottle of non-alcoholic beer before pouring it. She just poured it in a drink glass without asking which is a no no. This is an important step to verify what he ordered and certainly to avoid any mix up with the alcoholic version. Again, not all terrible things, but not high quality service by any stretch. We then went on to make sure we ordered the appetizers and entrees together as the wait time and contact with the waitress was delayed and hit and miss. The waitress then brought our fresh oysters to the table put them down and walked away. Clearly there was three types on yhe platter which she did not introduce or describe. It was like … “here you go”! For $25 for 6 oysters in Monterey Bay at a nice restaurant it would have been nice to know what they were.

We then waited another 30 minutes for our dinner. My salad was soggy and soup was cold. At least my husband’s steak and shrimp came out good! The waitress at some point during the experience said happy birthday and then I had to ask for a dessert menu which arrived 10 minutes later via another wait staff.

Needless to say, we were very underwhelmed and disappointed with our experience. Service was poor, food mediocre at best and NOT a place I would recommend on a random night out let alone a celebration.

Instead, make your way down the block to the Coastal Kitchen at the Monterey Plaza Hotel! Now this place is TOP NOTCH food and service. All you have to do is arrive and they take care of the rest. The anticipatory service was excellent! We dodnt have to ask for a thing! And, they navigated the menu with us to help us decide what to order. The Coastal Kitchen is everything and more you could want out of dinning experience. Oh.. and the food was spectacular!!

So…Skip Chart House and go to Coastal Kitchen for a great experience, food and place...

Ah, the Chart House Monterey. I have been coming here for decades, long before it was a Landry acquisition. And it has always been one of those gems (my oh my, how I normally hate that word) of the bay. Great views. Incredible atmosphere. The wood accents and general sweep of the place amazed me as a child and still makes me smile at just north of 50.

Thing is, the one thing that made me look forward to coming here disappeared after the pandemic: the salad bar. But, last month, I saw that it was back as the Farmer’s Bar (for $27 or $13.50 with a main). So, I gathered a group of friends whom I introduced to this place in the 90s and we dutifully went for our first visit in nearly four years.

Same vibe. Same feeling. Our server, Love, was great and needs a raise given all she did to accommodate us. The cork fee was reasonable. The salad bar was . . . just as we remembered it. An amazing layout of great items. Anchovies on demand! Reasonably good caviar to slather on crackers! Enough items to more than cover the price of ordering this, and this alone, for dinner. And the views? Even if you are tucked towards the back, the streamlined nature of this location means that you still get to look out and see the bay.

But . . . the Landry vibe is strong when you start to peek under the hood. By which I mean, this is a bottom-line business that suffers by margins, margins which I understand are tight. Two of us ordered steaks, medium-rare. They came out looking grey; I mean, really grey. They were tough. But we were with friends. So, we exchanged obvious looks and didn’t make a fuss. The coconut shrimp were standard fare that you could get at other places for far less given the portion size. The apps? The oysters were over-priced but tasted nice. The calamari? Tasted great and were nicely portioned. The mud (no long mile-high) pie was substantial and a close approximation of what I remembered. The sides? Good enough for what they were, but those sizzling mushrooms weren’t and I have had more and better at other places. All in all, a mixed bag in a great location.

And that is the long and short of it. I should add, though, that the staff excel at their jobs. The initial host was a bit relaxed/bemused/bored. But the next host I talked to was proactive and effective. I saw the manager roaming the room. I mean, they are running a business. Luckily, they are running a long-established one, in one of the best locations on the bay. And, all in all, my guests enjoyed the experience.

My advice? Make a reservation. Order apps. Order the salad bar. Order dessert. Skip the over-priced and inconsistently prepared mains. Consider bring your own favorite bottle of wine. But do come back. The location remains a treasure, decades later.

Other Chart Houses? Bring back your salad bars. They are your central draw after you take away your locations (I am looking at you, Portland and...

Let me start by saying I’ve been going to the Chart House, in Monterey, Ca for about 37 years. We love the Chart House, and it’s always been our go to restaurant. We knew it was going to be busy, since it was Mother’s Day weekend, but that’s why we were going. My daughter, grandson and I went for our Mother’s Day dinner. The first thing that bothered me was being sat at a table against the back wall. This would have been ok, had they not pushed the tables so close together, that the people on either side of us felt like they were our dinner mates. They were so close, that when the waitress to the table on our right delivered something to the that table, she had to slide between our tables. I always felt like I had to lean out of the way, so she could get in there. I typically order Prime Rib, as it’s my absolute favorite, and tonight was no different. I ordered the Callihan cut, which is a $50.00 meal, as I like to be able to bring some home. I received my meal, and there was so much fat and gristle, that I couldn’t even cut through it with the steak knife’s they bring. I don’t like to send things back, typically, but if you’re paying that much for a piece of meat, you don’t want to cut through so much fat and gristle. I told the waitress that there was so much gristle, that I couldn’t cut through it, and it had a lot of fat. She said she could take it back and get another one if I wanted. So she took it away, and after about 10 minutes, she comes back with another piece that had obviously been placed on a hot grill. Prime Rib is roasted, and certainly doesn’t get set down on a grill to get grill marks. I told her this piece of meat had been put on a grill, and you could tell by the cross marks from being placed on a hot grill. She told me this wasn’t the same piece, and that she threw the other one out, and this was a different piece of meat. I never said it was the same piece of meat, I said it was put on a grill, which defeats the purpose of ordering a Prime Rib, that’s roasted. You could clearly see the marks from the grill, like on a grilled New York steak It typically dries the top of the steak because the hot grill sears it. Our waitress was also not very attentive, as we all ordered iced tea when we sat down, and never received refills until our dinner was almost over. With the food, and the tip, it just seemed like a huge waste of $269.00. I sure hope this isn’t the beginning of how things are going to be at the...