Oceanside Broiler — Restaurant in Oceanside

We really wanted to love this place. We really did.. but we just didn’t. As an avid foodie/eater/traveler/let’s-go-out-because-we-finally-can type of guy, I wasn’t impressed at all. : /

Pros:

-Margarita was truly a skinny margarita. No triple sec or any extra sugar. We appreciated that. -Our server, Debbie, was extremely nice. She reminded us of an old family friend. -Coconut shrimp were well cooked and generally tasty. Best dish by far. -happy hour was fairly priced at first glance.

Cons: -Food was poor quality overall. Cesar salad was bland and watery. Shrimp cocktail came with 3(?!) shrimp, although good-sized shrimp. Clam chowder was cold. Mussels weren’t high quality and tasted sus even in butter and lemon. Garlic bread was more like plastic bread. Mahi taco was an extremely small portion of fish. Baja taco was 3-1 breading to fish ratio. Overall we weren’t satiated nor did we care for the taste of really anything mentioned.

-4 skinny margaritas ran a hair under 70 dollars, and they weren’t doubles (if they were, color me impressed, they didn’t affect my tiny girlfriend whatsoever and I couldn’t feel or taste anything in them). That’s the priciest margarita I’ve ever had in my life. I will say I take partial blame here as our server told us the skinny ones wouldn’t be on happy hour, which we felt was fine.. I should have clarified the price. That doesn’t change the fact that a single tequila margarita was nearly 20 per drink. That’s just not not befitting of the ambiance, food quality, or overall experience.

Overall, we paid a 150 dollar tab during a happy hour with 4 drinks. We probably won’t be coming back and caution anyone thinking of...

The view and restaurant is incredible. Laid back, casual classy. Our server Jorge was attentive and accommodating. Authentic friendliness was observed.

Now for the bartender SEAN. GROSS. Nasty attitude, and unfriendly...to me. I suspect he has an issue with Black people and he is the reason I deducted a star

I ordered a Raspberry Lemon Drop martini. Who tf doesn't know it cones with a sugar rim? But mine had salt mixed in it. I could taste it. Jorge wasn't close, so I took the drink to the Bar. Sean was in a conversation with another customer. His acknowledgement was not immediate, as he saw me bringing the drink to the bar.

It took about 45 seconds for him to acknowledge me with WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU. Wrong question, buddy. A friendly bartender would ask if everything was ok!! I replied with Hi Sean ( nametag). This drink should have sugar around it, but I taste salt mixed in the sugar can i have another? Sean stares at me with no Fn reply. So I said, unless there is someone else who can help me?? He replied with a snide, "NO, it's just me. I'll see what I can do." See what you can do?? So I say thank you and walk back to my table leaving the drink. Jorge comes to ask what happened. My stepmother tells him in Spanish and that Sean is a rude idiot. Jorge comes back with a new drink and apologizes for Sean's behavior...Jorge the redeemer.

The calamari was super fresh! I had the grilled tuna melt with a Caesar salad and fries, and it was smashing! Delicious all around!

I will visit again when I'm back in the O'side...and I'll skip the...

Horrible Experience

Service from Melissa was non existent as she acted annoyed with our presence. She was impatient with our drink order and food order, it wasn’t even busy. It was as if she didn’t want to be there. She straight had a shitty scowl on her face from start to finish. The Bald Manager brought the food, which one of the dishes was going to shared by two in our party. This clearly was not anticipated by him meaning it wasn’t communicated by Melissa or he didn’t care to look at the ticket. He kindly offered to bring an extra plate but it never arrived. My wife had to go to the kitchen to get one after 5 min of waiting. As my wife came back with the extra plate the bald manager (didn’t catch him name) followed her with his eyes focused on her butt as he just walked past us and no acknowledgment of his forgetting to bring the essential plate. Food was lukewarm at best and no presentation effort whatsoever was taken into consideration from the kitchen. Infact all the asparagus tips were missing on my dish as the veggies looked just tossed into the other food. As an Oside local who has been coming here for almost 2 decades it saddened me to have this aweful experience. I will never eat here again, and I will share this horrible experience on every local platform I can think of.

I worked in the F&B hospitality industry for decades and Melissa & Manager Palone should go back to telemarketing as anticipation, memory and even just a friendly smile are too much to ask...