The Rooftop Bar — Restaurant in Oceanside

I'm only giving this place 1-star because of the ocean view. Let me add, I NEVER give bad reviews! I hate to give a bad review especially considering how many restaurants have been struggling due to this pandemic but there's no excuse for such poor service (especially when 2 appetizers and 3 drinks cost $80).

My friend and I were really excited to check this place out so we made a reservation for Friday evening. Parking was a nightmare since there didn't seem to be any parking at the hotel and no valet option... so we had to park 5 blocks away and trek it to the hotel. When we finally got there we were seated promptly by the hostess... it was busy but not packed. The decor is cute but impractical. For example, the beach chairs they sat us in were extremely uncomfortable... they were canvas, folding beach chairs and were incredibly difficult to eat at because it felt like you were laying down and they were ridiculously low to the ground. In fact, they were so uncomfortable both of us had marks on the back of our legs from these chairs.

Our waiter greeted us about 12 minutes or so after we were seated. We ordered our drinks, chips and guacamole and a shrimp tostada and then we didn't see him again for over 40 minutes. The food came out before the drinks and someone brought us water shortly after the first small plate was served. The guacamole was fine (nothing spectacular), measured out to 1cup. The chips were sold separately, were stale and clearly not made fresh in house. The fried tortillas in the shrimp tostada was also old and tasted off (like maybe the oil was old). The food menu was very limited and what we tried was underwhelming and definitely not worth the price.

When we finally got our drinks over 40 minutes later... they were disappointing to say the least. Our drinks were $17 each and the glasses were tiny! Even worse the glass was packed with so much ice there was maybe 2 ounces of liquid in it?!?!?!!? They were very skimpy on the alcohol and tasted like juice ($17 is very expensive for juice, don't you think?).

There was nothing exceptional with the food, drinks or service. We saw our waiter 4 times; when he took our order, when he brought our drinks out, when he gave us our bill, then 25 minutes after that when he finally got back around to close us out.

We were there almost 2 hours because the service was so slow. We left disappointed and ended up going down to one of our favorite places, Mission Bar & Grill to get real drinks, great food and quick service.

Overall, the service, food and drinks were awful. I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone. If you want stellar beach dining and great food (and cocktails that actually taste like cocktails), I would recommend 333 instead and skip this place entirely.

Like I said, the view is nice but not nice enough to compensate for the lack of service, weak cocktails...

I've been here before, and last time the menu was slightly larger and the food was better. Of course, I understand that menus change, however it is absolutely ridiculous to call this place a restaurant when their menu is like 10 pages of liquor and alcohol, and a singular page dedicated to food, all of which (but one) were "small plates".

I got the skirt steak to share with one other person, and although I know skirt steak isn't the best cut, it was disgusting. We ordered it medium rare, but when it came out, it was so inconsistent throughout. One piece was almost entirely pink and another was obviously well done. I don't even know how they managed to mess it up so bad because it wasn't that big of a cut.

The food came out in an average time, but the food was so mediocre. I think they're trying to make it bougie by selling insanely overpriced meals since they're in a great location.

The heaters barely worked, the chairs were uncomfortable, and the music was unbearably loud. I have major sensory issues, and the volume was a big problem last time, and it made this meal incredibly unenjoyable. The music was also horribly chosen, like night club type stuff. It would be immediately more elegant if they played something even slightly nicer.

I was so disappointed with the menu (yes, I should have checked it, I know that's my bad), that it honestly soured the rest of the "dinner". After we got our food, our server didn't check in on us before giving us the check, not even asking how everything was, which I would have mentioned the quality of the steak (politely), as we ate maybe 3 pieces.

I ordered a mocktail, which was insanely sweet but also bitter? I couldn't finish it. Someone ordered an alchoholic drink, and said she could barely taste the alcohol.

Apologies for the absolutely humongous review. Lots of feedback! Overall, I would definitely not recommend this place to someone. I hope this helps, and hopefully the restaurant will take this information into consideration and improve whatever...

I truly hope the owner takes the time to read this and put fourth the effort to better their overall service and management.

To put a long story short, the service from our server was fine. Mixed up the wrong drinks twice but let us keep the mess ups. As the five of us were finishing up our drinks, our designated driver came up to meet us and waited as we finished our drinks. When the bill was due, there was a 20% party of 6 gratuity added on top of the 6% surcharge. Of course we were confused as a party of five (our DD was also never served). We were planning to pay most of the tip in cash so we ended up having to get the manager involved (per the server's suggestion) to refund the bill in order to use our cash. Our planned out tip would've been more than the 20% gratuity but we really just wanted use our cash and had it all divided between the five of us perfectly. After the new charge on the card was finalized (less than 20% on the card because, again, we wanted to use cash), my friend was leaving and as she was walking away the manager told her "That's why we do the gratuity, if you can't afford it don't come."

My friend didn't want to add to the "scene" already made, but once she let us know what was said to her of course we were all furious. That is absolutely unprofessional and ridiculous for any staff to say, let alone someone from management. After reading some of these previous reviews, there seems to be a pattern of disrespectful behavior from the management that has yet to be dealt with. It is unbelievable the owner has allowed for this behavior to continue for this long.

Extremely disappointed, this place has so much potential and they are allowing the...