Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Orange

From the get-go, our server, Hunter, called our group using someone else's name. Never corrected, asked why we said that wasn't our name, or paid any lip service.

Seated our group of 5 (including a toddler) at the first table for four with one chair sticking into the aisle that leads straight from the kitchen service entryway. As well as this 5th chair back-to-back with chair lining a long table for a large group. This, despite half the restaurant being empty at 5:30pm. No offer to put us at a larger table or booth.

Seated at that 5th chair, I was repeatedly interrupted, sometimes mid-bite, to move for servers or have others entrees carried precariously overhead. This, despite a large aisle on the other side of our table along the booths.

Forgot and didn't offer a kid's menu, until he tried taking our entree orders and we asked before trying to order an appetizer as our toddler's meal. Brought the kid's menu, which is also a kid's activity booklet, but no crayons to do any of the activities. Later, when we asked him for it, he then forgot and just never brought it or brought it up again.

Forgot my drink order, and as he never followed-up or inquired, had to ask for it after food already arrived. Never offered refills, despite empty glasses, mugs, and carafes sitting. Even when we asked for refills, he did not bother to take the empties.

Food was meh. NY Steak was gristly. Trout was fishy. Grilled chicken really dry. Street corn tots didn't have much tots.

Asked for two to-go boxes, which apparently were made of the flimsiest, thinnest, and slickest plastic I've seen. He couldn't be bothered to bring or offer a bag for them.

Just left us the POS machine, saying "whenever you're ready." It's essentially self-checkout, as he couldn't be bothered to checkout our table at tableside, leaving us to tinker with and figure out the handheld POS machine.

Lazy Dog's POS system is set up to calculate tip including tax. Why would anyone tip on the tax? Nice moneygrab. And 18%-25% prefilled tip selections? You would think this chain is not fine dining, as confirmed by the service received.

Anti-privacy choices on the POS force their guests to either give up their email address or mobile number... otherwise, no receipt. Even though the POS machine clearly has a built-in receipt printer, I guess it's cheaper for Lazy Dog to setup their system with only the three above choices and not have to buy rolls of thermal receipt paper.

And their hold-your-receipt hostage ploy defaults most of their guests to cough up their personal info so that Lazy Dog and its affiliates can spam you with unsolicited marketing later. Moreover, they hold your receipt hostage to accepting their vendor, CardFree Inc.'s "End User Terms" where you have to accept that your personal and financial info can be "intercepted"/hacked and that "Licensor"/Lazy Dog does not even ensure that laws/regulations are followed... and they do not explain how they protect your info, if/when it is ever deleted, nor give you any choice/control...

July 2024

I was in the area, and at the suggestion of the group I was with, we all decided to head in here for lunch. For being a saturday, busy, right during the height of the day, I have to say that the service was exceptional. Our waitress even had a table of 14 people next to us, and was still on top of everything.

The atmosphere is great! Kind of reminds me of walking into a ski lodge in the middle of Aspen colorado, without the snow. Lol. You definitely get that timber wood and backcountry feel here. Yet there are some mid-century modern elements, with glass and steel.

The food is amazing, clean and fresh.

Crispy Fries, extra crispy with blue cheese and ranch: single-handedly, hands down, Bar None other, these have been the best, crispy french fries I've ever had in my entire life. I would venture to Guess that they are double fried, as well as cooked in some type of exceptional fat. Not exactly sure what their secret is, but oh my God, you definitely want to order these on your next visit.

I opted for the Thai chicken salad as well. You can feel the crunch, and the freshness with every bite. Just the right amount of dressing. You can also tell that they use real chicken breast. I definitely didn't taste any hormones or anything, neither that 8% salt solution that you get at other places that use more inexpensive ingredients. No, to the contrary, Lazy Dog uses really good ingredients in this salad. I'm sure that's true across the board with all of their other food as well.

The Huckleberry lemonade is definitely where it's at! Tangy, sweet and has that mix of flavors like blueberry, strawberry, regular lemonade.

I would say for the quality of food, the atmosphere, and the prices that I paid, I believe everything here was fair and appropriate. I think you really are getting some value here, and Just a Touch Above everything in general versus going to say a Cheesecake Factory. If I had to choose between the two, I would definitely rather come here to Lazy Dog.

I do want to try the other Lazy Dog Restaurants throughout Southern California soon, as soon as possible. My next visit will be for a happy hour. I heard their offerings during the happy hour time frame are a good crowd pleaser. Looking forward to my next visit for sure.

If management is watching this post, you're doing great! I believe Brentwood Investments, or Brentwood something or other owns this chain of Lazy Dog restaurants. And that equities firm definitely needs a round of applause and a pat on their backs.

Yes! I...

I cannot share enough DISGUST that I have for the humiliating and God awful interaction I had the misfortune to experience last night with this Orange location's Manager. After a very minor and honest mistake on behalf of the restaurant, I came back home last night from picking up my take out order and I was surprised to find that the food I received was completely different from what I ordered and paid for, so I called the restaurant to report it (9:45pm). I spoke to a very lovely and very kind young woman who apologized profusely for their mistake and offered to correct things by placing a new remake order for me to come back and pick up. At this point in time, I was satisfied with the solution, and that was that.

After driving 40 minutes from my home in Baldwin Hills to get back to the restaurant, I arrive at 11pm. A very sweet young man promptly brought my order to my car, handed the bag over to me, and proceeded to ask for payment which I then began to explain the situation at hand. He excused himself and promised to return. However, to my surprise, a totally different unknown man returns to my car instead with the white payment device in-hand and his demeanor was already completely off-putting like he was annoyed by something.

This dude didn't waste any time by immediately repeating what the young man before him had said which was telling me the total ($19) followed by a request for payment and gestured to the white payment device in his hand. He never even introduced himself to me or told me why he was in front of me instead of the first young man who promised to return to help me. It was soo incredibly aggressive and uncomfortable to say the very least.

This Manager had the nerve to ride out a long and awkward pause of silence that passed by after I regrettably waited for him to introduce himself or let alone say anything else to me which would provide further clarification as to who he was and why he's standing before me repeating everything which his employee absolutely must've educated him about prior to approaching his customer about the situation himself. At the same time, this man's eyes never even blinked as he continued to stare at me with such disdain and an impatient expression all over his face like as if I was literally an insect to him.

(TO BE CONTINUED ON YELP AND COMPANY WEBSITE...