International Cuisine — Restaurant in Pacific Grove

This place is either a serious hit or miss every time I come. My parents have stopped coming here all together because my mom is convinced they are racist and I honestly wouldn’t be surprised. The last time they came the servers made eye contact with EVERYONE around them and took everyone’s orders except for us, my family who was already seated. We were clearly upset and so the servers sent their general a manger to come take out orders, by then we didn’t even wanna eat there anymore. Last night I took my husband, (we were both wearing masks because we just came from the hospital visiting my grandmother) and as soon as we walked in almost every server looked at us, snickered and then went back to what they were doing, we were the only ones in the whole place wearing masks so I know that’s why they ignored us. The man told us to sit down by the door and he would be woh us shortly. 20 minutes later the man’s walking right by us, not making eye contact, taking ordering, same thing with a tall skinny waitress. Eventually she asks us what we’re waiting for and I told her, “TO BE SEATED” after a 25 minute wait. She looked at mine and my husbands mask and goes, “You’re not from here huh?” I just wanted her and her snide comments to get away from me so I promptly told her no. Even though I’ve lived in pacific grove my whole life. THEN they brought our appetizers and little plates for us and my husbands plate had dried hummus smeared all over it. Disgusting. Horrible service and they can’t even give you clean plates to eat off of. After spending almost $100 on a plates of pasta and a personal pizza I certainly wasn’t going to tip them with their horrible service. The only reason we went to begin with was because El Toritos was packed 🤷🏻‍♀️You want a tip? Serve your food on CLEAN plates, and dust the floor boards, your place looks disgusting and don’t be surprised if you get a visit from a City Heath...

What a delightful place to have dinner at in Pacific Grove, California. My friend and I were exploring this area for restaurants and this place caught our eyes. We were intrigued by the international menu and the unique decor of the restaurant. Upon entry there is a large colorful mural of different foods, wines, fruits & breads very eye catching indeed!! The bar is large and very accommodating to one's pallet. The decor in the dining room is beautifully decorated with unique chandeliers, soft drapery, and comfortable seating with window views of the city life of Pacific Grove. We were seated next to a very unique wall that incorporated wine crates from various wineries and it was very interesting to note the different types of designs used on the crates. We ordered cocktails "Lemon Drops" that were very delicious. I noticed that the wait staff would bring plates filled with a lot of yummy looking food. The portions sizes are big so you must bring your big appetite with you. The menu has various internatiinal foods from a lot of countries. I started with the Moroccan Red Lentil soup was great and then I ordered the Russian beef stroganoff with mushrooms & mashed melt-in-mouth potatoes which was very savory and delicious. My friend throughly enjoyed the calamari steak w/wine with capers sauce, rice & fresh veggies- Yummy!!! There definetly is a wide variety of foods for everyone such as-American, Greek, Italian ( huge pizza list), Russian, Mexican,British, Lebanese, Turkish, Fresh Seafood. Something for everyone. This is most definitely a restaurant where locals go for an terrfic atmosphere, wide variety of international food in large portions, and at great...

Very rarely do I leave a negative review. But this restaurant failed on so many levels. I feel they must be addressed by ownership and/or patrons.

Clearly understaffed, no host to check in. Drink refills absent service overall was poor, again due to a shortage of staff.

Our server. She was nice and pleasant, but lacked knowledge of the menu. Almost all drinks featured on the menu were not available or not in stock.

Authentic international cuisine is a blatant lie. My party ordered the chicken shawarma. Chicken is clearly boiled and sautéed. A far cry from what chicken shawarma should be. Doubtful the images shown on Google are of the kitchen. Soup, pasta, all dishes at the table are drastically under/no seasoned. Personally I'm not a fan of salt and avoid it. But there are other methods to add flavor. Here it absent.

All food came out at different times. Last item to be tabled was salad... thankfully was fresh, but supposed a Greek salad. Mostly iceberg lettuce the 3 Kalamata olives.

One meal was supposed to have well done chicken. A different server brought the food. We asked which one was well done, he didn't know, but left them anyway.

Clearly communication here is a major issue. Manager/head waiter came to the table and removed her dish and left a menu. Did not return to take a new order after a substantial amount of time, (basically when all were done eating).

Portions here are insane. Nearly every table I saw in the dining room had a to go box. I rather see a focus on quality, service, and true authentic cuisine than masked by a large portion dinner.

If you are seeking a quality authentic dinner here. Sadly you will...