Town — Restaurant in San Carlos

Town used to be one of my favorite restaurants in the area. It was our go-to spot for date nights, visits from family, and special occasions. But after our most recent experience, my husband has no interest in returning, and I left feeling really disappointed.

My in-laws were visiting from Amsterdam to spend time with us and our one-year-old son, and we decided to go to Town for lunch. Since they don’t take reservations, we joined the waitlist and were told it would be about 20 minutes for the next available table. Once they realized we had a dog and would need outdoor seating, they said it could be another 10 to 15 minutes. We were fine with that.

We considered going somewhere else, but when I checked the online waitlist about 20 minutes later, we were listed as first in line. I noticed we were marked as a party of five, even though it was just four adults and a high chair. There were still several other groups listed after us, so we figured we’d be seated shortly. But another 10 minutes went by and everyone else had already been seated while we were still waiting.

At that point, I went in to clarify that we only needed four seats and a high chair. The host explained that they couldn’t place the high chair at any of the available tables because it would block the walking path and be considered a fire hazard. I completely understood the concern, but the patio is set up in two rows of tables. One row faces the street, and the other faces the sidewalk, with a path running in between. We were not asking to place the high chair in the outer sidewalk-facing row. We simply asked to place it in the space between the two table rows, where there was still plenty of room for servers to pass through without issue.

What made this even more confusing is that just a couple of weeks ago, my husband and I had dined here with our son for our wedding anniversary and were seated outside. That day, we did exactly what we were asking to do this time — placed the high chair between two tables in the middle walkway. It was not a problem at all and caused zero issues for staff or guests. No one questioned it then, it was actually offered to us, and it worked out perfectly.

By this point, we had been waiting for 45 minutes, and they still couldn’t give us any estimate on how much longer it would be. There was one large outdoor table that clearly would have worked, but it was still occupied by a group of three who had already paid and were just sitting and chatting. They remained there for at least 20 more minutes. That table seemed to be the only one they were willing to offer us, but there was no effort to turn it over, no suggestion to ask the guests to move to a smaller table, and no alternative options were offered.

We explained again that we had a baby with us who would need to nap soon and asked if we could just place the high chair in the center walkway, like we had before. There was even an empty table across from it, so there would have been more than enough space for staff to pass through. Still, they refused, saying the servers would not have enough room, even though we knew from personal experience that wasn’t the case.

It all just felt unnecessarily rigid and lacking in empathy. We were not asking to bend any major rules, just hoping someone would try to help us find a solution. The lunch rush had slowed and we had been patient, but the unwillingness to accommodate a family with a small child was disheartening.

We eventually left and ate elsewhere. My father-in-law was frustrated and it turned what should have been a lovely family lunch into a disappointing experience. I don’t know if we were asking too much, but the whole interaction made it feel like families with babies are not particularly welcome here.

After years of enjoying this place, it is hard to want to come back.

(Photo showing the experience we had prior - no issues with the high chair in between the two rows of tables, especially around...

As the mother of a child with Celiac Disease, I have to research each and every restaurant we venture to eat at to ensure it can be a safe experience for my child. I rely heavily on people’s reviews, because if you have Celiac and you get glutened, you know how sick it can make you so you definitely do other Celiacs a solid and spread the word if a restaurant is not safe. And it is for this purpose I have to write this review. Not to slam the restaurant, which is a beautiful ambience with nice staff. But I do have to let other Celiacs know that after telling the waitress my daughter has a wheat “allergy” (easier to say it’s allergy than to explain how Celiac’s actually works) they served her gluten not once but twice.

The first time it was in a seaweed salad that accompanied her sushi roll, after which the manager came over and let us know the mistake after my daughter already ate it. The second was a wafer in my daughter’s vanilla ice cream which was clearly visible so we sent it back.

Both dishes had been fully discussed with the waitress upon ordering to ensure it would be safe for my child. And the dessert was ordered after the manager had already apologized for the first mistake.

The manager and waitress were very apologetic and graciously comped our ENTIRE meal. Which was unexpected and appreciated. However, unfortunately, no amount of money will ever make it ok to poison my child with a food that will harm her. Twice.

When I asked how the mistakes had happened, she said they had some new chefs and obviously they needed to do some training. They said they do care about safety and handled it the best way they could have. But it still caused harm to my child.

We tipped the waitress over 20% of what the bill would have been for her work, as I am sure she put the orders in correctly, and the food runners were the ones to bring us our food -not her- so she couldn’t have intercepted the mistakes. But her and the manager’s response and taking full responsibility (which was appreciated) doesn’t help the fact that my child was harmed. It was just really disappointing and upsetting.

The other part of this is a review of the food. Taking our bad experience out to just judge the food, I was actually surprised. This wasn’t my first time there and I remembered it to be delicious. However, every dish I got was only mediocre. I didn’t expect this! The sauteed spinach was eh, same with the mashed potatoes. The mac n cheese was heavy on the bechamel sauce and lacked the cheesey flavor and cheddar bite. Very bland. Unremarkable ceasar salad and the croutons were also not good! Usually that’s my favorite part of a Ceasar! My daughter’s sushi roll was good but not anything remarkable, either. Cheesecake was fine tasting but I’d have preferred a regular ‘ol graham cracker crust rather than a deconstucted cheesecake filling in a mason jar with cinnamon toast crunch and stawberries on top. Cool idea, but the classic would have actually tasted better imo. Bread pudding was the best thing I tried there. Definitely delicious. Others at our table feel Towne is their favorite restaurant, and loved their food. They had meat dishes, which I think is most what they are known for. I guess it just wasn’t mine and my...

Let me just start this, by saying I know this is one of nicest restaurants in town, and has a reputation. My experience there last Sunday (Fathers Day) was probably the lowest I've felt in a long time. Let me set the scene, I'm with 5 other people in my family. My mother and brother order cocktails, my pregnant sister in-law and I order 2 mocktail drinks off the "Spiritless Libations" menu. Now I don't need to reveal too much about myself, but I am 8 years sober from alcohol, which is important to the story. Our drinks come, and immediately I taste something weird with my drink. I ask the waitress if there is alcohol in it? And she claimed, yes there is vodka. Well I didn't ask for alcohol, I didn't order it, or show my ID or anything. My sister is law, who is very clearly pregnant, started asking why there was vodka? She claimed it was a mixup. Now, I know with being sober, I have to look out for myself, but to serve someone alcohol without verifying their age, or confirming whether they wanted alcohol or not felt like an insult to me and the 8 years of hard work I put in to better my life. Should my pregnant sister in law have to verify that she's not being served alcohol? No of course not, but this raises a slew of concerns about the restaurants ethics, business practices, do they do this to every table? If I order a drink from the very clearly marked non alcoholic menu, why was I served alcohol? I shouldn't need to tell every waitress that I am sober, because that is personal, and not something I let people know immediately. It's not my whole personality. But this makes me want to inform others to be aware what may be in your glass if you eat here. Completely...