Hapa J's — Restaurant in San Clemente

Our visit was pre-COVID. We've been to Hapa J's a few times and the food was fine, the service was usually meh. But after what my wife and I witnessed during our last visit, we'll never go back. We were there on a week night, not busy at all. Only a few tables with customers. A couple was in the table next to ours and was there when we arrived, they told us they had been waiting 20 minutes and no one had even acknowledged they were there or anything. We waited a while, but eventually our waitress showed up (no indication why our server took so long either) and we got our order in. The table next to us was still waiting, and asked the server if they could give her their order. Our server said no, this was another server's table and they would be out in a moment. Gave a little attitude to them as well, which we were really surprised just at that. It gets worse. Eventually a server came out to the other table and started to take their order. The husband asked what was wrong, why no one had come out for what was probably 25 minutes if what they had said was true. Just what we saw was a very long time to wait with very few other customers in the place. The server started throwing more attitude than the first and the customer said they would go ahead and place an order but that they were not happy or impressed with the service. Definitely felt like they would not be back. The server asked them to hold on for a moment and ran back to the kitchen. After a few minutes this dude came out and was rude and threatening in his demeanor, as if he wanted to fight with the guy for complaining. It was unbelievable. The guy then states he is throwing them out and the customer laughed and said you can't throw us out, we're leaving and never coming back. My wife and I heard every word in all of the conversations and the couple was never rude or impolite, they just asked what the problem was and why they had to wait so long. This guy acted like a bully and as if they were rude or drunk or something, and that he was doing everyone a favor by throwing these people out. It was just incredible to watch. This guy's attitude was so rude and aggressive we can only assume he was the owner. No one to answer to from the way he behaved. Never going...

I wrote a review in the past that gave a better rating. This time I have to give less stars. I'm being honest and actually a little friendly because, they deserve 2 stars. I have visited this location a number of times mostly, at lunch. The food is never consistent and that isn't good. I speak from experience as, I was a chef for many years (I know you don't care). Most restaurants have an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) that the kitchen follows. This place obviously doesn't. I.E.; We had been in one day food was great, go in a couple days later and we had to send food back twice. Meat has either been dry and bland or so salty I couldn't take more than a bite. The rice is not proper fried rice and the list goes on. It is not just me who noticed this (I'm just the messenger). I don't know if this is supposed to be a family restaurant because we felt it had more of a bar atmosphere. By this I mean, staff could be heard cussing just feet away from our table, loud and, food wasn't prepared well. I wouldn't recommend eating here but, if you tell them you're in a hurry they will accommodate. So, it isn't all bad. Just be warned, if you decide to eat here, your food might be dry and salty and the language might be "put an earmuff on the kids". Others might disagree with this post so, don't let me stop you from...

Went here for lunch on June 29th, ordered the nachos as an “appetizer” to share with all our family. Had no idea that nachos don’t come with some type of meat, so our server, Jessica, asked “what meat would you like”, we ordered the meat. A different waitress brings out the three meals for our three family members, they started eating, we waited for about 10 minutes till the appetizer that I specially asked to be brought out before our main dish came out in sync with our main dish. Ask for the bill, saw we were charged $28.98 for nachos because the “meat” was an add’l $12.00. I then brought this to the attention of our server and she said “meat is extra”. I then said “ok, but I ordered this as an appetizer, BEFORE, the main dishes came out and it was brought out late with our main dish which was by the way after everyone else who started to eat”. NOTE: since everyone already was eating their main dish, they didn’t eat the appetizer now 😔 She said NOTHING, just stared at me. No apology, nothing!! TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE, TERRIBLE WAY TO TREAT A GUEST. Which leaves me no other option then to leave very little tip and a bad review. Hopefully a lesson learned for Jessica and Happa J’s…. For me, I will...