California English — Restaurant in San Diego

5 for food, 5 for aesthetic. -1 for price!

SO SO SO AESTHETIC! Really love the aesthetic of this place. Not even kidding. All the food was amazing as well, But just too expensive It's like they took the proper definition of California and England in the expensive aspect as well haha.

Beans on Toast (Avocado, BBQ Baked Beans, Roasted Tomatoes) FREAKING AMAZING!! The menu doesn't mention that it has avocado on there (Only talks about the baked beans and the tomatoes) we were surprised by the avocado. Was a little skeptical about how all of this would go together but OMG it was so so so good. Definitely definitely recommend this! In hindsight, plain beans and tomatoes would not be so good on toast, so I can see why they added the avocado

English Cobb Salad - Greens, Chopped Veggies, Bacon, Egg, Blue Cheese (didn't need dressing) + Roasted Chicken Had really good flavor going on here. All the veggies and the chopped egg and bacon and everything together when so well, it didn't even need any dressing! Chicken was also very juicy and perfectly cooked! Not as big a salad as I was hoping for that price though.

Shepherd’s Pasty (Lamb, Peas, Mint with Chutney) - Pastry on its on pretty plain but with the chutney it was a 9/10. Quite heavy on the lamb filling. Will definitely recommend eating this ASAP because it just gets soft otherwise

Honey Lavender Scones with California English Jam, Clotted Cream - Scones themselves on their own were delicious! Soft and buttery and flaky and good hint of the honey lavender going on. Jam was also really nice and went well with the scones. Not a fan of that clotted cream though so I would not like recommend that part.

Friends got the Beet Salad, full American Breakfast, Scones & Gravy (very creative!!) and side of extra Bacon too. They loved all the food - wiped the plate clean!

Drinks on the table were the Peach Bellini (I tried it and really liked it), Bloody Mary and the Screwdriver. Drinks were all...

I was very excited to check out this British inspired restaurant that was not located downtown. It’s such a pretty IG worthy milieu. The menu sounded marvelous! Sadly, the food disappointed. My party ordered the scotch egg, beef tartare and ahi crudo for starters, followed by the chicken tikka masala and aubergine parmo and the sticky date and toffee cake with earl grey ice cream. Doesn’t everything sound delicious? Pretty much every item we ordered fell flat taste-wise. It was such a major disappointment. The scotch egg was supposed to have a vindaloo chili flavor… what vindaloo??? The whipped honey side saved the scotch egg, which would otherwise be completely tasteless. The ahi crudo was equally tasteless. The beef tartare was acceptable and the mustard was really a nice addition to the dish. At least we finally tasted something. The chicken in the tikka masala dish had a good texture to it which we appreciated but we felt the curry was too thin and again, too bland. The aubergine thankfully saved the day. It’s sauce was delicious and the right consistency and the currants and capers definitely added a dimension of flavor. We were celebrating a birthday, and the restaurant very kindly gave us a complimentary dessert. It wasn’t on the menu, which impressed us. It was a tart filled with caramelized banana with some cream and it was divine! That dessert itself scored a 10/10! But we also ordered their sticky date and toffee cake. Sticky date is one of my favorite desserts which I always order whenever a restaurant offers it. It’s a dessert that I personally bake often too. Their sticky date was just too airy and didn’t pack the same density of a fabulous sticky date I’ve enjoyed elsewhere or bake. Fortunately, their earl grey ice...

I have never left a bad review for a restaurant before…the whole “if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all” works for me. But this was truly one of the worst experiences at a restaurant I have ever had. My husband is British, and we spend a few months in England every year. We were so excited to try this place, so we went for a friend’a birthday.

The restaurant is beautiful, but that’s where the positivity starts and stops. The service was beyond awful and so awkward. We waited 20 mins for water, and then after waiting another 10, we had to go ask if we had a server. There were only 5 tables in use in the whole place, so it was awkwardly avoidant to not wait on our table for so long. That should have been enough of a red flag to leave, but it only got worse from there.

Hand down, this was the worst meal I’ve had from a restaurant in as long as I can remember. The French onion soup tasted like it was made with sweet bread (like an onion cupcake is the only way I can begin to describe it), and it was cold. The Scottish eggs were ok, as were the Brussels sprouts but everything was like warm at best. The Wellington burger was inedible. The patties were so burnt you couldn’t eat it. And the triple cooked chips - which are my favorite treat in England - weren’t crispy. I don’t even know how that’s possible. The fish and chips was a tiny portion with no flavor and tons of batter. Our friend had the short rib, which she enjoyed, so at least 1 out of 5 was good. We didn’t bother with dessert because everything else was so bad. It felt like the place had so much potential but it just fell so flat. And paying over $75 for a meal I didn’t eat was a total waste. Maybe this was a super off night, but we would not go back...