Carvers Steaks & Chops — Restaurant in San Diego

I came to this place because of the amazing menu. It was my boyfriend's 30th birthday July 31 (a Monday their slowest night) and we all went for a 5:30 reservation. We arrived on time, were greeted immediately, our cake was taken immediately to a fridge and were sat. They have a very beautiful interior. We sat in their glass room, basic view of the garden outside but very beautiful windows and spacial look with lights as it got darker outside. We had a party of 14 that immediately changed into 7 because of family emergencies. We immediately apologized for the inconvenience and continued to do so several times. It took some 10 minutes to be greeted and was hard to flag down our server. Because we were a party of 7 we had 2 servers. We met the first female server who was very nice and interactive. She got our drinks quickly. The alcoholic beverages were terrible, very watered down and not much flavor that was a Tom Collins and margaritas. She went away quickly though, something prominent throughout the night our servers would run away as if not wanting to take our order. I had the perfect view into the restaurant so I could see all the other 3 tables they had each with only 2-4 ppl in each. So it was a very slow night each of the other tables was seen an average of every 5 min I timed it myself after we were not being seen. The second server didn't visit us until an hour into our dinner service it was awkward and from that point on the female server saw us once and never returned. The one time she did come back we flagged her down and we asked to get a Pepsi refill and she took my mothers glass and never returned after 15 mins we flagged down our male server he took 4 of our drink orders 4 soft drinks...left came back 15mins later and asked if we needed anything completely forgetting the drink order. And then we didn't get our order taken until 730...after a few apps which came on time...but the dinner order was put in at 730 and didnt come out but 830...it was an hour wait...during this time the servers never saw us...the male server ignored our calls at one point we even raise all of our 14 hands and waived them around for 5 mins and were completely ignored this after all tables the two servers had were gone. We finally get our food and he checks in after us...this is after getting small salads mine of which was the last to get ordered, was done wrong I asked for no anchovies and he brought it with anchovies and I have a mild allergy something the female server never expressed to the male server and that the male server never remembered. The food came out about 30 mins after the salads. The food was great, I wish I could tip the chef it was the only good part of our experience that and the company and the bussers who constantly refilled our waters. We attempted to flag down our server for desert after waiting 20mins we finally had to just find him in the restaurant...after saying he would get right on that he proceeded to take care of other guests for an additional 15mins before helping us. He brings out our cake with no plates no utensils...then takes the cake back and doesnt come back for 15-20 mins...and to top that off he cuts the entire cake not asking us preferences and doesnt cut any of it evenly and I'm even sure they took some cake as well...what bothered me the most was the way the male server treated us especially because he ignored us most of the time...and with automatic gratuity it just felt as if they didn't really care how they treated us...management is poor for having employees like that. Especially when they say " how's the food?" We say "it's great!" And he says " yeah, usually when the food comes out its so good that people don't care that it took so long or that we don't check on the table much." Very insulting. Overall review the food was great but I will NEVER go back there...Chris was our male server he's terrible at his job and that is coming from several people who work in the service industry. I don't recommend this place to anyone the service...

We went to Carvers last night to try their $13 special (a friend gave me a gift card for my birthday). I have a dairy allergy and am allergic to some spices. I gave the server my medical allergy card. It turns out - I can have the steak (but I guess not the chicken) on the special but not any of the sides. Originally, I basically said (which I do at most restaurants) whatever you can give me is fine. Carvers is the only restaurant ever that said it would ruin their bottom line to give me anything else - I could pay $13 to get the steak by itself (nothing else on the plate) with the option of then paying full price ($4 each) for sides to get a baked potato and/or broccoli in place of the mashed potatoes and green beans. I didn't really want to talk to the manager - but the server had him come over anyway. He kept saying sorry you feel that way - not sorry that we have in any way made your dining experience less nice. He said that they get the green beans and mashed potato ingredients in bulk (so I asked him why they couldn't just make me green beans without butter - and he finally said oh - we can do that but there is no equivalent option for the mashed potatos). I am so underimpressed. I could see it if I went in there saying can you substitute this for that but I was completely open - in fact if they had just put green beans on with the steak I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it. The management just had a really awful attitude like it was my problem

I posted the above on a mom's group - and afterwards I added (in response because a bunch of moms suggested talking to the corporate hq - they had experienced similar issues with the management not caring at all) Carvers is privately owned - no corporation. The GM was there that night and approved the decision - I think it is his/her policy. Yeah - if you have any food allergies (other than gluten-free - apparently they do cover that - my guess from looking at the menu is nut-free/peanut-free would be ok if you spoke with the waiter too) - I really would avoid this place. I think what bothered me the most is the manager really obviously could not care at all and was very off putting. He seemed like this was a conversation he had been through many times, and he was just bored with it and annoyed with people (to most restaurants known as paying customers) who wanted to take up his time with it... It just kind of ruined what could have been a nicer meal.

I only wound up getting a salad which was ok - my husband's steak was very good and my son liked his Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and...

My teenager made reservations in celebration of his first job and chose this steak house for our first Mommy & Me date where he would pick up the tab. We were received and seated all the way in the back of the parking lot closest to the gate that caught all the breeze from the street down below. There were no heat lamps. After 15 minutes of being seated, we received water and plates by the busser, but no actual service. By the 20 minute mark, I told my son that if they do not provide wait service by the 30 minute mark, I highly recommend leaving because I don't appreciate the service. I mentioned how we were the only colored people there and they seated us in a row of tables that clearly got no service and was clearly in poor placement for reasons already mentioned above. I told him I expected better service from a steak house, especially at the scale they had their menu prices set at. I understand covid-19 has made it difficult for many restaurants, but this establishment clearly picked up their tables and chairs from their indoor dining and placed them outside in a sectioned off parking lot without much other thought or investment in small comforts in hospitality like heat lamps. Having sat there for 30+ minutes, we people watched and I actually spotted their regulars. I was able to identify them because I was once a regular at Ruth's Chris Steak House when we lived in Orange County. I mention this because I have experience in standards and I'm really glad we left because the menu was not impressive. On our way out, I told the greeter why we were leaving. She asked if I wanted to speak to the manager. I told her no, that she could relay our experience to them, and sought our way out. The decision was made, there was no way they would have been able to serve us to standard, and we will definitely never return to give this establishment the money out...