Honeybees — Restaurant in San Diego

HEAD TO YELP TO SEE MY UPDATED REVIEW WHERE I SHARE MY IG MESSAGE EXCHANGE WITH HONEYBEES. I WAS OFFERED A REFUND IN EXCHANGE FOR TAKING MY REVIEWS DOWN.

Honeybees opened about six weeks ago, but my wife and I decided to give them some time to work out the kinks before giving it a try (we live in PB). We should have waited longer. However, I doubt that the problems this place has are a result of it being new.

We arrived about 30 minutes after they had opened last Sunday morning and were excited to see booths available. Unfortunately, we were told booths were reserved for parties of six (even tough we saw plenty of trios at the booths). Instead, we were offered a very small two-top squeezed in the path of the most used walkway through the interior of the restaurant. We opted instead for a seat out back. When the host seated us, he said, "Table 17 welcomes you!" Not him or the restaurant, but the table? He then stated they were a "full-service" restaurant but that we should order via the QR code on the table. That's very not full-service. We played along, but it felt odd being compelled to order online (via ToastTab, like at the airport) pay AND tip before any food or beverages had arrived. (In the absence of a server, who am I tipping anyway, table 17?)

It took 15 minutes for our coffee to arrive in paper cups (water was in plastic sippy cups, the kind you'd give a clumsy toddler), my wife's $9 latte tepid and foamless while my drip coffee was just tepid. They had only Sweet n' Low and regular sugar, even though their ordering app offered my choice of Splenda - I guess I'm a sweetener diva. There was no silverware, only a wooden stir stick like you'd get at a gas station. 30 minutes after that--45 minutes since ordering--our food and flatware arrived (one guy with the food, and another with the silverware, a different woman than had brought the bad coffees...three different food runners for one table).

It was fine...mine eggs, pancakes and sausage, and my wife got a grilled pulled chicken sandwich and fries, and we shared some of their tenders and mozzarella sticks. This was all griddle/frozen food, so why it took 45 minutes was beyond us. There was no person or stated way to ask for more coffee, and the whole vibe was "we've already got your money so be happy that your food finally arrived." We left frustrated and under-caffeinated. (We heard similar grumbles from a couple seated just before us, and as we were leaving the host was trying to figure out why the table in back of us had yet to receive their beverages...I shot them a look that said, "Don't hold your breath.")

Just...don't go to Honeybees. There a a few places to get an exceptional breakfast/brunch in PB, and countless more to get one as mediocre as the one that cost us over $70. While the food was OK, don't we go to restaurants for more than just the food, especially middle of the road options that are merely OK? We do, and Honeybees let us down from the moment we walked in. It's too late for us, so save yourself and dine elsewhere, someplace with actual spoons and real, live servers. Thanks anyway Table 17, but we...

The Good:

Incredible design and architecture of the space! This is definitely the spot for taking aesthetic photos with friends and family. The  gentleman who was the host (pressumably the owner) was kind and did his best to accommodate each group. The food in general was good and is reasonably priced for the area. The star of the show was definitely the Strawberry Matcha and the Honeybee House Sauce that was in some of the entrees we ordered.

The Bad:

(1) I said the architecture and space was beautiful designed, but the gorgeous design is completely ruined with the genuinely ugly AI "art" that was being played on screens that cover a beautiful moss wall.

(2) We expected to wait in line for 45 minutes before being seated, which is fine. But we then proceeded to wait over an hour more between the time we paid for our food to when it finally arrived at our table.

(3) It's not a great look when the host brings you to a dirty table and wipes all the chunks of food to the floor at the table and not pick them up before seating you.

The Ugly:

The ordering system is terrible. Having the system default to 18% tip when no one has even "serviced" you is kind of insane. I understand tipping but why the hell am I automatically assigned 18% tip if I don't even receive the service for it. I also understand modernization of ordering from your phone, but to not clear the menu of items that are unavailable, and ultimately having to restart the check out process because the system tells you at the END that something is unavailable; that's frustrating and a waste of time (it happened twice and we had the host check if items were actually available or not; we waited 10 more minutes because he forgot to tell us until I flagged him down).

Top that off, we tried 4 different cards for it to take our order and it would not take any of them. We waved and called a staff woman walking by us and we got ignored twice and one of the people of our group said "excuse me" once more much louder until she realized we needed help. It is never okay to raise your voice to service workers but we had been extremely cordial and just wanted help to place an order. She tells me to pay at the counter, I come over and go over the order with her, and each time she can't hear me, replies with several annoyed "Huh?" "What?"and the restaurant was not loud at all. Extremely rude conduct.

Overall, this restaurant needs more help staff. I truly hope things improve as they learn what works best for them to restaurant management. I don't plan on coming back or recommending people to go at this point, but I hope that changes...

So this is tough for a number of reasons I'll start with the ordering,so when you order you have two choices on order online and two walking up to the cashier walking up to the cashier you're going to be waiting for a while to get your order in and ordering online through a QR code a lot of the items say out of stock the problem there with both options is you have to pay before you eat so once you place your order you have to pay not a fan of that at all doesn't feel like a sit down restaurant if I'm paying for my food like I'm getting fast food and the food does not come out fast so we have a disconnect there There are no servers only people who bring the food to you so you're not interacting with anybody and once you're waiting for your food you'll be waiting for a while and my coffee was cold. Now I understand that sugar burns at a certain temperature my cinnamon pancakes or burns although the parts of it that were not burnt were absolutely amazing but the burnt flavor overpowered the experience they're waffles on the second hand were excellent The batter the crunch to them they were spot on Chicken with season pretty well but the type of Chicken had a lot of gristle. I ordered the short rib sandwich and the appearance was not enticing. I ordered bacon and sausage You got two pieces of bacon for four bucks and two sausage for four bucks The sausage was deep fried for sure It was like they set out for a minute and then someone deep fried them to try to heat them up and they wasn't sausages anymore. The biscuit that I ordered was one of those Pillsbury biscuits that you get out of the the tube It wasn't a homemade biscuit so it tastes frozen The decorations and this restaurant were amazing The flies though were over whelming and I mean they took over the restaurant There were more flies than people inside this restaurant to the point where you can't enjoy your food because you're constantly fan and flies away from it I mean they were coming at you left and right I would love to try this place again I'm just not sure I am going to try it. Owner is very nice and understanding but seems to be overwhelmed. I wish him...