Oceana Coastal Kitchen — Restaurant in San Diego

I want to preface my review with a few things. 1) Its been a decade or more since the last time I did the Sunday brunch/buffet at the Catamaran, so I am not sure how long its been since they've changed the format--I know a lot has changed with restaurants since COVID--go to Vegas, but thats another story :) 2) Although I am giving an overall 2 stars, my review is more on expectations.

The last time I remember the brunch/buffet at the Catamaran, it was what you would expect, station for prime rib and ham, a chef to make custom eggs and omelets, all the other expected Sunday buffet items you would expect, including the bottomless mimosas and the sushi spread, OMG was incredible. When we changed our reservations from Tom's Lighthouse (should have kept that reservation) I was excited to tell my son about the sushi the was offered. On top of that, when my wife called to make the reservations, she asked how much it was and the girl mention, I believe $55ish per adult.

Oh, how times have changed. We arrived and very excited, the atmosphere was what we expected from the Catamaran, very tropical and awesome! The kids loved to see the resident cat "Marlo" meandering around the lobby :). When we arrived at Oceana, I noticed a long counter to the right with what appeared to be an enhanced looking continental breakfast setup. We sat down and the waitress gave us our menus and told us we were to choose an entree from the menu, then we could help ourselves to the food over by the, you guessed it, the continental breakfast thing. Oh, and the sushi spread was more like a sushi roll station with 3 choices of rolls and thats it. Oh, and I have to add, where most Sunday brunches include bottomless mimosas, you'll need to fork out an extra $19 per person here.

The food was delicious, the atmosphere was great and the "entree" portions were of good size. But those things couldn't overcome the disappointment of what I was expecting and what was delivered. And this is where the bill comes in. I was expecting to get a bill for around $220 or so, but to my shock, the cost per person was not what I was expecting, but rather $68 per person, which made my bill $313, you add tip and my Sunday meal was $350. The funny (not so funny) thing is my 14 year old daughter who falls into the adult pricing, doesn't eat that much--she had 2 small triangles of watermelon and french toast for $68 :)

My kids loved it, I imagine because they don't yet understand cost-value, but my wife and I have alway held a special place in our hearts for the Catamaran Sunday brunch, but that is no longer the case. Maybe we aren't the only locals thinking the same thing as there were many empty tables this Sunday, when other restaurants we called were...

Where do I start? This was the worst restaurant experience I have ever had. Ever! Starting off, everything seemed ok. We made reservations ahead of time for 13 people. The drinks took a while to arrive, but we had a big party so we didn't get impatient right away. The appetizers and food took a long time also. When it finally did arrive, we enjoyed it. The server was ok but she seemed annoyed from the beginning. It took a turn for the worse when it was time to pay our bills. She brought one check to the table. We said hold on, we need checks split. (We didn't mind if gratuity was added, but checks needed to be separated.) She never asked about this in the beginning and when we ordered food, she made a point to ask which child was with which adult. (That assumes you are delegating items to each adult.) When we asked to have the check split, she handed me a piece of paper and pen and told me in order to do that, we would need to all write what we ordered down for her including drinks.

EXCUSE ME??? You have the audacity to demand we write our order down just to get a bill for our items? That's not what you get paid for??? I was in disbelief. She left out of the area and did not come back for 10+ minutes. When she came back in, I told her we would not be writing this down and she needed to provide receipts for us to pay and go. She looked at me and said, "Well, I can do it but it is going to take more than thirty minutes if you want me to..." At this point, I am livid. I asked her why in the world would it take that long to provide a receipt. She answered, "Well maybe not thirty minutes but it will be a while." I demanded to speak with a manager and she said ok, leaves the room and never notified a manager to come. My sister ended up going to find the manager and helped him break the bill down. He was not as rude, but still not helpful in terms of how we were treated by this psychotic waitress. I believe they ended up removing a few appetizers from the bill to say sorry but I did not stick around for any of that. I had to pay in cash and get the heck out of there. We didn't want anything free, we wanted our bills to pay and leave! I know we waited a good 40 minutes from the time we were finished eating to the time we actually got a bill to pay from. This was the absolute worst experience I have ever had and would not expect this level of service from a place charging $25+ per plate. Unbelievable. Stay away unless you want to end the night in...

Upscale dining inside Catamaran Hotel offering utterly breathtaking views of the ocean and boardwalk. It was a welcome experience to dine in a booth on a covered patio after being restricted from that experience in Los Angeles due to COVID guidelines. However, you do have option to dine on a socially distant side patio whose path leads to lobby, with fire pits and torches in evening.

The service here is phenomenal, staff quite friendly and accommodating. Each server wore a mask, wore gloves and was cognizant of social distance and COVID guidelines.

The restaurant is open for breakfast beginning at 6:30am, lunch beginning at 11:30am and dinner from 5:30pm until 10pm. There are a number of specials, including $10 craft cocktails, flatbreads and sushi on Mondays and Tuesdays, $2 off craft cocktails on Wednesday, and half priced bottles of wine on Thursday. The complete menu can be scanned from barcode from your room if you are guest at hotel, but they will provide a printed menu if you are walk in.

Due to social distancing requirements, it is recommended that you make a reservation, but each time we dined, we were walk in and there was no wait. Should you wish patio table or booth, you must enter through indoor seating to be seated. You may also order to go or through room service, but there are 2 fees for this.

I recommend sushi or seared scallops with cous cous. All seafood portions are flavorful, generous portions, fresh melt in your mouth. The scallop dish was so generous we had to take it to go, and heated it for lunch the following day in our room. At different meals, I enjoyed Piper Sonoma Brut and Conundrum Rose bubbles; but there is an extensive selection of bottles, brews, ciders and seltzers, and artisan cocktail menu that includes spiced rum.

Leave room for dessert -- I recommend Grand Marnier creme brulee or New York cheesecake with strawberry compote.

Of note is that if you dine on side tables with fire pits, that you can't just order cocktails. You must order a full pate meal, or any appetizer if you wish to enjoy the outdoors.

Amazing place that I highly recommend. We can not wait to return here for our next rest and...