U Crave Grill — Restaurant in San Fernando

All I/we can say is WOW. We live here in the Valley now for so long and never heard of this absolutely awesome place. My spouse and I were shopping and looking for somewhere to have some lunch and we spotted this place. Since my spouse is vegan. We noticed all the great vegan options for him. And of course all the rest of the so many items they have on their menu. We went to the counter. A young, very friendly guy took our order. Answered any questions we had. We sat outside and a very charming server ( waitress) brought our food. I just LOVED her mentality. Happy, welcoming. Obviously, she loves her job and customers. And I loved her wonderful positive attitude and her great make-up ( eyeliner). She is so pretty. Sorry, I had to add this. :) The food was fantastic. My spouse is not always very happy with the vegan option in regular restaurants. He just loved his vegan " beef" burrito. And my burger with fries was out of this world. Btw. one of the best fries I had in a long time. Also the tiramisu, I could have had several of them. Last night we went, again. It was a bit crowded. So we sat inside. Since it was too cold to be outside. Lots of younger people. But we really didn't feel out of place as "baby boomers". Everybody was quite cool. My spouse ordered this time a vegan chicken burrito. We had a hummus plate with vegetables as an appetizer and I had grilled chicken breast with roasted potatoes and salad. I loved all of it. But there was so much more I wanted to try. But unfortunately, there's only so much I can eat. LOL That is why we WILL come back, again. Me, especially for that pizza with eggs on it. And. again we had the pleasure of this wonderful waitress. She was running around to do her job like crazy. And still kept her cool and her wonderful friendly demeanor. She is one of a kind. This place is so lucky to have her. If you have never been there....

I was disappointed by the customer service in my last visit to U Crave. I picked up a Chinese chicken salad takeout order earlier in the week, but when I got home, I found a Greek salad in the bag instead. This was no big deal though, mistakes happen and what I believe is important is how an establishment handles it.

I came back to U Crave tonight with my uneaten Greek salad to get my correct order. I met Esteban, the shift leader. He wasn't rude, but there was a clear lack of customer service know-how. He was hesitant about fixing their error which was a bit frustrating. It took a bit of talking before he agreed to give me the right salad. I asked for a black coffee on the house, which is the most affordable item on their menu, for the hassle, but he turned me down, and implied he was already doing me a big favor just by sorting out their error. I was disappointed in how he handled the situation and I told him I would leave this Yelp review, because I don't want to blindside him by posting this behind his back. All it would have taken is a simple cup of coffee or an apology for me to not post this review, but he was unwilling.

Later they started locking up and a server informed us they were closing soon. They had just locked the back entrance, which we were sitting directly next to, so I asked if her if they could unlock the exit but she told me I had to exit the front and immediately walked away before I could explain how my car is right next to the exit and I would have to walk around the block and down the alley to get back to my car in the parking lot.

I hope the owner, Abraham, will take this to heart and give their team some proper training in basic...

Completely overrated. Let me start by saying that the food itself is really not that great, which is no surprise when you look at their menu. They make about everything you can think of - but nothing really good. I tried different, you'd think simple orders. For example, had an overpriced avocado toast, and it was way too salty. Their chicken pesto panini had an overwhelming pesto taste that is just way too much. And when you order for take out - double-check to make sure they didn't forget anything!!!

A major problem this place has is their customer service/their staff. I've been there about 5 times now (work, otherwise I would never go there and give them my money!). Every time I walked in and past a couple employees, no one even bothered to smile or say hello. And facemasks or not (Covid 19 times), you can tell if someone is friendly by their eyes. Theirs never meet yours, or they act completely ignorant. They stand right behind the counter, see you walking up and don't even acknowledge you. Then they slowly and obviously bored ask you what you want. No "hi", no "thank you for your order",... Horrible! There are one or two exceptions, of course, but most of them just seem to hate their job in the service industry.

Their always way too loud (and annoying) music and the overall noise level from the hustle and bustle doesn't make communication with the staff easier. I never sat down there and ate because I'd shoot myself in the head with that noise and the constant come and go of people (which I really don't understand). Maybe it is the only somewhat hip/hipster place in San Fernando but it definitely would not survive in an area with more...