The Station — Restaurant in San Juan Capistrano

We came here during the annual Swallow Festival, so there was a special menu for the day. I got a burger, and my boyfriend got fish and chips. The food was great! Our server offered us ranch, and it was delicious with the fries! House made! Little off that the fish seemed to be one big fillet. We saw customers get the one big fillet too. Not sure if that’s worth the $19 it cost. I feel like 3 fillets per order is standard.

We loved getting to eat in the train car. Very cool! Most folks were at the bar so we had the train to ourselves most of our visit.

Our server, Autumn, was fantastic! She was attentive, had great suggestions, and even brought me a free beer because the tap blew on the kind I ordered so it was a bit foamy. She didn’t need to do that, but she went the extra mile to give us a great experience.

I’m detracting a star for the other staff. When we came in, there was no one at the entrance to seat us. Several employees walked past us and ignored us. We eventually had to flag one down to be seated, and they told us we could sit wherever we wanted. If it’s self-seating, put up a sign. While we were eating, an employee and boss were having a discussion about work, hours, pay, etc. in the train car with us, which seemed unprofessional. Surely there’s someplace to have those kind of talks that isn’t within earshot of customers.

We heard a different server at a different table being asked questions about what kind of beer they had and the ingredients of the food, and she responded “I don’t know, I don’t work here.” So maybe she was just helping out for the day, but she should at least offer to go ask someone for the answers. I’m glad our server was great, because I would have been frustrated with the girl who doesn’t work there and was unwilling to be helpful.

Clean bathrooms. No one but us wearing masks, if...

Party of 5 for dinner. Our server was very pleasant, attentive and accommodating. Minus 1 star because the food was just ok. Not bad, but not great. Meat Pie had a tender flakey crust. I chose the chicken and mushroom filling which was horribly overly seasoned with black pepper. The chicken had a texture like out of a can, maybe that’s what they mean by minced? My side of mashed potatoes and brown gravy tasted richly homemade. My husband had the fish and chips. The single (only one?) white fish filet was cooked perfectly inside with a light and crunchy batter. Sadly both the fish and the batter had NO flavor at all. Thankfully the tartar sauce was good and plentiful. Steak Fries were served hot and really tasty dipped in the gravy. Also ordered was the Pesto Pasta Salad. Kind of an odd offering with cold pesto pasta on a bed of mixed greens. Again just ok. Cheeseburger was thick, but overcooked and not juicy. Chicken tenders looked and tasted like the generic frozen product served everywhere else.

Minus 2 stars because not all of the service staff were wearing masks. Diners expect to see 100% staff compliance (for now anyway) and one person in our party was very uncomfortable and concerned. Even after quietly mentioning to our server several employees and the owner chose not to comply.

Overall Paddy’s Station felt like a dive bar and was not at all the experience we were...

Never given a one star review for a bar before but there’s a first for everything. Went to this bar to grab a drink for a first date and was immediately met with hostility from the woman bartender working. She asked what we wanted after sitting there for 5min in a completely empty bar and after my date was unsure of the best alcohol to choose in the margarita she wanted the bartender immediately started yelling at us to leave and she refused to serve us. I was never asked for what I wanted, my date who’s not an alcohol expert, just asked her to use the first alcohol she mentioned in this list she gave, literally that’s all that was said before she started berating us. We’re both completely sober (I don’t even drink and wasn’t planning on getting an alcoholic drink) and explained this to her and she said she didn’t believe us and to leave the bar because she’s not going to be responsible for some kind of DUI death, never seen this kind of crazy behavior at a bar from a bartender before on first time patrons who are sober asking for a basic drink. She then proceeded to close the bar hours early and was seen getting drunk at the bar across the parking lot. The absolute worst experience I’ve had at a bar and would never come back here or recommend this place to someone. You guys need to do better because this was a joke of an experience. Date this...