Blue Dahlia Bistro — Restaurant in San Marcos

I love this place. I’ve only been a handful of times, but the patio is gorgeous, the staff is kind and the food has been great….. except for my Sunday brunch on the 13th. I don’t complain much but I feel like I should say something, as I don’t feel like I was treated fairly: We had an 11am reservation and we were seated and serviced immediately. 4 adults and a toddler; I ordered the salmon Benedict. The menu states it takes longer than other plates, everyone was served before me, no problem. I had that expectation. 30 minutes later everyone is done with their meals and the toddler is restless…. The server checked on us and I stated I had not received my plate. He said he would go check, returned and said he forgot to put in my order. I told him to please make it the vegetarian Benedict, just so the others didn’t have to wait any longer. He left with no apology. When he returned (VERY QUICKLY) with my plate I was surprised. However, it turned out the surprise was absolutely no seasoning on my food and the poached eggs had raw whites. It was like pushing snot off my plate.

My conclusion is that I really thought my food should have been comped or discounted. It was not a great experience. I was also charged for a $3 can of coke for a 2 year old that was clearly not mine and his dad ordered a small child’s cup with a lid. That was just bizarre…. 2 year olds don’t do well with cans and he wasn’t even mine. lol.

I just felt I needed to address this. I will be back (probably) but it left a bad taste...

We had a wonderful time at Blue Dahlia Bistro! The atmosphere is beautiful. There is even a beautiful shaded garden area. The staff were all incredibly friendly and provided excellent and personal service making us feel welcomed and recommend menu items that were just perfect for us. The portions were excellent. My daughter and I shared the Hummus and Taboule platter and were splitting the Coq au Vin Blanc. Our waitress actually mentioned that they had a smaller version of the entree, if we wanted that, which was absolutely perfect since the platter was already good size. My daughter had a Peach Daiquiri from the bar which was great. Everything about the Blue Dahlia Bistro was a Joy and we will absolutely be returning. I wanted to add a side note about the hummus and tabbouleh platter. I'm allergic to red onions, which normally means I can't eat anything like that at restaurants but the tabouli did not have red onions in it and it was fantastic! The flavors were light, bright and refreshing. Also, if you happen to arrive between the 4-7 pm happy hour, the meat boards, cheese boards and the hummus and tabouli platter...

Pros- secret garden is adorable, mister fans were helpful with the heat, several a la carte items that are gluten free (eggs, sausage, fruit, bacon, avocado)

Cons- really long wait today (Saturday- we arrived at 1 and it was a 45 min wait), it is marketed as a gluten free friendly restaurant and besides the a la carte items, the only GF option is sliced bread. Our server, Daylan, did not give us any feedback on why it took almost an hour for our food. We were there with three small kids after waiting 45 min- an update goes a long way. If the management would like to help out the staff, maybe offering a complimentary snack or have a stand by appetizer whenever this happens. That would make your serving staffs load much easier. She delivered our food and asked us if everything looked ok. We had one silverware for four people and not had any water refills (almost empty). After all that, I honestly wasn’t super impressed with the food. I got the roasted Turkey sandwich. It’s an open face Turkey sandwich with a drizzle of sauce on it. That was one of my GF options instead of...