Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Santa Clarita

Lazy Dog Cafe One of our favorite things to do every Sunday is to hit the Lazy Dog Cafe, Valencia for a great breakfast or lunch. They have a great, uncomplicated brunch menu and also some really wonderful lunch items at what I would consider a fair price. By the way, the chilaquiles are awesome and the chicken tortilla soup is a meal in itself with a great authentic Southwest taste.

But more than the food, which is extremely good, we like going to Lazy Dog because we always feel welcomed, specifically by John, the manager. Not only is it nice that he comes to our table to say hello and engage with us for a minute or two, but he's very good at suggesting menu items that we haven't tried before. Inevitably once we try them, we have another thing that we always want to order. John has a great attitude, is professional and always engaging with customers. This work ethic which reflects in the servers and the support staff like bus people and hosts, is truly the sign of a great manager. We are impressed by how well each server knows the menu. I'm one of those customers that will ask questions regarding a particular dish and I have never been disappointed with a server's knowledge about the menu and their enthusiastic description of why I should try something new. In fact, the suggestions we've received are how we have made our way around the Lazy Dog menu!

I say all of this because when I was younger I worked as a maitre d' in a very nice restaurant in New York. Everything I learned about the menu and how to engage with customers came from the manager, and I see this in the way John manages his staff. We have always enjoyed Lazy Dog Cafe, but in recent years since John has been there we’ve made it a regular stop because it's a nice, warm and welcoming atmosphere. We have several friends and family that now are regulars at Lazy Dog because they have been our guests and have experienced the same great customer service.

In closing, I would like to say thank you to John for always warmly hosting us every time we come into the restaurant, almost every Sunday. It seems that our Sundays wouldn't be complete without our meal and experience at Lazy Dog Cafe, Valencia.

I apologize if this was an unusually long review, however, as a business owner and from working on set with the studios in LA, I know the importance of good customer service and a well-earned reputation.

Update 3/6/22: One of our favorite places is the Lazy Dog Cafe, Valencia. Although we are regulars on Sunday mornings, the occasional lunch or dinner there is equally enjoyable. We especially enjoy the fun atmosphere and the friendly servers. It always amazes me how much the servers know about the menu. They can answer a question on just about any dish they serve. It is apparent that Lazy Dog invests time to hone the skills and knowledge base of each person that works there.

As I mentioned, one of our favorite times to go there are Sunday mornings when we can enjoy their amazing Chiliqilas and the best tortilla soup ever. I don't think we've ever ordered anything that we haven't thoroughly enjoyed and I must say that the portions are quite generous.

The whole restaurant is a pleasure to be in. The bar is a great place to meet friends for happy hour and order a really great appetizer. If you have a dog, it's fun to take your pup and sit outside where you can order a grilled burger or chicken on brown rice with a bowl of water for them. I must also mention that the bathrooms are impeccably clean and nicely done.

Lazy Dog Valencia Town Center...

BE CAREFUL, THEY’LL TIP THEMSELVES WITH YOUR CARD!!! This place looked decent, but that was about it. My family and I are from out of town and my stepdad always wanted to try this place. We went and were seated immediately, our first server Javier was really nice and got our drinks quickly and took our order. Food was mediocre at best. But then our new server Edward J. came and informed us he would be helping us from now on. We made the mistake of giving this guy our card before even seeing the receipt and this guy helped himself to a $40 tip! We thought maybe they added gratuity for larger parties but there was only 6 of us, so I went and asked the hostess if they automatically add a 20% tip on all their bills? And she said no, we don’t do that why? And I informed her that our waiter had given himself a 20% tip when he took our card and disappeared to the back. And she said is it Edward? Like she automatically knew because this wasn’t his first time doing this. Then she told me to give her a second because he shouldn’t have done that and she was going to talk to him. When he came back with a new receipt and reversed the 20% tip, he gave us no explanation as to why he did it, or an apology. Just the receipt saying “Here. My manager reversed it.” Then walked away. Not to mention, after him helping himself to a big tip, he folded our receipt, gave it to us, then hid in the back and wouldn’t come by our table at all. We sat waiting for him to walk by to ask him about it, but because of him avoiding our table we asked the hostess. Would NOT recommend this...

For my first dinner experience in Valencia, this one was memorable. Lazy Dog has a wide menu range, so choice is tough, because they all look amazing.

From Alyssa's phone and in-store greeting to dessert, we felt welcomed. We were seated in a comfortable book, even without a reservation at busy dinnertime.

Amanda, our server, couldn't have been better. She attended to our every wish. And, since it was Christmas week, the other servers were also friendly and fun--especially with "ugly sweater" bonanza here. We especially liked Shane's home made Snowman Globe Ugly Sweater.

We started with a coconut shrimp cerviche that will go down in memory as a standard for all cerviche. Wow. This was truly delicious, beautifully served with homemade potato crisps, and the little coconut perk was special. It was so good, we may not share next time!

I selected the BBQ grass-fed Wyoming bison meatloaf with sauteed spinach, red skin potato mash and with thinly sliced haystack onion rings. I can't get this delicious dinner out of my mind. It is definitely an entree to go back for.

We wrapped our good experience with an extraordinary carrot cake, which again, we shared "this time" but may not do that again!! :)

This is a family restaurant that grew from customer appreciation. It is not a chain, but has multiplied locations. We're not surprised.

We...