The Cloverfield — Restaurant in Santa Monica

TERRIBLE service, but great ambience and decent food

I’ll start by saying that I was a server for 8 years and if I had behaved like any of these people I would have been fired. It was changeover time when I arrived (no problem) so all I ordered at first was a glass of sparkling wine. Server #1 was incredibly rude, acting as if I was a complete annoyance. But I understand, he just wants to go home. Second guy maybe says 2 words to me as I order my salad (long after changeover and the restaurant was not busy yet), but no “hello”, no eye contact, no welcoming attitude, again seeming annoyed that I was in his presence. He comes by ONE more time and as I order another glass of sparkling wine, I just mentioned it seemed a little flat and if they could open a new bottle that would be great thank you. He said fine and brought back another glass that tasted the same. Then I sat waving my credit card trying to get someone’s attention for about a half an hour (I wasn’t in a rush so I just waited) and finally a very nice girl seems to suddenly notice me and comes over to take my payment. I mentioned the wine and she said the type of wine it is is just not that bubbly. Fine, I just accepted and paid for it. As I leave I want to stop by the bathroom. But as I’m walking by the bar in one section of the restaurant, I overheard the two bartenders mocking my complaints regarding the “sparkling” wine, and as I asked “sorry, is the washroom this way?” The lady doesn’t even look up from her hands and rudely says “yup”. Again, I am an annoyance. 0/10 would...

The Cloverfield has a lovely outdoor space that is family-friendly and charming. We came here to celebrate my wife's birthday with our family and the experience was anything but celebratory. Our first server, Randy, was bothered by taking our drink order, as he made it loudly known that his shift was about to be over and he couldn't wait to go home. Our next server, Aiden, brought an even worse attitude that spoiled the evening for us. The bill was rushed upon us without asking if we'd like anything else. And when I mentioned that we were celebrating a birthday and would like to get a dessert, Aiden's response was overtly rude and dismissive. We explained our concerns and expressed our disappointment to the manager to give her the opportunity to make things right, and all we were met with was "I'm sorry to hear that," with zero effort to improve our experience. This is the worst customer service I've had while dining out in a very long time and I regret that we came here to celebrate. We left without a birthday dessert. And it's just sad that management didn't even pretend to care about our feedback. I know that misunderstandings can happen and that mistakes can be made, but the customer service was non-existent. I'm sure this can be a great experience with a different server, but we will not be back. P.S. If you do go here, don't order the Tuna Tostadas... for $16 it's a tiny portion - I literally laughed when it was delivered to the table because it looked like...

One of our favorite burgers on the Westside! We frequent this place since the food is solid and it’s a great place to sit outside and eat with our kids and other family. Unfortunately our waiter started the evening off by saying I have a large section outside and inside here too, so……. He Took our order and within 3-5 mins, our young daughter decided she wanted a burger instead of fish and chips. I immediately found our waiter and politely asked him to change it - in which his answer was no! I said she won’t eat it, I’m sorry for the change, but we need a burger. He said I’ll be right back, give me a second. Never returned to me and I sat down to tell my kid to hang tight. After 5 minutes my wife went up to him near the bar and said you need to change her meal, period. He changed it angrily and food came out quickly as usual and was really yummy! He never came back to check on us or offer dessert. Brought our check once he noticed we were finished eating and that was that. Gave him a crappy tip (even though the rest of the staff amazing) and we generally leave a solid tip. We looked for a manager to no avail, and have had this issue prior! They need to either add more staff, or get someone with a much better attitude. Food was solid usual, but service completely...