California Dreaming — Restaurant in South Carolina

Second time we've been in ten or so years and the tonight was unfortunate too. We like the string of restaurants the parent company has but tonight's experience will keep us from going to this location again. Our food was brought out cold, and the flavor of my steak wasn't to my liking. I tried to get past that but couldn't finish my meal. My wife and oldest child were to share the bbq chicken nachos as their meal but it came out cold and they didn't eat but two bites of it. The server came to ask how our food was and we told her it came out cold. She said ok and left. She came back 15 min later asking if we needed boxes and we said no, just the check. She came back with the check with all items on the receipt. We asked if she heard us say the obviously untouched nachos were cold when they came out and she snatched the check away and said she would take them off.. She brought back the new check with the nachos removed and continued on her way without any response letting us know cold food from the kitchen to us was ok with her. She stayed as I was signing the check, which made me feel a bit uncomfortable as I was not going to give a 20% tip (I gave 15%). We left and the rest of our evening was contentious at best amongst us all. I will give her benefit of doubt that they are understaffed and she may have had other resistive tables, but $80+ for less than par food and service from a well known established chain of restaurants...

My family and I have been coming to Surfside for years and always enjoy trying new restaurants—but California Dreamin’ was a major letdown, and we won’t be making that mistake again.

We arrived right on time for our reservation, only to be told we had to wait for our table to be “cleaned.” Fair enough—except the table we were eventually seated at had clearly been ready the whole time. Fully set. Spotless. Just sitting there. Off to a strange start.

Our server, Jacob, was polite but so mechanical and checked-out that we felt more like a chore than actual guests. The service was disorganized at best—our meals came out in awkward waves, drink refills were nearly impossible unless we were flagging someone down, and the food itself was lukewarm while the plates were scorching hot (which just made it obvious how long it sat under a heat lamp). My $37 filet, ordered medium, came out so overcooked and charred that pieces were flaking off like burnt bark.

To top it off, the dining room was so dimly lit it felt like we were eating in a cave—not exactly ideal for the people trying to prep and serve food, let alone enjoy it. And yes, the cherry on top: gnats. Buzzing around our table the whole time, probably having a better dinner than we did.

This meal wasn’t just underwhelming—it was a waste of over $200+. California Dreamin’? More like a nightmare we’ll...

We stopped here for lunch as it had been recommended to us by someone. We ordered Nacho's for an appetizer - they were put on a very small plate and stacked high. They were not well put together with areas with no cheese or toppings and because they are on such a small plate the top was crispy the rest was a soggy mess and hard to eat. Also no herbs or flavor and nothing fresh like cilantro or something that brings flavor. It was basically a big soggy cheese mess. Sad. My wife had a club salad which was also bad. Bacon tasted like it was old and cooked yesterday. The chicken was fried and tasted like old grease. No love put in this salad. I had a club sandwich which was not great the bread was stale and the little bit of meat and filling was clumped in the middle like a lump. It was messy and reminded me of something that was prepackaged where they just open a baggie and add contents to bread. Bacon also tasted like old and precooked Service was good but meal was horrible. I expected so much more. This is not a restaurant serving fresh food made with love and flavor it's just a chain serving same old highly processed slapped together garbage. Also our server was good but most of the staff seemed troubled to be working, more interested in joking around and were loud and made for an unpleasant atmosphere. Never would waste my hard earned...