Shaks Mediterranean Bistro — Restaurant in Vista

Poor initial service, big flies flying around our food, and no air conditioning inside so we opted to stay outdoors (the restaurant has an open door style). The swatting of the flies while eating was very unpleasant. This restaurant needs pest control or some way to keep these flies under control, it could be a sanitation issue or a nearby breeding area. I was also disappointed when we were seated and left waiting for an inordinate amount of time at a non peak hour. I stood up and ordered at their front desk. The person who took the order was friendly and personable. He took the time to answer my questions about menu options and make suggestions. The actual server assigned to our table came to the front desk alongside the male host who originally seated us to ask questions (about the order) to the friendly man taking our order. At that point, I explained to the friendly man taking the order, who had no idea what was going on that I had been waiting for someone to take our order but no one ever came to our table. I also informed him that I was baffled by the fact that initially, it was just us and another table and I didn't understand why no one came to take our order until I finally get up to order. The friendly man apologized - he shouldn't have, it wasn't his fault, but the actual server never apologized or explained why there was a delay. It was strange. I also got up to order because a party of four arrived and a party of 2 arrived almost right after so they were about to get really busy. When we arrived, it was a deserted island but by the time we left there was a line all the way out the door. People were actually getting good customer service and their orders were taken right away, they were offered water inmediatly and all other regular protocols were being followed. I was observing other servers interact with their customers and they were friendly and personable so I think we just got unlucky with our server. They have a good selection of vegetarian options which is always a plus for me. Everyone else who helped us after our initial bad experience demonstrated good people skills and other than the flies and uncomfortable iron chairs (typical of outdoor places) it's a nice venue for...

I had an unusual experience at Shaks Mediterranean Bistro in Vista last Friday. Despite ordering a meal that came with soup, I noticed an extra $10.00 charge for soup that I never received. The refund process involving cash payments and tipping was a bit confusing, and it seems the refund didn't actually go through. My attempts to sort things out with the restaurant have been met with silence, which is a bit frustrating. Despite sharing details and having a conversation with the owner, I've encountered vague hints of using surveillance tapes for legal reasons. The owner's claim of not seeing me near the bar while exchanging money with an employee is puzzling, given that I wasn't seated there. And it makes me wonder: how does he recognize me? While the food is definitely tasty, the whole overcharging situation and potential legal issues have unfortunately soured my view of Shaks as a favorite dining spot in Vista.

The owner has threaten me more than once with his closed system surveillance in this dispute over soup. This is an exact quote from our chat:

The fact is you did receive the soup, I have footage of it at your table, that’s why I’m confused you are saying you didn’t. It was at your table. I’m not sure why you are not telling me the truth. It’s evident I’ve tried my best to make this situation right but for some reason you are not wanting to tell me the truth when I have concrete proof of what you are saying is not adding up to what actually happened. I tried my best to make this right on multiple ends of finding your checks to make sure you are charge the right amount and truly not being charged twice, which I did. When you said you didn’t receive items you paid for I looked into that because it’s not right we take money for things you didn’t receive, but you did receive all the items you paid for. At this point I’m not sure how to...

Ordered a drink off the specials of the day, hummus starter, and falafel plate. The drink was very bad to the point of being undrinkable. I took 2 sips and then pushed it away. The hummus was good but had way too little pita (6 slices about 1 inch by 3 inch triangles) so there's no chance to eat any significant portion of it. You can get more pita but it didn't come out until after we were done with our entrees. The falafel plate comes served on a rice pilaf and tahini with side salad, bowl of soup, and pita. The salad was excellent. Everything else was either inedible or never arrived. The falafel was bone dry and had no flavor at all. Even a massive drenching in tahini couldn't make it palatable. Since it was formed into small rings, the shape and consistency was way too close to a doggy treat. The rice pilaf was under seasoned and just plain bland. There was no pita on the plate and the only pita we received was for the hummus and then a refill for the hummus plate. The soup never arrived. By the time the waitress came around to check on us, I was over it. I just wanted to pay and leave. In the back of my head I was thinking when I was a server and if I had ever seen someone who barely ate any of their entree, left the majority of their appetizer uneaten, has an almost untouched drink, and doesn't look very happy, what would I do? I would have figured out what they didn't like or what went wrong and get my manager to take it off the bill. That didn't happen. The waitress didn't ask about any of it. She just took my card and ran it for...