The BLVD Steakhouse — Restaurant in Waco

Cambria Hotel and The BLVD Steakhouse might appear promising at first glance, but it quickly becomes evident that the hotel management style and work environment are severely lacking. The issues here largely stem from uncooperative and ineffective management practices that create a highly stressful and unsustainable workplace for the restaurant and banquet staff.

The hotel management and sales teams seem to operate in a silo, often failing to communicate important details or offer support where it’s needed. Despite calling themselves a “team,” hotel management and sales are largely absent when the restaurant staff is overwhelmed, leaving them to manage excessive workloads alone. This lack of cooperation means that employees are frequently handling physically demanding tasks like moving tables, setting up banquets, and covering long shifts with no backup without tips or proper compensation.

Communication from hotel management is also consistently poor. Constructive feedback is rare, while critical comments are commonplace, creating a demoralizing environment that lacks appreciation for the hard work put in by staff. This hyper-critical approach, combined with minimal recognition, has contributed to a higher than average turnover rate, as many employees choose to leave rather than endure this brutally toxic atmosphere.

Another major issue is compensation. Wages are far below what is livable for the roles required as well as what is offered within the city, especially in the banquet and kitchen areas. This makes it challenging to retain qualified staff, and those who stay are often expected to cover multiple shifts and long hours just to keep up with basic demands. Working 12-20 hour days, multiple days a week, is a common occurrence here and is unsustainable for most people.

Ultimately, the lack of communication, support, and fair wages from Cambria’s hotel management team creates a revolving door of staff turnover, which impacts both the work environment and, inevitably, the quality of service for guests. Cambria Hotel and The BLVD Steakhouse could be a great place with some much-needed changes in the hotel management's approach, but until they address these issues, both prospective employees and guests may want to consider...

Will this was supposed to have been a great evening with dinner and friends. Unfortunately, it was the case. We arrived to a beautiful atmosphere and very few people. We were seated and had been there for about 20 to 25 minutes before a waiter came to help us. A young lady came by and apologized saying that the server just seated a lot of people at one time. We had to ask for water while we waited, odd because that's usually the first thing you get. We got some little appetizer with a piece of onion, bell pepper and a miniscule piece of steak. The next appetizer was the pork belly bites. Not bad but glaze was overly sweet. Finally got my margarita on the rocks and the salt was a spicy salt. I declined and asked for regular salt and waiter said that's how they come and showed him my friend's drink and he asked if I would like it in another glass or just another drink. I'm thinking to myselfIf it's not the drink that I ordered why would you just pour that drink in another glass instead of just bringing me the correct drink. He brought me another drink that had the white salt on the rim but the drink was spicy. So I guess they just poured the in another glass. Dang...I had to send this back and they finally brought the right drink. Finally our food came and to all of our surprise it was very good. I had the salmon and brussel sprouts and I would recommend it to anyone. The waiter again missing in action so I had to flag him down and ask for more water. I don't like posting negative reviews however, I Didn't want to accept that it's Waco because I am tipping well for good service. I had enough so I asked to speak to the manager on duty and was told he had just left for the evening. So I asked him who was the manager on duty and was told the executive chef Zack. Prior to Zack getting there we ordered two draft beers and it took over 15 minutes before they got their drinks. Spoke to manager and he apologized. He asked meHe asked me howHe asked me how heHe asked me how...

Very disappointed in our experience at this new “steakhouse” in Waco. From the beginning to the end, every aspect was terrible. First of all, this is a hotel restaurant. They serve steak there but that’s the only way to call it a steakhouse. The decor is a wannabe modern Art Deco. The music was loud. I had a hard time hearing my husband over the loud 80s music. The gym must be on the other side of the restaurant; several times sweaty people in gym clothes walked through. This is not a place to go to celebrate a birthday or anniversary or any special occasion.

The absolute worst part was the food. We ordered the 8 oz Akuashi New York strip. Akuashi is Japanese beef. It is incredibly tender and flavorful on its own. It took so long to get our food that our server brought comped bread and butter and offered free dessert. Once the food arrived, our experience went further downhill. This steak was terrible. It was a NY strip cut in half or pieces (it was a square, not a strip). I asked for medium, mine was med-well. My husband asked for med-rare and his was rare to the point of raw. After being at the restaurant for 45+ minutes, we were done. After we spoke to the server, she came back to tell us our entire meal was comped. HOWEVER, the sorry excuse for a manager never stopped by our table. He never came to apologize, nothing. I have never had a bad experience where the manager didn’t speak to the table. We left and went to Diamondbacks, where we should have gone in the first place. If I could give zero...