Callen's Restaurant — Restaurant in Whidbey Island

If I could give zero stars I would. Today (Mother’s Day) my family and I went in to have breakfast, and STEPHANIE (not sure if that how it’s spelled) was our waitress. We were seated at table 7. Her attitude was off from the moment we got in there, but I assumed it was because they were busy. We ordered our drinks, and had to wait a bit to order our food. Either way we waited an hour and witnessed people who came in after us get served before us (1 table of two, a table of about 6, and a 2 folks at the bar). After I saw that the last table got served I asked for the bill. She told us we didn’t have to pay for the drinks and loudly, and quite rudely, yelled to the kitchen to cancel the order for table 7 (which leads me to believe the order was put in late or after others). Now I could really go off, especially given her attitude, but figured I’d leave a review.

This isn’t the first encounter that my family and I have had with Stephanie (we are an interracial family). Our family’s food would be served cold, or take a long time to come in. I’ve tried and tried to think maybe it was just a bad day the previous times, but after today we won’t be going back.

I truly hope management does something about Stephanie and in my opinion her poor customer service. I thought it was ridiculous for us to be treated that way. Instead of her updating us and letting us know the order would be on its way, or checking in with the kitchen to see how much longer it would be when I asked to have the bill she pretty much dismissed us and had the nerve to have an attitude in front of the entire restaurant yelling loudly for the kitchen to cancel the order.

I do appreciate the lady at the front (hostess) she was very kind to us which is what we deserved. We weren’t disrespectful just happy to eat at a place we used to enjoy and spend time together as a family.

EDIT: I’d love to add that we went to a different restaurant in oak harbor, they were significantly busier. The first thing the waitress said was happy Mother’s Day, though it’s not required I appreciated her saying that especially after our horrible visit at Callen’s. It took them maybe 25 minutes for us to get our food from the time we sat down. The waitress also forgot to put my order in, but she came up and apologized to us and discounted us half for the meal, which meant soo much to me. The food came out sooner than I expected (like 5 minutes later) we left her a large tip because unlike Callen’s clearly this other restaurant values their customers and their customers experiences. This lady was soo kind in comparison to what we experienced at Callen’s that I almost cried and I thank god for knowing what I needed after our encounter at Callen’s. Do better as there are many who are and if you love your business you should love those who walk through the door. I get rude customers but we weren’t that.

I pray Stephanie never has a similar experience on Mother’s Day or any day for that matter as it sucks, but I wouldn’t feel sorry for her or surprised if she did because she would have brought it...

I have been a local in Coupeville for the last 5 years and have been to Callen’s over half a dozen times since they’ve opened. I am a huge supporter of local businesses, especially during this time. Every few months we give Callen’s a try and are consistently disappointed with the customer service and rarely wowed by the food. We arrived this morning at 0900 and were able to sit at a vacant table immediately. Our server came to our table a total of fives times: to take our food and drink order, to deliver drinks, deliver food, bring the bill, and return our card. We were asked if we needed hot sauce, ketchup, or salt & pepper. We replied with a yes please and we never saw our server again until she asked if I needed a box and that she’d bring the bill. We would have happily ordered at least one more round of alcoholic beverages if not two while we were eating our meal however we were never asked if we needed refills and we weren’t even asked how the food was or how our visit was during the meal.

The last time we were in was in July for a takeout order. I came in to pay and asked if I could add a half bottle of wine that they’ve carried since day 1. The first gal who helped me wasn’t old enough to ring up alcohol. The second gal couldn’t find the button to ring up the wine or the wine itself. A man from the back was was called up and when I explained the situation for the third time he rudely told me that they didn’t carry that wine and asked which wine list I was looking at. I showed him the one in my hand and he again rudely, told me that was the wrong menu. He handed me the right menu and I immediately found the bottle of wine listed that I requested. He was flustered and went into the back to see if there was a bottle and low & behold there was one. I felt like I was putting them out by asking for an addition to my order.

The time before that we came out during musselfest to enjoy a nice dinner out together. It was later on Saturday, but at least 1.5 hours before closing. The house was full but a handful of tables were clearly ready to be cashed out and bussed. We were told point blank there was a wait, not offered to put our name down or if we minded waiting. It was if they didn’t want to seat us at all. We said we didn’t mind waiting and patiently waited for a table to clear. We were seated and had a similar experience to this morning. We’d ordered drinks and dinner and had the intentions of ordering a bottle of wine and dessert for us both. Again, never asked how the food was and the server simply brought our check to us and left it on the table. I still had wine in my glass and a substantial amount of food on my plate. The table next to us was offered a dessert menu while it felt we were pushed out the door. Again, we were prepared to spend more money at this establishment and it was like they didn’t want it.

I honestly asked myself this morning why we keep giving Callen’s a shot when we’re consistently let down. Food is mediocre at best and the service...

Was very excited to try this restaurant as i've heard some great things. Just went there this weekend for dinner, and was very disappointed. When my boyfriend and I first arrived there we were asked if we had reservations, and I told the person at the front desk my boyfriend had called and was told we couldn't make any reservations for a party under 6 (which sounds strange), the women did apologize and let us know many other customers had said the same thing and let us know it would be a bit of a wait about 40 minutes or so depending on how fast people eat. I told her we would wait because we really did wanna give the restaurant a try. Well we waited at least over an hour to be seated, had time to go somewhere and come back and still had to wait. By the time we were seated the restaurant was not as busy as before (Valentine's Day Weekend), and there were only a few couples/families sitting at the other tables. Our server was nice, but after we ordered our drinks we weren't really checked on as consistently as the other tables. We did order a starter, the steamed mussels I believe, but it took them over an hour to get our starter to us and when they did it was only accompanied by 1 piece of bread. By this time we're very hungry and for the price the portion was quite smaller than we expected. We also noticed that a family who were seated right before us probably with around 5-6 people or so had already had their food and were asked if they wanted dessert. After we got the starter we still weren't checked on for another at least 30 minutes or so, and this time it had been over an hour and twenty minutes and we still had not received our food. I had to ask another employee there if they could ask the kitchen if our food was still on the way. Shortly after she asked our food came out. I ordered their beechers mac and cheese with the shrimp and my boyfriend had got their scallops that came with pasta. The mac and cheese was very much soup-like, and didn't have much flavor, and the shrimp was very very tiny. I believe it was the shrimp people put in their salads. My boyfriend's scallop pasta dish was underwhelming as well unfortunately. The pasta was very overcooked, covered in tomatoes for some reason, and unfortunately didn't have much flavor. We didn't end up finishing the dishes even though we were still hungry and for the prices we were disappointed the food did not come out better considering we waited almost two hours for the 3 dishes. We both agreed the muscles were best part, and while the front desk person and waiter were sweet. I would recommend the restaurant have someone checking on the table more often and make sure the food comes out in a more reasonable time. They could be short-staffed of course, but overall disappointed because the restaurant itself was a cute place and we were so excited to try it, just wished the food matched...