Chart House

Reviews 4

AN

Anthony Taylor

If I were rating this place on view it would probably be a solid 5. Service would be nearly the same, the staff was great! However, after that the scores would fall steeply. Upon arrival, pulling in its somewhat surprising as you dont even see a building. Just a valet stand ($6). Once you drop your vehicle you walk down a path and see a wonder view of the Harbor and the Pacific Ocean. You see a door (the one you see in the "street view" that looks like it is in a mushroom. Walking in there is a very cool stairway that takes you down into the restaurant. The hostess were great we were seated quickly and even though we were not ON the window we could still see a nice view. Our waitress was very nice and she told us of the "chefs recommendations" and that the Salad Bar was just over there. This was probably the first clue that we werent in as "nice" of an establishment as I had thought based on their online menu. We ordered some wine and "Kimchee Calimari". While waiting for our appetizer, I snuck a peek at the salad bar (really expecting something amazing). It was nothing to get to excited about, a few different lettuce varieties and the expected fixing at any salad bar. There was server in the middle making up what appeared to be Ceasar Salad as well. The drinks and the calamari came and calamari wasnt bad at all. Very tender, the "crisp" veggies were a nice add and surprisingly it was a pretty nice size serving for what I thought was an upscale restaurant. We ordered a 7oz Filet ($32) and an 18oz Prime Rib(42.5). The dinner dishes come with Yukon mash and we ordered an additional side of sizzling mushrooms. The steaks came and we were, well disappointed. The filet was grilled, but bland. The Prime Rib was nearly cold, warm enough for me but when my wife tried a bite she couldnt even eat it as it was too cold for her. The mash was great and the mushrooms were good. Bottom line on the steaks, for the price they were far below my expectations. Chart House has a specialty dessert, a Lava Cake that you have to order in advance by at least 30 min. We ordered before we ordered our app so we knew we were good. It was brought to the table and it was very nice looking. My wife channeled her best Gorden Ramsey while cutting down the middle of the cake saying, if its right it should ooooooze out of the middle. To our disappointment no ooze, not even a little bit. Pretty much it was a fully cooked chocolate cake. It tasted fine, but definitely not lava. To this point we hadnt said anything to our server about the food, but when she asked I told her it was overcooked and she looked and said "oh.. it is, I will be sure to tell him *pointing to not leave it in so long" In summary, view is great, service is good, food is mediocre (at best) and I dont know if I would skip the lava cake cause even overcooked it was pleasant.

TH

Thida Kalayasilpin

HAPPY HOUR: I actually like happy hour menus more because I can try more dishes. Nice service and tasty appetizers. Pretty view when the sun is still out. DINNER: Little pricey, but the food was good. Marina sparkles in the night. WEDDING: Wedding ceremony & lunch reception here on a gorgeous, warm, clear, summer day overlooking the Dana Point marina. The kids got to run around outside, the younger crowd danced inside, and adults talked in the bar and dining areas. So much going on after accepting a proposal, the last thing I wanted to worry about were the wedding vendors, especially, far away in a separate state/time-zone. Marisa, staff and the regular vendors did a great job. Ran smoothly with their advise/feedback. Appreciated Items: - Flexible: most major decisions were made in advanced, but the final details I struggled to figure out until a couple weeks before they were great about--not that I recommend stressful last minute requests, since, in general that is bad for everyone involved. - Kept in touch: Glad they all seemed comfortable with email (my preference) - Professional: everything from tables, chairs, cake, flowers, AV, photo booth, and photographer were ready to go before the ceremony started - Attention to details: some horderves pulled aside for us, a piece of food prepared with the sauce separate because Im allergic, couple first to eat, told the food came out warm and tasty (dress and nerves prevented me from really eating much of anything), accessible water, water for my bouquet, mentioned not enough music picked out for the time allotted for lunch, etc. - Experienced: This helped moved things along. It seemed like the day went by in a blink of an eye. Thankful to the serving staff for moving the buffet line along. - Quality: Within budget. No last minute surprises like taxes forgotten or changes in delivered services after the contracts had been signed and money put down. An external vendor I got on my own was extremely stressful, since, I purchased the cheapest option and I was not apparently worth his companys time. Made Marisa and her recommended vendors shine in comparison. As someone trying to be practical, I am very happy with this purchase.

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Nina Santoyo

We had our wedding and reception on 10/25/15 - Beautiful location, great food and great servers. I would highly recommend the Chart House - However I would make sure you have someone ( your own wedding coordinator for the day of the wedding) . We were told by the Chart House wedding coordinator that we wont need one and she would be our point person. Well the day of the wedding; My vendors had no one to direct them when they arrived, it was my photographer who reminded me it was getting late and we better cut the cake, and the biggest disappointment was no dance floor - I have emails and we had conversations requesting an larger or an additional dance floor. Our band could not set up on the grass. When I arrived no extra dance floor- at this point too late. We made the best of it -we dance on the grass, many shoes were ruined due to the grass getting soggy. When I address this with the wedding coordinator all she said was "opps over-site and you were not charged" Wow really that is a very poor customer service responds. SO if your planning a wedding have your own point person for the day of AND re-confirm EVERYTHING on the contract you want just to make sure your day goes smoothly. And dont let your groom tip the wedding coordinator before checking with you 1st. She got a $100.00 tip and I would not have tipped her extra. :( Her staff YES but not her.

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Mark Harpin

Our dinner experience this evening was a bit disappointing. We are big fans of The Chart House in Solana Beach and after moving to San Clemente a year ago, we were excited to have dinner at the Dana Point location. We decided a few months ago we would celebrate our 40th Wedding Anniversary here and we were anticipating an exceptional dinner experience and it just didnt happen. We were seated with a nice view but nothing else felt special. We both ordered the fresh Halibut which was very good. We both ordered baked potatoes which arrived lukewarm and not totally cooked. Our server offered to bring us new potatoes and did. Unfortunately, he reached onto our plates with his hand and scooped up the lukewarm baked potatoes before serving the replacements. At the end of the meal Our server brought dirty plates from another table set them in our plates, still in front of us, then picked up our plates to remove them. We were anticipating a special dining experience and it just never happened... Mark and Cathy San Clemente