Elephant Bar Restaurant

Reviews 4

RE

Reyna Trejo

Ive written many hotel reviews, but this is my first restaurant review. (We eat out about 3 times a week.) I felt compelled to write it after last nights fiasco. Our son graduated from South Gate High School yesterday. I called Elephant Bar in Downey at 7:00 PM and made an 8:00 reservation for 13 people. We were on time. The wait time to be seated was only a few minutes, since they were not crowded at all. Our server came by after a few more minutes and took our drink orders. At around 8:40, I went to look for another server and let them know that wed been waiting for about 30 minutes for our drinks, and that our food order had not even been taken. Chris, the manager, promptly came to our table. He was very nice and apologetic. He said that they were not expecting large "graduation groups" tonight, and that as a result, they were understaffed. (Very poor management and planning. South Gate literally borders Downey. They should keep track of big events in neighboring areas. Chilis, in the same shopping center, does. I know because I called them first trying to make a reservation, and was told that they would be at capacity because of the graduation.) Chris took our food orders. He was very courteous. Asked if we wanted soups and salads before our meal, or with our meal. We all answered "before". For the long wait, he said that he would send some complimentary appetizers. Our drinks arrived sporadically a few minutes later. (Our 2 year-old grandson yelled "Bring me food.") Our free appetizers (green beans, artichoke dip, and garlic bread), yet a few minutes after that. It was now past 9:00 and wed been there for 1 hour. We had drinks and appetizers. The restaurant had filled out by that time. My son saw others in his graduating class with their families. Some were large groups like ours. Another group, with about as many people as ours, was seated nearby just before 9:00. At 9:30, the large group next to us had their meals in front of them. At 9:40, I walked over to the hostess and let her know that we were leaving. We had not even gotten our soups and salads yet, when other groups, small and large, had been served their meals. As we were getting up to leave, our server came over to tell us that we need to "pay for what we had had" before leaving. (She was rude to top it off.) I asked for the manager, and she replied, "Thats what he said to tell you." I asked her to call him over. Chris came over and again said that we needed to pay. As we all stood around, and in a not-so-friendly tone or low voice, I replied, "You actually want us to pay for our sodas?! REALLY? Weve been here for over 1 1/2 hours, and do not even have our pre-dinner salads! Other diners have come and gone - and the final straw was that they (pointing to the large group next to us) already have their MEALS - even though they arrived way AFTER us!!" He just said "Okay, you dont have to pay." We walked out. Our wonderful day came to a sour and abrupt halt. We cannot get our sons graduation night back. Our party split up and went for fast food. Never again, Elephant Bar. NEVER again.

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Sharon Rojas

Took my mother inlaw here for birthday and I wish we would have had a different waiter to start with because the food was delicious. It was the first time I seen her eat her entire plate and my husband will not stop talking about his new favorite perfect nachos. I loved the Shrimp Jambalaya and the Mango drink. However, we had a waiter named Jose tall with bald head and he had the nerve to be such a jerk. There were a few things he was rude about but the main thing that bothered me was when we asked to change my husbands plate for something else because he realized what he ordered was spicy so he wanted the nachos instead. He said he had already put the order in and its probably already ready. Even if it was on our table and he bit it he should able to change it if he didnt like it. Well we wouldnt do that but we did want to change our order. He even went to the kitchen and brought out the plate show him it was almost ready. I told him it didnt matter he we still wanted the Chicken Nachos and cancel that plate. He rolled his eyes, mumbled something and walked away without saying or agreeing to change his order. I spoke with a manager and asked if we can change the order. He agreed and even changed our waiter who was ver respectful and friendly. However the Jose guy still passed by our table and would make comments in spanish like "the Food was ready" and then laugh with some other hispanic short guy in the kitchen and stare at our table while talking. Soo pathetic it really ruined our moment enjoying the food. I will give it 5 star however because the rest of the staff was courteous and the food was bomb. Probably gonna go to a different Elephant Bar tho.

DA

Darcy Segura

So disappointing! I used to come here for happy hours and lettuce wraps all the time, and friendly staff. Came here in the evening, around 8:00. Non happy hour prices are overpriced for lackluster food and poor service. The iPad ordering system is ridiculous...the customers have to do all the work. Maybe it was a cute novelty at first, but its just a pain in the @$$. The "order extras" feature, like lemon or dressing, doesnt work. We repeatedly ordered drink refills and lemon, and only got any attention when we pressed the summons waiter button. I ordered extra tomato on the salad, and it came out with NO tomato. When I asked for extra, I was given two cherry tomatoes...for a full sized dinner salad. One appetizer was brought right away, and the other was brought with the main courses. My husbands side salad was brought out AFTER his meal, and only after we reminded the waitress. Now to the food. Besides overpriced, it lacks quality. My dinner salad was full of brown, wilted lettuce. My husbands chicken was overdone, complete with burnt edges. The new lettuce wraps recipe is disappointing...I used to like them better than PF Changs. No more. :-( Garlic bread appetizer was cold and too soft. I hate low tipping and as a rule always tip well, but this time I broke my rule.

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Alex Luong

Summary: I was in town for a work related meeting and happen to arrive early so I decided to try Elephant Bar. A friend of mine have been raving about it but I never had the chance to really go due to the distance. I should have never trusted her palate. Food: I ordered the Artichoke Dip, Misoyaki Salmon, and an order of Build Your Own Burger. The Artichoke Dip was too cheesy with no artichoke flavor and not even a hint of spice, Misoyaki Salmon was too dry and if it wasnt for the un-season steam veggie the salmon would have scratch my throat. As for the Build Your Own burger, I specifically told the waiter to put the sauce on the side but when my burger arrive the sauce was put inside the burger which then makes the bun all soggy. So I end up just throwing the bun aside and ate the meat. At least my meat was medium rare as I requested so kudos to that. Service: Aside from the screw up, the hostess and waiter was friendly and courteous. Overall: I wouldnt recommend this place to anyone. Classy restaurant but overprice for such lousy dishes. If I want overcook salmon and soggy burgers all I had to do was tell my SO to go into the kitchen.