Bali Hai Restaurant

Reviews 5

KA

Kaitlyn Thibodeau

I went to Bali Hai a couple years ago for Restaurant Week and it was excellent. Took me a while to get back, but finally did on Sunday with my family. We had a party of 7. All the food was delicious, the view is beautiful... however, I was appalled by the service we received. First, the restaurant was loud and I could barely hear our server... to make matters worse she walked away while I was trying to decide what salad to split based on the information I couldnt hear. Rude. Additionally, when she took our entree order instead of walking to each of us or standing at the center of the large table, she stood at the front of the table making us yell our orders at her. Second, instead of splitting a salad, my date and I decided to split the edamame app while everyone else had salads... would have been nice to get the edamame when everyone got their salads...would have been even nicer if the server came to check to be sure everything was there. The server was also rude when my aunt said the Mai Tai was too strong for her (yes, we got the strong warning, but still... she didnt like it)....the look on her face was enough to make us mad. Lastly, there were SEVERAL times when more than one of us had empty water glasses. In fact, at one point not only did my date finish his water, but he also finished my water before I had to flag the server down and ask for refills for our 4 or 5 empty glasses. Yes, it was a full house that night, but I just feels like thats just laziness, especially when the majority of the table was just having water. Id love to give Bali Hai more stars since the food was great (between the 7 of us we tried several different salads, apps and entrees..all of it was great), but I just cant get over the poor service. All in all our server came off as she had better things to do then make sure we had a good experience.

---

GR

Graham Cunningham

My wife is the kind of person who looks at the reviews, picks out all the negatives, and decides that the place sounds no good. I, on the other hand, tend to think that a place is probably not as bad as the bad reviews and not as good as the best reviews, but somewhere in between. Lets get the major points out of the way first - the evening view across the bay to downtown SD is to die for. And the signature Mai Tai is essentially half a pint of neat rum; the warning on the menu could not be any clearer, so dont order that unless you are up for that experience. Try another cocktail instead - the Zombie was potent but well balanced in flavor. The restaurant was maybe about half full and not at all noisy, and the service was friendly, courteous and efficient. I cant speak for all the dishes. We had the starter for sharing, which had tuna, spring rolls, edamame and coconut prawns - all good. We hadnt realized that the tuna was sashimi, which didnt appeal to the wife, but I enjoyed it. We cleaned the plate. For main, the sea bass looked and tasted beautiful, and the short rib yakisoba was tasty and filling, though not hugely spicy. (I dont know whether Balinese is supposed to be spicy, but Japanese usually not, I guess.) My son declared the ribeye steak "pretty decent", which is good praise. The portions were sufficiently generous that we declined dessert. The check came to just under $200 + tip for four of us, including three cocktails and a bottle of white wine plus a glass of red. Money well spent.

---

CA

Carolyn Tamburrino

I would NEVER RECOMMEND booking a wedding at Bali Hai. Weddings were back to back and as soon as guests leave the ceremony, the restaurant is tearing down the flowers and set-up for the next wedding. There wasnt even time to use the backdrop for photos unless you took them during the actual ceremony. The reception area was terribly understaffed. They had 3 wait staff for 180 people. Wait staff did not even have time to bring out more wedding cake for the guests nor serve coffee until everyone had already finished eating the cake that was cut. At one point, everyone was prohibited from leaving the reception area by "bouncers", stationed at the doors, except through a specific door in the back because they started another ceremony. That unassociated wedding was allowed to mill about outside the reception windows facing the bay so our view was of someone elses reception rather than the tranquil water. After the reception area was cleared and broken down, the next reception was entering even though nothing had been cleaned or swept. I cant even imagine what a mess they had to deal with. There were too many problem to really list them all here. Perhaps if you got married during an off-season you may be lucky but I would NEVER recommend for anyone to use this place for a wedding.

---

RO

Robert Cortes

Updated Review: April 30th 2016 We went back after being contacting by management and I have to say they did a 5 star Job, top notch service and food! Thanks Bali Hai! Normally this is our monthly date night because of the harbor views and happy hour food and specials and we always sit next on the couch next to the Hawaiian singer so this past Thursday we stopped in and ordered some food and specifically told the server my wife has a dairy allergy and she said she would check with the kitchen about the white sauce with the poke dish, well she failed to do so and my wife took a quarter bite and knew it was dairy then I tried it and confirmed it was dairy. We told the long haired blonde server to take it back. Even before that we had the lobster taco, which has one piece of lobster and the wonton shells were over cooked dark brown and no favor. My wife was tears and she did have reaction and thank God we did not have to go to ER. The tears were in part to a ruined date night and then have to a bad night. To make matter worst the manager came over and apologized and did not even offer to comp our meal, so we left the food there and went home. The food and the service has gone downhill over the last few years, we will be going to find a new monthly date night spot.

---

RO

Robert Beauchamp

If you have spent any time in food service, or if you know your way in and around a bar, you can easily tell the good from the the mediocre. Tonight I had the pleasure to enjoy drinks and appetizers at Bali Hai and watch the bartender Julius in action. He deftly balanced the demands of the bar stool occupants, the drink orders from the wait staff and, also acting, as far as I could tell, the bar back. Always in motion, he was nonetheless attentive to all of the patrons, remembering everyones name and making sure drinks were fresh and that appetizers appeared promptly. Truly a joy to watch. My fellow crows on the wire pointed me toward the house special Mai Tai, which was delicious and the most manly Mai Tai Ive ever had. (Youll know what I mean when you taste it.) The three appetizers I sampled, Fire Ribs, Wasabi Fries and Crispy Spring Rolls where all good. On your visit dont miss the Fire Ribs. After a day of sailing on the bay it was all told a very pleasant experience, surrounded by Tiki decor, the view of downtown San Diego and the company of the other patrons. I hope you find the same.

---

---