California Dreaming Restaurant

Address:	401 Main St, Columbia, SC 29201, USA
Phone:	+1 803-254-6767
Site:	californiadreaming.rest
Rating:	4
Working:	11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–11PM 11AM–11PM 11AM–10PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 5

Iris Fain-Johnson

Bullied to pay SUGGEST 18% gratuity even though the service was not the best. I have dined there many times (with large and small groups), and it is a favorite of my grands. Our last expereince provided a nice atmosphere, but the service was not the best. First person to order was the last to receive his meal. His wife waited for mayo, and her food became cold, and she simply boxed it. When two people tried to correct a charge of an appetizer order, by one, but placed on anothers ticket--the servers voice was challenging. Even though the two guest were trying to rectify the situation, and place that appetizer on the right bill. Food NOT order was brought out, and returned to the kitchen.. Received the check and expected to pay a larger gratuity because of the group size. Bill states SUGGEST 18% gratuity. Cash was placed in the sleeve along with the card. The waitress returned and told me that we HAD to pay the 18% gratuitybecause of the contract that WE DID NOT create because we were invited guest. We felt BULLIED, and paid it. The manager (we did not ask to see him) came into the area as guest were leaving, and asked if everyone had a good time. Since he was standing right behind us, I told him no (not in a loud voice). I explained that I interpret SUGGEST as an option, not mandatory. He stated that they could not change SUGGEST on the printout/bill. I disagreed becuase if the postal service changes the zip code, I am sure the printout/bill would be changed. Paying the gratuity IS NOT the issue, if the service is good and I am in a large group, I normally do 20%, but the service was not wothy of 18% So will California Dreaming please explain IN WRITING how a contract with one person holds his/her guests to that contract when their wait staff demand the 18% that is suggested? How can one person that is not a part of the contract be required to follow the contract? I welcome your responses to these two questions.

Anonymous User

It was my one year anniversary of marriage last night and I needed to find a good restaurant in an area Im not from that would be great for my wife and me. After typing in my address and searching for restaurants nearby using google maps, I was able to find a place that looked nice, was different, and had decent reviews. My wife was very pleased with the decor and environment. My wife had an appletini and the GG for her alcoholic beverages and I had a sweet tea. The sweet tea was your typical sweet tea. Nothing beats McDonalds sweet tea. We had two appetizers. We ordered the croissant rolls after I seen people saying online that they are very good. We loved them! We also ordered the onion ring loaf. It was also very good! My wife loved the presentation of the food as well. For our main course I ordered the blackened chicken alfredo pasta, great choice! My wife ordered the knob hill chicken, great choice as well! I did see people complain on the reviews about the prices, but personally I didnt think they were high. Someone said its a glorified TGIF. WAY WRONG! This place is different, nice, plays great music (mostly 80s music last night). The only thing I didnt like was at the end of our evening we went to the bar, ordered a Heineken, and it took the waitress a little while to service us through everything (getting the drink, getting the check, processing the payment). The bar had only one other person there. Other than that I have no complaints. We had a great one year marriage anniversary thanks to google maps and California Dreaming!

Doug Watts

The nice young man said it would be 15 - 25 minutes for a 2 top. That turned out to be untrue. And I was almost certain a couple that had come in AFTER us was seated before we were. Then our waitress was almost invisible. After taking our order we never saw her again until after others brought out our food and my wife had to flag her down to get a little ranch dressing. I asked her about thier Blue Cheese. She honestly replied she wasnt a Blue cheese fan so she wasnt a good person to ask. Fair enough. So i asked if i could please try a little. Simple enough? Apparently not, never happened. My wife reminded her. It was very good. side note - my wifes dinner salad arrived at the most random and strange time. Now even after returning with my wifes dressing Im guessing she finally asked if everything was alright. Then poof invisible again. My chef salad was awesome and the ranch dressing here is excellent the Blue Cheese which finally arrived was also good. The She crab soup, good. The onion loaf, good. But theyre supposed to be. My wifes nob? chicken? Was dry enough to compete with shoe leather. This place is no more than over priced fast food without the staff to properly prepare or present.

Janet Hopkins

My friend and I went this past Sunday early evening for a celebration dinner.....but no go! The wait staff was slow, they seemed to enjoy talking in the kitchen a lot more that taking care of tables. After 45 minutes for 2 salads, our dinner came-and the dressing was wrong on both salads. We opted to try to add the correct dressing on top of what was already mixed in-bad idea-but we didnt feel we wanted to wait that long for 2 more salads. I just took a few bites and gave up-not a good combo. My girlfriend put bleu cheese (what she had ordered) on top of the balsamic that was on it (their mix up, which the waitress admitted.) She mixed it all up, ate some, and couldnt stand the combo. She asked for a new salad but the manager denied, saying she ate too much-mind you, she had not had the bacon on it, and she mixed the cheese and turkey in it, so it did look like a hot mess. She had only eaten a small amount-he was rude and made us feel like we were trying to steal a new salad......I will never go back, nor recommend it to anyone else. Too petty, too slow, and not willing to correct a mistake the waitress admitted to-just not worth it.

Jewel Jenkins

We havent been there for awhile since moving to NC, so today, since we were in Columbia, we decided to go. Its about 4:30PM, not crowded at all, ordered a childs burger, seafood nachos, two adult burgers. Childs burger and nachos came out in good time, the two adult cheeseburgers took about a half hour, again, place was not crowded, plenty of people in the kitchen, water attempted to tell us, that there was a large group, well in the past, we have been there, with an hours wait for a table and once seated, food was served in a reasonable time. Normally 5 stars, but not today. Since its been almost 3 or more years since last visit, hope this isnt the norm. Complaint #2, do these people clean the mens bathroom more than once a day, filthy, smells of urine, urine all over the toilet and floor. This has been ever since I first went there, over 10 years ago, but first time Ive mentioned it. Complaint #3 food preparer making drinks, picking lemon wedges from a container with bare hands, wiping sweat from his brow, using his shirt sleeve, not the only one I saw using no gloves. Weve gone down. May be my last time there.