It started off as a hopeful choice for dinner for our vacationing family. The atmosphere was nice enough and the menu looked good, so when five adults, a teenager, and three kids under 5 went to sit down to eat at Maui Bistro by Chin's, we thought that it would be a great end to our first full day in San Diego.The waitress was kind enough to sit us outside in a large table so that we can take in the breeze; it was a pretty hot day so the cooling temperature was a welcomed change from the weather we had to walk in at San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park. At any rate, we looked over the menu, had nice conversation and then the waitress brought us our water glasses. Not bad...so far so good.
At this point, I asked her if they happened to have a children's menu and she kindly said no. Then my sister-in-law asked her if they had any child friendly water glasses rather than real glass for the kids and again she said no. I just take it that Maui Bistro by Chin's is not child or family friendly, strange for being in the Old California Restaurant Row in San Marcos, CA...where a lot of tourists stop to grab a bite to eat, but hey no big deal we will adapt.
So, when ordering time came at Maui Bistro by Chin's it went fairly smoothly. We placed our drink orders of 2 virgin Pina Coladas, 1 virgin Mango Margarita, and a couple of Pepsi drinks. We were also ready to order food, so we went around the table to place our order. Four of us had ordered a dish off their Dinner Combo Special, which included soup, rice, entree, and dessert. Not a bad price. Two of the other adults ordered an entree menu item, which included soup or salad. For the kids we ordered one bowl of the Saiman noodle sans the bean sprouts and asked that they split it in two bowls. Finally, we ordered two appetizer dishes to be shared by the family. Not bad again...it seemed like the waitress got everything just fine. We were so hungry and the food looked so good on the menu.
Well the drinks menu came and at first glance, it looked just right. My brother had ordered a virgin Margarita and he asked the waitress who brought it out if it had alcohol and she said no it was virgin. Well you can smell the alcohol and it definitely was not virgin. So, our original waitress came back out and he asked her and she said, "No you did not order a virgin drink." Okay - the other waitress just told him it was a virgin drink...but whatever! My dad said he would drink it since he was not driving and he did not want to make a really big deal about it. So okay alcohol under the bridge. Next, the appetizers came out and it looked yummy...only thing missing was plates and utensils. We thought the waitress was going to get them, but we waited for 5 minutes and she never came back out, so I went to seek her out. I told her we needed plates and utensils and she quickly said, "Oh okay." Did she not realize that we had no utensils at the table? It goes downhill from here.
When she brought out the utensils, my sister-in-law told her that she had forgotten to take her soup or salad order for her entree and the waitress told her that soup and salad does not come with her meal. Luckily, I had the menu and I had to point out to her that indeed it did according to her menu. She said, "No" and that she would give her a salad as a courtesy...WHAT???? It's on your freakin' menu! Again, we brushed it off.
We did not see the waitress for another 10 minutes when she started to bring our entrees out with the rice bowl. I turned to her and said...doesn't the meal come with soup? She looked at me as if I had two heads and said, "Yes, I will bring them out now." Well usually you bring soup and salad out before the entree don't you? The kids order also came out (two separate bowls as requested), but the sprouts that we asked not be in the soup was in the soup. Then she brought out the forgotten soups no soup spoons...so again one of us had to ask for it. Okay whatever...it could be her first day on the job or whatever. If that was the case, maybe she should have been shadowing a more experienced waitress or something.I was pretty irritated by her at this point. But again, we brushed it off. I just kept thinking...Girl, there goes your tip.
Finally, we enjoyed our meal and yes it was cooked pretty well and we all seemed to enjoy it. Then she came back and started taking plates away, when people were still trying to finish eating. Hello...I'm not done with that! We told her to come back when we were done.
She finally came back to clear the table and take our dessert order. She started with my mom and made her away around the table all the way to me. Then she looked at my mom and dad (the first two to order) and asked now what would you like? HELLO count the number of items you have on your pad missy...do you have short-term memory or something, if so this may not be the best career choice for you. My mom had to tell her, "You already took my order but I'll give it to you again." We just laughed it off.
The meal in itself was good, no complaints and if it wasn't for the service, I may have returned. The service and this particular waitress (the one that does not look like the others) were so bad that I am surprised they have not had more complaints. Luckily, we were not the only ones complaining this night. Apparently, they did not cook one table's meal thoroughly, and another couple was complaining about their bill and service. Hmmmm. So much for recommending Maui Bistro by Chin's for people heading down to San Diego.
For the poor service, I give Maui Bistro by Chin's my 2-P rating, the food (our experience not the other diners that night) was good...too bad the service was so lousy.
Maui Bistro by Chin'sVisited on Friday, July 24, 2009
Dinner Time Service
-Percy
The P-List
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Photo from Old California Restaurant Row
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