Safire American Bistro

The first time I ate here I was very disappointed. The food was mediocre and the ambiance was unimpressive. I recently returned to give it another shot and after this experience I will never eat here again. The food was still mediocre and overpriced. Our service was awful, and for a group of six, they added an 18% «service fee.» Again, I was very disappointed, and will not be returning.

Food was decent but overpriced– as in $ 3 to add a couple slices of avocado (which they will not warn you about). The décor is nice and the space is pretty big.
I give it two stars mainly because the service is really subpar. Our waitress was rude, slow, and relatively inattentive to our group of 14. When one of our group politely asked if we could split our bill a couple ways, she was clearly annoyed and very rudely said no, simply because she didn’t want to. I get it if we had asked for 14 separate checks or something obnoxious like that, but we didn’t, and regardless it did not warrant her super unprofessional response.
For a restaurant describing itself as «upscale,» it was very underwhelming and I do not recommend spending your money here.

Our server Maria was absolutely wonderful, she was cheerful and a pleasure to have! Ask for her you wont be disappointed!

Just amazing. From the excellent wait staff to the drinks to the excellent steaks. Never had a bad experience here. I highly recommend the filet but even the burgers are excellent. Definitely try the Brussel sprouts.

I love the bar at Safire. Steve and Alfred are awesome!
However, in my experience, that is the only area that provides good service. I have been coming here for years and each time I sit in the dining room, the service is bad. Unfriendly, unengaged individuals. Yes, the motions are present (they take your order and bring your food) but that is it. On my last visit, the waiter never made eye contact or smiled until he dropped off the bill. Unfortunately, that has happened to us time and time again.
As far as the food, it’s consistently good. Their pizzas are nice and thin and they have a real pizza oven. I have never been for breakfast, so I won’t comment on that.
The only time we reserved an area for a large group, the day before they told is that they could no longer have us in the room we reserved but they would make appropriate accommodations. Turns out they just put up dividers in the regular restaurant to keep our larger party separate. It was not the holiday party any of us had in mind.

Mother’s Day dinner is supposed to be nice and when you spend over $ 100 on a meal for four you expect good service. I have been to Safire many times over the past year and this by far was the worst experience ever. Our waiter all but ignored us, my wife had to flag him down for drinks, we waited forever for our plates to be cleared and it took much longer than it should have to get our bill. I don’t have unreasonable expectations when a restaurant is busy but this place was maybe at 50% capacity and the service was terrible. Even after speaking to the manager I left never wanting to set foot in there again. I hope Safire management looks at these reviews and takes them seriously. There is a lot of competition out there folks, good food and good service is key to your survival. Great food and great service is key to your success. Good luck Safire, I might be back…

Awesome happy hour! I have never had a negative experience here! Weather I was seated in the dining area or in the bar area its always an great experience. The servers and bartenders are always very attentive, its always clean… actually one of the cleanest and well maintained restaurants in town. I order something different everytime. Today I had a shrimp cocktail, and grilled oysters the oysters usually are only served raw I requested them to be grilled and they did it no problem. The yellowtail sashimi app is also on point and for the price its quality and quantity are surprising. I’m not sure if the mussels are still on the menu but they are amazing as well… specifically the sauce that they come in is off the hook. I have never had a bad dish from this place and neither has anyone I’ve been here with and at times I have been here with party’s of 20 plus and the service was still smooth, quick and professional. A+++

Great atmosphere. Classy and elegant, particularly for Camarillo.
What’s great?
— Live piano music.
— Ambiance is low lighting with a modern sophisticated feel.
— Free bread and butter.
— Quick and friendly service.
— Nice covered outdoor patio with couch seating.
— Nice wine selection.
What’s not that great?
— Their food. I ordered their Santa Margarita pizza and it was so boring! It didn’t have enough cheese to even be called a pizza. After I ate it, I was still hungry, but was reminded how that «pizza» cost me $ 16 and it killed my appetite. My friend had their angel hair pasta with shrimp. Simple, boring, small shrimp (about 6 of them) with their tails on. For me it tasted too dry. Their pasta dish was over $ 20 and the portion was so small.
— Overpriced.
— Quality isn’t anything to brag about. Not nearly as good as Cheescake Factory.
— Small selection of menu items would typically mean more attention to detail. Not here.
I would probably never come here again.

In my opinion, overpriced. Food was below average for price though wine selection and service were pretty good. I have only been twice and haven’t returned because I felt I could get more elsewhere

Great food. For such a nice restaurant you’d think they would filter their water and clean up their patio. Last 3 visits their table clothes have had stains out on the patio. :(

My husband and I wanted to try something new. So we decided on this place. To start, the crowd is a bit older. We felt very out of place being we’re in our early 30’s. The table they sat us at looked like it belonged in a nasty bar. There were cup rings and scratches embedded in the wood. We received some bread and it was just cold, very small pieces. Weird because they look like they were cut by a 4 year old. We got the crab cakes as our appetizer. There were only two for $ 15! They were small but very good. My husband got the short ribs. They were tasty but were a small portion as well. They put a huge pile of hot peppers with 3 carrots on his plate as if they were veggies. Who seriously eats those? He was still hungry after he was done. I got the chicken piccata. It was basically fried chicken. Granted that I’ve only tried chicken piccata once before. But this didn’t taste like anything but fried chicken. The sauce is supposed to have a lemon taste to it. The skin was awesome like fried chicken but once I got to the fat part of the meat, it was very dry. It came with some pasta and marinara sauce. It seriously didn’t taste like marinara sauce. It was very bland. I asked the waiter if I could switch it for the mashed potatoes. They came and I really thought they were the boxed kind because they too were bland and very smooth! I added some of the butter we got with the bread and a little salt, that made them better. Helped to eat my dry chicken with the mashed potatoes. Overall we really didn’t care for the food from here. I did get their 3 3oz wines and do say the playtime wine was yummy. The staff was very nice so that’s why I gave 2 stars.

First let me start off by saying we have gone to Safire’s for many years and loved the food. The Bistro Burger was excellent and the Steaks were perfect, even their Chicken Parm blew away any Italian restaurant within 50 miles. We loved it and went at least two times per week.
Now for the sad part. over the last two years we have noticed changes, they don’t serve bacon on the Bistro Burger at night and the patty quality has declined and it’s smaller. The Chicken they use in the Parm is tougher and the over all experience has been lowered.
My wife and I received a gift card to go there and we went she had the Salmon and that was good but I ordered the Prime Rib for $ 38 you would expect a GREAT piece of meat, it was tough like shoe leather and raw. The creamed spinach was cold like ice cream. The only part i liked was the mashed potatoes. The waiter was too busy talking to Jim the owner laughing it up he never came back to check until I was just fed up and wanted to leave, so I said everything was fine.
And another thing, my wife and I like I said would go 2 – 3 times a week and spend $ 50 or more each time and the owner Jim is a snob and never once said hello or thank you for coming to us over the last two years he has been running the place.
oh wait a minute and see the difference in the changes from going from a great place to know an over priced Denny’s in the last two yeas. The manager…

Excellent food and service. Tables can use some refinish but certainly the best place to dine in Camarillo. Eat the half chicken and found if cooked to perfection. Everyone else’s food in our table was praised and enjoyed. Food presentation was first class as well.
Highly recommended!

Our group of 25 was excited to try this restaurant. We went for the early bird dinner for $ 21.95 because it includes soup or salad, entrée and dessert. Everything else is pretty pricey. We were seated on the outside patio which would have been fine if their heaters worked. But with those canvas walls open on several sides we were pretty cold in the 45° temperature, even with our coats on. We had a reservation, so they were expecting us, but thought it appropriate to only have ONE server for all of us! Needless to say it took forever to order and then we had to ask for certain things 3 times because they just forgot.
They never tried to fix the heating problem or move us inside.
The food was okay, but nothing great. I ordered the steak off the early dining menu. Should have taken the chicken piccata instead because my steak tasted like barn.
The desserts were really nothing to write home about, either. I had the hot fudge sundae that had cold fudge on it, and the Panna Cotta with fresh berries had exactly 2 berries on it. Just so they could use the plural «berries «.
The interior looks more like a diner, not an upscale restaurant, and the prices are way too high.

Trash !!! Trash !!! Trash !!! Don’t recommend coming here at least in the mornings when the owner /​host is there, the most rude conversation I’ve ever had in the restaurant experience by a host let alone the owner ! Made me feel like a real piece of shit this guy! And for nothing and I still tipped ! I guess I am a genuine p.o.s. then. Good luck ! I hope this man improves his attitude (bad business) love be the food though !!

We love going to Safire for the food! Great happy hour and amazing drinks. My boyfriend and I usually split a meal and appetizer and we are totally satisfied. The only downfall about this place is the service. It’s always so hit or miss :(We have had maybe 3 – 5 times where service is great. And every other time it’s horrible… Only reason we keep coming back is the food. Edamame is our favorite appetizer. I love the French onion soup. And the filet is amazing!

I went here ¹²⁄₁₉ for my birthday– a friend took me – now here is what I posted on their Facebook FOLLOWED by their response I just got today, 10 days later!
My post:
Piss poor service… made reservation… told them on the phone there was a birthday, they even got my name. For a Friday at 7 it wasn’t that busy but server was unfriendly and disappeared a lot. Came to take our order but we needed to look at the menu… took her 10 minutes to come back. ordered appetizer… took 15 minutes to get it… then she asked for our main food order before we even got our appetizer… slow to ask if we wanted more drinks… then other tables got a birthday song and we got nada. Food was great, service not so much. She didn’t even know specifics about ingredients in the entrees… really? This place averages $ 25 a plate.
Their response today:
Needed more time to look at the menu? Does more time mean 7 min, 9 min, 12 min? I find 10 min reasonable for an upscale restaurant serving folks who are out on a Friday night enjoying dinner with enjoyable company. 15 minutes to get an appetizer? So the server takes the order, walks to one of 7 computers to fire the order, the kitchen receives the order, makes the intended dish from «scratch» (no microwaves here), plates the item, then the expediter inspects the plate to make sure it will be received by the customer according to company standards, and runs the appetizer to the table! 15 long and miserable minutes? Now, during this 15 minutes, the server, doing exactly what she should do, takes the entrée order. You got me here. This was bothersome why? Could she have taken the order when she first requested? Or did you need more time to look at the menu as the complaint clearly states? As far as disappearing a lot; the servers at the Magic Castle «disappear» a lot, but since you were ordering drinks and apps, the server has to go get that stuff from multiple hubs, which I guess can be misconstrued as disappearing! And finally, Safire American Bistro does not sing Happy Birthday at tables by company policy. I have heard Happy Birthday songs in our restaurant, but it’s clearly a guest generated performance. And finally for the statement, «The food was great» I’m sure you are 100% right about that, the food is great and we thank you for that critique and look forward to serving you again.
And of course I had to set things straight with my own response to theirs:
Nothing like getting a sarcastic response to a complaint — FYI our server was over behind the bar wiping wine glasses dry while we were waiting to even be asked for a drink order – SORRY but The Prime doesn’t have such slow response to even greet the guest — your server STUNK bottom line — and we were sitting no more than 5 feet from your «HUB»!! I was a server for 19 years raising my family and now one of my grown kids is a server nearby so it’s not like we don’t know the food industry – trust me, she obviously didn’t want to be there – not ONE smile, and how can you ask how everything is when at the point in time all we had were the drinks — you might think you are fine dining but your server there was not a fit for your restaurant – as for singing Happy Birthday I didn’t ask for that! I just told the person when I made the reservation under a male’s name that it was MY birthday and HE asked for my name — at any rate, don’t hold your breath waiting for us to return – and your sarcasm only goes to prove you don’t know how to run (or own God forbid) a restaurant at all! When the server has no one else in her station and disappears that’s crap service, bottom line! And by the way my daughter serves fine dining — and EVERY server should know EVERYTHING about the ingredients in the food and know every wine — just ask Prime, or Larsen’s etc. She had no clue the answer to our question about an ingredient listed on the menu in one of the entrees. Nice try though! You might want to check yourself on Unilocal — I am not the only one – there are a lot of complaints as well as a few happy campers!
Nothing like customer always right and being nice to an upset customer — this person surely doesn’t know how to run a business and since the response even cut deeper I decided to post it all here – hope they read it! I’ll give it a «Classy» in the Ambience but it is def not «Upscale»!!!

You want to know what it feels like to have to use the bathroom at 3:30am? Well them I strongly suggest you try the Cast Iron Blacken Ahi Tuna. I only had 2 very small bits because I knew there had to be something wrong with it. Turns out I’ve never been more right in my life. That 3:30am wake up call was one I’ll never forget. My girlfriend had the Pan Seared Polenta Cakes… Not the best to say the least, after her 2 bites we were out of there. If you want to brave it here, stick to a steak and make sure it’s well done or I’ll be reading a review from you about your 3:30am bathroom experience.
Looking for a better restaurant? Well then I suggest trying MacDonald’s… I’d give them at least a 2 star view over this place. Good luck, I’ll pray for you colon.

Food was very good, our server wrote down the incorrect orders for 2 out of 4 of our party. We at first thought we had received someone else’s order, upon understanding they were ours we decided to keep them rather than wasting them.
Ok, not what we wanted but good food. Our waiter never came back to check in and see if we liked our food. We all were wishing we had another drink but no one was near to ask. We wanted desserts but just were given our check with the explanation that the one receipt was the actual one and the other was the one with the Access discount. The meaning was that we were to tip on the actual one. Normally I would but to this server who messed up our order, we took it anyways and received no comp, felt a tip on the discounted order was more than generous.
We may be back, but will request any waiter, other than the one we had.

I went to Safire around 5:15pm on a Monday with a friend. We shared two early bird specials. The early bird dinner (between 4 and 6:00pm) is a reasonable $ 20ish each and comes with a salad or soup (we both got the Caesar salad which was decent, a little wilty but the croutons were outstanding), an entrée (we shared the salmon-​served with mashed potatoes and a spinach/​leek/​carrot medly, and the chicken piccata– served with broccolini, baby carrot, and mashed potatoes), and dessert (we shared the cheesecake and panacota). Dinner was great dessert was excellent, I highly recommend the panacota. I will be back to Safire. Great food, great service, reasonably priced for the quality of food. I’d rate it 4.5 stars if we were allowed to give half star ratings.
I am posting pictures of the salmon, chicken piccata, cheesecake, and panacota.