Chart House

Unfortunate experience tonight. We had confirmed reservations for a table at 7:45. We arrived on time and were told the table would be available every five minutes. Unfortunately an hour later no table was available, and multiple people were seated in front of us. The manager avoided the conversation with us. Terrible experience.

Waited 20 minutes trying to flag down someone, got promised twice he’d find a server. Came by, said «oh…» And left again.

I will give a 5 star for the view, 3 ½ for service and 2 ½ for the food and 2 for the presentation. This is my third try at the Chart House in the last 6 months. I am a local and have been going here for 20 years! Starting about a year ago I noticed the quality in the food, presentation and flavor has dropped. The servers are friendly, but the management has them understaffed and overwhelmed, so I do not blame them for slow service. If you want a great view and a beverage, but no food, this is the place for you. For food, eat somewhere else. This happened at lunch and two different dinners in the last six months.

I wasn’t sure if I should give 2 or 3 stars… Went with some friends for brunch the other day. While the food was good, the service was pretty terrible. We had a reservation, but had to wait for about 10 minutes to be seated because there was no one at the host stand. The place was not busy at all, there were only 2 or 3 other tables. Once we sat down, it was awhile before the server came to take our drink order, and then we waited awhile for the drinks to arrive. We ordered 2 appetizers and they were delivered, and gone before our server came back to take our entrée order. Throughout the entire experience we were repeatedly looking for our server (or anyone for that matter) to order more food, order more drinks, refill coffee, etc. the place was anything but crowded so we were no sure why our server was constantly MIA.

No complaints here… amazing view, atmosphere, servers, and food!!! I have been here twice and both times have been exceptional. Our servers have been extremely attentive and welcoming. They know their food and are happy to accommodate your needs during your meal and/​or drinks.
I would also recommend the Bloody Mary and clam chowder for brunch. The Bloody Mary extra spicy was fantastic and the chowder tasted like I was back on the east coast.
I love this place and would come back anytime!!! Sit down and relax in front of the best ocean view :)

This is a great special occasion place to take your loved ones.
Service is on point, food is good and the location with views of the ocean is what you really come here for.
My husband enjoyed his shrimp, I liked my salmon, the salads were great, the bread and desserts tasty, in all everything was very good.
Prices are high and portions on the small side, though the quality and level of service make it worth the occasional splurge.

The only reason I am giving 2 stars is because I felt bad for the server. Tonight I ordered the fresh halibut and as I went to take a bite I saw a parasitic worm probably about 1.5 inches long. Yes, it was dead but for a $ 50 entrée you’d think they would take better care to properly clean the fish. It was extremely visible. Although they took the halibut off the check, no one even came to apologize besides the server. No chef. No manager.
Come on…

⁰⁵⁄₀₃ ⁰⁵⁄₀₃
We went to bar first, excellent service by the bartender. We were greeted by a gentleman who was the highlight of the night. The appetizers were good, the view was excellent. Then the food went bad. I ordered the shrimp scampi, the shrimp were good, but the rest of the dish was awful. The pasta was clumpy, like it had been sitting for hours, and when i tried to eat it came out in lumps. Sad to say, most frozen microwave pasta dishes were better then this one. Due to other facts, my daughter had to get back to Los Angeles and we were tourists, I neglected to bring this our servers attention. Sad to say i do not plan to visit a Landry or Chart House location in the future.
I was not going to complain, but due to their email this is my response.

DON’T DO IT
Wish there was a negative ranking. I’m only giving this 1 star because that’s the lowest option. Worst experience from start to finish.
RESERVATION/​REQUEST
Had reservations for dinner and my husband requested a window table when he made the reservations. When we checked in he reminded the hostess if the request. We went to the bar to wait.
BAR/​LOUNGE
We went to the bar to have a drink and wait for our table. Two bartenders tending and waitresses in the area but no one assisted us. We sat at a cocktail table and still nothing. My husband got up and asked the closest staff member (Who had walked past us at least 4 – 6 times back and forth without acknowledging us) if we had to get our own drinks from the bar or who we be waited on and his response was «I’ll get to you eventually or you can go to the bar.» Now, mind you the restaurant is busy but not crazy busy and this is suppose to be a high end restaurant and DEFINITELY NOT the way I find acceptable customer service. My husband then goes to the bar orders 2 Old Fashioned cocktails and there now brought to us by the «eventually» guy. The drinks were terrible — bourbon and watery — not even close to a mediocre Old Fashioned. This is not a new or trendy drink. This is a classic and any decent bartender can and should know how to make one and what goes in and how it’s prepared. What a disappointment. We returned the drinks and ordered 2 beers.
BACK TO TABLE/​RESERVATIONS
Husband goes back to hostess desk to see how much longer and remind about the request. Told it would be a few minutes more. A bit later the hostess comes by and muttering a last name and walks past us twice looking for a party. Doesn’t inquire with us even after my husband had been to the desk at least twice now. I told my husband that she has to be looking for us. He stops her and asks her what name she is looking for and it was us. She takes us through the dining room to a table just one the other side of the railing where we were sitting that divided the bar from the dining area at which time my husband reminded her of the request. She tells us that there are no window tables available at the time. We ask how much longer for a window table, she checks and says 3 tables will be available in about 20 minutes. We tell her we’ll wait for a window table and she ASSURES us that the next available window table will be ours. We go back to the bar and have a clear view of the window tables. Not more than 5 minutes later a window table clears, then another and a few minutes later 2 more window tables clear and we’re still sitting waiting for a table. Then I see the hostess escorting a couple to one d the endow tables! I was livid. The next two empty window tables are then put together and set. The last window table is cleared and set and we are FINALLY taken to that table.
FOOD
My husband and I both order the Sea Bass and topper ($ 49) that came with jasmine rice and vegetables. The waitress comes by and tell us that they RAN OUT of rice and we would we like to substitute with french fries, mashed potatoes or mango sticky rice — none of those sounded appealing with the sea bass I was expecting. So u ask to substitute with asparagus and she tells me «no I can’t do that, that’s $ 4 extra.» REALLY? This fine establishment (?) runs out of rice and you can’t substitute with my choice of vegetable? I wasn’t asking to substitute with shrimp or something. It was a joke and a bad one too. My husband asks her if she’s kidding and when she says «no», he tells her what a horrible experience and service we’ve had from the beginning and to give me the asparagus and charge us the $ 4 and that we’ll never come back after this. Then our plates come out and we look and ask where’s the sea bass? My husband had a very small cube and my sea bass looked like a thin chicken strip. We brought it to the waitresses attention and she said all servings at 7 ounces. Our portions didn’t look or feel like 7 ounces. We must have been given scraps. WE WILL NEVER BE BACK. Don’t waste your time and money!

The coconut shrimp was great! The salad with goat cheese avocado and oranges was wonderful. The Mahi was over cooked, the prime rib was half fat and not hot (the plate was hot– just not the food), the potatoes were rubbery, purple sweet potatoes awful, the cream spinach was good, mushrooms uneatable. It is sad because it is such a great location, gorgeous views and really helpful & attentive staff. Our sever was really nice & accommodating. The problem is obviously the kitchen!

This place lost its soul a long time ago. After experiencing a meal there for the first time in years, I realized that the Landry’s chain of restaurants gutted this poor establishment of the quality I can remember. My cut of prime rib was dry and super fatty; the salad is no longer tossed at the table; the lava cake was dry and was missing the generous sauce/​ice cream/​toffee combination.
I did appreciate the fact that seafood was more prominent on the menu. Also, the lobster bisque was quite tasty. (Didn’t they used to put chunks of lobster in the bisque and bring a side of sherry?) Of course, the view is awesome, but next time, I’m going to buy a burrito at Roberto’s and park on the beach.

Sunset view dining that cant be beat! Celebrated my birthday at the Chart House with a window side table and enjoyed a fabulous meal and perfect sunset. I ordered the beefsteak tomato salad which was different than I expected with mainly sliced tomatoes with pearl onions and balsamic. Next for me came the dynamite halibut which was just spicy enough and so good! A complimentary mud pie dessert for my bday was perfectly sized and delicious. Our waiter was great and the manager checked in with us to make sure we were happy. With double points on Mondays for Landrys members we timed it right! This is one of my favorite restaurants so of course we’ll be back!

We selected the Chart House restaurant to celebrate our 27^th wedding anniversary. We chose this restaurant in part because roughly 33 years prior, we first met each other while working at a restaurant right next door (no longer there) and we thought it would be a great choice.
Please allow me to preface before my review that together, my wife and I together have over 21 years’ restaurant experience and have held positions of dishwasher, busboy, hostess, waiter, bartender, food prep, line cook and manager during those years. We have the experience to both understand good service and when it isn’t. I cannot remember the last time we complained about anything while out dining because we fully understand the challenges restaurant workers face.
We made reservations a couple nights before our dinner through the «Open Table» app – very easy and convenient. Our reservation was for 6:30 PM and we arrived just a few minutes late and found ourselves waiting in the bar for 5 minutes before being called to sit. This was not enough time to order a drink (which we regret later).
We were led to a small square shaped table made for two and we sat next to each other on opposite sides of the corner. We soon realized our table was a major thoroughfare for traveling waiters, plate runners and busboys. Most times they walked through, my wife’s chair was bumped. We ended up pushing the table several times closer to the window table and that helped some, but it was still bothersome.
The sun was still well above the horizon and we anticipated a beautiful sunset. After we sat, we waited for about 10 minutes watching waiters, waitresses and busboys scurry through our area, when my wife finally tagged a waitress who approached and was about to leave a four-​top table with other guests for the 3^rd time. She happened to be our waitress and she immediately greeted us, said it was busy and asked us if we were celebrating anything special this evening.
Ironically, we had just read an anniversary card left by presumably management, or the hostess along with a «Happy Anniversary» phrase typed onto the top of our menu. When we saw this, we were impressed with the attention to detail, but that quickly evaporated by someone who apparently isn’t into detail.
We blew that off and proceed to be just happy someone finally is here to start our evening of dining and enjoying being served. We ordered cocktails and an appetizer (being careful not to two-​step our help in order to help her be more efficient). She took the order and after 10 minutes of waiting our appetizer was delivered by a plate runner. Still no cocktails. We ordered the Wicked Tuna (very good) and as we were just about done with it, washing it down with water, our drinks finally arrived. (I can’t remember ever being this sober this far into a meal).
Realizing we may be challenged with getting served we decided at that point to order dinner, which included two glasses of wine, two a split Caesar salad and two fish dishes. The romaine lettuce was limp as I’ve ever had before and could still call it fresh. The fish was cooked great, but I must admit I’ve never had more tamed flavored blackened fish before. It could have been a bit spicier. With her fish, my wife had some sort of mashed purple sweet potato dish. Without wanting to sound more crude that it will sound, the presentation in the dim light was a bit suspect. It looked more like something my infant son left for us to clean up in his diaper. I suggest a sauce, or something to mask the «apparent».
It wasn’t all bad. We did get an anniversary Mud Pie in the end, but as we waited a little long for our dinner to show up we decided to simply get the meal over with and move on to someplace else and salvage our evening. That’s when my wife was talked into accepting the Mud Pie. I was done at that point and wanted to leave.
If we had this kind of service at a downtown Encinitas fish place, I could accept it and not think twice, but since I was paying probably 4+ times that price at the Chart House, it should be told.

We recently came here for happy hour after work on a Friday. Lots of yummy items on the happy hour menu. We came with friends and shared a little bit of many things, including the truffle fries, sliders, lettuce wraps, fried artichoke, and artichoke dip. All of it was pretty good. The fried artichoke was a little boring. To contrast, the artichoke dip was one of the best I ever had. Lots of artichoke and spinach, and a little easier on the cheese and grease; it was perfect.
They only have about 4 beers on happy hour, but this is fairly typical for happy hours. They do also have good deals on cocktails and several choices of wine as well. And you can’t beat the ocean view. Lovely happy hour location.

Very average food and service, yes the view is fantastic but I wish they put more effort in their food quality.
The artichoke was undercooked, the prime rib was over salted and the shrimp and lobster spring roll had limited shrimp and lobster.
Save the money and go elsewhere.
Not recommended.

I joined my aunt and uncle at Chart House for lunch on a weekend in January 2016. Upon entering, I was taken by the beautiful view. We were seated by the window, which closely overlooks the Pacific Ocean. The service at Chart House was attentive, as expected. We ordered seafood dishes, naturally. Our party was quite satisfied with the quality of our meals and the service. The real star at Chart House is the view, which was very memorable.
Recommendations:
–If possible, request seating or reservations by the window
Verdict:
I loved the view and am enjoyed my dining experience.

I came here in hopes of a nice Valentines dinner. I remembered this place as a gourmet restaurant. It is such a disappointment to see how far they sold out from quality to quantity. I use to compare this place to Flemings. Now I compare it to Olive Garden. It was apparent when I walked in that they were way over capacity. Luckily I made reservations two weeks prior. I asked for a window seat on the beach and they said they said it would be a little longer wait. That wasn’t a problem and I understood. Unfortunately I had to wait an extra hour after they told me it would be a 40 minutes. It was still fine because it was Valentines day and it was expected.
Once we got seated is when things went started to go downhill. When they sat us at they gave us a table that was a quarter the size of any other table. In other words they took a lamp table and covered it with a table cloth and said here ya go. The table was so small that our plates wouldn’t fit on the table. It was definitely a cheap and desperate attempt to get that one extra customer. I pretty sure if a regional manager or owner would have seen it they would not be happy.
The server we had was awesome, which is why I gave two stars. She was so nice and hardworking. She was way over booked with tables and could barely keep up. I felt bad for her because things were not coming fast and fresh. We ordered mango shrimp stack for appetizer which wasn’t bad. The kitchen did a good job on it and I was impressed. Then dinner came and I ordered Spiced Ahi and my girlfriend had the salmon with Capella topping. My ahi was torn apart and warm. The chef had cut fish with a dull knife and had it sitting under the heat lamp too long. I know I might sound snobbish, but I come to these places for the experience and first class service. This was definitely not one of those nights. The salmon came out a little dry along with the dry Capella. Again they had it under the heat lamp too long and didn’t have any runners to get the food out fast enough. The final thing that really ticked me off was the lava cake. The server pushed it pretty hard and said it was one of the best. So of course I ordered it. My girlfriend has never had or seen one and I thought it would be fun for her to experience. Unfortunately, we got a warm brownie. They over cooked it a lot. This entire time I was trying to be nice and not say anything negative in fear of our eveining going bad. But when I asked for them to redo our lava cake they said it would take another half an hour. So their compensation was squirting a little more chocolate syrup on it. So lame and unprofessional. I think the dessert chef got his training at McDonald’s, because that is what you get a fast food joint. Definitely not a fine dining restaurant.
Also not once did I see management or anyone come by and ask how things were. And believe I was looking around for one. Not sure if I ever will come back here willingly. Maybe for happy hour, but never again on a busy night.
All and all, the Chart house is not a good place for special and holiday events. They have the best view of the ocean, a nice clean restaurant, and from what I heard a good happy hour. However they just cant handle big events and are quick to sacrifice their quality for quantity.

3 stars only because I think the menu is s little pricey. The food was AMAZING, I had the Sword Fish and got it blackened. I can’t tell you how good it was just simply delicious. My wife had the Mahi and also fell in love with it. My daughter had a Caesar salad with the Salmon on top another great choice. For sides we had mashers and mushrooms. I had 2 glasses of wine and she had s mixed drink. I recommend all of the above but be prepared to pay some serious coin. With tip 18% I walked out paying $ 175 for 3 of us. Although the cost was fairly high, if your looking for a night out and impresses a lady friend,“even your wife” lol. Check this place out.
Thx.

This place was amazing! I forgot to do a check-​in:) Luckily we found close parking so we didn’t need to get valet parking. I saw that it was inly $ 4 on a tuesday to park in valet! My bf had made reservations for us and it only took 15 mins to be seated. While we waited we got drinks by the bar. The mango mojito was the best and refreshing drink I have ever had. When the took us to our table the view was amazing even at night! they have a light shining on the waves so the view by the window was great! The staff and our waiter were super friendly and nice! We got the shrimp, crab, avocado and mango stack for our app and it was delicious. The atmosphere was very pretty and romantic. They even gave us a thank you card and had happy anniversary on our menus! People might complain about the prices but you really get what you paid for. The food is amazing!!! My bf got the prime rib and I got the Tour de Shrimp which was soo delish! I can’t wait to come back :)
The service was amazing and we had a great night.

Bummed to knock my previous review down to 2 stars, but it is true. Chart house isn’t what it once was.
Our service last time was a little slow, but, as an ex-​server, I like to give them the benefit of the doubt as assumed it was just an off night. But we dined this evening and had the same server and it was sloooooowwwww. I’m talking almost 15 minutes to get our drinks (soda) and having to wait until they were empty for a while to get refills. Had to ask multiple times for things and the wait times between our courses was several minutes too long. I like to have my dinning slowed down, but this was too slow. Painful. I had to keep checking my watch because I just couldn’t believe how long each course was taking. And not because we were taking long to order or decide. Just so much lag time.
Most of our entrees were just okay. Both my fish and my husbands steak were over done. They removed one of our favorite dishes from the menu — short ribs and scallops. My mother in law had the sea bass and it was terrific.
Bread basket is good, appetizers (cheese & charcuterie board and coconut shrimp) are great, Godiva molten cake is amazing!
View can’t be beat!
My suggestion: go somewhere else for dinner and sit in the bar to order a molten lava cake.