CLAES Ovation

I absolutely loved the view. We sat outside on the terrace and soaked up the sun and the awesome view. The service was funny. We asked for a few suggestions and she just named everything on the menue. I mean she literally just yelled out the menu.
Other than that the service was ok. Our waitress kept us giggling though. She was nice enough to split checks for about 8 people.
The food wasn’t too bad. The fries were the bomb. Mmmm. Just thinking about them makes me want more. I also had the caprese panini with chicken. That wasn’t too bad either. The only thing is that the chicken was dry.

The food was decent/​standard seafood and on the pricey side. The view was ok. The service was very mediocre and somewhat annoying which is funny because the place was practically empty. It just seemed to take forever to get our bill. Also, I just don’t like servers who seem annoyed if you don’t order a salad or take their recommendations and are more phony than polished… so no… not so much. I couldn’t wait to leave… not a good sign at all.

My husband found this place and though we should try it for my first Mother’s Day. I think the brunch was OVERPRICED especially since it only had an omlet station, carving station, which I never went to because the line was so long, egg with chorizo, bacon, ham, sausage, 1 type of potato, chicken, salmon, cold shirmp, and pastry items. NO pancakes, waffles, french toast. Our server kept walking right past us and we need refills. There were only three of us… my husband, baby and myself. I will say the view was great.
If you have a baby and need to change their diaper well make sure you take care of it before you leave your house because the public restrooms have NO changing tables. I had to inform the hotel management and a gentlemen let me change my son in his private office restroom. How do you have weddings and other events there and people bring babies and they can’t change them. NOT mother friendly. I don’t see us returning, sorry!

View was great but the food was TERRIBLE! The only thing we liked were our salads. The Steaks were dry, overcooked and tasteless (sent one back and the second was about the same bad quality.) Even the the bread was stale and disgusting! We were thinking about having a 20 person party here but that is NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!!! I hope I can prevent at least one person in this world from having the horrible culinary experience we had!

As a Laguna Beach Local, I am pretty particular about the food, service, and venue for the local restaurants. However, having had a delightful Easter brunch in the main dining room, I would give Ovation a thumbs up. The Executive Chef is Robert Hines, and his team did a great job using both the patio and main dining room for seating, both of which, by the way, have one of the prime views of Main Beach and the ocean.
The pricing was reasonable, the service good, and the food excellent. This is a better location then sitting on one of our many restaurants with patios on the very busy and noisy Coast Highway! It’s quiet with a view. The patio dining area is one of the few in town that overlooks the beach. The patio has new furniture and, with all the bright umbrellas, is a «best» spot to have a drink or eat. Everything is on the ocean side of the Hotel Laguna with parking off Coast highway. A must for foodies.

Pros: Nice view. That’s about it.
Cons: Overpriced. Seating outside is cheap patio furniture and not very clean. For a supposed «high end» restaurant it lacked ambience. Food and service were lackluster at best and they still included a mandatory 18% gratuity. Will not be coming back.

I normally would not even waste my time writing a bad review for a restaurant but I was so disappointed with my experience here that if I can help one person avoid eating here than I have done a good deed.
We came here to celebrate a cousins 18^th birthday. She came all the way from England to have her party in CA. Her only two requests were 1. Have a view of the ocean (which was amazing) 2. A nice piece of fish. The only things we really liked were the salads, and the appetizers. Our meals took forever to get to the table. The food was cold and dried out. The portions were listed as small plates on the menu but small was a misnomer. They were a rip off. The staff could not tell us what certain vegetables were on our plates. They would not take enough time to let us ask questions of them. The meal cost 8 of us over $ 500. An expensive meal is never a problem if it was worth it. We all walked out of the restaurant feeling as if we got mugged. I will never return, and will be sure to tell every person I can to avoid this place.

I’m usually pretty damn fickle and hardly ever relinquish the coveted Unilocal 5 stars… Chef Paul Bauer of Claes in the historic Hotel Laguna deserves all 5 stars. My maiden voyage to this romantic dining spot was a great experience! Ahi Crudo with enoki mushrooms and warm yuzu vinaigrette was delightful. Wagyu beef tartare with a classic raw egg and a handful of acoutrements was delicious! I had 5 courses, 3 cocktails and tasted several desserts and left pleased with the quality of the food and service! I plan to return to try other items on the extensive/​varied menu. A future formal restaurant review (dining in disguise, of course) in my local rag will follow. Cheers!

Took our friends to Claes on Saturday night to celebrate a birthday. The views were amazing, but that’s where amazing stopped. The food and drinks at Claes are below par. We were so disappointed and slightly embarrassed, since we suggested going there. The food is way over priced for what you get. Your time and money will be better spent else where.

It’s all about the view at this place. Service was terrible and the food just okay. A $ 20 glass of wine was served in the worst wine glass I’ve seen in a long time. We waited over 45 minutes after asking for our check. Sorry to call you out buddy but the server Greg clearly had too many tables to care.

The Father’s Day Sunday Brunch Buffet is so goooood!!! $ 45 per adult and $ 18 per kid under 12. Great deal and the senior waiter Vance (like the grandpa) is so nice. Although the selection is not as many as the buffet at Café Sierra at Hilton Universal, the quality is not less than the old buffet at Ritz. Our family has eaten at all the 5-​star buffets (Four Season, Bellagio…) and we have never seen the cocktail shrimps at Claes this big before. The fruits are sweet and big. Strawberries, Black berries, rasberries, Blue berries… Love it, Love it…
Before going there, I checked the reviews here and was scared by all the negative comments and the old exteriors. I kept warming my in-​laws not to expect too much before we arrived. I found this Father’s Day brunch buffet at Open Table Father’s Day Special section.
Everyone was so nice and we were seated 5 minutes after our reservation time. The senior waiter Vance kept coming to serve us and folded our napkins every time we left the seats. Although the hotel is old, they remodel the interior and it looks great.
However, they serve the brunch buffet only on special holidays, not even on Sundays. Next time is Thanksgiving Day. I can’t for that long. We seated at the corner of the dining room with the windows around us. Great Great view. Valet parking and we walked down to Laguna Beach park and down town area within 1 minute. I am not sure why others had bad experiences there since we didn’t order from the menu.
I will post the pictures later!
Strongly recommend their Holiday Brunch Buffet! It seems not many people know this and people were not much after 1:30pm. Good for us. Easy to get the reservation just 3 days before Father’s Day!