Cafe California

Just excellent! The food was beyond my expectations — you must absolutely try the shrimp stuffed avocado — and its certainly reasonably priced for the quality. But what makes any restaurant experience is the service. Our server was Rock, and he was exceptional. Not overbearing, but exceedingly useful. He seemed to anticipate when I needed something, gave very useful suggestions, delivered my food in a prompt and timely manner, but didn’t hover over me as I ate. He was friendly, but not overbearing. The food was very good, but the service I received topped that. And that is something I very much appreciate.

Incredible New York steak cooked perfectly! Garlic mash, squach, tomato, bread and salad on side. Great meal!!#

BEWARE for hidden charges. We stayed here for 2 nights and they gave us 2 complimentary buffet breakfast tickets. We had a guest join us for the buffet on the both days. The full buffet is $ 11.50 if you don’t have tickets. When we got the bill on the second day they charged over $ 3.00 in addition to the $ 11.50 for my guest for plain black coffee. When I asked the waitress Robin about this, she gave me attitude and said «well they messed up yesterday by not charging you». I said «ok we weren’t aware that plain coffee wasn’t part of the „full buffet“ as it was the day before». I asked her if she could please remove it. She immediately said «sorry, that’s impossible». She did not know a thing about customer service and mind you the buffet was basically empty. Her service from start to finish was as if she didn’t want to be there. Disappointed and this experience has made me not want to stay at this hotel ever again. It’s sad they lost a customer over a $ 3 cup of coffee. It was the principle.

This place has very good food. Fresh and made from scratch if you order from the menu or room service. Buffet is not the best as food sits out all morning. Have a meal off the menu and you will be happy with the quality. Service is decent, fresh food makes up for it. Chicken fried steak is made from scratch just as any other items. Would recommend, just not for the buffet. I love the turkey crossaint, fresh sliced turkey made in house and big chunks of avocado. Love the fresh fruit and thick cut seasoned steak fries. Must try!!!

The food is always great. Staff is awesome. If you go ask if Kassie is working! Best server ever!

I came here with a groupon and was pleasantly surprised. It is a very upscale place, and it is rather pricey, but unlike many places around here it is actually worth it. The food is VERY high quality, and the service is just as good. The portions are huge, and even the salads and fresh and filling. There is also an adjacent bar called Mahagonys right next door that’s also really nice. You’re able to order from the Café California menu at Mahagonys, and they often do live music on the weekends. Either way, I would definitely recommend this place to a friend, especially with a Groupon :)

Stayed at the Wyndham and was given vouchers for free breakfast buffet. The first morning wasn’t that busy; though the servers thought otherwise. The food is so-​so at best… the bacon had a kinda rubbery texture, the French Toast was so tough that it was hard to cut, the breakfast potatoes a bit cold. The fruit and biscuits were good, though. I suppose overall not terrible for a free meal. However, the service is terrible. We asked for another silverware roll– never came. Refill on drinks– nope. We pretty much never saw our server again. We even saw a group get sat at a table without chairs and they had to hunt down their own. I guess it’s good that these servers found a buffet to work at because they just wouldn’t last at a regular resturant.
Ps. The 2^nd morning was more busy, and service was far worse.

This is the restaurant inside the Wyndham hotel and every time I stay I usually get the complimentary breakfast buffet. Depending on what room you book or what «package» you get when you check in they’ll give you vouchers for breakfast every morning of your stay. The earlier you go the better. It usually goes from 6am-​11am. They have potatoes, eggs, waffles/​french toast, biscuits and gravy, saugages, bacon, fruit, cereal, fruit, yogurt, oatmeal, and some bakery foods. It is really good especially for being complimentary. they also have waiters/​waitresses who bring you drinks and condiments. The coffee, service and food is always great. It’s a place I usually eat at every time I stay at least once.

Dinner for two. The beef tenderloin medallions are absolutely the best item on the menu. The vegetables complemented the medallions very well. The wine sauce. Yum. The salad bar is probably the freshest anywhere. The staff is great and friendly as well. The surf and turf was great as well.

The place was really nice I want to give my way to a plus his name was Rick the food was delicious I recommend this place to anybody me my brother and my sister enjoyed our night out

This is a great place, our dinners were just perfect as the service. Calm and quiet. 4 stars!
The place is a bit dark due to all these wood curtains, but it’s not so bad.
I would recommend this place without any doubts!
— — — EDIT — — — -
Today I take a breakfast there… And it falls from 4 to 2 stars! It was not good at all. Every bread or pastry were dry! Never again.

I never do this but… I’m giving Café California 1 star for the horrible customer service provided by Sara Brumley the manager during breakfast time. She was over the top rude when she became overwhelmed by finding us seating in a half empty restaurant. After being unable to count our group of 8 she became irate about being unclear of the number of our group. It sounds really hard to me to fail at a job where all you have to do is greet and seat customers, but she found a way to blow it spectacularly.

We visited Café California in the Holiday Inn on Plaza Drive in Visalia because we were seeking a quiet restaurant with good food, a little bit of class and without knock your socks off prices. It had been several (tenish) years since we had eaten in the previous restaurant (I don’t remember the name) in the same location. At one time we had really enjoyed the food, service, ambiance and prices of the earlier venue, but alas, as in so many things, less than positive changes occurred, and we drifted away.
Fast forward to last week when we were looking for that kind of place. We decided to give it a try. The Unilocal reviews weren’t the level we were looking for, but by weeding through them, we decided to go for, hopefully, a re-​do of the pleasant experiences of the past.
When we arrived and saw the remake of the hotel lobby as well as some positive
change in the restaurant, we thought, «so far, so good).
We were greeted and seated upon entering, and a very friendly waiter (Jose) did his duty well. It really makes a difference in the overall pleasantry of a meal when the wait person likes people and to serve food.
We each had a lovely green salad with citrus slices, sesame crunch bits and more wit Bleu cheese crumbles and liquid dressing. Delicious. For entrees, my wife had planked salmon steak accompanied by perfectly grilled asparagus and a rice dish made with at least 2 kinds of rice and mushrooms. Delicious. I ordered beef brisket baked in a rich red wine sauce (wow!) my side dishes were the same wonderful asparagus and mashed potatoes with the red skins left in. Maybe there was garlic too, but not enough to tell, since the wine sauce was so flavorful.
Service was fast, friendly, and accurate. Prices were good — each meal was $ 18.99 —
fair for the quality and portions. When we desire a quiet dinner again, you may well find us at Café California.

For a not-​so-​great hotel, hotel café, this was a better experience than I would have imagined. I visited Café California while on a recent conference and made my way to the wait to be seated sign thirty minutes before I had to be at the opening of the seminar. With one other person in front of me, and a line ten deep to pay, I should have known that the service would be slow and the dining room understaffed. After ten minutes of waiting in line I was brought to a booth for four (I was alone) where before I could sit the waiter asked me for a drink order. He had an easily frustrated look on his face and rushed off as I ordered one water. I made my way to the buffet where I found a small collection of your typical american breakfast choices. Eggs, scrambled. Sausage. Pancakes. Yogurts. Biscuits. Gravy. You know, exactly what you would expect. Now with only twenty minutes left before check-​in time I ran around the buffet and grabbed the necessities. The foods were obviously meant for a low-​budget restaurant as they looked, tasted, and felt just like so many other cookie cutter restaurants. The atmosphere while passing by had so much potential of well prepared foods, presentations that would inspire you to order another plate, but alas, the wrong book cover on this brief paperback. I wolfed down my meager meal and stood to go to the line and pay. The waiter swung by and told me that he would take care of it. So what was everyone else doing in line? He took my card and ran to the back as the line grew shorter and shorter. He returned and assisted another table, then back to the black hole of waiterland. He appeared again, this time with the check. He handed it off to me like a baton at the olympics. Off to the next patron without hesitation. Café California? Well worth the drive into town for any other breakfast /​brunch restaurant.

I was there for a convention about 3 weeks ago. I came to the café for a quick solo breakfast. While the food was decent, the service was very off.
The waitress brought me my check before my food even hit the table. Tell me how that’s appropriate. I asked her, «You’re bringing me the bill before I’ve touched my food?» She tried to tell me she wanted to bring it to me before she forgot.
So not only are you overly pushy but you have a crappy memory too? She wasn’t making the best case for herself. After dropping off the bill, then my food, she never came back to my table. I guess I didn’t want anymore coffee? I’m glad I didn’t need anything major (other than more coffee…) or this would be 0 stars if I could rate it as such. This is the first time I have given $ 0 tip.

We were lucky to get a great server, Jose, who made our experience great!
Fellow Unilocalers were right about the avocado stuffed with shrimp — Very good. It’s a typical hotel restaurant but we liked it.
And kids eat free!

My husband and I went here during our stay at the Holiday Inn. They had a great breakfast buffet and attentive staff.

Had a few good meals in this place while I stayed here.
The menu is designed like most hotel restaurants. .to appeal to the general public.
Gotta say the staff here cares and the food exceeds the expectations of Holiday Inn venue.
Salad bar for lunch and dinner with plenty to offer. Fresh stuff too.
The bar next door is also up market and a great place to watch the game if you don’t feel like driving into town.
The shrimp stuffed avocado is a hit.
Best place on west side of town.

I give it two stars because it was edible. I swear I am not a food snob… but when I pay 80 bucks for dinner for two I expect good. We ordered from here as room service because we had a dog and couldn’t go in. The stuffed shrimp avocado thing was covered in some weird cream sauce, I thought yucky although husband liked it. He had the salmon which looked decent, he gave it an «ok.» I had the crab cake salad, usually my favorite thing in the world and was said to be good by another reviewer… crab cake was size of a hamburger, not super crabby but decent. The salad was two pieces of wilted spring mix under the crab cake… ??? That’s not a salad… I added on the dinner salad that came with the other entrée which wasn’t bad. One glass of wine was okay, the other was likely from a bottle open for days…
I really actually regret this meal, especially for the price. Would definitely not recommend. Only upside is somehow we got free breakfast buffet vouchers with our stay, and it’s super hard to mess up breakfast.

The food was ok, so I’m going for three stars. The service was awful. Do NOT visit this hotel for a weekend lunch. You will have to seek out someone to take your order.
When my family & I went, we were grossed out to see the garbage left over from the breakfast service still all over the floor. They really needed to take the time to clean up the place. It just really makes you wonder: if they don’t care to clean up the part of the restaurant customers see, why would they bother cleaning the part they don’t see?