I don't know what it is about this place. I just don't like it. The food is ok, but extremely expensive for the quantity/quality. ONE waitress doing inside and outside lounge area at Happy Hour. She was good, but really, just one waitress for all those people? We live in Dana Point and take our guests to other restaurants in the area. I don't know this place just doesn't do it for me. read more

Okay, these guys have their customer service down, and have contacted me after I wrote this review. they have been so nice and so we will take them up on another try at the restaurant... review to folllow! update... sent us a $25 gift card. That was nice... just surprised after the huge bill we payed for such a crazy experience. But nice, anyway. read more

Went to the Chart House in Dana Point with a couple for their 23rd wedding anniversary. I put this in the reservation notes and went to have dinner. I saw the note on the reservation desk when we checked in. Along the evening I approached the waiter when he was away from the table to remind him about the Anniversary and his response was "We do not do anything for Anniversaries" and I was shocked. He even had another lady join in and say the same thing. They had no alternative, not even a candle or a solution. Was very weird. If I had a group spending hundreds of dollars I'd do whatever it took even if it was a cupcake with one candle. This place had no option at all. Wasn't like I wanted anything for free. Because of that I will not go back. As a side note the food and atmosphere was great. read more

Tonight we had grilled Copia with a shrimp and avocado salsa accompanied by broccoli and mashed potatoes, lobster bisque, and 14 oz Prime Rib accompanied by mashed potatoes and a truffle butter was ordered to go with the Prime Rib. We chose the apple and cherry crisp and the key lime pie for dessert. The server suggested a Chardonnay that I was unfamiliar with as being the most "buttery" of the Chards on the list. We were pleasantly surprised that we were able to score a window seat without reservations on a Thursday night. The restaurant was not busy at all; another surprise. Our waiter, Spencer, was exactly what would be expected of a Chart House. He did a great job. The food, on the other hand, was not impressive. The Prime Rib was tasty. The truffle butter was also tasty. The potatoes were chunky with some peel, which we both liked. The broccoli was room temperature, but firm. Spencer recommended the Copia, so I was game and thought I would try it even though I was unfamiliar with the fish. The salsa on the fish was excellent! The fish left much to be desired. I didn't feel that it was a quality fish, as it had lots of the dark meaty part and tasted oily and didn't seem fresh. I left the majority of it on my plate. Unfortunately, I was never asked how my fish was, so that helped lower the score. Not sure that I agree that the Chard was buttery. It seemed more of a pear Chard than buttery. Even so, it was still a nice selection, so I had 2 glasses. The desserts were fabulous! Total price $142. I think you can get a better meal for that price in other local restaurants, although the view can't be beat! read more

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I don't know what happened to this place. I've eaten here before but I haven't been back for a couple of years. The waiter's clothes were dirty, the hostess was dazed on some drug and even though my party of four had reservations, it took half an hour to get seated since she continually forgot my name and who we were. The food was mediocre (I'm being very kind). I had the house specialty Mahi and at the very best, it rated somewhere in the "C" range. My wife didn't finish her food because it simply wasn't that good. The clam chowder wasn't bad, but it's an expensive place to go for a bowl of soup. The view is spectacular - come for the view, don't bother eating. read more

I was soo excited to go and eat at this place last night. It was our last night of vacation so we figured we would spoil ourselves. They seated us 15 minutes before our reservation which was at 6:30. Our waiter Jason was very nice. Everything was great..at first. When we ordered our food he let us know that dessert takes 30 minutes to make because it is baked fresh. So we got the dessert as well figuring it qould be done by the time we finished our food. We got our food at 6:50. It was lukewarm like it had been sitting for awhile. It wasn't bad. I got the pork medallions and they were tender and fell apart. My boyfriend got the chicken and he ate it up. When we finished it was a little after 7. I figured dessert would be at the table at this point. We ordered over 30 minutes ago. I saw our waiter paying more attention to a table with at least 15 people at it. It felt as though our waiter was more focused on serving the bigger table because of a tip. At 7:30 still no dessert I got up looking for our waiter and he was no where to be found. So I got up and left. Yes this place has great views and nice staff. But their service is horrible. We were there for 2 hours. I have never experienced such horrible service. read more

The restaurant itself is terraced on the side of a rocky cliff. It's hidden along a back road and it's vaguely reminiscent of a lair that belongs to a villain in a James Bond film. It was very cool. An inexperienced valet who can't drive stick gets into your car and you watch it writhe and convulse down some secret ramp as it's torturingly driven away. You then descend down a spiral staircase into the belly of the fancy at-first-glance eatery. Once again....very cool. Yet, not even the stiff drinks, fair pricing, or killer views could overpower the let downs of this potential-laden restaurant. The food was falsified with flare. Just because it's neatly centered on an asymmetrical plate doesn't change the fact that they probably get their meat from the same distributor as Black Angus. By the way, who seats a group of ten in a booth? Don't you realize that when someone positioned in the middle needs to use the restroom everyone gets disturbed?!?! In a way... 3 stars is the worst you can do. It reduces you to average and forgettable. This place was on a mission to dispel it's own intriguing allure. If your flaws are in equal proportion to your perks, you are just wasting my time and money. Have I made my point yet? read more

Possibly the worst restaurant experience I have had in 25 years in the USA. A group of 5 with reservations for outside seating made 3 weeks in advance was messed up and had after a 45 minute wait settle for indoor dining ... went there for the view! Appetizer was good... then waited over 1 hour for entrees... when they eventually arrived after several complaints to the manager (who seemed indifferent and asked if we wanted to get packed to go) were as follows: Steak ... ordered medium rare was medium well and sides stone cold:sent back 2- seared tuna stone cold with cold rice: sent back Chicken: good Stuffed shrimp: ok but side was grey rice and cold This is totally unacceptable The waiter was embarrassed and tried his best but the management seemed to have overcommitted the restaurant and massively underperformed... it was a sad and embarrassing evening as we were entertains dear friends. It will be a long time before we return and DO NOT RECOMMEND the Chart House in Dana!! read more

If you are a bride that wants an affordable, beautiful, intimate California wedding...Chart House is it! Seriously, I was racking my brain trying to figure out where to have a beautiful California wedding on an affordable budget. Geeze, over priced hotels with reheated food, out dated facilities, and fee after fee made me want to cry. I wanted a unique venue, nothing cheesy. Planning a wedding is a huge task. It's basically like a part time job. I searched all over Southern California for the best value wedding venue. The Chart House had everything we wanted from a gorgeous view of the harbor and ocean to fabulous drinks with a variety of fresh food for our guests. Even the building's architecture is cool. A student of Frank Lloyd Wright designed it. You can have your ceremony outside overlooking the Pacific Ocean and your reception inside with even a dance floor! Wow, Ken at the Chart House is a professional event/catering manager. He knows his stuff. Everything was flawless because of him! The best thing is that you rent out the entire venue in the daytime, which makes it super private. No wedding crashers here. We even looked at Cannons next door. It can not compare. Chart House has better food, nicer facilities, its more private and more affordable. Thank you Ken and Chart House staff for a memorable wedding. read more

Go for happy hour and you'll be safe. The dining room food is average you are just paying for the view.

Wow steak was uneatable laced with fat!! The chef knew that and sent it out he played us for fools sending the crap to our table, very bad experience. read more

Gorgeous view. Friendly and professional staff. My husband loved his lobster bisque, and I loved my seafood chowder. The crab meat in my chowder was delicious and tender. My husband also had a prime rib, which was large and one of the best he ever had. My mother liked her filet mignon. I thought my baked sea bass melted in my mouth. YUM. My husband's asparagus was better than my vegetable hash, so recommend getting asparagus. The walk down the steps to the restaurant was a little hard for my 82 yr old mom. Prices higher than I am used to in the midwest, but I don't get the view there! Wish they didnt have valet. To save a little we parked down the street. read more

Very disappointed . Service was slow even though server was nice. Food was very sub - par. For being in the OC with such nice standards , this was an embarrassing disappointment. Chicken was tough, sea bass was pedestrian, prime rib was very very average. Something has changed... Bleh Will not be back. Extremely overpriced for the poor quality. Go down the road to Laguna Beach and visit Watermarc or for a view - go to Splashes at Surf and Sand for comparable prices.... read more

I'm only giving this three stars because our service was SO slow. We had a reservation for 7:30 and after telling us our table wasn't ready and then directing us to the bar then dragging us around the restaurant, we were seated 10 minutes later, but we didn't get out of there until after 10pm and it wasn't because we were chatting, but because the waiter seemed to ignore us/forget about us-- although he surely tried to sell us a credit card for the restaurant group... The food was ok. I didn't love my sea bass. I did love the salad bar, but I think that's tough to mess up. The baked potatoes were good-- again, tough to mess up. The rest of my party seemed to like their food-- they all had different types of fish and steak. The east meets west appetizer was supposedly good. The chocolate cake for dessert was also a family hit. I'd come back-- because the view was BREATHTAKING, but only for cocktails and appetizers. There are better places to eat. read more

The only reason I go back is because I love the architecture, the view, and the salad bar. But the food is just plain lousy. Ordered the shrimp tempura roll off the new summer specials menu at the recommendation of our waiter (who was lovely btw). My guest grabbed the drink table top menu to peruse the cocktail offerings only to reveal a dead smashed bug on it - "so gross" as our waiter pointed out. The appetizer came, it looked good but had absolutely no flavor. I mean - it consisted of 2 pieces of shrimp, 2 stalks of asparagus and a ton of rice then deep fried. It was obvious we didn't enjoy eating the whole thing so the manager came to inquire. We told him it just was not good and he took it off our bill. Thank you. He said they like to know and report these things to the corporate office. Hmmmmm. Next, salad bar. Can't ever go wrong there. Both entrees were ordered off the "fresh" section. If the fish is fresh, why do they bury it in so much sauce and toppings? I ordered the Atlantic Salmon. It was covered in so much herb bread crumb topping it looked like an ant hill and the sauce it was served with was absolutely horrible - tasted like parmesan cheese mixed into burnt wine and dijon. Baby, it was bad. My guest ordered the halibut. Same thing - swimming in a thick sweet sauce that was undescribable except for 'too sweet and too much'. Another disappointment. I keep giving it a shot, but that was the last time Chart House. For such a great location you could do soooooooo much better. read more

So I am from San Diego and getting married. I started emailing their event coordinator Marisa. We had emailed scheduling appointment for 3pm. Two days early I called to ask if I could move my time to 4pm the front desk says no problem I will leave a message for her and I'll put you down for 4pm. The next day I call to double confirm my appointment as it is over an hour drive to get there. What sounded like the same girl said yes you are confirmed for 4pm. Today my fiancé and I drive up very excited about this venue. We get there early and call to see if we can come earlier. They said no she was all booked up. No biggy we will wait. We show up at 4pm and they tell us our appointment was at 3pm and they can't see us. Minding it is 345 now. After we leave we get an email (never a call) saying it was our fault and they only make changes via email for appointments. We were so disappointed!! Hope this doesn't happen to other. read more

Its hard for me to give a business a bad review but with my experiance at Chart House it was too difficult to resist. First off, 5/5 stars for the view. Its a nice look over a small harbor, cliff side homes and beautiful open ocean as far as the eye can see and a perfect place for dinner outside around sunset. 5/5 also for our server Brie, without her me and my guest would have walked out long before even the food arrived. She has great service skills, quick, clean spoken, funny and makes you feel a home, a perfect waitress for an upscale restaurant. We made a reservation about a week before hand for Sunday evening on mothers day. I expected it to be insanely busy but luckily it was not. I saw a few open tables, no huge lines or anything. Great I thought, it shouldn't take forever to get food or service if they aren't super busy. They found our reservation and we were seated outside as per our request in a timely manner, so far so good. At this point we were instantly greeted by the very entertaining young lady, Brie. She took our drink order, made some suggestions for the Artichoke appetizer, which we got and it was the only good thing we had all night. On to the nightmare.....the food...... I had the crab stuffed Talapia with potatoes and my guest had the Filet Mignon with potatoes as well. It took easily more then 45 minuets after we ordered our food for it to reach our table. The Filet mignon was bland, cold and cooked incorrectly. She had asked for medium rare and it was way overcooked. To make matters worse it was literally cold, not Luke warm but cold. It seemed as if it was a precooked and frozen steak they didn't fully thaw out before serving. The side dish was mashed potatoes which were also cold and bland. The plating was even worse, sloppily plated on dirty plates. I wish I had taken a picture but we were so hungry by the time food arrived we couldn't wait. As for my Talapia and Crab it wasn't much better as all. Presentation may have been slightly better but the taste threw me way off. I eat talapia daily as part of my cutting diet and I know the difference between fresh fish and fish that's been sitting a few too many days in the fridge. The dirty taste throughout the fish made it very unpleasant especially for the price and constantly having to spit out dirt and sand made it an unappealing dish. The Famous "Chocolate Lava Cake" Was less then its reputation lead to believe. First off you have to order it ahead of time which is obviously understandable, its a desert that has to be made at a certain time and served immediately after its ready so it achieves a cooked outside with a gooey chocolaty inside. It was easily another 30 minuets after we finished our entrees that our desert finally arrived except not as advertised. It was basically cooked all the way through, crunchy on the outside and not at all gooey on the inside how its supposed to be. Oh well. A bland end to a bland night of food. All and All, The view and service from Brie made this 5/5. But the extremely low quality of the food left a bad taste in my mouth after leaving this place...Literally. 1/5 I hope they work on their food quality. I myself love cooking and this place could be so nice if the management and Chefs worked together to deliver better food. Ill try again in the distant future to see if they improve. read more

This place is beautiful. It has a great view, great food, and very nice staff. I had a very pleasant experience. If you choose to sit outside though, make sure to bring a jacket because it can be very windy. read more

We had went with a party of 10 and were treated exceptionally by the staff. Our waitress was Dena (Deena, Diana, or Dina didn't catch the spelling) but she was seriously one of the nicest, most patient, funniest waitresses I have ever met! She truly made us feel welcomed and accommodated. I told her how amazing she was and she thanked me for standing up for the tip! I think the food was also super tasty, I had the salmon with cauliflower rice and it was really tasty, not even fishy tasting! The view was incredible! There was some trouble from our party who wasn't prepared and Dena and her coworkers had to split the check manually as there was a power outage in Dana Point. They were so patient and seriously such sweet staff. Definitely come here and if possible, ask for Dena!!! read more

Corporate owned - weak drinks and half glasses of over priced wine. Used to be a great place, now it's all about the bottom line. Great view BYOB - in hand bag. Avoid sword fish and Chilean sea bass as they are endangered, and shouldn't be offered! read more

Nov. 21st was our 50th anniversary and our dinner party was for 5 adults and 3 children under the age of 12. We had reservations for 5:00 p.m, and had Zero wait time for a table, server very attentive from the start. Drinks, appetizers, and main course all served very timely and hot. All the food was delicious and they topped it off with complimentary mud pie. It was another wonderful experience at the Chart House; we've never been disappointed in any of their locations......The view of Dana Point harbor was spectacular, all lit up for Christmas! read more

RIP during a severe kitchen accident, my NY strip steak was tragically left to die in the window. Unfortunately the Yukon gold potatoes perished in the same manner. The steak never had a chance due to the lack of seasoning and home economic cooking technique. If murdering one steak wasn't enough, the re-fire was tragically bitten with an over an abundance of black pepper and salt leaving me not choice but to chock it down in an attempt to save another steak from the same tragedy horror death. In other news, the "Seasoned Ahi" was seared to a perfect rare (not that hard to accomplish) with an outstanding soy ginger sauce. This is not like any other Chart House in the chain and I would recommend passing this one by,because of their dis functional kitchen. read more

Really 3.5 Dinner last night at the Chart House was just over mediocre all around. After quite a long drive we were pretty hungry and pulled up to the required $4 valet to park the car. We descended the spiral staircase to find a "cozy" (read: claustrophobic) waiting area. We had arrived right at 5:00PM when they opened so they directed us to the lounge are for a drink until the dining room was open. I was surprised to find as many people already in the lounge right at opening. We took as seat in the over sized arm chairs and we ordered 2 glasses of J. Lohr "Seven Oaks" Cabernet Savignon ($8) while we waited for our table. It took quite a few minutes for the wine to arrive and after only two sips our table was ready. We closed out our bar tab and followed the host into the dining room. The rooms are rounded and winding within each other and there are plenty of comfortable booths and white padded tables throughout. While the view of the harbor is lovely I found that the entire restaurant felt clammy and muggy from the humid air outside; they keep doors throughout propped open to the patio outside. We were seated and greeted by out server Steve, who was nice enough. We are a handful so he was a good sport about our antics. Right off the bat I was confronted with a HUGE mosquito on the inside of the glass of the window at the end of booth. Poor Steve looked embarrassed. Moments after he dispatched the mosquito a large house fly came to fill its place. Irritating and gross. Steve nonchalantly handed us a menu of the special appetizers all of which were priced at $14.99. The corn and lobster souffle looked intriguing but he glazed over it and recommended the crab stuffed mushrooms which we ordered. For $12.99 you get 5 mushroom caps stuffed with lump crab and covered with a white cheese and wine sauce. I felt the mushroom caps were too large because they were not cooked through or tender. The crab was decedent and the white sauce was a little thin, I would have enjoyed more of the sauce. Not long after my lobster bisque arrived which was the highlight of my meal. It was a HUGE serving in my opinion for how rich and filling it was. Creamy and velvet smooth with huge lumps of lobster meat and a swirl of sherry within. I knew I was filling up quickly but I could not stop eating it. Dustin had ordered a classic Caesar salad which was pretty good. I picked off and ate the large shavings of cheese when he wasn't looking. As they took courses away they did not replenish our forks, knives, spoons etc. Our napkins were not replaced and I was not offered another drink until my glass was completely empty. Abruptly in the middle of service Steve came to inform us that he "had to take his mandatory break" and another server would be keeping an eye on us. We didn't see him again until were were leaving the restaurant. I ordered the white sea bass topped with fresh lobster and lump crab with saffron risotto ($30.99) and I was a bit disappointed. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it but the plate appeal wasn't really there. The coating on the fish looked a bit soggy and the risotto was a little gummy. The fish itself while tasty was over cooked. The risotto had great flavor and the seared asparagus were good. I was so full from the soup that I had 3 or 4 bites of the fish and had it packaged to go . Dustin ordered the 16oz Prime Rib and it was glorious. 1.5 inch thick cut of bloody rare meat with a lovely charred edge paired with classic garlic mashed potatoes; we also had this packed to go. I had a glass of Estancia Pinot Grigio with my meal ($8). We had heard lovely things about the desserts but we were uncomfortably full from the meal so we passed. Over all the view was great, the service was alright and the food was amazing in some aspects and mediocre in others. read more

Forced to leave 1 star, otherwise would be negative stars. Food was okay, service was good... however my fiancé is a laundry's employee and the manager would not "validate" her employee discount, and did so by printing out the entire "rule book". Apparently your required to carry pay stubs around to get employee discounts. It's 2018, who Carey's pay stubs. BEN the manager wasn't willing to call her store or do anything to verify. Had us sitting at our table for 40 minutes waiting for him to say he won't give us the discount. I will NEVER be going back, as the way it was handled was beyond unprofessional, it was rude and in poor taste. Their is obviously a reason it's 3/5 stars. read more

My wife and I visited Chart House in Dana Point for a date night thinking the much touted view of the Pacific and the bay would be the perfect location to dine; unfortunately, the only redeeming quality of this place was the view. We arrived with a 6:30pm reservation and did not get seated until after 7pm, making the point of a reservation somewhat moot. After being seated there was an abnormally long wait until our waiter arrived and suffice to say he felt somewhat distracted and overworked as we had to request refills and his asking how we were doing gave no chance of providing a response before we ran from our table to the next one. My wife pointedly had me remove three flies and two unknown flying insects in our seating area which seemed excessive for an evening's meal. The food was edible but far from amazing for the price. We ordered a crab cake which was actually quite good but contained multiple hard bits in it that someone wouldn't naturally swallow. We both ordered the Paneen Chicken as our main course. The chicken was thinner than the breading and the chicken itself was very stringy and chewy. The breading and melted cheese tasted decent but was overshadowed by the condition of the chicken. If given the opportunity we would have asked for steak knives as the butter knives provided to us were almost inadequate for the task. Overall, of the places we have frequented in Orange County for a great dining experience Chart House was uninspired and just another eatery hoping it's view is enough to keep people coming back. We certainly won't be. read more

First Impressions: The first impression is perhaps what is such a let down. You drive yourself up this wonderful hill and see an absolutely breath taking view. Dana Point Harbor has a lot of charm and this spot lets you take in the full beauty of it all. The building is expertly crafted and it has romantic charm. The Bar: The Happy Hour here would be a FANTASTIC date. The menu is small, but has a good selection and the drinks that are offered were all part of a good selection. The Service: The people here are well trained. They know everything you would expect a fine dining wait staff to know. The service was really exceptional and I appreciated the attention to detail. The Food: We started with the Kim Chee Calimari, which was really exceptional. The tempura fry on it gave it wonderful flavor. Next was my New York steak, mashed garlic potatoes, and creamed Spinach. The steak was actually so-so. The meat was kind of tough, and it was a bit lean for a New York cut. The mashed potatoes and creamed spinach were delicious! Why the three stars: I gave this place three stars because my entree should be exceptional. And it was just okay. I can get a just okay steak at Outback. Frankly, I have had better steaks there. And while I am not a steak expert, I have had enough to know what is good and what isn't so good. I tried my brothers sea bass, and it was also just okay. It would have been delicious for 10 dollars less. I am MORE than happy to pay for an expert gourmet chef, but I want the flavors to follow up. read more

We were looking forward to oysters all day, booked a table because of their ad for National Oyster Day. Booked for early dinner (6pm) so we could be sure that our dinner included oysters. Guess what...NO OYSTERS!! Unbelievable!!! After we told her how disappointed we were, our waitress checked again & then came back to let us know they had just one order left that we could share between us! Feel like we just got punked read more

My bf surprised me with an anniversary dinner here. He made the reservation for 7:45pm on a Saturday. And we weren't seated until 8pm. Which kind of turned us off to the rest of the meal. Why make reservations if we still had to wait? We were seated at a booth next to the window overlooking the harbor which was a really good view. Prob 4 or 5 stars for that. At the top of the menus was written: happy anniversary from chart house. Very nice touch. Service was fine. We ordered the crabbed stuffed shrimp. Filets for entrees. Asparagus as a side. And the lava cake for dessert. The app had small pieces of crab shell in it. The steaks were chewy and didn't have much of a grill flavor. And the lava cake wasn't lava in the middle. Just a tad overcooked. Overall the meal was just ok. Nothing that was bad but nothing I would Come back for. For the prices you are probably better off going to Ruth's Chris or even Flemings for a better steak. You are definitely just paying for the view. read more

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What was supposed to be a nice birthday celebration for me turned into a disaster dining experience. Our waiter was new and not trained. There were six of us. Three of us got our dinners. The other three, the orders were wrong, the food was cold and they did not get their dinners until the three of us were done eating. The table was never cleared. My husband's dinner was set right on the edge of the table instead of put in front of him. If it had fallen on the floor it wouldn't have been a loss because the food wasn't good anyway. They then brought out 7 desserts they said would not be charged to us. As if this would make up for the disaster of a dinner. What should have been 1 1/2 hours dining experience turned into over 3 hours. We will NEVER return to another Chart House. For the price of the food, it was the worst dining experience I've ever had. Unfortunately my birthday dinner was ruined. read more

My husband and I had our wedding here the middle of May and we could not be happier! The event manager Marisa was amazing to work with. Very organized, always happy and willing to help with anything she can. And she made sure to communicate quickly and always returned my emails and calls which made for a happy bride. Her right hand guy Brad and assistant Carly were so helpful and nice as well. Our guests had an amazing time and everyone loved the restaurant, the gorgeous harbor views and the food. We had the mahe mahe and prime rib for our main courses and they were so good! They accommodated 170 people easily and made sure the many young kids at our wedding were served their food first which was awesome and very impressive. I can't say enough good things about the Chart House in Dana Point. Definitely have your wedding or private party here! read more

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What a bummer! Went for dinner after Christmas (I know I'm late with this review)! They simply couldn't handle the crowds. The salad bar was a mess and some items were missing. It's a management problem at this one. Definitely not worth going back considering their competition that's better. read more

We had our wedding here a couple weeks ago and it was breathtaking! We booked back in January and by that time all of August was filled already. We wanted September anyway though, and since it was an unusually warm year it was plenty warm (even a little too warm, surprisingly, for the beach!) But we had bright sunny skies and a beautiful view. The planning process was organized with Ken, who is the catering manager and coordinator. He is very experienced and knows how to run the wedding smoothly. He was prompt with email replies. The price point is very fair, especially considering the normal caliber of food. Ever since discovering this as our wedding venue, we have been a few times for happy hour and have tried every food and drink on the menu. It's all delicious! We especially loved our trial tasting when we got full sized portions of every item and took home the leftovers! The mahi mahi is scrumptious, as my guest at the wedding Bridget (Yelp elite) also agrees on. Ken has a usual schedule he follows which is included in the wedding packet, so if you do plan on changing anything, do let him know. If you want fondant from your cake, do let the servers know as they usually pull it off. Also specify if you want smaller slices, as we did run clean out of cake. The staff was great and very friendly but they were a little too quick in cleaning tables when people left. There was uneaten food and favors that would have been taken along if they had waited. The size of the place lends itself better to a smaller/medium sized weddings, whereas ours was more average (125) so it was a little tight and you can only fit 116 in the main room, so we had a little spillover into the other room. Can't beat the view of the ocean and the harbor, and in my opinion, the place is much nicer than Cannons next door. Cannons is also more expensive. I will always treasure my wedding =) read more

What a great meal and great service! Ron was our waiter and was on top of it!! My Spicy Ahi was amazing!

My boyfriend and I dined here for my birthday dinner. He had made reservations the previous week for a table by the window. We arrived about 20 minutes early, and still were told there were NO seats by the window overlooking the ocean, and that they were all taken. We requested to move a few times when we were first seated to move to a window seat but were denied. My boyfriend mentioned it was my birthday at the start, and the server casually said "Happy Birthday", Yet, a few minutes later, he came by and asked us if we wanted to order the Chocolate Lava Cake, because it takes 30 minutes to make. Did he forget it was my birthday after a few minutes? or was he just being non attentive? Anyways, I ordered the Scallops, and my bf ordered a Salmon dinner. It was OK, but we have had better, For the prices, we both expected much better, although it was a nice atmosphere. Btw, after asking, the server did give us a small piece of birthday cake to share. I'm telling you if I did not see that they gave free birthday cake on Yelp, I would not have known, and I know I would not have any given to me by my inattentive server! read more

Chart House - Charcuterie - Seafood Near Me - Dana Point, California

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Hello Yelpers! We visited The Chart House for Mothers Day the night before (sat night). The Chart House is yet another over-priced place that has only one great thing to offer and it's not the food. The view is spectacular! Our selections: Shrimp Scampi Halibut Crab Cakes Salmon (grilled) The Shrimp Scampi was nothing special. No depth of flavor or distinction. The Halibut did not stand out. The Crab Cakes (all 2 of them) were dry and flake, not lump, meat. The Salmon was dry and had the flavor of farm raised, not wild caught. We all also had clam chowder that was on par with canned varieties. Our portions of everything were far too small to justify the price. Service was a D-. From slow to non-existant. Wanting more tea and soda, I twice walked toward the kitchen and upon finding a man in a dark suit (of which there were more than waiter/waitresses) requested a refill. Sorry, service here sucks. I dont know why, but it seems more and more, the better the view at many of these "places" the worse the food/service. I guess the chart house feels with such a view, they can skimp on the food/service experience. My advice is dont waste your time or money, unless you absoluteley have got to have that view. read more

My son's wedding was at the Chart House yesterday. It was perfect. Ken, the banquet manager is the absolute best. His team works like a well-oiled machine and all of them were polite and helpful, while providing excellent food and drink. In addition to providing an excellent buffet, Ken also effectively moved our guests from the area where they had a tea and coffee service (11AM wedding), to the lawn overlooking the ocean where the ceremony took place, into the dining area and then into the reception area where the cake cutting and dancing took place. Many of our guests commented that it was the best wedding they had ever attended. I highly recommend the Dana Point Chart House for anyone considering a wedding. They have a great team there. read more

Food was pretty good but the waiter was harrassing us to join some dumb points program. On Valentine's day none-the-less and even gave us a guilt trip about how our meal was "wasted" because we didn't get the points (!?) Seriously man, back off!! Lame.. we won't be going back for this reason. read more

I had my wedding at the Chart House in October, and it was nothing short of amazing! Ken, the planner at the Chart House was available to me through out the entire planning process via email and phone. He would always answer emails very promptly when I had a question and would always put me at ease. The day of the wedding went off flawlessly, the wedding started on time and the food was absolutely wonderful. We decided on the macadamia nut chicken and the prime rib, and for our sides we chose the mashed potatoes and rice. We received nothing but compliments on the venue and the food, I would highly recommend the Chart House for a wedding any day!! read more

After a terrible experience at the Charthouse in Mammoth, Landrys wanted to make it up by contacting me about the expletive and sent me a gift card which I greatly appreciated. I decided to use it at this Chart House. Not such a great experience. It is disappointing because I Love Mortons and two weeks prior had a great dinner at Oceanaires in San Diego. I had the same issue this time as last with some food being cold. I ordered the large filet and wife a small filet. Mine was cooked perfect but was cold. The baked potato I had next to it was piping hot. The presentation on the plate was terrible. The juice that comes from the steak was around the rim of the plate similar to when you put oil in a skillet and swirl it around to cover the edges. The wife's plate was the same. Her filet was supposed to be medium rare. It was about half the thickness of mine and looked medium with a tenseness of well done. When the desert menu was dropped off it took another 10 minutes for the waitress to come back to get the order. And another ten minutes to pick up the check after it was dropped off. This shouldn't have been because by that time it was after 9:30 and out of a room of 17 tables we were one of two that were still there. Seems like this chain needs some work to get up to snuff as other Landrys sites. read more

The only reason for one star is the bread and dessert were good, otherwise I would give zero stars. Our waiter was a trainee which wouldn't have mattered if someone had of trained him. Clearly they don't have a very good training program. Only three dinners came out correctly, the other three had to be remade. The ones that did come out were cold and the prime rib was raw. The rest of us didn't get our food until everyone else was done. The vegetables were disgusting and the Mahi was undercooked. Instead of someone apologizing and trying to make it right they brought out 7 desserts for 6 people thinking this would make up for the mess of this restaurant. After nibbling at the desserts all the dirty plates were left on the table until we left. Also, what should have been a 1 1/2 dinner took almost 3 hours. By the time we left, it was late and while the staff was joking in the back, all the empty table were left dirty. Never will we return to another Chart House. All these one star reviews need to be reviewed by a district manager!!!! read more