[Dana Point] [French] Gemmell's Restaurant

Gemmell's Restaurant
34471 Golden Lantern St
Dana Point, CA 92629
(949) 234-0063
http://www.gemmellsrestaurant.com

I couldn't believe I forgot to bring my camera for Dr. P's birthday dinner! The pictures came from my phone so the quality was not that good. But the bad quality pictures still were much much higher quality than Gemmell's Restaurant. This gotta be the WORST restaurant we've been to in South Orange County! I felt really bad and angry that I took Dr. P there for his birthday dinner. Well, we tried our best to enjoy our time together at the restaurant. But I want to tell everyone, STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE! Just to make it clear, the food at the restaurant was actually decent. But the service, oh the rude rude rude serivce, totally ruined this place.

I bought a daily deal voucher from Travelzoo for Gemmell's Restaurant. For $65, we would get 4-course dinner for 2 which values at $135.45.  The meal includes a shared appetizer, 2 salads or soup, 2 entrees, 2 desserts, 2 cups of coffee or tea and 2 glasses of wine. Sounds good, right? We made reservation at 6:00pm. When we arrived at the restaurant, there was nobody at the hostess counter. There were a few customers in the restaurant, but no waiter was seen, no hostess was seen, just nobody. We stood around and waited for at least 5 minutes until a lady finally came out from the back room. We told her we had reservation. When I made the reservation on OpenTable, I noted it was my husband's birthday. Normally when I tell restaurants about birthday, they would give you a dessert with candle on it, or at least say something like "happy birthday". But this lady, she read what I wrote out loud. Then she turned to Dr. P and said, "don't worry, we know it's your birthday, ok?" What did that mean?  Then she asked us where would we like to sit. We said we would sit at the outside patio. She seated us at a crooked table with one shorter leg that moved around. After that, we waited for another 10 minutes for someone to bring us a menu.



The handsome birthday forced a smile in the picture. This was supposed to be a nice French restaurant. But looked at that menu! The menu was dirty, had water stained, and wrinkled? After we were given the menu, we waited for another 15 minutes for somebody to pay any attention to us. After we placed our order, we told the waiter that our table is crooked and if he could fix it by placing a napkin under the shorter leg to fix the problem. He just said, "no it's the floor" then walked away. We wanted to ask him again when he comes back, but that could be another 30 minutes. So Dr. P actually got down on the floor in his suit and placed his own napkin under the table leg himself. Yup, that sure fixed the problem, which our rude waiter wasn't willing to help.



Bread

We were given some BURNT bread. It was burnt and completely dark on the crust. Why would they even serve anything like that to the customers?


Casserole of Escargots ($10.95)
Farm raised Helix snails’ sauteed with garlic, shallots, Mushrooms and diced Ham in a rich Burgundy Sauce

Casserole of Escargots was good. The sauce would be good to use bread to dip, only if we had bread that wasn't burnt to dip.


Dirty Martini (Vodka, Olive Juice) (Ultra Premium Liquior add $3.00) ($14.00)

Dr. P ordered an extra martini because it was his birthday, and he loves martini. He ordered his favorite Dirty Martini, and the waiter suggested to have it made with this vodka (don't remember what was it). When we got the bill, we saw the price to be $14 instead of $11 on the menu. Then he told us it was $3 extra for the premium liquor. I hate it when restaurant try to trick you into spend more money. We feel cheated.


Red Wine / White Wine

For our two glasses of wine that was included in the meal, we got one red and one white.


Lobster Bisque ($8.50)

Lobster Bisque was quite good. I often find Lobster Bisque to be too salty, but this one was seasoned just right.


Hearts of Romaine ($8.95)
Hearts of Romaine with roasted walnuts and crumbled Point Reyes Blue Cheese diced tomatoes topped with a Bordeaux Vinaigrette dressing or Blue Cheese Dressing

Hearts of Romaine was also good. We both like blue cheese a lot. Blue cheese and walnuts are a good combination.


New York Steak ($29.95)
New York Steak seared to perfection then finished in a Green Peppercorn Brandy Sauce and accompanied with roasted garlic baby potatoes and the chef’s selection of fresh vegetables

Dr. P ordered New York Steak for his entree. The steak was cooked to a perfect medium. The peppercorn brandy sauce was delicious.


Chef Byron’s Roasted Duck ($24.95)
Succulent slow roasted sliced Napa duck in a pool of a dark rum and banana liquor reduction paired with caramelized banana spears and accompanied with market fresh vegetables and roasted garlic baby potatoes

My entree was Chef Byron's Roasted Duck. The duck had crispy skin and tender meat. The sauce was a bit on the sweeter side with strong banana flavor. I think it would taste better if they used less banana liquor.



During dinner, we enjoyed live music from this lady. She was super nice and sweet. She came to each table and introduced herself before the show. She asked us if we have any special request for any song. I told her it was Dr. P's birthday and she sang happy birthday song for him. That was really nice of her.

So during dinner, another couple came in and sat behind us. Just like us, they waited and waited for any service. I think they probably waited 20 minutes. They got up to leave, then the waiter came over. They said, "So now you came. We waited, and now we're leaving." The waiter kind of just rolled his eyes, and said, "Yeah, sure, whatever." This guy has to be the rudest waiter ever!


Souffle ($9.95)
Your selection of Chocolate, Grand Marnier or Harlequin. Our Signature dessert is baked to order and served with a rich Creme Anglaise sauce

For dessert, we got a chocolate souffle and a grand marnier souffle. Both were really really good.



Then we got our bill. What? That rude waiter just added $30 for his own tip to our bill? On our deal voucher, there was absolutely no fine print saying we had to tip 18%. Plus 18% of our bill was only $26.82. I was thinking I didn't want to tip him at all! There was a young guy that came to talk to the people who sat next to us. From what he was saying, he sounded like he is the son of the owner. So we asked him to come over, told him about the rude waiter, and asked him about the questioned bill. He apologized and took the bill back.


Port

Then the rude waiter came back with our bill and a glass of port. He just told us about the extra $3 for the martini, and said "sorry about that". We looked the bill again, and nothing was changed. Yeah they gave us a free glass of port, but we didn't want it. They also gave us a $10 gift certificate to go back, but there is no way we'll ever go back there. I just want them to take off the $30 tip, but they didn't. Since it was Dr. P's birthday. Since he was already not too happy about dinner. Since I didn't want to cause a scene. Since we just want to get out of there as soon as possible. Stupid me, I paid the $55.55 on the bill. I was mad at myself for letting the waiter get his $30 tip that he obviously didn't deserve.

As I mentioned before, the food at Gemmell's was actually quite good. But that rude waiter will ruin this restaurant. They need to get rid of him, or he will shut this place down. I think his name is Martin....