catalina kitchen - New American restaurant in Rancho Palos Verdes - 100 Terranea Way, USA

Nice to sit outside but still with the heater on. Staff were so friendly and helpful. Menu options were limited but the taste was good. Buffalo cauliflower is recommended.

We came here today for our family of 12 Christmas brunch and it was one of the most disappointing buffets we have ever been to. If I could — zero stars for the taste of the food. My whole family thought it was too bland and/or subpar in quality and taste. The warm food wasn’t warm and the seafood selection although good, just didn’t taste right. The oysters were bitter. All meat options were also subpar. 5 stars for presentation and effort to make it feel like a grand buffet, but at $120 a person it just wasn’t worth it. Service overall was good in the sense that our waiter was attentive but he was overly attentive, unfortunately. He was constantly asking if our plates were done when we were in the middle of eating or getting in the way of conversations by pouring coffee in our cups when no one asked for. At one point, he elbowed my brother’s head! He also kept repeating “I’m here for you, I’m here for you” and we joked he was an AI robot, malfunctioning. You could just feel the desperation for the tip which we would have given regardless but his overbearing presence made our experience frustrating on top of eating food that wasn’t good to begin with. I’m sure a majority of the people come here for the sake of dining at an “expensive” or “luxurious hotel” but for a $1500+ brunch we definitely won’t be back and I don’t recommend anyone coming here unless you have zero taste buds or money to waste.

Good vibes. People working there is courteous. My husband love this soup. Assort cheese were matched with wine we drink. I'd like to have more kind of cheeses instead of muffins. Cheeses are just 2 kinds. I heard this menu 'assort cheese' has just come back 2 days ago, and actually it was not on the menu board at that time. Brulee they gave us as our anniversary is very good. We'd never expected such a sweet surprise, made our anniversary more sweeter and nicer. Salad and pizza were good but not more than my expectation. Totally we enjoyed our dinner a lot especially by the vibe and nice staff.

Very nice restaurant - nice to sit outside with the heaters on. Servers were extremely nice and friendly. Food and drinks were good. I really enjoyed the heirloom tomato salad with burrata. We also got the Marguerita pizza, sweet potato fries and Brussel sprouts - all of which were okay. The cocktails were good and generous with alcohol.

This review is about Catalina Kitchen restaurant. On 11/13/23 we and 2 other couples had dinner in this restaurant. It was one of the worst experiences of dining in an upscale restaurant. The waitress took drink orders for a few of the 6 people seated. When serving them, she took orders from the balance of people. Food was 40+ minutes to arrive and only 3 of the 6 diners received their orders. It took another 20 minutes for the other 3 diners to receive their entrees. The server did not pay much attention and hardly came by to ask if there was anything we wanted. Some of us wanted wine with our dinners, but no server, no wine. When the bill came, it was not itemized into 3 bills. We had to circle the appropriate charges for each of the 3 couples. Never ever had to do this in a restaurant. Place only had a few diners, now we know why. Go someplace else for dining.

Worst buffet brunch ever. We went a couple of weeks ago. All of the hot dishes weren't even in chafing dishes at all. How idiotic is that?? All of the food except for the omelet station and the meat carver were simply placed out and abandoned. Everything that was supposed to be hot was stone cold (illegal). Service was very poor. One of the servers even took away our plates and placed all of the dirty silverware back on the table. Big NO NO. Along with $18.00 mimosas the bill came to about $300.00 for two people. I never felt as ripped off in my life. Brunch and Trump National was about the same price and included champagne. All of the hot food there was indeed hot and served in heated, covered chafing dishes. Totally disgusted with Catalina Kitchen and Terranea.

Food | Service | Atmosphere ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Thank you Alex and team for making my Birthday extra special. It was truly a wonderful experience.🥂

Beautiful atmosphere, horrible service with Rui. The restaurant offers many luxurious details, and a superior ambiance. The food is also cooked with great quality. Although, our server Rui had a horrible attitude throughout the entire experience. He was angrily throwing all of our dinner plates on the table, he knocked over two glasses of wine and would not apologize or refill them, and would raise his voice and yell at us for "taking too long" to order. We eat out at similar restaurants regularly, and we have never experienced such a rude and unhelpful waiter. I am surprised that Catalina Kitchen would hire such a hostile character.