Catalina Kitchen

Mary invited Zohreh and me to celebrate Zohreh's birthday last Friday. She wanted me to make the reservation at Catalina Kitchen at Terrenea Resort. Two days before the reservation, I received a call confirming our time of 4 p.m. The person also informed me that this was a seafood buffet they have every Friday.  I was delighted since all three of us liked seafood. 

We arrived on time and were seated promptly. We were handed the Happy Hour Menu. We looked at it but also informed her we were there for the Seafood Buffet. We were told that the Buffet did not start until 5 p.m. We all looked at each other, not knowing what to do. We then decided to order from the regular menu, but we were informed that dinner did not start until 5 p.m. I got up and saw a man who looked like the manager speaking with an employee.  I told him of our dilemma. What didn't make sense is when the reservation was confirmed, she should have said that the buffet does not start till 5 p.m. We were ready to get up and go to Trump National Golf Club. First, he apologized and assured me the chef could cook dinner for us. So we decided to give it a go.

The dinner menu looked good. We decided to order the Calamari and the Wild Mushroom Flatbread as appetizers. Shortly after we had placed our orders, Ernest Cruz, the manager, brought us another appetizer: the handcrafted hummus with pita bread. We thought that was a nice touch, which we appreciated. We loved the Hummus, Crispy and very light Calamari, and the Wild Mushroom Flatbread, which tasted more like a pizza, which was a good thing!

For our entrées, we all picked the Seabass, which was outstanding. The skin was super crispy, and the most flavorful mushrooms and spinach were present underneath. Both Zohreh and Mary could not finish their seabass. I, on the other hand, had no problem. I must mention that throughout our dining experience, Ernest kept coming to ensure everything was perfect. 

Our servers, Luis and Luisa, were excellent. Mary and I have short torsos, so the chairs were too low for us. Jokingly, I asked for a booster chair. Luisa laughed and said she would get us pillows. She later appeared and apologized that she couldn't find pillows, but she brought us two blankets, which made a big difference. 

They later brought some desserts on the house for Zohreh's birthday. Ernest came by with another server and jokingly said they would sing Happy Birthday but didn't feel they would do a good job. As soon as Ernest walked away, we were able to convince his partner to sing, which he indulged in.

We walked out of the restaurant feeling good. What started out as an unfortunate incident ended up being very fortunate. I was impressed with how the manager, Ernest Cruz, handled the situation. Most restaurants would have just said sorry for the misinformation and left it at that. Mr. Cruz went above and beyond, which made the three of us happy and sure to return in the future.  

Catalina Kitchen is at 100 Terrenea Way in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.