I can't say I was extremely impressed or disappointed. We went outside and sat by the water on a beautiful day! Things ordered: crab legs, regular nachos & chicken chipotle wrap. The crab legs tasted like...something fried. I dig the nachos, they were very good. A little more sour cream would be nice but I took the light sour cream as a sign that i didn't need to be a complete fatty. The chicken chipotle wrap was rather dry and over seasoned. It just wasn't very good and we didn't finish it (We split everything). The sweet tea was great, but if you don't like some tea with your sugar then it might not be the best choice for you. As far as service, it wasn't bad but it is hard to compliment. Our server came back to ask what we ordered, it happens. He checked on us in good time but then disappeared. As we sat there with our dirty plates another server helped get us out of there as she didn't know where he had went to (we didn't ask).
I did notice a ton of pick up orders, they take it out to your car for you.
On a final note, the fans outside are great but the misting isn't so good when you are eating. I can kind of understand it if you were just having some drinks.
I went here recently for a friends birthday. I had been to California Dreaming before in other locations but never here. This one is definitely the nicest I have been to and how can you beat those views. The restaurant is practically in the water. People often think it is an old building that they renovated into a restaurant but, its common for California Dreaming to make their restaurants look like castles. I must say they did a pretty good job with this one making it look like an old timey civil war fort.
We had a large party and the service was great. They assigned us two waiters and did an excellent job taking care of everything. Even brought out a little ice cream for the birthday girl.
For my meal I had the filet medallions with fried shrimp and the red potato mash. The potatoes were just okay but the filet and shrimp were top notch - not a bit of fat on the steak what so ever. Surprisingly one of the biggest standouts was the house salad. I don't generally get excited about salads but this thing was serious. The house dressing is a hot bacon honey mustard and it was... "wait a minute, did you say bacon? Why yes I did!" fantastic. The salad is huge and comes with a fluffy croissant drizzled with some sort of honey butter I imagine. Needless to say, it was a pretty impressive salad.
It's tough to check out the chain restaurants in a city full of culinary excellence and it might not be my first choice compared to what else we have in town but, it definitely won't disappoint either.
Your not getting a food network foodie experience here, but you are getting a solid reasonably priced meal with a killer view. This is a chain restaurant. And some familiarity might be just thing thing you need when the Charleston sun and humidity zap all of your mental energy. This was a no brainer for our party. We had heard about the view and were familiar with California Dreaming's menu. It's a pretty safe bet for eating out in Charleston. The food doesn't blow your mind. It's pretty good. The wait staff was pretty good. Overall we had a really good experience.
Review Source:Six of us had lunch here, everything was delicious, except my cousin didnt like the green beans, nothing wrong with them, just not cooked the way she likes them. The fried shrimp was great, I think we counted 21 on the plate. Salads were huge. Two of us ate one and still brought some back with us.
Review Source:11:30 AM on a Saturday morning. I hear it gets crowded later. Second time to this restaurant. Took wife and two guests. Outside seating overlooking the Ashley  river and the city of Charleston. The view is Great! the service was fast and accurate. House salad with the croissants was large, fresh and tasty. Second time having the flounder platter - Best I've had for the price in Charleston! others had a burger and a flounder Poorboy. Both were pleased with their selection. Expect about $20.00 per person without alcohol drinks. Easy 4 star will be going back.
Review Source:I'm very surprised that this place isn't 5 stars on here. When I first moved to Charleston everyone talked about how great their salads were so of course I tried the California Dreaming salad. The California Dreaming salad was AMAZING. I was skeptical about their special dressing but I was pleasantly surprised how good it was. The salads are huge and can be two meals. This place has the best salads in Charleston and the best croissants EVER. The staff are super friendly and the views were breathtaking. The food prices look pricey but in actuality they aren't for the quantity of food (as I stated before the salads can be two meals). Definitely a place to go to!!! I LOVE this place. Also the take out is very quick and easy. They even come outside to deliver your food so you don't even have to get out of the car which is nice in rainy weather.
Review Source:Great view. She crab soup is delicious. The California Dreaming salad is the reason my husband wanted me to try this place. It was good. The food seemed like a chain restaurant. There are better places to go in Charleston, but we will return because my husband enjoys the salads and ribs.
Review Source:Nice views, friendly staff and no wait, even though it was post-church on a Sunday afternoon.
Had the She-crab soup and fried oyster Caesar salad. Some of the crab was burned (my serving likely came from bottom of cooking vat) but server quickly replaced it. The salad greens were a bit soggy (too much dressing) but still edible and good. The fried oysters were very good. Yum!
The croissant was the best I've ever had in life! Super soft, super flaky, melt-in-your-mouth goodness drizzled with honey butter. Loved it!
The first time I came to Charleston I asked someone where I should go for good food and a great view and they pointed me to California Dreaming. And I have to say that I was pleased with both the food and the view. The entree salads are huge and the "she crab" soup is what I recommend. The view of the harbor brings this place up a notch in my book, one of the best in Charleston.
Review Source:Dream on.. this place is a disgrace to the state of California.
No beer list. Waiter said they have everything, which proved to be false after my first 3 ideas were unavailable
Boring food. Open kitchen... Which is gross. Watchin someone scrape out a microwave while eating
Review for 5/17/2010
California Dreaming will not disappoint. The menu has a good variety for everyone. Salads, Chicken and Steaks and their #1 item, their croissants.
There is usually a fairly long waiting for a table, but there is first come seating in the bar area if you don't want to wait. I arrived before the rush and had great table service up in the bar area. Children are not permitted in the bar area, and I'm very happy to say that the wait staff worked hard to keep to this policy. Signs are up to remind parents of this rule just in case parents fail to remember that the bar is not a place for anyone less than 21.
I have to say that they have the best salad I've ever had! Â Large freshly sliced cheeses (so much better than the bagged shredded), perfectly sliced turkey and cubed tomato with the best dressings. Their fresh baked croissants with honey drizzled across them are the most delicious things.! They will totally make you pass on the bread or bun basket at any other restaurant.
this particular location was designed as an old castle with the best views overlooking the water. Their other location in Colombia is in an old train station yielding to the charm that is California Dreaming.
As many times as I've eaten at California Dreaming I've NEVER had a bad meal and have ALWAYS gone home happy.
We went to CD three times, back to back nights. Â Both nights our group of four/five loved everything. Â First night it was sandwiches mostly, the next the soup and salad, and then more sandwiches. Â All three nights the I got the chicken (12oz chicken) (the third night I got the chicken with ham and cheese) one night with mashed, next two with loaded potato. Â Everyone was nice at CD and we had no wait. Â In fact, both nights there was plenty of seating available. Â Only problem we had was getting our check on the second night, waitress seemed to be making weekend plans, otherwise everything was great.
Review Source:This place has a nice atmosphere, very nice architecture, on the water ad has a large bar area. Croissants are amazing!!! Salads are good, house dressing very yummy. Food choices average however, still taste good, well presented. Server was very friendly and accommodating. Would go again but not my absolute favorite
Review Source:The food here seemed barely average. Nothing on the menu stood out to us so we opted for the ravioli and a chicken sandwich. The ravioli tasted like it was previously frozen and did not have much going for it. The chicken sandwich was just that. Not bad, not good. In a city with so much food culture I find it hard to imagine this place being near the top of someone's list. Surprisingly the dishes were served on cafeteria style (cheap) plates with dirty cafeteria style flatware.
The wait staff was very friendly and the hostesses seemed busy taking reservations. The view was incredible. Right in between two bridges overlooking several marinas.
I went to CD with a group of 7 to celebrate my parents anniversary and my dad's birthday. It was a Saturday about 6:30pm when we got there, and had about a half hour wait, which, all things considered, isn't too bad for a Saturday. Additionally we did not have a reservation, so I'm highly impressed with the walk-in to seated time.
As others have said, you have a wonderful view of the Harbor, so I won't spend a lot of time on that, but it is much better than say, seeing a parking lot or main street, as you might see in most downtown restaurants.
We split a few appetizers. The most outstanding one was the buttered croissants. They are very, very light, and have melted honey butter on top. Absolute heaven. If you go here, I highly recommend this as an appetizer.
Drinks were good, flavorful, and perhaps slightly heavy handed, but not overbearingly so.
Our server, Jen, was fantastic. She had a great tableside manner and a good sense of humor with things. I'll admit my group can be a pain at restaurants with special orders and requests, but she handled them all, and got everything correct. She was also good with keeping non-alcoholic drinks full, and offering options for people (such as someone ordered something that came with a salad, but they didn't want it. Without missing a beat, she offered a second side to him).
Entrees were all tasty, and most everyone ended up being in the clean plate club.
The one drawback I have for the restaurant is the Handicapped access ramp takes you up the back, and you have to walk through the restaurant to the front to get to the hostess stand.
With that exception, my experience was fantastic.
Typical chain food fare. I am perturbed about the name because frankly, I doubt you'd find any of this in a Californian restaurant. I felt the prices were pretty high, but given that it's hard to find a decent prime rib, I took the plunge.
My sister had a FABULOUS ravioli dish made with short ribs. We've already discussed duplicating her meal at home for a possible holiday dish.
One time my mother did a take out and her side dish was missing and the staff was less than accommodating to her. They wanted her to return back to the restaurant and pick it up, instead of offering to deliver it (she has been visiting MUSC for months and goes to CD often) to her. I'm unsure if they even took it off her bill. All I know is, she wasn't happy.
There were a few large groups that seemed that they had to wait quite a while to get seated even tho the table was open and ready for them. I was boggled by that, being in the restaurant business for several years. They were finally seated shortly before we left. Service was a tad slow, but it was a busy day.
Being a Californian and going to a place with this name in SC makes me a bit snarky, first to admit. Â So I DO keep that in mind with this review.
Went there with a party of around eight. Â After spending some time on the menu, we discussed the likelihood of finding grits on ANY California menu, dreaming (ok, nightmaring) or not. Â The menu had the requisite fried fried fried fried (insert any meat after any of the frieds) as well as some more normalized (for CA) options....such as a burger.
The wife got fried oysters (I did warn her, but did she listen?) while others (some local) got fried fried fried (insert said meat again)
We got our food rather quickly....this place is HUUUUUUUUUUGGEEEE, and I figured that it'd be a long wait...impressive turnaround!
We dug in, and all agreed it was good. Â Not great, but good.
THEN we got the check. Â Holy begeez! Â Prices are based on fedexing the food from CA to SC, based on the bill!
Overall, definitely a southern's concept of what Californians eat (and definitely wrong). Â I'd eat there again, but only if someone else is paying.
We always look forward to eating here while in SC. Â On this particular visit our food was great when we received it. Â The waiter forgot my Caesar salad and I had to get it to go. Â He also forgot my wife's cup of baked potato soup. Â Both items were not corrected in an acceptable amount of time. Â We will not give up on this location based on this one visit.
Review Source:There were some strong positives and some things that could be tweaked based upon my 2 visits to CD.
The needs tweaking: Â We had a large party of about 20. Â We called ahead and they said if we "hurried" they could seat us at 7:45. Â We SPRINTED to get there in time and ended up not being seated until almost 8:45. Â This was after we were assured many times our table would be ready "any minute"
The food-average. Â Nothing really blew me away. Â I liked the rolls and the salad as well as the creamed spinach. Â My ribs were fine, nothing memorable as was my steak salad. I don't really know why this place has the epic wait times...perhaps it is the location?
The good: gorgeous view of the marina and 1.99 vodkas- this includes the famous Zing Zang bloody Mary mix- yum, doesn't get much better than that!
FIVE STARS however to our server and the manager. Â We were with a couple who had NO CONTROL of their three children- it was absolutely embarrassing. Â Sadly both our server AND the manager had to speak to this couple about their kids behavior. Â I have to say that both our server and the manager handled a very difficult situation with absolute grace, tact and discretion. Â I don't know how they did it because I was ready to scream! Â May I PLEASE apologize to you both for those kids behavior? I am so sorry because I know the parents are not!!!!
Our party of 15 had a reservation for 6:45 but there were 2 stragglers that arrived a few minutes late so, as soon as our entire party arrived, we let them know that everyone was here. They told us to wait for a bit while they got our table. AN HOUR LATER, we sat down to eat. The waitress quickly took our drink order and returned promptly with them. Thankfully. I ordered a mojito and it was delicious. The highlight of my meal.
After struggling with the menu I finally settled on the blackened fish special. Truly there were very few things on the menu that were not breaded, fried, or coated in some type of batter. My fish came with a salad and I asked for the house dressing - it came with two small bowls - one of honey mustard and one of what I think was bacon drippings. Yikes!! I have never seen such a thing in my life. There was a large roll on top of my salad so I gave that to my friend and she said it was pretty good.
The restaurant is located in a beautiful spot on the Ashley River. If you can get a table with a view of the boats and the water that will make the experience more enjoyable. There are so many amazing restaurants in Charleston, I wouldn't recommend this one if you are looking for a good meal.
Stayed at a hotel nearby for work and this was the only restaurant in walking distance.
The first day our server was extremely rude and careless. My co-worker had a burger and fries which was typical. I had the hot vegetable salad and asked for no dressing, when it came out it was drenched in balsamic, it looked like he poured double the dressing. It was tasty though.
The second day we sat at the bar to avoid our previous server. We both ordered salads and they were really good and just like we ordered.
Their butter croissants are delicious and the best part of the meal! The view is beautiful but not worth the prices.
Have enjoyed this place in the past on trips to Charleston, but had very disappointing experience last night. Server was friendly, but undermined by poor restaurant operations and staff training. Kitchen screwed up extra sides we'd ordered, ( forgetting, and then two arrived) Check was incredibly late, and then took another 15 minutes to return with the credit cards. None at the table was particularly pleased with their food either-- I ordered a chicken pasta dish that arrived looking as if it had been prepared hours before and microwaved. Partners fried flounder was over- seasoned with overdone green beans. This place has definitely slipped.
EDIT: Â the company was extremely proactive in seeking to contact me and address my concerns. Â So two thumbs up for that.
I would give a million stars to the ribs if I could. I don't know how they did it but the rib meat was so soft, so tender, and so juicy that it literally fell off the bone. I've been places where people advertise ribs with meat that does just that, but I've never actually seen it happen. They also managed to cook a juicy, crispy glaze onto the meat to give it the perfect texture as well. I'm a born and raised Texan BBQ girl, and it kills me to admit this, but I had the best ribs of my life in South Carolina.
The salads are gross, though. Yikes.
Was in Charleston this weekend and went here for lunch. Â It was a beautiful day so we sat outside on the deck, right beside the water. Â Beautiful view, but bring a jacket - a good portion of the deck falls in the shade and this time of year that means you can get pretty chilly. Â
We started with the fried onion loaf. Â This is what looks like a lot of crispy fried onion pieces molded into a large block shape, to be cut apart and dipped in honey mustard. Â It is pretty good, very crumbly, and the honey mustard sets it off very nicely. Â I fully enjoyed this.
For the meal, I got the salmon salad with Almost No Fat Balsamic Dressing. Â This consisted of a bed of mixed greens, mushrooms, hearts of palm, scallions, and tomatoes, topped off by a nicely cooked piece of salmon. Â The dressing is mixed it with the salad, and had I known that I would have ordered it on the side, but they added in just the right amount (not too much!), and the flavor was great. Â I loved the salad and would have enjoyed it more if my sister wasn't sitting beside me, eating the richly decadent seafood nachos. Â I wound up helping her with them. Â Although a little salty, they were just too good to resist!! Â
Also had bites of the California Dreaming salad and the house salad, both were delicious! Â My dad ordered the Caesar with fried shrimp and even though I didn't try it, it looked heavenly! Â He definitely liked it!
All salads come with a buttery, honey-glazed croissant that melts in your mouth. Â Try as you may to ignore this flakey confection, it practically leaps off the plate. Â
Service was good. Â It took a little while to get our food and the check, but our waiter was friendly and helpful, plus we were sitting out on the water during a beautiful day and not in a hurry at all. Â
My advice: this restaurant is delicious, but don't go here if you're on a diet!
The Mamas & Papas would probably roll in their graves (the band - the lineup is not completely dead yet) if they associated the restaurant with the song in any way. Â Then again, they probably collect - or collected - royalties.
Frankly I am not sure what the restaurant has to do with the song. Â Probably nothing. Â You are in Charleston, of all places, and you dream of California? Â Why would anyone want to go to California if you're in Charleston? Â Newark I get. Â Detroit maybe. Â But Charleston? Â I digress, as the name does not really have much to do with it.
The location rocks. Â I have yet to visit all the locations - and they may all look like old keeps - but this one may actually be one. Â Plus it sits right on the edge of the water (the Ashley River if you are keeping score at home). Â Unfortunately there are only so many seats right by the window, and as the building has aged, so too have the windows - so some fog up, especially at night. Â But still, it is a sweet location.
Service is generally top-notch. Â Except you may have to wait, and even more so if you are there in season. Â The lines can be long. Â Really long. Â Because service is good, it may not seem as long as if you are at Outback on a typical Friday night, but they do get long. Â Go on an off-night out of season if possible.
Food? Â Meh. Â Totally hit-and-miss. Â Not from night-to-night, but from dish-to-dish. Â Some items, like their croissants/rolls/whatever they are, should not be missed. Â Their salads are pretty awesome as well. Â But most of the appetizers can be skipped entirely, and even the seafood? Â You are better off going to somewhere else where you can get it where it is fresher and prepared better.
A friend took us here & I'm so glad she did. The food was fantastic & the portion sizes were much larger than I expected. You can get a coupon for a free basket of their infamous rolls @ the visitors center in downtown Charleston (saves you about $6). I had the grilled salmon & it was some of the best I've had anywhere (was NOT expecting that to be honest). I ordered mixed veggies and fettuccini alfredo as my sides, and both were quite good. The side salads that come with each meal are quite large. I actually wanted the house salad that was stated on the menu with Caesar dressing, but got a traditional Caesar salad instead. It was still good though. My partner had the filet; it was a very thick cut of meat & cooked nicely.
There were four others in our party & everyone's entrée's were excellent, from chicken to shrimp. The view was excellent, overlooking an inlet to the Ashley river. It's a little hard to find, so be prepared for that, but well worth it once you do. Beautiful atmosphere as well, so worth the wait if you do have to wait, which you likely will, especially on the weekend - we noticed SEVERAL LARGE parties of 10+ on an early Saturday evening.
The only negative experience was our waitress; had to ask for refills, and she didn't even give us the option for desert - she immediately came out & asked if this was going to be one ticket or split & ran off when she got her answer! That was quite rude, and after she ran everyone's cards she NEVER ONCE came back...I can only imagine it was time for her to get off work for the day. I've never been anywhere where the waiter/waitress didn't even offer desert!
We will DEFINTALY be back on our next trip to Charleston (as long as we can find it on our own that is!!) :)
We first came here about 4 months after moving to the area. My mom was visiting and one of the locals just raved about how great it was and how we would all just love it.
We made reservations and went. We ordered an onion loaf to start, and the breading was hardly cooked. It was very soggy, and we ate it more with silverware than a finger food as it should be, plus, it was falling off our silverware from being soggy, so even that didn't help.
Both times I've been there I ordered a chicken fajita wrap, and I got INCREDIBLY sick from it. Â By the time we get home, I'm in the bathroom for a long time from being so sick.
The cheesecake was really good and big slice, but I wouldn't return, even for the view. Go out for good food then hit the beach if you want a nice view.
They don't really have a dress code, just as long as you're wearing shoes and no swimming gear.
In recent reviews I heard that the service and quality have changed. Â Yes, they are correct it has. Â Its sad to say, that what made this restaurant great and lead to the opening of several others has now become itself sad. Â Service got worse. Â The elegance is worse and the quality of food as well. However, it does still have unique flavors of food that haven't changed that still make it a really great place to try.
However, just like other reviews you will still have a packed house almost all the time at dinner. Â Call for reservations it goes quicker. I do suggest you ask for the booth looking into the kitchen. Â Its the best seat in the house not only that but you can watch your food being made every step of the way.
I wound up getting to try this place twice during my stay in Charleston. Once for dinner on a Saturday night and once on Monday afternoon for lunch. The reason was more due to the location than anything else (it was literally across the parking lot from where I was staying). Although, anyone that knows me knows that if I wasn't at least satisfied with my first meal, I would have gotten a cab to go somewhere else instead of going back.
My first experience was on a Saturday night during my soon-to-be brother-in-law's bachelor party. This bachelor party was not organized very well in advance, and we had to take into account that half of the members of the party were over 50, and the other half were in their mid-20's. Added to this was the complication that half of our party of ten do not imbibe alcohol ever. Not to be completely defeated, my uncle suggested that we all go to dinner and when we agreed he admitted that he had already taken the liberty of making us a reservation at California Dreaming.
When we got there, it was crowded. VERY crowded. If you are going to go on a Friday or Saturday night, I would strongly suggest reservations. The restaurant is in a circular building with the kitchen toward the middle which allows for the giant windows surrounding the outside and giving patrons a view out over the water from pretty much wherever in the restaurant they are seated. The other thing worth noting is that while there isn't a strict dress code per-say, they do have standards and will not seat people unless they are at least looking decent, so no shorts or ripped up pants.
As I said, we were a group of ten and we had reservations and I barely had time to finish one drink at the bar before our table was ready. Our waiter was very friendly and made good suggestions. There were a couple of appetizers ordered but I think that the crab claws were the hit on that front and were quickly devoured by our group. Also, if I remember correctly, the waiter said that all of their salad dressings were made in house and the salad was pretty good, although it does come with almonds and eggs, but are perfectly happy to leave these items out upon request.
As far as dinner went, I was craving red meat and order the sirloin. Also for anyone who has never gone out for steak with me, I am kind of insane about my meat. To say I like it rare, would be putting it mildly. When I cook my own steaks I get my heat source as hot as possible, sear either side of the meat for 30 seconds to a minute and that's it. So I asked the waiter if they could do the steak "as rare as legally possible." He told me he would give the cook my exact words. My steak came out PERFECT. My baked potato was left forgotten as I reveled in my steak. It was incredible and had that cold, red, bloody, raw center that most restaurants simply refuse to bring me. Although the baked potato wasn't bad either.
All in all the dinner was really good. Their selection of draught beers left a little to be desired but they do have some local brew and that was decent enough, and their liquor wasn't overly expensive if you would rather have a go at that. These are the things that led me to come back on Monday afternoon while waiting to get ready for the wedding itself.
I have to say, as good as my meal was on Saturday, I was very disappointed with their lunch offerings. The restaurant isn't exactly cheap and when I ordered a burger while sitting at the bar, I have to say I was expecting a little more than just a standard fare burger that I was served. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't outstanding either. Something that any chain restaurant with a burger on their menu could have brought me. So I was a little disappointed with that.
But I do have to point out that the bartender went out of his way to discuss beer and brewing with me. Â And when I ordered a beer that was only on tap on the patio bar (which was closed) he went out and got it for me anyway. The service was still really good, and the bartender was telling me of local breweries and suggesting different beers that I might try, and this gave him bonus points that the food didn't get.
Like I said, prices are a little high here, but not unreasonable. I would recommend coming for dinner, but again, make reservations. The restaurant itself is a little out of the way if you are staying in downtown but only by a few minutes (a 6 dollar cab ride from the heart of downtown) and the view more than makes up for this. From my experience, the service staff is all very friendly and helpful, so I have no complaints on the service end. I can't say that I could recommend this place for lunch though and that gives me a little bit of hesitation. All in all though, it is worth a try.
What always struck me strange about California Dreaming is that it has a medieval/castle decorating theme. Â Why isn't it called, like, Scotland Dreaming?
Food is okay. Â People seem to love this place in my family, and when I lived in Charleston, I never understood why. Â I feel better now that Whit and Rebekah backed me up.
Yes, California Dreaming is a disappointment. Â Not terrible, not good, just a waste of time and money to drive over the river and find the place, which admittedly has a pretty cool spot right onthe Ashley River. Â Too bad the food isn't as good.
A buddy of mine who used to work there told me he's seen cooks drop food on the floor and pick it back up and put it on your plate. Â Mmmmmmm. Â Also, they use meat that's started to turn (as in GO BAD). Â That's what he tells me.
Long story short, save some time and effort and go get a bite to eat elsewhere. Â Almost anywhere else in town will be better. Â This place is a chain anyway, y'all.