California Grill & Bar

***Hotel restaurants are typically not good and that is the case with this one at the San Mateo Marriott***

Hotel restaurants are typically not good.  They are also overpriced.  Marriott restaurants are not all the same though they are typically not great.  Many Marriotts feature steakhouses or mostly steak-themed meals like the steakhouse at the DFW Marriott.  A few South Bay Marriotts feature celebrity chef restaurants--Arcadia by Michael Mina in the San Jose Marriott and Parcel 104 by Bradley Ogden in the Santa Clara Marriott.  This is kind of surprising for the Marriott brand since contemporary menus are not often featured at Marriott restaurants; menus at Marriott restaurants are typically filled with dishes that were popular 15 to 20 years ago.

That is the case with the San Mateo Marriott's restaurant California Grill & Bar.  The menu is not that interesting, but it is thankfully less expensive than a lot of pricey Marriott restaurants.  It is pricey, but several entrees are in the low $20s (entrees often run in the $30s at Marriotts).  Desserts are $6 and are big (not $8-$9 for the same stuff at other Marriott restaurants).

I had the bruleed banana split and it was pretty standard stuff.  The vanilla ice cream was thick and creamy and not icy, but it was nothing special.  The chocolate sauce was very thin and did not have that distinct of a flavor (kind of the consistency and flavor of grocery store chocolate syrup); the whipped cream felt that way too.  The bruleed banana sounded good, but it just did not have the thick bruleed crust that a lot of restaurants serve when they torch bananas.

For breakfast, this restaurant features an a la carte menu as well as a breakfast buffet.  Their breakfast buffet features a pretty good variety of items.  On my visit, there was an assortment of pastries and breads, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, sauteed red potatoes, frittata with asparagus, oatmeal, sausage gravy and biscuits, a few cold cereals, fresh fruit, whole fruit, smoked salmon, smoothie shooters, and orange juice.  There was also an omelet bar with a variety of toppings (bacon, ham, cheddar, mozzarella, goat cheese, bell peppers, sweet peppers, onion, spinach, mushrooms, and several other ingredients).

There was definitely a wide variety of options.  A lot of the food was just okay though.  The sausage links were pretty good and the bacon, while not a super high quality, was crispy but not burnt.  The frittata was not as creamy as it should have been and did not have a pastry base.  The omelets were also on the bland side.

At the right price though, this breakfast buffet would not have been that bad of a deal given the variety.  Unfortunately, the breakfast buffet was $20 and there are much better breakfast options in the Bay Area for that price.

Service was fine and serviceable though it was not consistent with the high quality of personal and professional service you consistently get with Marriott's front desk or with personnel throughout the hotel (service in the hotel part of San Mateo Marriott is good).

The restaurant did not have a great look.  It was not contemporary.  Instead, it featured very square and boring tables with horrible carpet.  The restaurant kind of had the feel of an outdated 24-hr cafe in a Las Vegas casino.

The San Mateo Marriott is a decent hotel, but the California Grill & Bar is not a good showcase of this hotel's strengths.  Most hotel restaurants are overpriced with mediocre to bad food; unfortunately, that is the case here.  You should really venture outside of the hotel for all meals and snacks.

Pay self parking is available.  If you do not mind walking, you can park for free on the street adjacent to the hotel.

Considering this is a restaurant inside a Marriott in San Mateo my expectations were pretty low. But, it was a decent dining experience.

Our server, Bobby, was nice and attentive but not too much so. He promptly filled our water pretty quickly.

We ordered two apps--the hummus and the crab cakes. The hummus was a decent portion, though there wasn't a ton of pita. Although, I feel like they would have given us more if we asked. The crab cake was a bit bread-y but not too bad.

They get points for allowing me to have my mahi mahi with asparagus instead of bok choy but the fish itself was just ok. The fillet portion size was a bit small, it was a little dry and the seasoning felt a little heavy handed. The coconut rice was a tiny bit bland. The asparagus was cooked very well though.

Overall I'd give this place another shot.

I hate when hotels only have limited dining, and even worse when the limited dining establishments mark up their prices ridiculously because they can.

customer service was a mess, and that's being nice.  The pushy lady who practically barks at the customers "WAIT" while approaching the podium to grab a seat, the lack of distinguishing which waiter/waitress is for what table, and the overpriced menu items.  ugh.