What a Dish Cafe & Catering

Décor: 4.25 Stars
Food: 4.25 Stars
Service: 4.25 Stars
*Overall: 4.25 Stars*
What a Dish, what a gem because this hidden jewel may be one of the best restaurants in Dana Point. Many people come for breakfast and lunch, however I was recently here for the launch of their new dinner service. The newly added menu has a modern American cuisine meets Gastropub flare to it, while the décor is heavily East Coast influenced, down to the chunky dark wood flooring. I had the spinach & feta flat bread with an organic salad which paired well with the Trussles Left Coast IPA, while my co-​party had the chicken and pear reduction Brussel sprouts that were perfectly cooked and tender. Its worth noting they serve dog treats and are pet friendly. Overall a really good restaurant with great food, drinks, and ambiance.

Excellent brunch for Father’s Day. Eggs benedict, pancakes, and breakfast burrito were all great. Coffee is STRONG! Only complaint is it was a little noisy inside which made it difficult for my 91 year old father to hear.

The food and unlimited mimosas are both good here. However, if you value your time, don’t bother with this place (especially for weekend brunch). Even with an 11:30 reservation, we were still waiting for a table at 12:15. I can understand unpredictability and the potential for a short wait, but when your reservations are waiting 45 minutes to be seated, it’s a sign that your business needs some serious logistical help. 4 stars for food, –2 stars for absurd wait times.

Food was ok. Didn’t blow us away unfortunately. It is clear they are a bakery first and then food is an afterthought. Best part about it was its dog friendly so sitting out on the patio as our pup ate her «pup cake» was awesome. Great second choice if RJ’s line is too long (never been to RJs but this is my impression…)

Arrived here on late on Mother’s Day Sunday, no reservation, but I called ahead to make sure there was seating available (there was) and to ask if they were serving the full menu (woman on the phone said yes). We got there and sat down only to be informed that actually they’re only serving from the Dinner menu. Disappointed since we didn’t see anything we wanted to eat for dinner, and it was too late to go somewhere else for brunch, we tried the happy hour appetizers instead.
Food (Appetizers only):
My mom started with a croissant, it came with a little jar of jam and butter on the side — and that was definitely wonderful! I would go back for those, and in fact we ordered two more and one to go after! Definitely the best thing we ate.
We ordered almost all of the appetizers (minus the fried stuff). Items of note: The bruschetta was tasty, it came unexpectedly in three flavors to try. That was probably my favorite of the appetizers. The shrimp pops were definitely not worth it, six or so marble sized pieces of fried and sauced ground shrimp with toothpicks. By far the worst thing we ordered was the ceviche. I don’t know if it was because it was late in the day or what, but we ended up with a very thin coconut soup type dish — total bottom of the barrel; ¾ of the bowl was soup, with minced veggies and stuff at the bottom ¼. It came with a side of pita. Some restaurants get «cute» with their menus these days and don’t actually add any fish to their ceviche — so we asked if there was supposed to be any in the dish. The waitress said there was and said to look for it, but we showed her spoonfuls of the soup — not a chunk of fish in sight. So she took it back, and a little bit later we ended up with (pretty sure the same bowl) that had whole RAW shrimp added to it — not even close to the opaque color of acid-​cooked fish. Overall, I really liked the idea of their coconut ceviche — the soup part was tasty and I can imagine it with fish. Maybe I will try and make my own spin off, it had such good potential but the bowl we recorded had poor execution. At this point in our meal I was feeling ridiculous, and didn’t make an issue of it — but thank goodness for the pita bread, after $ 60 in food I was still kinda hungry!
Service:
Was okay, server was very nice, but not super attentive. My mom has diabetes and asked for a croissant to be brought before the rest of the food, and after 10 minutes of waiting I went inside to ask again (worried my mom was going to faint). They brought it quickly after that. Then when we ordered the next two croissants (since my loving mother wouldn’t share with me) they didn’t come with jam or butter, until at the end when suddenly an unsolicited server brought two extra pots of jam and butter (after we had finished with our croissants). So that was a bit strange, but I love tiny condiments so I happily packed them up with our to go croissant.
We had a few miscommunications during the meal (maybe that was us?) but the server was nice about our drinks (I originally started with the bottomless mimosas, but since I didn’t get a real meal I stopped at two — she charged me the happy hour price/​glass instead of the bottomless) so I figure that evens things out. She also didn’t give us attitude when we asked her about the ceviche, so points to her. Service lost points when we waited a good 15 minutes for someone to come pick up the check after I had asked for it — I finally brought it to the counter to pay thinking it was one of those pay at the visible register type places — it wasn’t.
Overall:
I wanted to like this place, and maybe I will go back for real brunch sometime and try things right, but with the holiday, misinformation and overall service and food I am pretty hesitant. This would probably have been a 3 star if our ceviche hadn’t come back with totally raw shrimp — I find any actions that can potentially give me food poisoning as sloppy and unacceptable. But if nothing else, I’ll definitely come back to pick up a croissant!

Great Happy Hour Deals, nice ambience, amazing food and desserts…

Food was excellent as was our waitress. We went for Mother’s Day and the cup that my husband used broke in his hand with hot tea pouring all over his clothes and table. The waitress apologized but you would’ve thought the owner would have given us a freebie on the teas or dessert. It shows the mindset of the place. His clothes were completely wet and stained. They offered to pay cleaning if needed.

I had a friend who treated me out to this place and was definitely impressed. I felt like I was in Santa Monica or one of those fancy beach restaurants. The food is definitely quality and memorable. I tried most of the breakfast items and truly can see they know what they’re doing.
This please definitely gets five stars for me!

What a Dish
WHAT A PLACE!
I love this place. I was told about What A Dish by a friend who was visiting from Florida, who found this place while on vacation. How come I never knew about it!!! It is tucked away in a center on the corner of Golden Lantern and Harbor Drive, in the same center as JFAT and RJ’s Café. The quality of the food is second to done. Everything is done well and exceeds anything in the same center. On the numerous times we have had breakfast at What A DIsh we have tried so many items, Country Omelette, El Capitan omelette, a few different «Benedicts», the Huevos Rancheros and many other items, all prepared expertly and with amazing flavor and taste. One time during a late breakfast I noticed the table next to us got a pasta dish which was the Pappardelle Genova. I had to come back the next day for lunch to try this dish and boy was I happy I did. This was done just right, just the perfect amount of pesto sauce not to over whelm the taste of the other items that make up this dish.
The big surprise is the dinner at What A Dish. Went a few weeks ago and we were very happy we did. The service was wonderful (it is great anytime). I started with a Bloody Mary that the server explained was going to be very spicy, and it was. I really could not enjoy it as with every sip I felt the sting of the spice. The sever told me that if I did not like it he would get another one without the extra peppers and he quickly replaced the drink. The second one was amazing, flavorful and oh by the way, extremely large! All of our main courses were well prepared and plated with care. We were a party of four and had chicken marsala, seared scallops, and the petit tenders. All the plates were cleaned. In addition we started with a carmelized onion and mushroom flat bread and never had a better flat bread presentation. We also had a bruschetta sampler as a starter with the flat bread and this too was quickly gone.
Go find this place and you will be taking your friends there very qucikly.

Me and my family ate brunch here for my brothers 21^st birthday. All of our dishes were amazingly delish and portions were big. They are fairly priced for the quality of the food. They gave my brother a complimentary Bloody Mary and a cup cake for his birthday which was very generous. The location is great and the weather was perfect while we are on the patio. I recommend trying the food we will definitely be back next time we are in Dana Point.

Such a quaint place with an English Garden feel We split the great Bloody Mary which had just the right amount of spice and Vodka.
My hubby had the eggs Cambridge with smoked salmon and poached eggs cooked to perfection
I had the lump crab cakes with poached eggs and delicious sauce hollandaise I liked that they didn’t drench the eggs with the sauce
Definitely a place I want to return to maybe try lunch next time

Good food, decent service, but best part was no waiting for a table on a Saturday morning at brunch!
We tried the El Capitan omelette. Very tasty, I’ll get it again. My wife got French toast, my daughter chocolate chip pancakes. French toast was ok, but pancakes were good. Nice outdoor space, too.

I just moved to Dana Point but have enjoyed What a Dish for years
Their food is innovative, quality, healthy, and delicious
I had my bday brunch here and everyone loved it!
Janelle is the one of my favorite servers. She’s attentive, personal, efficient, and not mention always has a smile on her face :)
And their bottomless mimosas are worth it! Good champagne and never empty
Highly recommend

Excellent quality breakfasts. I had the blueberry buckwheat pancakes, Apple wood smoked bacon and fried eggs and girlfriend had the country omelette with fingerling potatoes with a couple of ice teas in the mason jars. Everything was perfect and I can’t wait to come back to try their lunch and dinners.

I would definitely recommend What a Dish Café for brunch! I came here with my cousins and we sat outside in their cute little patio area.
I ordered the Garden omelette with goat cheese and was very impressed! It came with roasted «pee wee» potatoes on the side.
When it was time to leave, I couldn’t resist bringing a couple of their cupcakes with me — Banana & Carrot. Both were out of this world. Looking forward to going back!

This place is the perfect place to have a fine breakfast in Dana Point harbor. They are quaint and the food is divine. The eggs benedict is outstanding. I took my son here for Valentine’s Day last year and it was perfect. They have indoor or outdoor seating.

Pros: The staff members are friendly. The patio is pretty. The mimosas are tasty.
Cons: The food was overcooked with dry, black, burned edges. This was the case for all of my party’s food, not just my meal. The patio seating is one long row of tables really close together and everyone’s dog is fluffing around beside your meal. The service is slow because it’s busy. There’s a one-​person bathroom and there’s always a line when it’s busy. We paid almost $ 100 for breakfast for four (w generous tip, but still…)!
Besides the sweet hostesses, nothing else about the visit left us feeling happy. :/​Bummer!

WOW! A friend and I ate here last night and I was blown away. A very quaint and quiet spot, the restaurant is a perfect place for a lovely meal. Our waiter, Nathan, could not have been any better and our courses arrived and our glasses were filled as if by magic!
The food was spectacular and you could taste the care that went into every dish. We started with a reasonably priced bottle of wine, coconut shrimp lollipops and prosciutto flatbread. Both were delicious and very flavorful. The flat bread was amazing and Nathan confirmed that the bread was made on site. We moved onto the shrimp pasta and not only was it beautiful, but the pasta was home made as well (of course it was) and the shrimp was cooked to perfection. The pasta came with a slice of grilled bread that most likely was made on site as well.
My only regret was that I did not save room for dessert – which isn’t such a bad thing as it will give me a chance to go back. They have a pastry case that includes some of the most beautiful cupcakes and cakes that I have seen in a long time. If you are looking for a little sweet for your Valentine, they sell their cupcakes individually.
Overall, one of the nicest meals I have had in a long while. I will be back!

THIS PLACE WAS FANTASTIC !!!
So my friend recommended this place to take my girlfriend out eat for dinner.
The service there was great and food OMG… even better.
i recommend the smoked paprika hummus to start then the wild alaskan salmon. It was the best dish i had in years. My girlfriend had the lamb chop and literally it melted in her mouth.
Now i know where they get there name from, cause I found my self saying those very words as i was taking my last bite from my meal.

Nice little café with indoor and patio seating. The tables were adorn with small, fresh flower arrangements. The staff was nice, but the service was just a tad bit slow. We were given a little too much time to look over the menu before coming back to take our order and it took a bit for us to get our check after we were done. However, there was one main girl handling most/​all the tables, so it was understandable… they just needed more waitresses.
We ordered the East Coast Eggs Benedict (crab cakes, asparagus, sundried tomatoes and poached eggs) and the Jo-Jo’s Eggs Benedict (turkey, tomato, bacon, jalapeño, and poached eggs). Although, instead of the Jo-Jo’s, we ended up getting served the Cambridge (smoked salmon, onions, capers, and poached eggs)… totally different, but we didn’t bother having them correct the order as it was our third choice anyway and we didn’t mind. Their hollandaise sauce was homemade and very good. Both orders came with a side of potatoes which were just OK. They were pretty bland and we could have done without them.
The café is very animal friendly. They’ll bring out bowls of water for your pup and they sell food/​treats for your furry friends, as well.
All in all, our rating for the café is about a 3.5 — 4. Stop by and give them a try if you’re in the area.