Kaleidoscope

Terrible mall: poor maintenance– the elevators and escalators never work and always broken; poor security– lights always broken, parking structure poorly lit, not safe with no obvious security, better to park at the bank and walk over, at least they have camera security there; facilities are not clean all over, nothing has been fixed or washed down in years; It’s no wonder they can’t keep a tenant there for very long, the occupancy is terrible with constant turnover. They should sell to Simon and make it a Mission Viejo Mall Annex.

I recently worked at the Islands restaurant here. They ask the employees to park on the bottom P2 parking level. It go’s even further below ground too. Don’t see why they would need so much extra parking. This place has a depressing vibe to it. Like its a 1980’s relic or something. Has a real outdated feel to it.
All I ever see is teenagers and mom’s bringing their kids to the jumpin jammin. The freight elevator is sketchy. I used to take out the trash in it when I worked at Islands. As you ride up or down, you hear things scrapping against the sides of the elevator. Meaning that maintenance takes a backseat here. Plus the thing lags horribly. The dumpster is gross. No proper upkeep or well managed sanitation.
As for working at the Islands. Unless you like working for a management team that knows that you need them more than they need you, your not going to like it or stay for very long. Management has unrealistic expectations for their employees. They micromanage the hell out of you. All while expecting you to be able to literally do 5 to 8 physically demanding jobs at once. I’m not exaggerating. They will expect you to defy the laws of physics and accomplish time consuming jobs in very little windows of time. I’m good at multitasking, but this was exhausting. For example, one of my jobs was to mop the floors @ Islands. Fine right? Yes, perfectly reasonable. Until they ask you to not let the dishes pile up, change the soap and sanitizer solutions x 4, clean the bathrooms, (which I find odd that they make the dishwasher do this. Guess thats why your job title is «Dishwasher/​Maintenance.») Cut oranges, limes and lemons, on mondays and fridays, they get food deliveries, so guess whos job that is to put all that stuff away? Mine. Keep in mind that they ask you and bug you every 10 to 15 mins to do these extra, mind numbing and physically demanding jobs. This all happens before you can even really start your day. They hire just one guy to dishwash, but bombard him with so many tasks, that if they weren’t trying to be cost effective and cheap, they would have at least 2 guys doing my job. In a reasonable world, they should have 4 guys doing this job. But they dont care about you. It took me a month to realize this. They dont hire enough staff and they overwhelm you with as many tasks as they can until you give up. I’m in shape and am a fast worker. Not lazy or anything. I worked at as fast a pace as I could without making mistakes, and it still wasn’t good enough. Thats when I realized they didn’t give a crap about you. They just want you to bust your ass as hard as you can, so they dont have to do things right and hire enough staff. The line cooks and the head cooks are rude and barely can speak english. Which makes training frustrating unless your bilingual. They will come hassle you constantly and expect unrealistic things from you. Like training you twice on a certain task and expecting you to be a 10 year master at it.
Megan was the only cool manager there. She understood the crap situation the BOH guys had to deal with. If I can give any future applicants any advice, it would be to be prepaired to hate your job and get worked to the bone and to the point of a mental breakdown. They dont care about you. Why should they? As long as they can mask how horrible it is to work there for at least a month or two, they get easy labor. Every employee I talked to, said they hated working there. The bar tender, bussers and servers are the only people who didnt seem to have it that bad.
They hired me on the spot. Now I’m always suspect of any place that hires you on the spot. Theres always a reason for that. Its not because they like you. I actually got excited to work here. Seemed like a chill place to work. If they could of told the cooks to tone down the rude behavior and treat the grunts of the operation better and hired more help, rather than having one person for each station. They’re attempt at being cost effective is backfiring and they will never maintain a solid staff and a smooth operation. This kind of out of touch, corporate managing style, will make people that arent on stimulants on a daily basis quit after a few months. A person can only do so much. They seem to not understand that concept.

Same old kaleidoscope. All the down escalators out of service. Long lines for elevators.

Was a this mall today getting my hair done at the west end salon (Fabulous) for the first time and parked my car wrong. The nice security guy came up to hair salon probably after he went all over to find out who’s car it was. I said it was mine and he said you parked in the middle of road LOL. Please move it. Wow he could of just towed it!!! What a nice security detail they have! That took a lot of work!!! Not lazy there!!! Thank u kaleidoscope mall security!!!

It’s ok. No luxury theater that’s for sure. The location being across from the Laguna hills mall is a plus.

I feel like there are always a load of teens here, so if you are what you would consider a grown up this probably is not your place. The cinema always seems packed, and parking never seems easy.
Otherwise it’s generally clean, there’s a gym., cinema, yogurt place and a couple of restaurants. Not sure if there are that many shops, but this is not a place I go to regularly and if it was not for convenience I would rarely go.

This «mall» if you even want to call it that, is in need of a serious make over. Parking is confusing and they don’t tell you what is on each level so you are left wondering. There is trash and litter scattered all over the elevators and parking areas. It gets super packed on the weekends with kids and unsupervised teenagers. I live in Ladera so the closest Islands and Yogurtland are both here which I’m a fan of, so I come here for those 2 things and that is about it. It’s a shame because this is a great location right off of the 5 and it could be really nice and upscale if they just took the time to update it and revamp it and update some of the stores.

If you don’t like dealing with crowds and like a good place to eat and catch a movie then this place is perfect.
There are a few eateries and a theatre.
Parking does stink (literally parking is difficult and sometimes there is an odor)
Bristol Farms was here moons back, which was good.

This place should be torn down and replaced with something else. I actually work at one of the businesses and mall management decided that all employees should park on the bottom level. I can totally understand that decision but if you’re going to force employees to park at the bottom level at least make sure the escalators work. The escalators in the center are always broken or restricted for reasons unknown… probably because they need to be replaced. The ONE fully functional elevator in the center is another joke.
Bottom line… put this place out of its misery, it’s out of
date.
Also the security guards that roam around on their segway should be wearing helmets when they are zipping around the parking lot without any reflective clothing OSHA probably would love to fine someone for this

My first time at this «mall» and I must say the parking is weird. There is a sign that tells you which floor still has spaces, but I don’t think its accurate. Pretty much any level for parking is good, if you can get to a escalator.
The directory isn’t very helpful in locating a store. I almost didn’t find Burke Williams. I parked on the Main level, went up the escalator to the Plaza level and turned right toward the other stores. I didn’t know the store entrance was to the left, inside the Plaza level parking structure.
Its not the best laid out mall, but it still beats the Tustin District.

Kalideascope well I remember how long it took them to build it and how crazy looking the structure was! Over the years I’ve been coming here I’ve had some good times and some interesting ones. No business ever last here long except the movie theater. The parking is strange but it’s not terrible the design is just kinda crazy some times you get lucky and theirs spots on the top level. The people who manage this place don’t let new business’s come here if they don’t like the concept it seems like. They aren’t the brightest anyway I say this because anyone who would use the biggest space in the center for their office obviously doesn’t like to make rent money and turning down new clients isn’t smart. The AT&T store here is a corporate one Its a good if you have to deal with them directly because a lot of the other ones in the area aren’t owned by the company. The Derby is hit or miss if they have piano’s dueling it seems to be a bit better fun wise and food quality. 221 is kinda cool and hidden too bad it’s not real money! Oh and don’t forget to ask The Derby staff what the code word is for 221 it will hook you up sometimes! BWW is alright good on Tuesdays or Thursdays when they have their discount wing nights the wings aren’t that great but @ least they’re better then Hooters! I hate Islands I’ve gotten sick every time I’ve ever gone to any of their places ill never go back I dunno if I’m allergic to something in their food or if it was bad! Rocco’s Pizza isn’t bad the owner dude is kinda crazy and louder then i am haha! Their pizza is good if you get it fresh! Rocco’s often mails out huge discount coupons too! Ive never gone to Howie’s not my scene some of my friends like it though! The security here is suposto be sketchy according to the Halloween Adventure people they say they were caught in the previous halloween store after hours for no reason so tenets beware! RIP to Bristol Farms, The Skate Shop, El Torito Grill, & The huge art gallery.

The parking is horrific: especially the top level. Most, if not all, of the 15 minute parking spots were taken by people parked there much longer than 15 minutes. Yes, I know it’s from 5pm to 10pm, and I was there at 7:30. And I know how long those spots were taken because I arrived to Kaleidoscope at just before 7. Going up and down levels, always coming back to check on just one of the several 15 minute spots were open yet. I was only able to get a spot after someone dropped off their passenger at one of the 15 minute parking spots. To get more business, the parking situation needs to be fixed and ENFORCED.

The parking structure here, is completely confusing.
For Burke Williams, you need to enter by the movie theater entrance… I found that out the hard way.
If you enter and park down near the gym, be ready to play a game of Frogger with impatient drivers honking at you, and every other car anywhere near them.
AVOID Color Me Mine here… absolutely horrible.
I think I will not return here any time soon :)

it must be the parking– these all in one centers seem to be destined for failure– this south county triangle square is kind of sad and when places are largely vacant they seem scary…

This is the saddest little shopping plaza ever.
My boyfriend and I are from San Diego and we always passed this place on our way to LA. It intrigued us and we always wondered what was here, so we made a stop on our way home.
When we entered the plaza we were surprised to find that most of the buildings were empty and were for lease.
We made the best of the situation and picked a spot to eat. They had some good food options, like The Derby, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Yogurtland, but that’s it. There were hardly any places to shop. There wasn’t really much to do at all actually. The only other places they had here that wasn’t an eatery was a fitness center and arcade/​laser tag type thing.
Lame.

This place hasn’t exactly been great in the past, at all. I have to say though in the last few months they have really done a nice job remodeling!
They have more comfortable chairs with umbrellas (it get’s extremely bright and hot on the large patio area)
A very nice seating area with a fire upstairs in front of the movie theater.
Wish people didn’t use it as a ‘smoking spot’
Would be nice to see more local boutique type stores.

Had to update and downgrade this place even further with 1 star.
Was there recently to see a movie and low and behold, valet parking! Seriously? Here? This is not Fashion Island, or Irvine Spectrum, or So Coast Plaza!
Parking already sucks here and now its even suckier!

This place is okay if you are specifically seeking one of its restaurants or just want to see a movie. Everything seems to close quickly here, and there are certain «shopping center essentials» that are missing. For example, what kind of shopping center doesn’t have a coffee shop?! For me, that’s major negative points.
The movie theater is also on the small side, and at least one of the escalators is always broken. I don’t mind taking stairs, but it’s still annoying that they can’t keep the escalators in working condition.
They recently added some nice tables and chair in the center promenade. Not sure why people would sit out there, though, unless they’re listening to music at Derbys and don’t want to be packed like a sardine.

This center has lost Bristol Farms and El Torito grill since the recession started. They don’t have may things left to attract large crowds. The parking structure is a nightmare it is very hard to find parking cause there isn’t enough and the spots are small.
Burke Williams is a high end spa and I can’t figure how it gets enough customers to stay in business. When two of you higher end places are a sushi bar (Riptide) and a dueling piano bar (The Derby), I think you are in trouble (Isn’t the duel piano fad over?). They also have an Islands (good food) and a Buffalo Wild Wings (never tried). There is also an assortment of fast food places (Mexican, Pizza, etc.).
One of the places that seems to get a lot of recognition is Jump ‘n Jammin. It is a family entertainment business (read: it is for small children). This place seems to get a fair amount of business every time I walk by it. There is also Laser Quest and Howie’s Game Shack which seem to cater to younger kids.
Another disadvantage is there isn’t much space to work with and I am also confused by the apparent opening of a LA Fitness when they just opened a huge one off of Alicia Parkway. I seem to remember there was a Crunch Gym in Kaleidoscope at one time and it obviously failed, I doubt this LA Fitness will fair any better.

Whoever says the Kaleidoscope Center is a happening place must not get out much.
Came here yesterday, as I haven’t been in about a year and a half, and it was dying more so than ever. I don’t understand ‘cos it could be something great, I think.
The collection of restaurants is mediocre, at best, with Riptide Rockin’ Sushi (good on Thursdays, I hear), Buffalo Wild Wings (overlooking the freeway), a pizza place, Rockin B’s Burritos (or something of the like — it was completely empty), and Flame Grill, which looked more like food that should come from a food truck.
The problem with this centre is its lack of other things besides food. Yes, there is the cinema, but there are also other cinemas around. What this centre needs is potentially just 2 — 4 good stores to fill the empty spaces to bring some life back into it.
I really wish I could like this centre, as it’s just down the street from me, but I can’t say I’ll be coming back any time soon.
Oh — and with regard to the parking — it needs to sort itself out. You should see the amount of people who drive into what looks like the parking entrance only to find out it’s the valet entrance, and you need to turn around inconveniently at the end.