Marmalade Cafe

Arriving here shortly after opening at 10:30, I came in to find a skeleton staff struggling to get items in order and deal with customers. I found two waiters servicing the ¹⁄₃ filled café. It wasn’t a pleasant sight, but I sat down anyway. Why? Because their seven-​grain granola pancakes are absolutely delicious. At this point, they’re more than just fluffy pancakes made from scratch. They melt in your mouth, and I have no idea why. I suppose it’s better to not question it. The eggs, bread, etc. is what you expect. It can be a bit overpriced, but generally fresh and a good meal. I recommend this place for not only the pancakes but also a quick stop for lunch or breakfast. Parking is ample, but it can take some time to get in and out of The District.

It would be really hard for me to recommend this place to anyone. I’m not sure I’ve seen more unhappy people about their experience in a long time! I started with the wild mushroom soup, which was actually good. I felt like the cup my ordered was a bowl but whatever… it gave me that much more fuel to run later in the day! ;)
The entrees is what killed this place. The fish tacos were ice cold! Who puts hot fish in ice cold tortillas? I am not exaggerating when I say ice cold either… these weren’t just refrigerated! The poor girl next to me had the bow tie pasta and salmon and didn’t really touch it. I guess the salmon was funky… it smelled funky too.
I will say that the service/​waitress was excellent. She may have been one of the best I’ve had in a very long time. It’s just too bad I couldn’t say the same about the food.

This place is really nothing special. Went here with some friends on a slow afternoon and decided not to order any of the brunch items… probably made a bad choice because those seemed to be the only decent things on the menu.
I ordered a grilled vegetable salad which came with onions, mushrooms. zucchini, asparagus, tomato, lettuce. Sounds fresh and delicious right? Not really, the vegetables tasted like they had been fermenting in the back fridge for weeks before they ever saw the light of day. Granted this is not the type of meal that Marmalade is known for so it’s hard to judge.
Friend got the pancakes, huge oversized blueberry pancakes that she seemed to really like.
Ultimate verdict, this place is like an overpriced Denny’s. Only order breakfast/​brunch stuff and stay away from anything that sounds too overambitious.

This place was pretty lame. It look’s really nice but the food doesn’t stand up to par. We came in here after a hike in Laguna Canyon. It wasn’t crowded for breakfast. The menu was pretty usual for breakfast food, nothing out of the ordinary.
I decided to just get the three eggs and a meat meal. It came with three sunny side up eggs, sausage patties, whole grain toast, and home fries. When i asked for Marmalade they brought out packaged smuckers jam. You’ve got to be serious?! That was so disappointing. I want some fresh homemade stuff with a place named Marmalade café! The food was just stuff I can make at home. The toast was like biting into some cement. Next time I’ll just cook breakfast at home.

Everytime I pass Marmalade I still get mad about how we wasted so much money on giving it a chance. Everything about it including the food, ambiance, and service was soooooooo… not worth it. OLD AND BLAND.

Stopped for lunch. Greasy spoon/​bad diner food. We had the tuna melt, turkey melt and fish tacos. Menu was pretty basic, nothing stood out.
Maybe we did not have the best dishes for lunch and the entrée/​dinner menu is better. Still with all the options at the District, seems like a place I could skip and not be missing anything.
Service was excellent so no issues there.

Not sure if it was because we sat on the patio and were subsequently «forgotten», but the service here is truly terrible. I’d like to say it was because the café was really busy, but the place was half empty when I showed up for a late lunch.
Waited 15 mins before anyone even came by to give us water. Our order came in a timely manner, but we weren’t given salt/​pepper or any sugar for coffee. We tried waiting for a server to come by so that we could ask for some, but that was so futile that we ended up stealing salt/​pepper/​sugar from the empty table next to us.
Our waitress was nice enough and seemed to realize we were waiting quite awhile. She apologized more than once and gave us a free refill on OJ. That’s the only reason this place isn’t getting a sub-​3 star rating.
The price here on food is typical but the beverages are way expensive. $ 3 for a cup of «organic» coffee that tastes the same as any I would get at Dennys? $ 4 for a cup of OJ. …Really?
Marmalade… You are a Marma-don’t.

Dear Marmalade Café,
I tried to like you. I really did. It’s actually quite hard for me to NOT like a restuarant. Just look at the my history of rating places. I’m pretty easy to please. Not to mention, all the years I spent as a restaurant manager myself… I was actually going quite easy on you. But you didn’t even give me the chance to like you.
I tried to like you even after the host took us on a round-​about of the restaurant floor not knowing where to seat us. It’s ok, you weren’t even slightly busy and she might not have wanted to double seat a server.
I tried to like you even when the same host sat another party and we were, after 10 minutes hoping to even meet our server.
I tried to like you even after you sat yet another party who was immediately greeted by their server. Mind you, the prior group was already enjoying their drinks.
I tried to like you even when a manager passed us by and the same host did a few more times.
I even tried to like you after the bartender finally came to greet us several minutes later and take our drink order.
But, after many more minutes, and not getting our drinks at all, and seeing the bartender /​server chatting away with other patrons at the bar, obviously forgetting about us, we left.
I’m not going to try and like you ever again. You guys pretty much fail.
Thanks.
Ingrid.
P. S. We walked across the way to Pei Wei where we were greeted immediately by TWO employees, asked by another if we needed any help deciding what to eat and getting our dinner lightning fast. One of the chef’s (i’m assuming he was a manager because he was cooking and had a cash drawer) actually ran to a register when we had been standing there no more than 30 seconds. Oh and it cost us a fraction of what we were willing to spend at your establishment.

Marmalade Café is okay. 2 stars okay. You could say I was expecting this place to be great.
My boyfriend had been raving about Marmalade Café ever since he ate here with his co-​workers last year for their holiday luncheon. I couldn’t help but build up certain expectations of grandeur prior to eating here. Thus, it was perhaps only natural that I would leave Marmalade Café feeling completely disappointed with their inability to meet those expectations.
THE SEMI-​GOOD, THE BAD AND THE WOW, ARE YOU KIDDING ME? REVIEW
Let’s kick off this review discussing what Marmalade excels at: providing fresh salad, mouthwatering rolls and a nice ambiance.
I definitely recommend Marmalade’s Mixed Green Salad. A winning combination of perfectly crisp greens and delicious homemade lemon champagne vinaigrette dressing crowns the Mixed Green Salad a delightfully, tasty dish. Another winning item: the complimentary basket of French rolls. Freshly baked, warm, delicious and unique with a subtle hint of citrus flavor, the rolls here are scrumptious. My closing positive remarks about Marmalade Café concerns the restaurant’s ambiance: intimate, quiet and not overly crowded (at least it wasn’t the night we ate here). The crackling gas fireplace accentuated the cozy and romantic environment.
The entrée unfortunately was not to my liking at all. I ordered the Salmon and Asparagus Farfalle which I can only describe as offensive to my taste buds. The white wine-​lemon cream sauce was unbelievably heavy and rich which completely overpowered the flavor of salmon. The noodles were undercooked, doughy in texture and all around unappetizing. Sarah, our server, couldn’t have been nicer, however, she let us down big time with this travesty of an announcement to my boyfriend ten minutes after we had placed our order: «The Chicken Meatloaf is unavailable tonight. Would you mind ordering something else?» My sweet and always accommodating boyfriend settled on the Baja Cioppino, an Italian term for «fish stew.» The dish was served with clams, mussels, shrimp and scallop and contained lots of spices. I had a bite of scallop which tasted okay.
The Wow, Are You Kidding Me? award goes to our restaurant host whose demeanor I still can’t wrap my head around. Plain and simple, our host was rude. I’ve never entered a dining establishment feeling so completely unwelcome. The host greeted us unsmiling and had an indifferent attitude towards our being there. It definitely set the tone for our evening.
Overall, semi-​decent food, super pricey, mediocre service and fairly good ambiance (discounting the frosty treatment we received from our dining host). I most likely will not be returning here.

i was finally able to have lunch at marmalade after remembering the yummy dishes i’ve feasted on at the westlake village location. the tustin location is a bit bigger, but i kind of missed the smaller, café atmosphere at the westlake location. no biggie, as i was hoping the food would make up for it.
between hubby and i we ordered:
sweet potato fries — A MUST order, perfect crisp and just so so good.
half order of the artichoke ravioli — it came with 5 huge raviolis, and could just have easily been a full dish at any other restaurant. i was curious about the balsamic reduction and after that first bite i’m happy to say it was a tasty dish that i’d get again.
half order of the salmon & asparagus farfalle — again, another huge portion for just a half order. hubby said the dish was just okay. i tried a few bites and wasn’t a fan of the salmon. maybe a bit overcooked?
organic coffee — well, mine was served luke warm, so the taste was not my favorite. plus the cup was all sticky and i guess i should’ve asked for another but oh well.
service was good, our waitress was attentive and would come and check on us every so often. they also have a happy hour menu, so i’ll probably come back to marmalade just to check that out. all in all, i’d say marmalade is a good place to have some comfort food along with some good conversation at the table.

I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by the quality of food offered at Marmalade Café — dinner review only. I had always been under the impression that it was similar to Mimi’s Cafef seeing it was a chain restaurant, but believe me when I say this — they really impressed me and I’m not easily impressed.
I came here with a bunch of travel writers the first time and sampled a few items:
Tuna tartare — fish was very fresh albeit the entire dished needed a little more seasoning, but good nevertheless. The fish is presented and you are given these wonton chips to ‘scoop’ the fish up and eat.
Halibut tacos — again fish was fresh, the flavors were on the mild side which works for those who aren’t like me, and aren’t into intense flavors.
Chicken meatloaf — rather delicious actually, with the sundried tomato sauce over mashed potatoes.
Filet mignon with a truffle au jus — meat was a bit over cooked but was still surprisingly tender.
Pan-​seared halibut — fish was nice, a tad overcooked, but the flavors of the accompanying sauce was fabulous. The sauce was tomato based with artichokes — really nice!
On my second visit, I came with 3 friends for dinner and my friends ordered the filet mignon and halibut which I’ve had before and I ordered the short rib. For appetizers we got the fried calamari and the pesto steamed clams and mussels.
I don’t like mussels, so I asked if we could just omit those and get more clams. They were happy to comply. I wasn’t sure if I completely loved the pesto in this dish. I think I prefer the traditional wine sauce better. The fried calamari was really good though.
My beef short rib was really well done, fork-​tender beef served with sides of my choice: broccoli rabe and sweet potato fries.
The best thing about Marmalade Café is that they don’t restrict you on anything. If your entrée comes with sides you’re not particularly fond of, just choose what you like from the list and switch them. They are really easy-​going here.
Desserts were actually surprisingly good too. We tried the cheese cake and the molten lava cake, both were far better than the 1-​star Michelin restaurant we went to up in LA — which is really saying a lot!
3.5 stars

Even during Happy Hour prices, many of the appetizers aren’t worth your hard earned money. $ 5 for three sliders that are far from being as good as the In n Out that’s across the parking lot? That doesn’t work when times are tight. (Like many people, In n Out is my gauge by which all burgers are measured.) Another $ 5 for two fish tacos that tasted oh-​so-​boring.
Marmalade feels like and is priced like a Cheesecake Factory, but the food isn’t as palatable. And I don’t even like Cheesecake Factory…
Unlike some people, we actually had great service – which is why I gave them an extra star. Kudos to the homely waitress and sorry I don’t remember your name.

I came to Marmalade Café one evening after work with a good friend of mine for OC Restaurant Week. I had made reservations but they were obviously not needed as the restaurant was relatively empty on a Thursday night… not a good sign.
We opted for the $ 20 set course dinner, and paired our meal with a delicious pomegranate martini. Unfortunately, I think the martini was the best part of the entire meal.
I opted for:
* Appetizer: Spinach Artichoke Dip with homemade chips
* Main Course: Chicken Marsala
* Dessert: Tiramisu
I was underwhelmed by my appetizer (the only option on the menu) The cheese had a film that made me feel like it had been heated up and then left to sit before being reheated again. I did enjoy the homemade chips that came with it though. As for my main course, my chicken was not as seasoned as I would have liked, although it was tender and the mushroom sauce as flavorful. The tiramisu I got for dessert lacked a certain taste that I was craving from the usual coffee-​rum combination.
Overall, the experience was underwhelming at the very least

I liked their restaurant in Sherman Oaks and used to go there for lunch quite often, so I was happy to see that they opened one in OC and took my Mom there for brunch.
Well, the experience was not the same. The food came really, really slow (waited for about 35 minutes), and my Mom’s bagel was so over-​baked that she couldn’t even cut it with a knife. The good thing was the servers were nice and friendly. They gave my Mom a fresh bagel and it was much better.
I ordered the Huevos Rancheros and it was OK.
I’m not sure how new this restaurant is, but I hope they would improve on the speed of food service and the taste.

Meh. I should have Unilocaled this place prior to coming here!
I was down in the area, as was my friend frmo the Bay area. So we decided to get brunch here. I ordered the salmon scramble because that’s the only thing that appealed to me. The other items are pretty regular, but they have a few frittatas.
My salmon scramble came with potatoes and toast. The scramble itself was okay; it was definitely skimpping on the salmon. The potatoes were soggy, and the toast was chewy.
$ 30~ for two breakfasts is a bit on the pricey side for the quality of food.

Wow… am really surprised at all the bad reviews. Came here for lunch yesterday after seeing a movie and really liked it!
Hostess was really cool and seated us immediately, and our server was a doll… very sweet, attentive and prompt.
Had the tuna melt with regular fries… one of the best i’ve ever had, and they made the fries extra crispy by request. A bit on the spendy side… paid about $ 20 for sandwich, fries and tea, but the quality and service made it well worth it.
Overall menu looks great… especially the dessert. Will definitely go back!

Marmalade Café, the only restaurant besides Panera Bread that is open before 11 am at the District.
I came here with a party of 12 and, despite the large number, the hostess seated us quite quickly. I ordered a customized omlette filled with spinach, button mushrooms, cheddar cheese, avocado, and sour cream on the side and only cost about 8.95. It also came with four slices of sourdough and Marmalade potatoes.
Well, the omlette was made very well, fluffy and full of flavor. I wish I could say the same for the potatoes. Those, on the other hand, were dried up and oversalted. Ick.
The service was eh. Another party came in after us, and they actually got their food before we did. That’s just not right. Also, our waitress also took forever to bring us the bill. One bonus for service occured when for some unknown reason, the manager decided to give everyone in my party a card for ten dollars off our next meal. Why, thank you!
I’ll come back again to check how Marmalade is at dinner time.

I normally shy away from American bistro fair because I work hard to avoid all dairy, but my son was eating with me and clearly expressed that he wasn’t going to sit quietly through any Thai meal of my choosing, so I thought I’d try the Marmalade Café at The District today.
We landed after the lunch crowd dissipated at about 3PM. The place was pretty much deserted… so maybe they had three busy tables besides us with about an equal number of waitresses. We were greeted and seated immediately and handed lunch menus.
A minute or two later, the waitress came around for our drink and appetizer order. My son ordered a Coke and I ordered a lemonade, but we passed on the appetizer. After the drinks were served, I noticed my glass was dirty as it had a brown ring about two-​thirds up from the bottom. I got the waitress’s attention, pointed out the issue and sent the lemonade back for a new one. I don’t remember her apologizing, she just said, «Let me get you another one.» Hrmm.
A few more minutes later, we ordered. I got a half of an order of sweet Italian chicken sausage penne with marinara which was served on a soup plate for $ 10.95 and my son got a full order of Parmesan crusted chicken fettuccini served on a dinner plate for $ 3 more. For fairly simple dishes, their prices seemed high.
Three pieces of common, ordinary, boring smallish round dinner rolls were next, served warm in a basket nestled in a napkin with it’s accompanying dish of pats of chilled butter. Yawn. We each ate one, but were were so unimpressed, we left the third roll be.
Our order came out pretty quick from the kitchen. My son said the chicken was the best part of his dish, but the alfredo sauce was quite «meh», which, funny enough, was exactly what was printed on the front of his t-​shirt. Unfortunately, my penne dish wasn’t anything spectacular either. The sauce was over cooked and I was tasting some unexpected peppery-​type heat when I thought the chicken sausage was supposed to be sweet, so I only ate about half of it before I gave up.
While we were waiting for our order and eating, I noted that the Christmas décor was very understated but the contemporary Christmas music was playing at a volume that was pretty annoying. The restaurant’s décor seemed quite feminine and upscale with it’s brightly painted yellow walls, framed flower pictures, scrolling ironwork and paisley printed cushions, but tried to bring a balance with granite top tables, wood accents, a large masculine bar which took up the majority of one wall of the room and a fireplace on another which was covered in soot on the outside. Open the flue *before* you light the fire next time, people.
We perused the drink menu: Cocktails — $ 9, beer — $ 4.50 & $ 5.50, their highest priced wine was $ 60 a bottle and noticed from a banner hanging from the ceiling in the hall between the bar and the restrooms that they have a Happy Hour from 3 – 7:00PM weekdays.
After asking for a take home box, the waitress boxed up the remnants of my son’s dish. Nice.
When the check came, I paid with a credit card, but was told their credit card machine wasn’t working, so they would input the charge manually later. The bill for two pasta dishes and two drinks with tip came to $ 39 for decent enough service, but the food was pretty mediocre and my dirty glass issue was just plain nasty. Honestly, with all it’s hype, I was expecting more from this restaurant.

I had been to the Grove location in LA. But this décor is so much flashier and livelier. To the right center of the place is the huge bar with two wide screen TV’s. We had a super friendly hostess. One of my friends noticed right away the gorgeous tall bartender with hoop earrings with features that reminded him of Dolly Parton. So we were seated near the bar and this friend picked a sear where he could watch college football and the bar.
It turns out the bartender was also our waitress. When we ordered, I thought she would say, «Hey, I’m up here». She was also very friendly and classy (unlike my friend) then explained some items on the menu, He is usually pretty yappy but then, he was slightly incoherent as we ordered. The bread and drinks came out right away. So we busted out laughing as the couple next to us just snickered.
I ordered the beef tri tip which was slow roasted and fork tender served with mashed potatoes. Except for the gravy which was a tad too salty for my taste, it was a good meal. One other friend had the side salad ($ 4) which looked really fresh but the vinaigrete dressing was a little bland; plus the ½ order cheese ravioli. It was was really good and at $ 11 for the half size was the right size (Full portion was $ 17). My very smiley friend had that quesadilla with filet mignon. That was pretty filling and good for $ 14. To our mild disappointment, a server — not our waitress — served the food in about 15 minutes.
Service was good with the refills constant, as well as checking up on us regularly, much to my friend’s delight. By 9 PM the place had thinned out, though it seems like everyone was having a good time. We certainly did and of course, we’ll be back.

I ordered the overpriced fish and chips here and was not disappointed. The fish batter was excellent. This is clearly an American-​influenced eatery as the portions they serve are huge. Unfortunately they didn’t realize that after fattening up their customers they would need more space. They have a horrible seating arrangement near the entrance. It is hard for the waitstaff to move and was kind of awkward trying to get out.
Décor: looks like a pimped out Mimi’s café but not as colorful.