Decoy Dockside

Great place for special events, romantic evening, or hanging out with friends.

Good food , lost of variety. Our waiter keep the champagne flowing. Ran out of desserts too soon.

Excellent service, beautiful view and ambiance and delicious steak and pork chop

Our table server was very attentive and accommodating. Hard to beat the inland water view, if partly cloudy to sunny. A little annoying to spend $4 for hot tea. I’m glad I don’t drink alcohol. Probably a comparable price. I had a vegetarian type selection and was pleased.

We sort of like Decoy and go there occasionally. The food has moments of excellence, but generally Decoy is a solid "B." The service is not the best and seems strangely organized. Just when I was ready to walk out because no one had been to our table after 10 minutes, the waiter showed up with a pitcher of water. Why wasn't there a busboy doing that? Why didn't the waiter come over and get our drink orders underway and at least recognize our existence? It's just plain strange. The burrata/prosciutto salad was the best part of the meal. Seriously I'd go back just for that. Then things went a bit downhill for the main course. The noise level was unacceptable and will make me re-think any decision to return to Decoy. Just obnoxious (not "energetic"). I think it might be quieter in the room to the south of the main bar/dining room. Overall experience: so-so.

The ambiance and water show were outstanding! It's a great place to take a date for a romantic dinner. However, I took my wife there for her 50th Birthday and asked them in advance to prepare a birthday cake. I also reminded them the day before when I confirmed the reservation and the girl told me "no problem". Unfortunately, they forgot and slapped together a cupcake with a candle on it. I guess that was too much to ask...

Food was great with a good variety. Wine list is solid. But it’s not quite as good a value as the food.

Our food was excellent but a little slow in coming, due to the fact, not enough staff. Our waiter was really running, to try to keep up. Seemed like he was the only waiter at lunch. I really appreciate u doing a survey, good idea!

Excellent Food, Service and Ambiance was amazing!!! Bartenders are top notch!! Love this place!!

This was our second visit to Decoy, and it was even better this time than the first. The staff is so friendly, the décor is playful but sophisticated, and the food is close to perfect.

We want to Decoy for NYE and it was amazing: Outstanding menu with superbly prepared food-by far the best we’ve had in San Diego, incredible service (our server Margarito is the best), and beautiful location. The value was outstanding. We’ll be back next year!

It was our second time, we suggested to friends we go there for a pre-Christmas dinner. Everything was outstanding, and we would definitely go again. The only little thing that was bothersome was the overhead accent light shone directly into my friend's eyes - I ended up switching seats with him so all was good. We mentioned it to one of the servers but nothing was done about it. I don't want that to take away from what a great evening it was overall. Excellent food, service and surroundings!

Had a great time at dinner celebrating my fathers 85th birthday! Great food and corkage fee reaonable and excellent service!

Food: Went for Sunset 3-course meal with family. With a limited selection, we were disappointed that at the beginning of the dinner hour, one dish was not available. Most of us had the shepherds pie. It was very ho-hum. Just a mix of mashed potatoes, a little gravy and some bits of beef (not ground). Then when it came to desert, we were told that our favorite choice wasn't available. Instead of the special ice cream concoction, we only got a scoop of regular chocolate ice cream. I ordered Caesar salad. The greens were fresh but the dressing was sparse and lacked the robust Caesar flavor. The croutons were clearly out of a box. Honestly, I've had much better food at family bargain restaurants like Mimi's.

Service: We had one of the experienced waiters, Margarito, who provided extremely good service. Other staff who seated us or bused the table were also very nice.

Atmosphere: You would be hard-pressed to find a more unique atmosphere. Being built over the lake, the view is always amazing at sunset, but at Christmas time, the lights on the homes on the lake after dark are fantastic. The nightly light show (think World of Color effects) on the water with music inside the restaurant is a big crowd-pleaser.

waiting time too long; took us nearly 2 hours from time of arrival to departure

We.thought there was a.holiday menu, but it was regular menu. Our sandwiches were quite average, beef was too salty, our table was positioned beside a pillar. Very inconvenient for the server. As usual, service was a bit slow, although everyone is always very friendly . I come here for the ambience, and the buffets are good. Drinks are okay.

Fun dining experience on the lake! Very nice decor. Good food at a great price.

Disappointing for Christmas meal. They advertised 3 course family style meal for Christmas, but when we arrived for our 1130 reservation, we then found out it was only for dinner and we had to order off the lunch menu. Nowhere on the online menus or website did it say "dinner only" or anything to state it wasn't all day. Poor advertisement, as we heard many people ask about it and be disappointed too. Otherwise, we love this place, food is decent, great atmosphere. Service is just ok.

The ambiance was great but the food was so so . It is a beautiful restaurant but it was expensive and all 5 of us thought it could have been better .

I have visited this restaurant since it's very first soft opening and it has had a rocky past, but the food has gotten much better and this was the first visit where we were blessed with an energetic and experienced server who seemed to care about our dining experience.

Love this place. Just took my girlfriend here exceptional cocktails, service and food. Upbeat class that really displays how a restaurant in the times should look. There was a noisy crowd of middle aged women that was kind of obnoxious, servers and managers acknowledged and accommodated accordingly. Real good job. I’m guessing it was some kind of office party these ladies were having. Didn’t seem like the usual crowd.

This place is REALLY LOUD. I would think a restaurant of this quality would have a place for small group 2-4 and another for large. We were seated between 3 large parties. I would not recommend this restaurant for anything romantic or where you want to carry on a conversation.

Beautiful location but very bad service and very expensive for the value

We did breakfast instead of brunch and it was nice but the area we were seated and was being set up for a wedding and it didn’t feel very special. The decor for the holidays was beautiful And the service was good. The evening show and the week day meal deals make it an extraordinary experience Including free boat tour. For breakfast it was convenient and nice there just wasn’t anything as special as the evenings. Maybe if you offered a little hand out of events coming up in the coming week in San Diego or a page of breakfast Triviata play with each other at the table that would be fine or even fish trivia I suppose to stay with your theme or lake trivia?

We had a great evening, enjoyed the holiday decorations and ambience, had great service and wonderful food. Thank you for an amazing evening and yes, we enjoyed the free boat ride afterwards as well.

Delicious buffet. Not a ton of choices, like most buffets, but it was better that way, because everything they did have was delicious. They were always there to refill our champagne, with a smile. Great service, and the view is beautiful of the lake. They also gave us a mimosa to take on the boat cruise around the lake which was included in the price. Highly recommend

Absolutely LOVED it here for our first visit! Everyone from the staff - greeter, bartender, and our server- were exceptional! We will definitely be coming back soon :)

Background music annoying. No vegan choice available

Beautiful restaurant with great details around the room from the lit wood grain bar to the unique chandelier and view of the lake from all sides. My favorite part was the water show and music. A nice surprise to the evening. We sat at the bar first for a glass of wine. The bartender was attentive and the wine selection good. Very nice ambience. We first chose to sit outside for dinner but the hostess did not know how to turn on the patio heater. We sat for a while before anyone came outside and it was cold and windy. The waiter made it out but had to get a new tank before our orders were placed. Again we waited a while. Our drink orders took so long that we decided to move inside. We felt like being outside we were being forgotten. The service was not as good as it was at the bar.

Second visit to Decoy and didn't disappoint. Love the view, the vibe, the service and the quality of the food. The scallop dish was spectacular. Such a hidden gem.

Unfortunately a little noisy. -------------------------

loved the food. Didn't love how pushy the waiter was about up-selling. Speaking as a server in a steakhouse it is very distasteful to constantly upsell. & absolutely bothered my husband and I.Server was slow and forgetful. At one point we considered asking for a new server. However food was great, bartender was great, drinks were great. Service was a 2. Also hostess wouldn't seat us at our 5:30 slot, so we had to wait. However is wasn't busy. Seemed like a strategy to get people to go to the bar. Also annoying.

Lovely view and venue. Attentive staff, decent menu, good presentation.

Ambiance is great-right on Lake San Marcos. Easy access for disabled. Food was good but service was very slow-especially the kitchen. Waited over 30 minutes for the meal after ordered at 1:15 on a weekday. That is unacceptable. The basil chicken pasta was excellent . Very nicely decorated and modern.

First time at Decoy. The food was 90% good. The service was excellent. Unfortunately, we got to the restaurant after dark; we did not get to see the lake view. The place is supposed to be scenic. We definitely will return to dine at Decoy. Will recommend for others.

Great for brunch. good for the family. When busy, the staff was a bit over run. All in all a great brunch.

On Saturday night we had some friends joining us for dinner and they wanted to try someplace new. My husband and I have been to Decoy several times and have not had a good experience with the service! We were hesitant to recommend Decoy but we decided to give it another shot. We shared with our waiter and the manager Upon arrival our I previous disappointment and I have to say that they completely changed our opinion at this restaurant!
The food as always was excellent! We had New York steaks and scallops and all four dishes were exceptional!
The ambience is amazing at this restaurant! We dine out frequently and are so impressed with just how beautiful the setting and the restaurant is!
This time we were pleasantly surprised at the outstanding service we received from our waiter and the manager!
The service was first class which made the entire dining experience amazing!
I would highly recommend Decoy!

This was my second visit to Decoy. I had been there about 7 months ago. The place is beautiful to be sure and it is a delightful setting. The menu however is very limited. Not many choices for an individual who is lactose and gluten intolerant. On this occasion I had the trout served on cassoulet. The fish was done to perfection. However the beans in the cassoulet were drastically undercooked. Another individual in our party ordered a baked potatoe as a side and it was so cold he sent it back to the kitchen.
I don’t think I will be returning. You’d think after all this time they would be able to
offer more variety, small adjustments to dishes to allow for hose with dietary restraints. GF past would be a start.....

We have wanted to try Decoy since it opened and finally made it! Very much impressed with the room, the food and the service. The view of the lake and mountains was an added bonus around sunset. We'll be back.

They had run out of fillet steak which was one of the reasons we went there and as we were celebrating a birthday we were very disappointed. Sirloin was a bit sinewy. We didn't bother to stay for dessert.