restaurant manager

line cook

sous chef

dishwasher

banquet cook

Castaway

I wouldn’t advise anyone to try to work here or to even eat here.. very unfortunate work ethics have been put in place here. The company SRC (specially restaurant corporation) had to hire a new gm and two new assistant managers, after three months of being re-open, because the ones hired at the start of the renovation couldn’t stand to work for SRC and SRC’s director Ryan Smith. All of the restaurant’s sommeliers left as well, within the first 3 months of the restaurant being opened up after it’s $10 million renovations had been finished.
Servers were never trained on the bottles of wine that castaway had on the menu because initially we had sommeliers. Even though we haven’t had a som for roughly 6 months, managment still hasn’t bothered  training anyone on the wine that Castaway carried. Castaway would also force servers to work for $20 an hour without advance notice, serving banquet style events, but with a full menu and giving dining room style service. The restaurant would then tack a 20% gratuity onto the customers bill and call it a service charge. Then the manager would have to drop the check and lie to the customer telling them that the 20 % service charge went to the server. Which they thought was justifiable in that the server was getting paid $9 more than they would have been getting per hour, during the time that they are servicing that party. So if the party is dining for 3 hours, and rack up a $3,000 tab, you make $60 and the restaurant pockets a $600 service charge. This is completely unfair because the server is not receiving anything close to 20% of the actual tab, which is culturally about how much people would leave as gratuity. This felt completely wrong and as if they were controlling and taking our money. Please be warned of Castaway Burbank. Also know that I write this message out of sincerity and not anger or resentment. I left Castaway weeks ago so I am no longer feeling the “heat of the moment” stress and anger. I have calmed down completely but still think it is important that people know the type of experience that I had at this restaurant, so that they don’t make the same mistake I did by getting a job here. Hopefully this can help someone!

Out of all the jobs I had, this one was probably one of the worst and most stressful jobs I have ever had. I’d seriously consider something else before submitting an application to castaway. I’ve met many great coworkers in and outside of my department in the kitchen and will miss being at castaway solely for that. Everyone seems to get along…. MOST of the time. Other than the people I would have left way earlier. If you (specifically dish-pit but other kitchen areas also apply) like working in an extremely gross environment, busiest stressful weekends ever, servers that don’t collaborate and make your job harder, hardly any employee parking on weekends because they cater to the customer parking over the employee parking (with sh!tty shuttle service too) having kitchen equipment failures on the regular (takes weeks or months for management to follow through with scheduling repairs), favoritism from certain members of management, high and impossible expectations, extreme hard work, and tired sore nights where sometimes you are out at 3am then this job is absolutely perfect for you! You will be appreciated for your hard work verbally from management but will either be laughed at or lied to when asked for a raise for doing a physically demanding job, especially when there is call outs expect to do the jobs of two to three people. When I say the whole kitchen staff will agree on one thing  it’s that this place SUCKS! You will be told by staff members that this is not the place to be at because its so repulsive. Don’t do it unless you’re in debt, or dead broke and have no choice.

I Enjoy working banquets and giving our guest vip service the problem is we get paid the same as any fast food chain of 20 a hour I was under  the impression that I would receive  grutuity but found a unsettling fact that the company charges a Administrative  charge and tell the customers that it is part of our hourly wage which my pay check has not changed for the 3 years of working here.nor do we get any of the  26% charged to evry bill.the customer is usually under the impression we have already been taken care of and don't leave any tip .when giving some one high end service and buying your uniforms and inflation the company is the only one getting all the benefits
..They are constantly training new people because it is alot of hard work for 20 hr pay


I start my day off by checking with my superior before my dish lead cause I usually check if there’s stock to be put away . If not I head to the dish pit to see what tasks my lead has for me. These conclude of : Running the trash when it’s full, kitchen or house sweeps, organization of dishes, pots, pans, and other appliances. There is no team environment as unfortunate as it seems. Being responded to when problems occur or come up it is a game if ping pong between you and superiors, which normally sums up you deciding how the task is dealt with. Whether it’s no assistance or supervision during said task, you are likely to end up hurting yourself in the long run and they clealy only prioritize the job being done. Not your health or safety 

A typical work day I go in and have at least 30 minutes of cleanup from the bartender before me. I serve guests food and beverage at the bar and make service drinks for the restaurant. I learned that when you have terrible mangers that it makes for a chaotic establishment. The workplace culture is cut throat I’ve never worked at a place when a server actually put her mind into getting someone fired so she could have her job. The hardest part of the job is actually showing up. The most enjoyable part of the job is the money 

as an employee I have never taken a guest to dine there, an for many reasons why I did not.  they have a policy that states on your personal dinning time you MUST inform the restaurant manager of your desire to dine in advance at any of their restaurants or you will be written up, also you can not have more the one alcoholic beverage during your personal dinning time at any of there restaurant's, if you exceed that one limit alcoholic beverage you will be terminated.

The managers would target and dress code me for wearing the same things other  employees would, and even if I was dressed more formally than them. I would even get told i’d get sent home if i wouldn’t change and be expected to clock out and clock back in when id be back. I wouldn’t get compensated for doing work outside of my Host duties when there would be no one else available to do them. I’d get followed around by managers on my break or get told to clock out while on my break and go home; Id get told that I wasn’t allowed to have a break when by law I was permitted to. 

management is very inconsistent, and always aims to push their works past their limits due to corporate greed. Owners have no care for worker needs to do their job effectively which is why this company has an extremely high turnover rate. If it weren't for the amazing view this place would've certainly gone out of business. Plus they find everywhere to cut corners and cheat customers and yet they will bend over backwards for those yelp reviews.

Lovely renovations. Seemed like a beautiful and uplifting place to work. A few weeks in it seemed like a really great place to work. The General Manager is awesome! Most employees are wonderful. However, communication is not there what so ever. Those of you who have worked in a restaurant know that communication is key to create a great work environment and a great dining experience for the guests. You will be told many different things and being told to not listen to the other one.

They go through employees like crazy ! People just come and go. The ones that stay are there because they can get away with sooo much. They clock in and go hang out in their cars or stand around doing nothing for hours before starting work. They hire new employees just to cut down on existing employees hours. I was working 12 hrs a week at one point! Sometimes you clock in just for them to cut you not even an hour in. Horrible place it’s so disorganized and dirty. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Restaurant manager 16 salaries reported	$100,125 per year
Line cook 9 salaries reported	$22.83 per hour
Sous chef 7 salaries reported	$81,429 per year
Dishwasher 5 salaries reported	$19.20 per hour
Banquet cook 7 salaries reported	$20.43 per hour

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