Coastal Kids's Online Review Report Card

Been using coastal kids since our daughter was born. Had an extremely horrible experience with front desk staff. Wife had a change in plan recently and didn't have the insurance card, but got the insurance ID number. Front staff did not accept it and kept telling us to reschedule. So she called the insurance while waiting and staff told her that she only has a 15 minute grace period! She took time off work, had the correct information and was still not being seen! If it wasn't for the doctor we would leave. Extremely rude front staff! Management needs to train front staff properly. Will be filing a formal complaint.

This review is specific to Coastal Kids at Irvine office. I do not recommend this place as the office staff is rude and they don't care about their patient. I had an appointment for my 6 week old baby at Irvine office last Friday. On our way to their office, my  baby started crying very badly so we decided to calm the baby first and then drive. I called their office to inform them about our situation and the possibility that we might be late by fifteen minutes. The office staff was rude and told us that if we are late by 15 minutes the doctor won't see us. Both me and my husband requested her to understand our situation given our baby is so small, but she was rude and she cancelled our appointment. I have been to so many doctors office in this area, but never saw such strict policy of 15 mins late rule. I really needed the doctor to see my child, but the office staff didn't bother about it. I tried explaining her so many times that how important this appointment is for us and with the newborn it's difficult to control such situation. But the office manager strictly asked us not to come. We are responsible and we understand the importance of appointment time, but there are certain situations that we can't control and as a humanity we expected the office staff to understand this. But this Irvine office staff didn't care about it. We trusted this office for our newborn and now I am so disappointed with my choice of this office. As a mother, I am disappointed and shocked to see such response from pediatrician office.

We absolutely love Coastal Kids so far! We have been here a few handful of times due to some issues with our newborn. I have to say that Audrey, the NP, is fantastic and we are so blessed to have her care for our newborn. I highly recommend! We have seen her here at the Irvine location as well as the weekend clinic in Newport Beach. The medical assistants/nurses are all so friendly, kind, caring, and really make a difference in our visits! I forgot their names but they have all been amazing! Audrey has been a Godsend and she is so kind and patient answering our questions (and we sure do have a lot since we are first time parents)! The front desk also are super friendly as well! I think her name is Teresa (but not sure), but she is so kind and friendly every time we visit! They have an after hours nurse line for their patients so that's a nice perk! Also, they are open on the weekends at the Newport Beach location so that's also very convenient and another nice perk!Scheduling may be hard with your preferred provider but it's expected in a high traffic, popular, and busy pediatric medical group so please set your expectations accordingly. I believe this is one of the most popular pediatric medical groups in Irvine and it is centrally located so it is super super busy. If you are okay with having an NP/PA see your child (they are equally as awesome and knowledgable as MD's/DO's), then scheduling is easier. I guarantee you will get great customer service and kind and caring medical providers regardless of who you are scheduled to see!I highly, highly recommend and absolutely recommend NP Audrey!

The doctors were nice enough but they never really seemed to have space to see my kids when they were sick. I ended up needing to take my 4 year old to the emergency room for symptoms of a UTI where she was prescribed standard antibiotics but exposed to all kind of other things during COVID. This was fall of 2020. I ended up with a $1,000 bill which was totally unnecessary.... Very disappointed with this office.

Let me just preface this by saying that all the doctors and nurses at this practice are wonderful. So why the one star review?The last three times I have had to have contact with the front office staff has been appalling each time and I've had enough. I hate to leave a bad review on local businesses and I try to shout out for anything positive and keep quiet for anything negative but this is enough now.1) I called to ask a question about my daughter's upcoming appointment and mistakenly thought she could go alone as she was 17. It turned out she couldn't but no problem at all I am happy to take her. My question was actually about her insurance card, but it was very difficult to get an answer because the receptionist I spoke to went on and on and on and on and ON about why I need to bring her myself. I GET IT! In the end I had to interrupt her to ask her she just answer the insurance card question because my phone was losing battery. Frustrating but I put it down to a misunderstanding.2) I brought my youngest son for his annual checkup in April. I walked to the reception desk and was barked at. "Name?" Nothing else. No greeting. Okay. I gave the name. We were passed a clipboard. And i quote: "she needs to complete these forms. It's about drugs and alcohol. You are not allowed to look at it. If we suspect she is in any danger we will remove her from you and talk to her separately."Where to start?!MY SON IS A HE NOT A SHE! Is this a paediatric office?!He's 11! He still plays with action figures! And you want to ask him about drugs and alcohol without my input?!How DARE you say in front of him that he'll be removed from me. He was terrified and so was i!How dare you also say this to me in front of other parents at the clinic who looked as horrified as i felt. I did look at the forms - because he didn't understand some of the questions and asked me for help! And guess what? NO mention of drugs or alcohol on them at all!That entire experience was horrendous and I wrote a letter of complaint at the time. However, again as I said I don't like to be negative and in the end I decided not to send it and again to just let it go. Maybe again the person involved was having a bad day.3) But today - enough is enough. I called again this morning, this time for my middle child who needs an athletic clearance form for high school summer sports. Whoever i got on the phone (i suspect the same person again) was rude, abrasive, dismissive, confusing and ultimately belligerent and argumentative. They let out a HUGE sigh when i got confused over whether they could do this or not (she initially told me he had to have a physical with it, then said they couldn't do the physical as he had one within a year, then said they couldn't do it until September (what use is that for summer sports?!) then backtracked, argued with me and said "that's not what i said! I said you'd have to backdate it to last September!" before sighing like i was the most useless, annoying parent she'd ever spoken to and i was ruining her day. In the middle of all that I'mSure she said at one point "we don't normally do these" - yes you do! You've done my older child's several times!At this point I'm done trying to be nice and let things slide. The attitude of whoever answers the phones there is beyond unacceptable. And i know it's not me. I'm never rude and always try to be pleasant. I've now resurrected my former letter of complaint from April and handed it in. I've also complained about the attitude of whoever i was speaking to today. Because this is ridiculous and I'm sure i can't be the only parent on the receiving end of this nonsense. In fact, from the majority of other low reviews i can see I'm not. This is a WONDERFUL pediatric office with fabulous medical staff being completely let down by the reception staff. And the purpose of this review is to hopefully let the wider practice managers know of the problem so they can do something about it. I know i would want to know if i was them. Although it appears no matter what people are saying on here, nothing is changing.

We have been using there service for well over two years now. Was recommended to through lot of friends and family. Dr Abolowitz is an amazing guy very friendly and knowledgeable Dr Kim and Dr Bui is my other favorites love those guys, they hold your hand through the the entire being process of being a first time parents. Highly recommend it!

I absolutely love the Coastal Kids doctors My daughter has been seeing Dr. Kim since she was a newborn now 17 months old and she is amazing. Dr. Kim is so caring and compassionate and very understanding of me being a firsttime mom. When I gave birth to my daughter I loved that there was a Coast Kids affiliated doctor that was at Mission Hospital so that they have a complete record of everything from the minute she is born. The offices are nice and its great that they have separate well and sick rooms.

Great staff clean offices and a fun environment for a place that kids usually hate to frequent. Dr. Cynthia Bui is a great pediatrician. The staff have a caring touch to babies and kiddos when they have to give flu and other vaccines. Place is awesome

Been going here for a number of years. Very hard to get same day appointments with a doctor when kids need it.

I had to make a last minute appointment for my 14months old baby and Irvine office was very professional and accommodated our needs. The staff was very caring and Dr. Kim amazing as well. Thank you Jackie and staff for all the help. I am so glad I found coastal kids as they have same day appointments and weekend hours available.