I really wanted to like this place, and honestly, I came in fully prepared to leave a generous tip even on Valentine's Day when things can be busy. Unfortunately, the service we received was extremely disappointing from start to finish.
Before arriving at 4pm, I called and was told the wait would be about 20 minutes. We showed up 30 minutes later, the restaurant didn't look busy, and there were plenty of open seats at the bar, so we sat down. The bartender with pigtails completely ignored us. Eventually, a second bartender helped us.
We were very low-maintenance customers we started with waters and took time to look at the menu. Service was slow from the beginning. When the bartender finally returned to take our order, she cut me off mid-question to help someone else.
We ordered the Low Country Boil ($60) and a side salad as an appetizer. I ordered a Tito's lemon drop shot, and my friend ordered one of their canned vodka cocktails with a glass. The canned cocktail arrived without a glass, and my shot never came. Meanwhile, new customers sat down next to us and were immediately greeted, given menus, and served drinks before I ever received mine. My lemon drop shot finally arrived about 15 minutes later with the explanation that it took time to "mull the lemon."
Our food arrived without the salad, crawfish, or sausage that were supposed to come with the boil. Since getting the bartender's attention had already been difficult, we started eating because we were starving after paddleboarding. Halfway through the meal, the bartender brought the salad and said it was supposed to come out earlier and joked that she would eat it if we didn't want it which felt unprofessional, especially since it was ordered as an appetizer.
To make matters more confusing, another table had received the crawfish that were supposed to be part of our order and had to give them to us themselves. The bartender never checked on us, never refilled drinks, and never followed up about the missing items until we flagged her down.
When the bill came, she told us she removed my friend's canned vodka cocktail and discounted my Tito's lemon drop shot from $14 down to $7. If she did indeed charged me half price for that lemon drop shot its was because it took her so long to get it to me (almost like she forgot the order). I find it hard to believe that a lemondrop shot is $14 but an oyster shooter with Titos is $8.I politely asked if anything could be done to account for the incomplete meal and inattentive service. Instead of trying to resolve the issue, the bartender became argumentative and raised her voice, saying she was short-staffed and working alone, which was clearly not the case.Her way of resolving the issue was to place another order of what we got which made NO sense at this point.
As my friend was signing the checks, the bartender told her she has five kids. If that's the case, then she should be more than capable of handling the volume we experienced and the low-maintenance customers we were. In that moment, the interaction felt immature and unprofessional, especially after the level of service we had just received.
I'm not someone who skips tipping I usually tip well but since nothing was done to make the situation right, I chose not to leave one. We left and went down the road for drinks, where the bartenders took pride in their service and they received the 30% tip I originally intended to leave here.
Thank you for an unforgettable Valentine's Day experience. read more