Roger Carter
Google
Ok, so I was invited here by some friends through my wife as they've tried this place before, and I've never been. Let me preface this review by saying, "I just want to be honest with my experience." I'm not telling anyone not to visit this location, but there are some things that do need improvement, so I hope the owner takes this to heart as I would like to give this place another shot.
The Good: The place looks very esthetically pleasing when walking in. You can tell they put a lot of work into making it look very upscale and comfortable. Ample seating at private and long tables, plenty of bar space, and doesn't feel cramped. Lighting was nice, including some custom decorative lights. No blaring music, just nice tunes at a reasonable level so I could clearly hear the person next to me. Has all the makings of a great atmosphere to bring family and friends. It comes complete with a decorative wall for photo ops if you want to snap a photo on the way in or out.
The room for improvement:
1.) Be careful what kind of shoes you wear here as the floor from the bar area all the way to the restroom was very slippery. I was wearing a nice pair of Jordan's and felt like I was on the verge of skating on my way to and from the restroom. It could be a hazard for someone in a rush to go in that direction.
2.) The Service. Our waiter was a young man who looked to be about college age. He came to our table about 15 minutes after we sat down and took our drink and food orders. The drinks came soon after, and while my Lemon Drop was very tasty, a person at our table had a vodka with club soda. Her drink came with a lot less club soda, and she asked for more to make the drink balanced.
The waiter came back almost 15 minutes later with a small, half empty, warm bottle of club soda and left it near her to pour herself. When asked about the menu and what he would recommend, he said he couldn't recommend any of the beef items because he himself only eats beef maybe once a month and suggested the fish. He then made sure to ask all of us if we had any seafood allergies, even for those not ordering any seafood.
For the rest of the service, before the bill, in order to get a refill or ask for something, we had to find him as there was no consistency in checking up on us as a party of 6.
He stopped by with the check and told us that because we had a large group of people, because 6 is considered large, he could only split the check up to three ways.
We were fine, as we were three couples, and after we agreed, he looked confused and, without a word, walked away with the check. After almost 20 minutes of watching him venture to other tables and talk to coworkers, he came back with the check, split three ways, and our to go boxes. We let him know we needed to pay the bill now because we needed to leave as a group to go to an event. He would not come back with our cards until another 15-20 minutes had passed. When he did come back, we all noticed there was a mandatory gratituity of roughly a little over 20%. He effectively got $60 from our table in tips. Based on the service, I still would have tipped because I always do, but for $20 from each couple, mandatory on the bill, I expected more attentive service.
3.) The Food. I was excited to try the food because it is a southern cuisine based menu. Fried fish, red beans and rice, fried chicken, beef street tacos, and so on. Decent selection and the menu is both digital and laminated.
Through the waiter, we found out that the fish only comes breaded and fried with no grilled option for the fish, apparently. I thought of trying the fish and red beans, but I opted for the fish and grits with crawfish etouffe. The problem with this dish wasn't really the individual parts. It was how it was served. It came in a bowl and was layered. The grits were on the bottom, the fried catfish was on top of the grits, and the etouffe was on the fish and made the crispy fish soggy, and it fell apart.
Again, I'd like to try again, but the above items sorely need some consideration.
