Kowaliga Restaurant — Restaurant in Alexander City

If I could give this restaurant a rating, it'd be a -5. Everything about this place is a complete disappointment, which is sad because it really is a nice location and very beautiful restaurant that I would enjoy eating at had the service and food been better... But unfortunately the service sucks and so does the food. My boyfriend and I walked into the restaurant to get seated and we weren't even acknowledged. We stood around for maybe 5 minutes waiting for the hostess to service us, but all 5 employees did not once acknowledge our presence. When we approached them they were very unwelcoming, giving short answers and not saying more than a couple words. No smiles or anything, which is very un-hospitable (given the fact that they are working in the food industry, that is one of the most important things is being personable, friendly, and warm and welcoming with smiles and small talk). I have worked in the food industry many years and have been trained to always welcome guests as they enter the restaurant, let them know they will be helped shortly, and apologize for any inconveniences such as long waits on a busy day (which I did not see ANY employee do for me/my boyfriend or any other guest during our visit). The busser didn't even let use know that she was going to be seating us, she just sort of expected us to know to follow her. And when she finally did seat us, she failed to offer any drinks (as a busser/server is supposed to do for guests, esp when they're first seated). We waited around for 10 minutes for our server to show up, who also failed to introduce herself. The food was awful. I ordered a brownie sundae and the brownie was nothing like a traditional brownie. It was very cakey in texture, and tasted expired. It wasn't warm and fresh like you'd expect it to be, or moist, chewy or fudgy either. At the end of the stay the waitress did not even bother to ask if we needed anything else (which I actually need a to-go box for my left over brownie--which I was not going to waste despite the disappointing taste since it was $6). She was very inattentive and seemed like she didn't care about our experience as customers. The TASTE and portion of the food does NOT correspond with it's price. I ordered chicken tenders that tasted like McDonald chicken nuggets and they were priced at $14, and the not-brownie sundae was $6 when it tasted like something from a vending machine. They also make you pay extra money to substitute sides in a meal. VERY disappointing experience and definitely will NOT recommend to anyone. In fact, I will make sure that people know NOT to come here and how it's a waste of time, money and gas. (Disclosure: This is NO exaggeration based on biased opinion....

We waited for an hour before being seated. This is fine as we were told there was an hour wait. However, after we were seated and placed our orders, we still did not have food after another hour and 15 minutes. Wait staff became rare and we began to see people that came in and were seated well after us receiving their food. None of the food ordered by our party was complex. Three cheeseburgers, chicken tenders, shrimp and catfish. After an hour and 15 minutes waiting for our food, we'd all become frustrated and the kids were tired and hungry. We decided to leave. By this time the restaurant was nearly empty. Everyone else had received their food...

Waitress let us know. This is only their second night open after a remodel and was kind enough to bring the kids meals to us in the parking lot as we were leaving. This was very kind of her but we were all hungry, tired and upset after waiting so long.

This was just a fantastic letdown. A beautiful restaurant, and I'm sure the food was probably good. Had we ever actually gotten to taste it.

I can't say that I've ever had a worse experience with a restaurant. Typically they at least do end up successfully feeding you. I've never walked out before. I've certainly never had the food takes so long that I've felt that it was the best option to leave with eight hungry people after waiting a combined 2 and 1/2 hours.

We asked about the food multiple times and we're told it would be up in any minute. I feel like if they had been just more honest with the food wait we would have been prepared or could have went somewhere else and had an enjoyable evening instead of everyone's evening being ruined and no other options open in town.

Eating a cold sandwich after investing over 2 and 1/2 hours of my time with a family that is completely upset is not my idea of a great experience.

I'd highly recommend going somewhere else. But then again maybe you'll have a great experience...if...

We went on a Friday about 12:30. They were busy but not crowded, they had tables available but gave us a beeper and told us 20 to 25 minutes, maybe they just didn't have enough help? They offered us inside, outside, or first available, we chose the inside because it was so hot! Regardless we were seated in probably 15 minutes, we had gone to the bar for drinks while we were waiting and the bartender was a stickler for the rules, he let my husband order and pay for our drinks but told him I would have to come to the bar and get it, they only served one drink per person at a time. I got a Margarita on the rocks and it was very good, better than a lot of other restaurants! It took a little longer than I would have thought for our food to come, but we were not in a hurry and it was hot when we got it. We ordered the Concuah sausage appetizer, which we demolished. Two of us ordered the catfish po-boy, one fried with fries and I ordered blackened and mac & cheese (and yes, I would get both again). Another ordered chicken fingers and fries and the last ordered a salad with grilled chicken. At some places I don't like the remoulade so I ordered it on the side and told the waitress I might have to get tarter sauce. When she brought the sandwich she had put both on there and they were both good. Three of us ate every bit and the fourth took some chicken fingers home with him. We will definitely go back it was so good. The waitress was great, the other staff was nice, and the restaurant and bathrooms were clean. No one had on mask. Just a heads up, no outside alcohol comes in and no inside alcohol goes out. That is because of the type of license they have. But it sure would have been good to get such a delicious Margarita to go! Sorry I was to hungry to take a picture but it looked as good...