Saltgrass Steak House — Restaurant in Biloxi

Saltgrass Steakhouse – Biloxi, MS

During a recent visit to Saltgrass Steakhouse in Biloxi, MS, my party of six experienced an issue that raised concerns about the restaurant’s approach to customer service and alcohol policy enforcement.

The Experience Upon arrival, we were seated promptly, and our server, Trey, provided outstanding service throughout the night. He was attentive, professional, and went above and beyond to accommodate our party, ensuring that our experience was as smooth as possible. However, an issue arose when Trey, under the direction of the manager, informed one of our party members that she would not be able to order an alcoholic beverage until she had food.

While we fully respect the importance of responsible alcohol service, the reasoning behind this decision appeared flawed. The party member in question had not consumed alcohol for approximately three hours before arriving at Saltgrass, and even prior to that, her intake was minimal. The explanation given by the restaurant was that she was deemed intoxicated because she was “loud” while entering the establishment. However, she is naturally a loud speaker, and no other behavioral indicators of intoxication were present. Furthermore, other members of our party had consumed more alcohol than she had, yet they were not subject to the same scrutiny.

Inconsistency in Policy Enforcement What added to the confusion was that, within 15 minutes, the same party member was served a drink before any food had arrived—a direct contradiction to the initial restriction. This inconsistency left us questioning the basis of the decision and whether it was truly about responsible service or if there was an element of bias or misjudgment involved.

Manager’s Approach Another point worth noting is that the message about the drinking restriction was relayed by Trey rather than the manager personally addressing our party. Given the sensitive nature of the situation, it would have been more professional for the manager to communicate the reasoning directly. Instead, Trey—who was simply following instructions—was placed in a difficult position while the actual decision-maker remained absent from the discussion.

Final Thoughts While the food and service provided by our waiter were top-notch, the handling of this situation impacted our overall experience. We understand that restaurant staff, including bartenders and servers, have responsibilities beyond just serving drinks, but assessing intoxication within less than five minutes of being seated is unrealistic. If Saltgrass enforces such policies, they should be applied consistently and fairly, and managers should take accountability by personally addressing concerns rather than using servers as intermediaries.

For future guests, we recommend being aware of the restaurant’s alcohol policy enforcement, as it may be applied inconsistently based on subjective observations rather than objective behavior. We hope that Saltgrass takes this feedback constructively and considers a more refined and professional approach to these situations...

The first time eating here was back in 2018. The food was great the service was the best I ever had in a restaurant. Every time we returned we had the same experience. Some wait time but that's normal for popular places like this. Skip to post-covid and it seemed the establishment went downhill. I understand the limited staff and menu items but They've had a couple of years to get things right. The service has been terrible and the food portions have shrank to such small sizes it's not even worth ordering food here. You're better off paying an extra 20 dollars and getting a steak from Ruths. We came back after a night of debating on where to eat. We finally decided Saltgrass because we hadn't had it in a while. We waited what felt like 30 minutes before our waiter took our order. I ordered a Shiner bock and ended up with Yuengling beer. Our food was good but our server was absent 90% of the time we were there. My wife received her food before I did. Then when I finally got my food I asked for A1 sauce. He disappears and I see him walking around the dining area talking and helping other tables after I had asked for some steak sauce. Nearly 15 minutes goes by and still no sauce. Once I asked for the check that was another 20 minutes, and we asked for boxes too which I had to ask once again for the boxes. This last time I brought the kids with me. We decided to try it once again and give it another shot since the food was good. Upon being seated I asked the host for a high chair for our youngest. She took one of the chairs and left after saying she'd bring us one. BUT, she never returned with the high chair, 10 minutes pass and we haven't been waited on and no high chair. We got our salads first and to my surprise no silverware on the table... great start to an already disastrous service. I had to snag some from an empty table because we were waiting a while for any server to pass by. My wife ordered the burger which was burnt to near charcoal levels of burnt. My daughters steak was burnt as well, ordering it medium well. My steak was way undercooked and our youngest steak was undercooked too. I don't think toddlers are supposed to have undercooked meat? But yeah I am sure it wouldn't sit well with her even if I allowed her to eat it. The mac and cheese was rubbery the shrimp sub-par. Our server wasn't bad but wasn't good either. I wasn't finished with my drink and already brought full glasses of beverages to pile on our small table with already half full glasses of the drinks we already had. I have to say I have given this place plenty of chances to win me back. Unfortunately whoever manages this place and hires needs to do better. It has fallen from grace and isn't anything special as it was once. portion sizes too small, absentee and puerile staff, overly long wait time....

Update: over 4 years.. still no response...

UPDATE 9 Aug 2020. Still have not spoke with anyone. They have twice asked me for my contact information in a seemingly canned response to negative reviews. I provided my information and received no contact. 14 June 2020. Still have not been contacted back by anyone. We ordered from here on April 30 2020. One meal was completely missing. We paid for delivery through Waitr. I had to drive over to the restaurant anyway, because they disconnected their phones at 7:15 because they were closing 8:30. When I arrived I spoke with the manager, Mr. Bourg. he informed me that the meals get checked by 3 people before they leave.. then he blamed the whole thing on Waitr and said we should go to them for a refund. Keep in mind, Saltgrass prepared the meals, stapled the bags shut with the receipt on them Waitr just grabs them and delivers them. Waitr didn't miss here Saltgrass did. Beside the missing meal, the other meals were completely wrong with things that we did not order missing items and just bad food... one of the meals was steak and shrimp, for some reason they put gravy and onions on the steak, (not requested and not part of the meal) so we ended up with soggy fried shrimp that were sitting in gravy and everything tasted like onions.. the kids hamburger was completely raw... not rare, raw. and my medium ribey was well done shoe leather. Mr. Bourg basically said he would give me the missing meal and that's it. He made no attempt to correct the other deficiencies, and if I wanted a refund I would have to go through Waitr (this had nothing to do with them). I never asked for a refund.. but the fact of the matter is every penny spent on this meal was a total waste. Mr. Bourg could not be bothered to help me much that night so he did give me his card, I waited 30 minutes to get the missing meal and he said to contact him the following day which was May 1st. I emailed Mr Bourg, no response. I then went on to their corporate website, and filled out their questionnaire. They were supposed to call me back, that never happened. I have since called twice left two messages, no response. I have not been and will not be rude to anyone, I just feel that most people expect more of this place and should get the value of their money. we have eaten at Saltgrass before and been satisfied, I do not have an unrealistic expectation of what to expect from a restaurant like Saltgrass but I do have a minimum expectation of correct to order and good food, and it should at least be better than Denny's. I gave them every opportunity before leaving...