Magnolia Point — Restaurant in Birmingham

So much potential here. We arrived at 7:30 on a Friday and were surprised to find the restaurant only a quarter full and a completely empty patio—unusual for a prime time, beautiful Friday night. The space itself is great: I’m so glad to see the historic building has been thoughtfully restored, the décor is great, the patio is one of the best in Bham, and the live music was a nice touch. Unfortunately, the food and service didn’t match the setting.

While the staff was very friendly, they seemed unprepared for a nicer restaurant. Service was disorganized—slow to greet us, slow to clear tables, and forgetful with extra requests. Two cocktails that I ordered weren’t available, but I wasn’t told until 10 or more minutes later. I suspect the bartender wasn’t prepared to handle drinks requiring house-made ingredients like a fat wash liquor or red onion syrup. The staff blamed the “rush” on slow or missing menu items, but the place was never busy during our time. The drinks received were very good.

For appetizers, we tried the black-eyed pea hummus, fried green tomatoes, wings, and hush puppies. All were fine but forgettable. The hush puppies, while tasty, felt more like a complimentary side than an $8 purchase.

Entrees included shrimp spaghetti, fried catfish, a blackened fish sandwich, a green goddess salad, and a po’ boy. Again, everything was decent but not great, with some outright misses: the macaroni and cheese arrived ice cold, the salad was drowning in dressing, and the fish sandwich was just poor. Our server wasn’t able to describe flavors or make confident recommendations, and no one checked in on how we liked our meal. With a fairly basic menu, there are better Birmingham restaurants at which to find these items.

Overall, this is a restaurant with real potential. The space is fantastic, and it’s the kind of place I’d love to visit for drinks with friends. But like other Pihakis Group spots, it feels like expansion has outpaced execution. With stronger service training, more consistency from the kitchen, and attention to detail, this could become a...

This is a really cool spot. Outdoor seating is spacious and welcoming with a great atmosphere, the inside has great decor and the music is really good that they play overhead. The foot was great for me and my girlfriend, pictured below I got the shrimp and grits and she got the blackened chicken. Beer selection was great and we got a plate of their hush puppies on the house which was nice of them. One of my family members has an allergy to most meats, so he opted for a salad. The first salad he requested was rejected due to them not having one of the components of the salad in stock at the moment, weird to not specify which component and work with the customer to still get that salad. The other one he opted for came quite drenched in vinaigrette, so much so he had to pour some out into a bowl to continue with his salad. We also ordered some food to go and again they were missing one component of it and redirected us to order something else, I insisted that we're okay with it missing one part of it as long as that's allowed. The server was a nice guy but had an air of cluelessness about him on stuff like that, a new restaurant so I don't blame them for still trying to figure things out. We were never told and it doesn't say on the menu no alterations, so for us to be immediately redirected to ordering something else as opposed to being worked with on the menu was a little frustrating. If you have any vegetarian or vegan friends, or in my case someone with an allergy, this spot definitely excels at making good food outside of their salads and don't bring anyone picky because it's weirdly like pulling teeth to get something worked out. Otherwise, it was a good spot. Will be back for drinks again on a day with nice weather, but will potentially dodge the headaches that came with ordering food. That may go away with time once this restaurant settles, will update review if they get...

Keeping in the general theme of warehouse ambiance that is so popular in higher-end dining establishments in downtown Birmingham, Magnolia Point tempers the starkness with some warm elements aided by lots of natural light flowing in from the many windows on multiple sides of the building. Instead of painting the ceiling flat black and leaving the ductwork in a galvanized metal finish, MP painted their ceiling and ductwork a warm cream color matching the mortar on the original brick walls (which they either newly exposed or left exposed). There are also more wall hangings and, what appears to be, original mosaic hexagon tile floor (kinda reminds me a bit of the old Hot & Hot Fish Club). They also created a wonderful dining terrace that is shielded from both streets as it is located in the crux of the L-shaped structure. The terrace has a large screen television, plenty of plants and colorful umbrellas making it appear to be a very nice place to sit in the spring and fall months here in Birmingham.

My one complaint about Magnolia Point’s decor is the armless, unstained pine chairs - these really tone down the elegance factor a couple notches. I understand they pitch themselves as an upscale fish camp type of restaurant. I get that, but their prices aren’t fish-campy at all.

Dinner was good. I had a cup of seafood gumbo and a shrimp poboy with fries and a beer. My spouse had an entree with fried oysters and shrimp. Neither of us were blown away, but it was definitely good enough to make a return visit. I can’t go higher than 4 stars on the food, however - at least on this first visit.

Our server was friendly, competent...