Firebirds Wood Fired Grill — Restaurant in Carmel

We went Friday night for a family celebration. Our table for 5 was seated about 15 minutes earlier than our reservation, which was great! However, that's where the great ended. Our server seemed lost and confused at all times. We ordered our drinks and appetizers. Appetizers came and we asked for utensils. He never brought them, so after a good 10 minutes I had to ask another server as she walked by. Still another 5-10 minutes before we received utensils. Food finally comes, and our daughters steak was supposed to be medium rare and came out like a hamburger. Server said he'd get another one. 10 minutes later he comes back and takes her plate with the steak and her sides. So now she has nothing to eat while her steak is being refired and the rest of us are eating. We waited 20-25 minutes for her steak to come to the table and that only got there after we asked him where her food was. We were all done eating before she got her food. When he brought her new steak to the table she cut into it and it too was way overdone. She refused to send it back again and delt with it because she was hungry. I ended up having to cut it for her because the meat was so tough. My steak came out the right temperature and had a great flavor, but was almost too salty to eat. I had to scrape off some of the seasoning. At one point before our meals got to the table we asked our server for table bread. He said yes it's in the oven, I'll bring some when it's ready. We were sitting by the kitchen, so imagine my frustration as I watch server after server walk out with table bread and we still didn't get any until much later. Overall I sat and observed our server walk around looking incredibly lost and confused during our entire vist, while not attending to our table. Almost 2 hours into our experience he asks us if he can take our plates, 2 of which still had a great deal of food (full bowl of chili, full baked potato, full plate of mashed potatoes and asparagus), I politely told him no and that we needed a couple boxes. As he walked away my mother in-law law says "you forgot to remind him you need your desserts" I told her I didn't forget, but rather I didn't feel like he could handle more than one task at a time. When he came back with our boxes, we asked him about the desserts that came with our 3 course meal. He said I'll put those in for you. 20 minutes later, we got our brownie and cheesecake. 2.5 hours!! and not because we were sitting having a great time; strictly because of incompetent service. Close to a $300 bill, poor service, and food that was lacking. Seriously disappointed! Next time we'll spend the extra money and go to Prime47, Ruth's Chris, or Harry and Izzys. The extra money will be worth the better food and...

This is an interesting one for me to write. I had a decent experience at A Firebirds in a different state a while back. My wife and I decided we would give it a try but we really aren't fans of any kind of chain. I recalled an awesome spicy pasta that I had before and I wanted to try it again. When we went in, I really liked the aesthetic, we were told it would be a 4 hour wait because of reservations and we nearly left when they suggested the bar. They mentioned it was a full menu bar, so we decided that was fine and when we looked up the bar was empty aside from a single man sitting down on the other side. We took a seat and we were straight up ignored for a solid 10 mins. I mean, no one even looked at us. That didn't stop them from debating loudly enough as to who was going to take the bullet and take care of us, which was just.... Wow. We watched probably 6 people at one point behind the bar, they kept stacking dirty dishes, blenders, and glasses directly in front of me. The pineapple smell didn't mix well with my pasta. The person who served our drinks was not the person who took our order, which probably explains why we were served the wrong drink. Believe me when I say it took plenty long to flag down the bartender to get it fixed. Not because they were busy, but because they had a lot to talk about and they weren't fans of someone they were working with, I know this because they didn't have a problem gossiping directly in front of us while leaning up against the bar with their backs turned. We weren't the only one being ignored either is my guess given that the guy behind us was flagging someone down like he was trying to land a plane. I damn near asked for his order myself because the poor guy looked desperate to get some help. The food was fine, it didn't rock my world by any stretch. The older black gentleman that served our food was very polite, very hospitable and very attentive after our food was delivered. He cleared our plates and did his thing with other clientele. The rest of the staff just seemed genuinely annoyed that we were still there while my wife finished her drink that arrived after she had already finished her meal. (The one that was wrong the first time). Our experience wasn't great, I wish I could say it was busy and I just needed to give them a break but when we arrived, despite the long list of supposed reservations, the...

TLDR:One of the worst steaks I've ever had the misfortune of ending up in my mouth. Dissertation: Let me begin by stating that I'm known as a human garbage disposal, so if I'M complaining, there's something seriously wrong. I ordered the 16oz Cajun steak, and it was so salty the only thing I could taste was salt. I've had jerky that was less salty. This amalgamation was juicy as it should be, but its only flavor was salt. Was supposed to be an aged steak but tasted like chewy salt. It tasted like the dead sea was missing its order. I know folks talk about adding seasonings until their ancestors say 'stop' but this chefs ancestors musta been drunk or swept away with hurricane Milton because they should have stopped the salt bus a few counties back. The tots did what they could to break the a-salt, but even heroes can only do so much. When the waitress came by and asked how things were and I gave her my honest reply of "it's ridiculouly salty" to which she replied with actual laughter. So I guess the joke was on us. Nothing further was done. No attempt to fix the situation. And as far as I'm aware no one was even informed of the situation. Which I feel like someone should have been notified. Because that steak tasted like the chef had a horrible last couple weeks and wanted everyone to taste his regret. But wait, there's more! It wasn't just me. My friend brought me there raving about the food and how it could help cheer me up after I had to bury my dog this week. And both him and his gf had the same problem with their steaks. She could only get through half of the steak-salt. And he had the additional challenge of half of his steak was connective tissue so whoever was tasked with trimming boluxed that part as well. So the whole thing seems like it was doomed to fail from inception. It's so bad it had to of been a team effort to win that dubious honor. So, in case it wasn't clear, I will not be coming back. The one highlight of this dumpster fire of an experience was their bacon deviled eggs. Deviled eggs with a piece of candied bacon and a slice of jalapeno. Those things were fire. But unfortunately all they did was set me up for a larger fall once the salt showed up. I swear it was like a League of Legends lobby with how...