The Pearl at Aspire — Restaurant in Clinton

To preface this review, my Family & I have been frequenting the Pearl ever since it opened. The dining experience has always been wonderful & we would look forward to going back week after week! We know many of the employees who work there & have enjoyed lengthy conversations with many! The atmosphere is amazing & very upscale. The vision that Mr. Hollingsworth had was so creative & extraordinary especially for this area & many feel very grateful & fortunate that we all can enjoy such a place! UNFORTUNATELY, the last few times we've been, it has gone downhill! The food has not been the same quality & we've had to send several items back, staff is inadequate as well! We used to know many servers hostesses, bartenders, & other staff by name but unfortunately there's been a large turnover! Made a reservation this past Sat. night 10/11 for my Husband's Birthday. I spoke to Alex on the phone who asked if it were a special occasion. I answered Husband's B-day, & I know they bring out cotton candy for birthdays. We arrived & the atmosphere seemed chaotic although it wasn't really crowded for a Sat. It wasn't our regular host/hostess but a manager at the podium. She asked my name, I told her I had a reservation for 3 & my name. She then asked my name again, which was strange, so I told her again. I asked if we could sit w/Jasmine outside, she said, sure it would be a few min. which we said was fine. After waiting 20/25 min. & watching very dysfuntional employees running around not knowing what to do or which way to go, customers complaining, the same manager walked over & told us we could not sit w/Jasmine b/c she had another table & it would be 2 hours! I asked her why did she not tell us this in the first place!? Her response was she could put us w/another server. Reluctantly we agreed. She gushed about how wonderful the server was which we soon found out was not the case! Server could hardly speak b/ c she had lost her voice, I ordered potatoe soup b/c at this point I had lost my appetite. I asked for no bacon/chz., which is supposed to come on top. Server left didn't come back until she brought out food. The potatoe soup had bacon cooked in! It clearly states on the menu topped w/bacon/cheese! She said she didn't know! I gave her the soup back & did not order anything else. My Daughter & Husband ate & finished their meals. Never once did we see our server again! We usually oder dessert & coffee & especially since it was his B-day but no server! Not to mention no cotton candy! Server was MIA! Meanwhile the server we requested was casually walking around wiping down tables & chatting w/other servers. She only had 1 table! Also witnessed Kevin, the bartender having to come outside & wait on a table that was clearly having issues & complained vehemently & was getting the VIP treatment for fear of backlash! I don't know what is going on at the Pearl but it's not good! I do blame the manager! She is very unprofessional, does not know how to communicate, & has a very lackadaisical attitude! We've also heard from several employees that the managers talk about the customers over the headsets they wear! We know many people who have gone & have had the same type of experience! Our realtor took a party of six & the Pearl took care of the entire bill b/c of their incompetence! We will Definitely Not be back! We've gotten better service at a Cracker Barrel & that's pretty sad! This is a very toxic environment & as a customer you can feel & see the dysfuntionality! Mr. Hollingsworth needs to really clean house & start over & find employees who truly take Pride in what they do & in what he envisioned the Pearl to be! They need to Aspire...

This is our second time at The Pearl. Our first time was Mother's Day for lunch in the garden area. That day, the food was good and pricing on that menu made sense. Our server did fine. They never could get us the help we needed to tilt the umbrella with it being sunny directly on us. Otherwise, our party left full and loved the beauty around us.

Last night's visit was very different for dinner. There is a separate menu for indoor dining, which we knew. But the garden outside and bar right next to our table, could choose items from a different menu we knew we liked from our last visit. From sitting down to food on the table was one hour. Our server checked on us 3 times about every 15 minutes while we were deciding to order or waiting on food. At 10 minutes out, she came by to say our food was coming soon. We had three adults in our party. There were multiple tables around us that were empty so we still do not know what the delay was. I ordered the jumbo shrimp skewer (note here that the menu reads skewers and that was incorrect with my order) that had veggies/pineapple. Shrimp was fine and it was skewered with 8 embarrassingly skimpy pieces of veggies - two cherry tomatoes, 2 small pieces of red pepper, 2 slivers of red onion/two small pieces of pineapple (absolutely not exaggerating). Sides were fine. Providing 3 stars on food because my husband's pork chop was a reasonable size, not overcooked, and he said it tasted good, a little unique.

There was constant traffic in and out beside our table. We were sitting right beside the server area and bar. So when you make a reservation online and it reads do you have special needs/requests, be sure you are specific. We made ours days in advance and had a terrible table in my opinion. It did not feel at all special or amazing. Maybe the second floor is the place to sit. The dress was uber casual. We felt very overdressed this night with my husband in jeans and me in a summer romper. Maybe Sunday evenings are toned down but I don't know and am not sure I'll try another night to see.

We might give it a try one more time, likely not at dinner or indoor, or with a special guest with us, who was also not very impressed. It is pricey for what we didn't get, like engaged, friendly service and a different experience. No doubt that the folks who were dining outside and invaded the bar due to rain coming, felt a little more engaged and special. It was...

The bad: The management staff was absolutely dismissive and rude in response to issues we had while dining.

The rest: The atmosphere was pleasant and the decor was lovely. There was a small wait when we arrived but we were seated quickly. It took a few minutes for the server to arrive for drink orders but no problem there. We ask about the cocktail menu to ensure that we didn't end up with sugar bombs as restaurants are want to do in these parts. We still ended up with syurpy sweet beverages. The meals were ordered about 20 minutes after being seated. Then we waited another 45 minutes for our entrees to arrive. My dining partner received the incorrect meal. Then we waited another 20 minutes for the chicken tacos to be served. We both laughed when the dish came out as the chicken on the tacos was the smallest I've ever seen. Maybe an inch and a half long and hardly filled the tortilla. The chicken was dry and the taco barely had any of the accoutrement mentioned on the menu. My burger was overcooked and bland. I felt bad for the server as he seemed overwhelmed with the amount of work on his plate. The poor guy didn't even have time to change uniforms despite the fact his was dirty head to toe. My dining partner did ask to speak to the manager as several parts of our experience did not go well. The manager did come. The quality of food and wait time for the dishes were mentioned. We did not complain about the drinks or the service from our waiter as neither seemed in his control. The manager was dismissive and rude about the issues presented. We literally did not ask for anything such as meals to be comped or a dessert, etc. My dining partner primarily wanted an understanding of what happened as this was our first visit and for the prices the place was charging, one would expect timeliness and better meals. Maybe sometime went wrong behind the scenes and this was not normal, who knows because the manager had nothing to say on the matter. We did not receive an explanation nor an apology. This was our first visit...