712 Eat + Drink — Restaurant in Council Bluffs

THAT was inexcusably awful! It pains me to write a negative review of a restaurant that I had previously rated so highly. 712’s response to my issue this Friday was so wrong I had to share my experience to warn others.

Our party of 6 ordered premium cocktails and an order of fried pickles. The drinks were excellent but the fried pickles had been cut so thin as to almost completely disappear into a pile of unappetizing breading.

Our orders arrived in a very timely manner but at the first bite of my seared tuna, I knew something was wrong. It was smothered in sriracha aioli that was much spicier than it was when I had ordered it previously.

The other two orders of seared tuna at our table agreed, but decided to scrape off the heavy handed sriracha aioli, but I politely asked our waitress if I could change my dish to the salmon. At this, the server told me that she would have to send her manager over to assist. The manager, who didn’t even have the courtesy to introduce herself, stepped up to the table, put her hands on her hips and said, “what’s wrong over here?”

What’s wrong over here is that 3 of our 6 dishes weren’t made correctly! Not only was the tuna drenched in sriracha aioli, each was missing the quinoa that was supposed to be part of the dish. She told me that if I’d like something else, they’d have to charge me for it because that’s the way they serve the tuna. Well, no…. it’s not. I’ve had it before and wouldn’t have ordered it again if it had been prepared this poorly.

I told her I didn’t appreciate her problem solving skills and asked that she replace my entree with one of their most popular items, the chicken sandwich. I waited better than 30 minutes for that replacement entree and eryone at my table had already finished their meals.

When mine finally arrived, we were all shocked at the condition of my sandwich. Not only was it burned, it was black on the edges and so dry as to be inedible. It was clear from our waitresses response that she couldn’t believe this came out of their kitchen either.

Not once did the manager follow up with us to see if things had been made right. She instead kept an eye on me from across the restaurant because I feel like she was directly responsible for the inexcusable condition of my replacement meal.

I’m going to make it my mission to let everyone know of my experience at 712 on Friday, July 12th and recommend viewers visit anywhere but this place. This could have been solved so easily. I want the owners to know about this “manager” and her bad attitude. We were all so...

I have had one meal at 712 and ordered take out twice. My sister and I have sampled 2 soup specials, jambalaya, both flatbreads, pork belly sliders, the tater tots, the beet and goat cheese salad. All have been very good. My server for table service was new, however he was enthusiastic, able to describe menu items and while it got quite busy, checked back several times with me. They get very busy so for dinner I would recommend making reservations because it is not a large space. It is new and gauging how many servers and bartenders for the crowd may need to be examined. Customer service for me on all occasions has been friendly and responsive.Example: ordered takeout and they left out the gumbo. One of the owners called, apologized and told me the kitchen had recognized the omission after pick up. He then advised he left a gift card up front for me. That is classic customer service and while I frequently dine in Omaha and have received that kind of service response, I have never experienced it in Council Bluffs dining when there was an issue brought to the restaurant's attention. Finally I would like to say that having 712 open in Council Bluffs is like a breath of fresh air and I very much hope it is successful. It is more upscale than any other restaurants I have been to here and I would guess it will not be for everyone. The quality of the ingredients used, the creative offerings, and design of the menu options is interesting. The chef is experienced and sends a good product out of his kitchen and because of that their pricing is a good value. A number of friends have tried menu items that I haven't and provided good views. Some folks think 712 is pricy. I suggest there are plenty of other dining options and a myriad of chains that may better meet their needs. Meanwhile kudos to the owners for take GNA a risk on upping the bar in Council Bluffs dining and thanks to the chef for coming to Council Bluffs to help them carry out...

Fantastic restaurant, the food was outstanding so I will be hyper critical, but this place does deserve 5 stars, and you should definitely eat here.

Part of my critique would be that the service was fairly slow. I think he was the only server working at 6pm with a full patio and inside, while there were 2 bartenders, and 3 hostesses. Really? COUNCIL BLUFFS LOVES EATING OUT, SCHEDULE YOUR SERVERS ACCORDINGLY. The restaurant was fairly loud too as it was busy but it is a smaller dining room. Perhaps if they added some extra acoustic panels there wouldn't have been so much echo.

Food:. Again was fantastic. We had the crab Rangoon tots, which aren't really a tot, more like a stuffed mashed potato ball, but the flavor was all there, delicious. I had a cubano sandwich, my wife a Burger. My one complaint with her burger was that the patties (it is a double wether you like it or not) really shrank up after cooking so she had this towering stack of burgers that did not fill out the bun,. Their house pickles are killer though I'd definitely like more on my plate. My cubano was pretty great, but every Cuban I've ever had also has turkey on it, this was just ham and the pork. Still delicious though. My one addition to improve it though would be add some fresh crunch to it. After you've pressed it, open it back up to add your pickles, a little bit of shredded lettuce, some thinly sliced red onion. The pickles that were on it lost their crunch during the cooking and there wasn't enough of them in my opinion. I also got the short rib Mac as a side. Again delicious, but I actually think the short rib hurt the dish instead of improving it. The short rib was so tender that it basically shredded itself as they stirred it into the Mac so instead of being a great addition it just became meat strings throughout an otherwise delicious...