Tin Cup Grill — Restaurant in Cumming

I dined at Tin Cup Grille for the first time this evening with some friends, and aesthetically the restaurant is gorgeous. Great ambiance, great lighting, and very clean.

Since we were new to the place, we asked the waitress a few questions and she opened explained some things to us. We didn’t know they had a rooftop bar, pretty cool. We also didn’t know there was a downstairs. Once she pointed that out, I immediately noticed the subtle vibrations of the band playing. It wasn’t enough to be a huge distraction but given the more elegant atmosphere of the dining areas..it was unwelcome. I will typically go online to find a menu and scour some photos before dining at a new place. I was more than happy with most of the items on the menu. The others I was with found some items they wanted to try as well. When we were handed our menus..we wondered where some of the items were that we saw online. They actually have two different menus..a dinner menu, and a lunch/lower floor menu. The lower menu has more “bar food” wings, burgers, etc. We asked if we could order some items off of the lunch/lower level menu…and they were able to accommodate our request. Overall the server was relatively polite, attentive, but had a slightly condescending attitude…

We each ordered something completely different, and drinks/cocktails.

The drinks were mixed well and very good.

We ordered a burger, chicken wings, a crab cake, shrimp and grits, chicken parm, and a caesar salad.

I can only weigh in on the items I personally ordered, and that was the crab cake and the shrimp and grits. Overall I thought the presentation was excellent. 8.5/10

My crab cake was served with a corn chutney and a bed of arugula. Both of which were pretty good. The crab cake itself was extremely salty, and wasn’t my favorite. Maybe I’m naive, but I didn’t think these items meshed very well together. I enjoy an aioli with a crab cake, but the corn chutney didn’t cut the abundance of salt found in the crab cake. 5/10

My shrimp and grits texturally were great. The shrimp themselves were also great, although very annoying to deal with the tails in a saucy dish. The blackened seasoning on the shrimps were great, but similar to my crab cake I thought everything was overly salty. At home I cook with cream, cheeses, and other salty ingredients often so balance of flavors while layering is key. This tasted like a sauce that had been salted too heavily early and reduced which enhanced that flavor to a 12/10. I also didn’t find or really taste any of the andouille listed in the description. 6/10.

The other food coming out and desserts looked very very good and there are other things I’d like to try. My party enjoyed the chicken parm, and the wings. The burger was meh for the price based on feedback at my table.

Overall, it’s a cool place and I’ll give them another shot. I just expected it to be a bit better of an experience for the cost. I had dined at Homestead last weekend and was blown away. This wasn’t...

I was looking forward to this place.... the vibe is great. The execution is extremely lacking. I sat on my notes of this review to allow myself some time to let my thoughts simmer.

We arrived exactly on-time for our reservation and were promptly seated. That’s a good start. Took around 5 mins for our server to come by to take drink orders… but already had waters in hand. They were a little busy… so I’ll accept that. (coming with the water was a nice move for sure).

Then it all starts to unravel…

Server returns to take drink order and we’re told they have zero draft beers available. Says they have no kegs… it’s Friday night at 6pm… gonna be a rough weekend! Attempt to order a bottled beer… they don’t have our first choice in a bottle. Our second choice they had… SUCCESS! Server brought the cans an apologized for a lack of glasses available in the restaurant. That’s a bummer! Service leaves the table and we go to take our first sips…. WARM BEER! Not remotely cold. Room temperature even. Takes nearly 10 mins for the server to swing back through… apologizes and offers us a cold glass for our warm beers. A MIRACLE… since there were no glasses just a few minutes prior. We declined her offer for cold glasses and send the beers back. Water it is.

Ordered a few sandwiches (burger and prime rib sandwich specifically) and a side of brussel sprouts. Server asked for temp on the prime rib… requested medium rare.

Server came through several times and apologized for the lengthy wait and said her prior table took 40 mins to get their food. She hoped ours would be quicker. It wasn’t. A 40 minute wait for a hamburger and a sliced/chopped prime rib sandwich. A bit much IMO. The burger was well prepared and tasty. The prime rib sandwich was tasty… but sadly cooked through all the way… I bet it would have been even better if the requested temp was delivered. And the brussels NEVER CAME… we told the food runner immediately.. .and the server a few minutes later… the brussels never came. As we were finishing our meal some 25 minutes later… we overheard a seemingly lost food runner searching for a table needing brussels…. we declined them. Our meal was well in the rear view mirror by this point.

The ambiance is great. The server tried her best with one arm behind her back.

Either this restaurant has hired an incompetent manager OR the owners are trying to run the show and either don’t know what they’re doing or their focusing on all the wrong tasks in the building. They’ll have a hard time keeping front of the house staff if all the meals take 40 minutes… the draft beer is non-existent and the bottles/cans are warm.

If the restaurant survives year one… we’ll take it for another spin… but for the high cost and poor dining experience we had… we won’t be back...

We have now had the pleasure of eating at Tin Cup Grill three times since their grand opening on Wednesday night of last week.

We came by for opening night and sat at the bar on Wednesday, then again on Friday night during the concert at the City Center where we sat on the patio, and most recently for a late Sunday dinner tonight where we sat in the main dining area.

In my lifetime I've helped open 4 different restaurant locations and each experience has been different. Here's what Tin Cup is getting right.

Each of the three nights, during OPENING WEEK has been consistent. The food has been good every visit, and not only that but we've ordered the same food items on different nights, and they are just as good as the first time. The cocktails are consistent, and taste good (and exactly the same) no matter which bartender makes them, no matter what night we order them.

Currently they are way overstaffed. Which is the absolute right thing to do during your opening weeks. The staff is still in training, in a brand-new restaurant that up until a few weeks ago, nobody had really stepped foot into. They are all still learning each other's personalities and service styles, the menu's, the flow and vibe of the restaurant. You can train your staff all you want ahead of a grand opening, but until they are in the thick of it, there's no way to know how things are really going to flow. And there will be some hiccups. You can't know what you don't know. And the only way to figure that out is to get in there and DO IT. Will there be some rough patches? Absolutely, should they be offered some grace while they are all learning? Darn straight they should. Because if you watch the flow of the service, they are ALL trying, they ALL truly want to be there and absolutely enjoy what they are doing. They speak very highly of the owners, the chef and the GM which says VOLUMES.

Tin Cup is offering something that no other restaurant in our area is offering. Elevated dining, with chef-driven cuisine. The food is incredibly good, flavorful and bright. I can't wait to watch this restaurant and the entire City Center grow and evolve. I'm so happy to have better dining options here in...