Miller's Ale House — Restaurant in Destin

This was BY FAR THE WORST, MOST UNPROFESSIONAL dinning experience my family and I have ever had...

We arrived in the middle of the week, in the mid-afternoon for lunch. Upon arrival the host informed me the wait was "30 to 35 minutes." This seemed fair and the restaurant did not seem entirely busy (perhaps because of COVID), and the staff did not seem like there was a great rush. There was another family that was there before we were and after about 30 minutes they had still not been seated. When I asked, they said they had been waiting for over an hour. I noticed the host continually tell patrons that the wait was "30-35 mins." However the real wait time for everyone was well over an hour. Needless to say we were not the only patrons frustrated by this disingenuous ploy. If the wait is an hour, it is courteous to let people know that. Had we known that we would have taken our hungry, young, children somewhere else...

Finally after an hour+ wait, we were seated. Our kids were starving and we had made the decision while we were waiting to go ahead and look at the menu to know what we were ordering so we could get our order in immediately when our waiter came by the first time. That's exactly what we did. We ordered the cheese fries as an appetizer and then the meals for our kids and ourselves.

Then we proceeded to wait...and wait...and wait...after 40 minutes we finally received our appetizer and finally our food.

Our waiter, while very friendly, and a genuinely nice guy, never once came by to check on us or refill our drinks. Apparently Ice cream was included with the kids meals and he failed to explain that to us.

By the time I finally got my food I was so frustrated (by the nearly 2 hours of waiting and the lack of service) that they would have needed to serve up a perfect 5 star meal to even come close to appeasing me or my family. The food was OK, but not great...not worth a 2 hour wait, that's for sure...

The only highlight of the whole trip was the bartender. She was the only one working the bar and did a fantastic job (I know because I had a couple of drinks while I was waiting on our table)...also by the time the kids got their ice cream at the end of the meal she could tell we were ready to leave, so she helped us convert the ice cream into a "to go" desert so we could leave.

To sum it up best...my 6 year old daughter said after we left "It was so rude, they didn't even say I'm sorry [for the long wait]" ...the fact that at 6 years old she had a similar experience and felt that the staff didn't care should tell you all you...

Let's start with the atmosphere, or should I say lack of? I understand the concept and appreciate the consistency. But there were broken fans, tvs not working, wobbly chairs and some chipped paint.

The establishment was not busy at all and our server (who made it known that she doesn't work the patio) was not prompt. Once we were seated we waited 5 minutes before she asked us if we wanted drinks and apps to start. Then, we waited an additional 20 minutes before we received an angry orchard that was ordered. She came back and we ordered our food and a mojito. We never received our mojito during our entire visit. Thank goodness it was not rang in but I clearly asked for one from our server, I even pointed to the item on the menu with her. One of our group members had asked for a drink refill, twice, and had to wait 15 minutes for his Mr. Pibb refill. We waited almost 40 minutes for our food. Spending $15 on nachos that weren't even worth paying $15 for something I could have made at home is quite disappointing. Our waitress made it very clear she doesn't work the patio a few times and how she had other tables inside. This made us all feel very unwelcome.

There was an older gentleman in purple who came out to the patio multiple times. First, with a drink order, he incorrectly delivered to our table and we had to correct him. The correct couple who ordered it had to wave him down. Second, he came out to the patio with a food order, incorrectly delivered to the wrong table again. There were only a few tables at the time that were sat on the patio. Either the table chart is incorrect in the back, tables were moved before opening, the order was incorrectly rung in, or this gentleman was new.

The food here isn't worth the price. It is dry, cold, and lacks seasoning. The staff are not attentive, hang around the host stand, and are annoyed with guests who ask where the restrooms are. The restrooms were not clean - not sure why when we arrived around 11:15 am, 15 minutes after opening. Apparently, the staff have little care of their opening tasks.

We will not be returning and will not...

Sorry to say this visit fell way short of the mark. We were seated immediately but waited for a bit before we got greeted. We ordered 2 draft beers and some mozzarella sticks, the beers took about 10 minutes to show up and the sticks about 20 and they were cold when they got there. Our friends showed up and we ordered dinner, 45 minutes later we still didn't have our meals. I went to the wait station since our server was nowhere to be found and saw about 25 meals sitting in the window with 4 or 5 servers standing around. A server asked if I needed help and I told her I was looking for my meals, at which point our server walked up. She asked what the problem was and I told her we couldn't wait any longer because we were going to a show that started in less than 30 minutes. She informed me that she "Put in the order in a timely manner ". She followed me back to the table and we canceled our order since she said it hadn't even been started yet. While she was getting our checks, I asked the hostess to send over the manager and she asked what the issue was, I told her and she made some lame excuse about it being football season and then left. We paid our tab and left about 10 minutes later, I never spoke to a manager...

We are local and normally sit at the bar to watch football or before going to see a show. Normally, the service at the bar is good. I can't say that I'll never go back, but I'll sit at the bar if I do.

An update: I had a very pleasant conversation with the manager who assured me this was not the standard they expect from their staff and, based on his comments, I believe him. As I indicated above, I have had several pleasant visits to Miller's and the food and service were always good. We will be returning to watch some...