Morton's The Steakhouse — Restaurant in Dr. Phillips

I feel generous giving this restaurant a 1 star.

Let me preface this review by stating that we are a foodie group of over 6,000 members. We go around the central Florida area experiencing fine cuisine restaurants.

I booked a 7 pm reservation in January for a Valentine's Day dinner party of 15. The restaurant called me at 3:30 pm (2/14) and told me that the restaurant needed to push back the reservation by 30 mins because they were overbooked.

We all arrived at 7:30 pm and were told that only half of our table was ready. We could see that the restaurant was busy so we waited outside until our table was ready. By 8 pm we were served Prosecco champagne outside because our table was still not ready.

We were finally seated at 8:20 pm and had our water glasses filled but it took a while to get our drink orders taken. By 8:45 pm we had still not ordered food. When our orders were taken, a few members of our party ordered from a full course menu. Because our table was long, not all of our party knew about this full course option, so they chose the regular menu.

Those who ordered the full course menu received the lobster bisque appetizer cold and one person in the group did not get his bisque because they "were out". He was given an alternative soup.

During this entire time we watched many other patrons come in, eat their entire meal, and leave. There were many times when our water glasses weren't replenished and we had to ask for refills.

Our waiter/waitress were completely inattentive to us sitting there waiting for our entrees to arrive and did not offer us refills on wine, nor did they provide us with updates of when our food would be ready. It did appear that they were understaffed because our waiter/waitress had many other patrons; not just our party.

It was almost 10 pm when the entrees arrived. The quality of the food was good, but serving cold lobster bisque, running out, and the prolonged wait times had already set the tone for the remainder of our meal. The staff appeared extremely rushed. Those who did not order the full course meal were not offered a dessert option.

Because of the late hour, many chose to take their entrees home.

We spoke with the manager (Adam) about our overall experience. I let him know that we have NEVER had this type of experience at Eddie V's or any other restaurants in the area. He stated "but you've never been there on Valentine's Day". He also said that he could not control the party before us as they stayed 2 hours and that was the reason behind our being seated late.

We were beyond frustrated at this point; how does another party staying late concern us??? I told him that if they were that overbooked they should have never accepted my reservation or made sure they had enough staff to accommodate our party. We were the ONLY large party that night. We were also told that you would have to "ask" for the full course menu. I told him that we are ONE table. Why provide this option to only part of our table?

He kept apologizing and saying that he doesn't know what more he could say. It is noted that after the discussion with the manager, the wait staff then asked if we wanted refills on our wine (after eating our entrees).

We finally paid our tabs and walked out of the restaurant at 11 pm. This was for an original 7 pm reservation.

With the exception of one person, the rest of us had never eaten here. I had heard great things about the restaurant and the quality of food was overall good at best but it was not what we expected. The overall service was absolutely the worst that we've ever experienced.

Last month we went to Christner's Prime steak and lobster with a party of 21. The food, quality of the restaurant, ambiance, and service was top notch and way beyond our expectations. Coming to Morton's after dining at Christner's was extremely disappointing.

It's sad that a restaurant of this caliber can not provide that same quality for large parties on a special day like this.

We will definitely think again before ever coming here...

Last night we had a 7:45pm reservation at Morton’s for my birthday. This was our first time dining there and we went in with maybe high expectations knowing that this is a high end steakhouse. I’ve had friends share their great experience and even go back every year. I remember them having personalized menus and personalized dessert plates. Which none of that happened for us. The host greeted us not with a hello or hi but with, “do you have a reservation?” And yes we did have one, it was noted on the reservation that we were there for my birthday but she didn’t mention it at all. We got seated at a table that were super close to other couples and right by their main walkway so anytime a server came from the kitchen they passed us. It made it uncomfortable because the couple we were seated next to just couldn’t keep their hands off of each other. The restaurant wasn’t busy and there were lots of empty tables everywhere but they sat us right next to other people instead of spreading us out a bit. We noticed that as others got seated and were celebrating something special, the hostess took a photo of them and gave them a memory frame. When we got sat, we were handed the drink menus and not the food menus. Our server came and didn’t explain the menu to us but handed them to us even after we said this is our first time here. And he left and said, let me get you some bread. Bread came and it was super dry so we had to put lots of butter on it. Then we ordered our food. My husband got the filet and lobster and I ordered from the “butcher’s favorites” dry aged ribeye. We both ordered our steaks medium, and we ordered a couple sides. Parmesan and truffle fries and brussel sprouts. We didn’t take long to order our food, probably within 15 minutes of us sitting down. Food took forever to come, it took over 45 minutes for us to get our food and the server put my plate down and said, here’s your New York strip. I said you mean the ribeye, he said yes. The restaurant is on the dark/dim side so I couldn’t really see. I cut into my steak and it was more like medium well so I call the server. He took it back and said I want it to be cooked perfect so give me a second. The manager and another server came and apologized and they said, it was actually a New York strip, they had changed their menu a couple days ago and got rid of the dry aged ribeye. Would have been nice to know when I ordered it and not when I got my food. So they asked me to choose a different steak, they recommended the Cajun ribeye so I took their recommendation and ordered it. Manager also said they will remake the sides. But since we weren’t a fan of the fries, it was so overcooked that it was hard to eat, didn’t taste any Parmesan or truffle on it I asked for a salad instead. Which was a good salad. I ended up sharing the salad with my husband and he shared his filet and lobster with me while we waited for my steak. My steak finally came and it was great. My husband’s lobster was dry and overcooked but it was okay to eat and since it was going on after 9pm we were hungry and just wanted to eat. Our brussel sprouts were good but now cold because of the fiasco of food being remade. Then they said, and of yeah, we’ll give you a dessert to make up for things. My husband said, great it’s also her birthday. And they were like, oh yeah, that’s right. So we order the dessert and it came and we ate it. Then we sat forever waiting for our check. Server finally came with our check and it was all wrong. They now charged me for the more expensive steak, which I thought they would atleast comp the difference because I had to wait and they gave me the wrong steak. There were two orders of brussel sprouts and they said they comped one but we said we only ever had one. Glad they comped the salad and didn’t charge us for the fries because we didn’t eat it. Overall, with this experience we will probably never go back because of this experience. They did try to make it up with a free dessert, which I was getting anyway because it was...

Beyond Disappointing

My husband and I are huge admirers of Morton’s. We have dined in several branches around the US - Atlanta, Vegas, SFO to name a few, as well as international locations like Singapore. The Orlando branch is by far the worst branch we have been. This is not from a one-time experience. The first visit, we gave them a pass, but the second time is just truly unacceptable.

The first visit was with my family - husband and two children. It was early dinner reservation at 530PM - perhaps only 4 tables occupied as expected. We ordered our usual rib eyes, truffle fries, lobster mac & cheese and sprouts. The food didn’t come until after an hour later and worse the steak was not cooked properly ( this itself is a big flag! Not Morton’s standard). We ordered medium well, it arrived rare. Don’t like wasting a good steak so we just let it slip. Our server was MIA almost the whole meal. For an easy early dinner time, the staff seemed to be so busy and have no time for us.

Here comes the second visit that sealed it for us. We wanted to boast about Morton’s to our friends so we reserved 645PM dinner for Valentine’s night with another couple who have not been in Morton’s. We arrived 15min early as they require. We checked in at the front counter and stood there for the next 10 minutes. No offer to sit by the bar ( like what an upscale service would) or an update if we will be seated in the next few or not. There were plenty of empty tables in the dining room so I wasn’t sure about the wait.

We got to our seats, they sat us in the corner booth and took another 10 to 15 mins before the server showed up. He was speaking very fast, got our drinks order and left. My friend ordered a frozen margarita with salt on the rim (the server asked what she preferred). About 30 minutes later he showed up with the drinks. However, margarita was on the rocks and not frozen. When we asked he said “oh we don’t serve frozen margarita.” Didn’t recognize the misunderstanding or offered a different drink of her liking (another flag). There was no salt on the rim too. He left again after breezing through about the night’s special.

The Valentine’s dinner special looked great so that’s what we picked. It was a set dinner for two. Our friends chose the same. An hour passed by and no food. We were in the corner where I could see the whole dining room. I saw about 5 tables that arrived after us already have dinner served. Meanwhile, we are still waiting. We saw our server stayed in two tables near us for 15 mins each and saw their food served. Other tables are also getting checked by their servers frequently and served their food. Several tables have been cleared for the second wave but our food has not been served. We tried our best to entertain our couple friends so as not to ruin our evening. 1.5 hours later since we placed our order, my husband started raising the concern for the long wait. Not long after, our food started arriving, served by different waiters including bussers. However, at that time, the dining experience is already ruined. There are plenty of little details like the steak plate served directly in front of my husband and not between us and food being cold. The steak, lobster tails, fries and king crab mashed potatoes all was served lukewarm.

Given that it is Valentine’s day and they are expecting more customers than usual, it is not an excuse. Instead, preparations should have been made to anticipate the load. Again, the dining room had plenty of empty tables so the staff is not overloaded. We ended the night with a sub-standard service and we had to apologize to our friends for an unpleasant first-time experience in a Morton’s.

With that being said, even if the food is wonderful, it just gives the customer a bitter taste regardless, with an awful experience. The front house is all about teamwork, but it didn't work that night. There are plenty of great steakhouse in Orlando, as much as it pains me to say this - I am absolutely not recommending...