Highland House — Restaurant in Dunedin

We ate here a couple of weeks ago for breakfast on a weekend. We used to enjoy patronizing the previous proprietor at this venue and we're happy to sample the new vendors offering as well regularly patronize their other locations ( The Living room, Black Pearl, and Sonder). Although they published no breakfast menu on the Dunedin golf course website, there was a mention of breakfast hours. The meal we had that day was absolutely fantastic; a slightly elevated breakfast menu for the area. It was obvious that everything was handmade from scratch as they say. We had the biscuits, the blueberry ricotta pancakes, the avocado toast, and although it was only 11:00 a.m., my sister-in-law ordered the grouper sandwich. Everything we tasted was absolutely fantastic from the potatoes to the grits which were obviously not instant but rather slow cooked. The dining area, the back patio, the bar, and the banquet rooms have undergone a renovation that erased the tired old golf club look that was previously presented, after all this was the home of the PGA at one time and the golf course just underwent a multi-million dollar renovation as well. Although we received exceptional service from the bartender / waitress the last time we dined here this past Saturday was the opposite. The restaurant was hosting some sort of special event on the patio area and it appeared as though one of the banquet rooms was prepared to seat those guests for a meal afterwards,however there was no indication on the website or outside of the building that the public would not be served at the regular part of the restaurant. We entered the establishment and there was no one at the hostess station to greet or see us. We entered the dining room to find no service reps at the bar but it did appear that there was some manager type speaking with a service person at one of the tables. We kind of walked around the restaurant in perfect view of these two and yet we're never addressed. I think from my previous experience at this restaurant and the experience I had today I'm thinking they're severely understaffed and their web presence is non-existent. My wife in particularly was put off by the whole experience today as we had guests from out of town with us. I hope I can convince her to give it another try however for a Dunedin city owned venue to have such a poor communication infrastructure is disappointing. The city of Dunedin has a strong web presence and a fast response time to questions and complaints. I just read this review and I get it's sort of rambling, bottom line. Back of the house.....food was exceptional and the service from when we actually got a seat was awesome. Management needs to get a clue and whoever is doing marketing should be retrained or...

It was a disaster from the beginning to the end. We got there and the waitress ignored me completely and just asked questions to my boyfriend. She didnt even put my order in. We received his beer and my drink in a can. I had to ask for a glass with icem she seemed upset about my request. When my boyfriend ordered two of the prime rib specials, a tomatoes soup, and a onion soup, she walked away and came back with the soups and the manager brought one plate of prime rib. We had to ask for the second one. He apologized and went back to the kitchen. To our surprise, the soups were terrible. The tomatoes soup tasted like a marinara sauce that came out of a can and the onion soup tasted like dirty water. Minutes later, the second prime rib plate came out and it was worst than the soup. No flavor, no crust, no nothing. It tasted like they boiled the prime rib. I asked to talk to the manager, he came out an apologized. He took the soups of the bill because we couldn't eat them and one prime rib. We were upset but ready to leave when we realized they charged us 20% gratuity of the full price after such a terrible experience. PLUS we were sweating the entire time because it was hotter inside than outside. I feel robbed and very frustrated that I even had to pay for such a terrible food and 20% for something that did not meet anyone expectations. They...

All I can say is I feel sorry for the poor bartender this evening. He was alone, place is packed, dirty bar glasses everywhere. Not his fault. Meanwhile, the manager has done multiple laps burning a layer off the rug in the bar. I understand staff shortages, but when you know a large private event is booked, call in everybody including the owners. It was hard to watch, and definitely too much for 1 bartender. I have been here many times, want to support local business, but it's getting harder. And the golfers aren't happy either. Lack of specials for them, as well as no pre-made sandwiches, Gatorade, and slow service when they are on a tight timeline. I know this is a restaurant in a golf club, not a golf club restaurant, but when season is over, locals cannot support this without the golfers. This is a historic renovated course, and the renovation of the club is gorgeous. I am empathetic to them getting into the swing of things in a new setting, staff shortages, etc, and wish this place much success. The summer, the locals, and the golfers are important to the restaurant's future success. And lastly, the servers are friendly, and professional, but it has to be hard for them to thrive when so...