Fernandez the Bull Cuban Cafe & Bar - Midtown — Restaurant in East Naples

Ok lets get something straight. I am THE BIGGEST Fernandez fan out there. No matter when we go out, I'm the first person to say, "LETS GO TO FERNANDEZ!" We always look forward to our favorites and deciding between them is always hard because EVERYTHING is usually so good. But tonight was something else. And I wouldn't normally review a place, but how the situation was handled was a little Bull-crappy (get it, get it). Anyway, so we ordered a $30 steak, Medium Rare as usual, and it came out completely raw in the center. Like, this thing was tossed on the grill for a minute each side and literally served raw. Not even rare. Not a big deal, people. We've had it there before a dozen times. It happens to all the good restaurants once and awhile. We flag down a server and give it back to the kitchen (as it wasn't edible), and ask them to cook it a little longer. About ten minutes later, the same steak comes back out, only this time its not as fresh- off-the- cow's-arse, but its still clearly VERY VERY rare. Tendons were impossible to cut through and inside near the bone was still completely raw. It took us a while to flag down the server as he was having a very nice conversation with a young lady across the dining room. Once I got his attention, he was gracious enough to take the steak back and offer to maybe cook it Medium since the steak was so large. We agreed. That's totally fine. It's a big cut of meat. None of this is a problem, until the manager comes out and asks us what was wrong with the steak. He then proceeded to tell us that what was served to us WAS Medium Rare, we obviously just don't know the difference apparently, and that maybe we preferred something like medium or medium well. I'm of course paraphrasing. So we basically agreed to disagree and asked for a new steak medium if that's what they could manage. Another ten-fifteen minutes or so goes by and we ask the server to have it wrapped up to go because now its been about an hour and half and we have a little one to get home. After we get home, I serve the to go container to my hub and it's literally shoe leather. Completely inedible. WELL done to the max. Like I said, I LOVE me some Fernandez, and working in the hotel industry I recommend it to EVERYONE. But this was ridiculous. Of course nothing was taken off the bill, not that we expected it, it was clearly our fault we're not into mauling raw flesh... but I guess I expected more. We'll maybe go back to the Immokalee location and try...

We have eaten here several times, and the food & service have always been good. However, today, we were shocked that they are calculating the TIP off both the TAXES & the Credit Card SURCHARGE. That is so wrong! The tip is off SERVICE only (pre-tax & pre-credit card surcharge). We don't tip the credit card companies or the tax office. Secondly, the bowl of soup came out 1 minute before the steak. So my husband had a choice of cold soup or cold steak. The waitress apologized for not asking the kitchen to space the food out. It was kind of her to apologize & offer to keep one warm. But the kitchen should have known better since we were their only customer eating in the whole restaurant. It was not like they were cooking up a storm for many customers and couldn't track timing. So customers beware don't trust their tip chart unless you want to tip on the credit card charge & tax bill.

Update: The owner responded to me. Here is an update from his correspondence regarding the tipping section. "....Update: I had a pleasant text coversation with the owner. Here is the response from him regarding the suggested tip section: ".. Our point of sale system does not allow to differentiate at the moment tips off pre tax or post tax but we are currently in the process of upgrading all of our systems at every location. Because we have 5 it takes a lot of planning and coordinating to do so. Your review is one of the many reasons we are upgrading is to be able to have more flexible and control. I know some people don’t believe that POS systems make the choices hard or even for us but that is truly the case. If there are restaurants that calculate it differently it is because of their POS which not all restaurants use the same system. Theres was a review MONTHS ago and since then it helped us make the decision to change POS providers. We listen and we care. That being said, the “suggested” tip is exactly that, a...

So kind of a mixed bag of experiences…

1st time… Came for the first time with long time friends and it was great. Extremely friendly staff, great food, great ambiance and music…It was fantastic, so much so I started talking about it to my girlfriend insisting I take her…

2nd time After insisting and taking my girlfriend, we went on a beautiful Sunday afternoon starving ready to have some great food and some drinks… When we arrived we were greeted by Arturo, who at first seemed friendly enough..

He sat us outside and we quickly decided what we wanted to eat and drink, again we were starving. I was hyping the place up so much I even decided I was gonna get the same thing I got last time..

We sat down and after a few min, no one came to ask if they could get us drinks, or gave us a “we’ll be right with you” nothing… I figured “maybe they’re busy, I’m gonna give them the benefit of the doubt.” Looked at my watch and it said 3:34

When my watch hit 3:40 I figured ok I’m really hungry I really can’t wait anymore. So I ask a waitress “do I have to order at the bar to get service or can I order with you” she replied with one second and went to fetch Arturo. When they returned she said something about us not supposed to be being sat there or something, it wasn’t clear. Then I said as I pointed to my watch “yeah sorry to nag but it’s been a while already and we’re starving”… arturo then responds with “yeah I have a watch too”…

Stunned, I say..”excuse me?” He says again, “yeah I have a watch too”… I didn’t want to make a scene so I told my girlfriend “sorry but I’m not giving them my money” and left. He asked if he could explain when I went back to ask his name, but we were already beyond that point…

Not sure what to say or even if I want to return but I met the owner the first night with my friends and he seemed so nice…maybe the Sunday crew isn’t the A team,...