Firefly Grill — Restaurant in Effingham

Very esthetically please place with a great atmosphere. I am a vegetarian and when I saw the option for the Chefs Veggie Entree I was interested. I called and spoke to the hostess. She ended up reading the description to me from the menu which says something about catering to allergies and aversions and to let the server know and the chef will create a dish just for you. I wanted to know what the dish would entail. She put me on hold, came back and told me it would be a veggie board with fresh veggies from the garden. Awesome so excited that the restaurant has a garden it uses. But I was confused, I asked but if it’s a veggie board why is it being called an entree? And she said the board was the entree, I said so I get raw veggies? Then she said they can cook them however I like, but now I’m just co fused because I would assume there is some go to dish that is made and can be tailored easily to ppl with allergies etc. so I ask what my options are and she said the veggie board, I asked if there was any protein with it (as I am hungry and paying 24$ for veggies is not okay) and she proceeds to put me on hold to ask a server. Spoke to a server they said the dish was stir fried veggies with summer squash, zucchini, Brussels served with potatoes or rice. I said okay sound good but do you have any plant based protein? And he said no. I said no lentils or beans? And he then said actually yes we have lentils that we serve with another dish we can add those. Yes, yes please I would like protein with my meal. So I placed the order for pick up, and paid over the phone. I waited in the outdoor space while it was being made. Grabbed my dish and headed back to the hotel. The dish smelled good, but sadly it was only okay. I don’t know how it was seasoned but it was way too much sauce, almost like a soy teriyaki sauce, the rice was soaked in it, no summer squash and no zucchini. I couldn’t even eat the whole dish because the flavor is overwhelming. Basically I am happy the menu offers a vegetarian option but disappointed that no thought from the chefs go into planning a balanced vegetarian dinner meal (carbs, veggies and protein). And I am also sad that I can’t eat my dinner… this is why traveling sucks… I basically have to eat like trash the whole time because everyone thinks vegetarians only want...

I absolutely love this place. Firefly is mine and my wife's favorite place to eat. We are foodies and travel all over eating at different types of restaurants. We spend roughly $175-$225 for my wife & I. We spend $300-$400 for 3-5 people. Some of our favorites are fried green tomatoes, New York strip, ribeye, beef wellington, seafood or clam chowders w/chabada bread, the soups, the salads, mushroom ravioli...and the list goes on. We've been too many times to count. The food is amazing, you will not be disappointed. The atmosphere is great. The service is normally fantastic. My only complaints are the chairs not scooting under the tables, & one of the waitresses not so good anymore (she used to be my favorite). The chairs don't seem like an issue unless you have a bad back. My last visit, three tables around me, and I were stretching our backs due to the pain. The chairs not scooting up require you to bend over to reach the table while eating. If the table legs were charged, this wouldn't be a problem. The chairs are actually very nice and so are the tables. The wait staff are normally on top of it, and GREAT. One of the waitresses that has worked for Firefly (over a year, if not longer) has gone down with her service. The last two times I've had her as a waitresses she was horrible. She forgot we were there and didn't return to our table for 45 minutes. We had eaten the apps and soup. We sat waiting for our main course. She forgot to put the main course in (we found out after). The man I stopped asked us if we still wanted the steak. I said yes but told them to get it to go due to us waiting too long and it was late. It wasn't busy. We were the only table in the main dining area. She apologized and laughed it off. The next time she forgot to put in parts of our order, having the soups come out without the bread ordered with them. She didn't put in our main course on time and we waited much too long for it. I believe it's important to mention this as it causes the customer to wait and a table to be unavailable for the next...

The one star is for the very instagram attractive decor, construction and features like the rustic yet modern entry, sprawling bar, charming pond with koi. They lost 4 stars on service and mainly the highlight of this place which is farm to table flair. Service was a slow as the place was not busy. Tables that arrived after us were served before us. We were recommend the fried green tomatoes. Typically these can't be messed up. There was so much breading I couldn't discern the tomatoes from the heavy layer of vegetables topping the dish. I understand they were trying to steer off the classic but this was too far off. Overly salted and the excessive sauces masked the flavors of the farm to table fresh veggies. Green tomato disappeared. Not good overall.Similar to I imagine something like you'd get in lower quality chili's type places. I was told that the foccacia for the muffletta would be the best I ever had. It was absolutely not. Not pillowy at all. On the heavy side and covered in oil. Seemed to be rubbery like it was microwaved. Meats may have been good quality if I could get past the oil and salt in the focaccia. Muffletta is typically not on this type of bread anyway. Even the fresh arugula was dressed in a very salty dressing. Again I could not enjoy this dish because of the salt. Also tasted my husband's Philly which was the saltiest of all. Why!!?? Farm to table doesn't need to be covered in excessive salt!! The apricot Agua fresca was terrible. Sour and flavorless. Very underwhelming, salty and uninteresting food not to mention the price for the portion was just paying for the insta surroundings. Extra 5% fees for no reason at all. Food seems to be an afterthought. Go if you like cute surroundings and small salty dishes with fancy descriptions--but the food had zero farm to table qualities. Nothing tasted farm fresh. Skip it and save your $$$ for local bbq or pack your own road trip...