Brian's Place — Restaurant in Florida

I will preface this review with the fact that we eat fish about 3 times a week, are avid anglers and have a classically trained chef as a friend so we have high expectations when it comes to food.

This was our first time here. When we walked in we were not greeted until we figured out where the hostess was and walked up to it (looking around a little lost until then). We were sat in the middle of the restaurant and didn't know there was a back patio on the water (which we would have preferred).

Our server didn't greet us within 5 minutes (mind you it was about 4pm so we didn't really have a high expectation for the amount of patrons there). She took our drink order but not ask if we had questions (we did) or were ready to order so when she came back we decided to just order since we had already been there approximately 15-20min. I have a dietary restrictions of not eating wheat or it can cause serious health issues (not celiac, just different health issues, cross contamination is ok and fried in same fryer is ok so I just generally order food that naturally comes without it). We decided on the early bird special. I didn't see the no exceptions because I saw what I would like and stopped reading the menu. When I asked for plantains instead of pieces of bread for the first course (which I didn't think was an unreasonable ask) I was met with a harsh no and pointing to no substitutions. No empathy or guidance on something else and when I asked "even if it makes me severely ill? I'm not asking because I don't like it" she said "People come in all the time and they don't allow substitutions". I was entirely thrown off by a food establishment that would not make substitutions for a food that causes issues for someone. We asked for a few minutes.

We ordered the plantain appetizer and the crab was not fresh or even publix seafood department good. It tasted old and cooked way WAY too hot.

We ordered the special and I gave the first course to My husband and step son - the bread was burnt. Not just toasty burnt - black on the ENTIRE bottom burnt.

Soups came out. They were beyond safe Temps for serving or eating - almost boiling! Had to try and cool down with ice. The bean soup seemed like the can of beans I put on the stove and add seasoning to. My husband was not impressed witb his Asiago potato soup either.

My stepson got grouper - there was no salt on deep fried grouper for kids and no lemon. The fries were also soft/soggy and not crisp. My husband got the chicken penne pasta and he said it was mediocre at best because the sauce wasn't very good, noodles were undercooked and seemed store bought boxed. There also was not much chicken. I ordered the salmon. It was awful. It was so hot on the ends it was overcooked and too hot to eat. The middle was undercooked. There was barely any seasoning as I had to add salt and pepper. There was also again, no lemon on the plate with a piece of seafood! My green beans were raw and room temperature and my potatoes were cold. The sauce was not good either. At thiss point our entire meal we could literally cook better in our own kitchen.

We will not be back. With the reviews we had high expectations and it did not come...

Looking to try something new and explore our surrounding neighborhood hot spots, we decided to give Brian's Place a try. It's a very nice place with tasteful decor, a small indoor seating area and larger outdoor seating areas very typical of Florida.

A series of unfortunate events with the service staff put a huge damper on the experience. We arrived at 4:30pm on a Wednesday expecting there to be plenty of seating readily available. We asked the brown haired hostess, who greeted us with disdain for interrupting her set up efforts, for an indoor table, only to be told all they had available were outdoor tables. Looking around the room, we see many empty tables with all but one of them having a reserved sign on it and that one needed to be turned.

We opted for the available table and were seated outside hoping the rain will hold out until we had completed our meal. Sadly, the sky opened up between the salad course and our entrees. Unable to continue to sit there, we went inside looking for our server to have the undelivered entrees wrapped to go. As we waited for our order to be brought up, dripping onto the dining room floor, the front of the house manager asked if we would prefer a table inside. We declined, settled the bill, and drove home to eat our food.

If asked to rate just the food, my review would be 5 stars. The filet was succulent, cooked to perfection, and seasoned well. The red snapper had a wonderful crust on it, the mash was on point, and the lemon butter sauce was the surprise star of the dish. We felt the grilled eggplant was a little chewy and butternut squash was a little under cooked but those are subjective to our tastes and did not detract from the dishes. The fact that the dishes were now cold didn't even take away from the flavor.

My issues really center around the service, or lack there of, that started with the RBF on the hostess. At no time was there a smile on her face or an apology for only having outdoor seating available. We were banished to the outside like Remy the rodent in Ratatouille instead of offering seating at the bar or being asked if we could wait a few minutes for the empty table to be turned. Where has customer service gone? When we walked in soaked we were not offered a towel to dry off and when we turned down the table inside (after being told there were none available less than 30 minutes prior) we weren't offered a comp of our meal or even a...

Came here for the 1st time tonight for dinner. We didn't have a reservation, so we called and the girl that answered said they could accommodate us ( just me and my husband) We were seated right away on the pond side, outdoors. We were sitting at the table for 20 min without so much as a glance our way from any of the servers. I watched 3 different waitresses tend to the 3 tables that had patrons and they came out numerous times, yet not one of them acknowledged our existence. My husband finally got up and went inside to tell a waitress that we had been seated 20 min ago, and noone had come over to us. She seemed surprised by this and assured him that someone would be right over. 10 minutes later, still no acknowledgement by any of the waitresses, who continued to go in and out tending to the 3 tables outside. My husband then calls the restaurant, from the table and again tells them that we are still waiting without anyone coming to our table. We were sitting there with menus, nothing else. A few minutes later, a waitress finally comes over to ask us if anyone had come to our table yet. So, I told her that noone had, and we had been sitting here for more then 30 minutes, while they all came and went, and that I was starting to think we were invisible. My guess is that she didn't like that because she was not very personable. And, aside from that comment, I maintained a friendly demeanor. Anyway, I ordered a Mango Margarita, it was not by any means Mango flavored, nor was it served in a Margarita glass. It was very strong and I have no idea what was in it. I drank it hoping to numb the pain of how this was going. Aside from that, the food was amazing. I had the special ( pork chop) and my husband had the Chipotle pasta dish. We also ordered the pork crostini appetizer. The owner and Chef came out and introduced himself at the end of our meal. I thought that was very nice of him. Honestly, the service leaves alot to be desired. I was about to just walk out and had I done that I would have missed a very good meal. I hope these reviews are read, because service needs an overhaul and the wait staff needs some serious training. It's unfortunate that such a talented Chef will potentially lose alot of business due to the lack of courtesy given to his customers by his staff. I may or may not go back, I'm still undecided on that, but if I don't, it won't be because of the food. The food...