J. Michael's Restaurant — Restaurant in Florida

The original since 1976. This place is frequented by locals; it's a dive for sure, but these places often have the best food (and memorable service). The atmosphere was undoubtedly fun—if you can excuse the conspicuous odor of sewage as you approach the entrance. Unfortunately, as much as I hate to say it, it was miss after miss.

I called ahead for our party of 7 as the restaurant advertises call-ahead seating after 5pm. Oddly, the lady replied that they don't do this (another couple we were waiting with reported the same discrepancy). No wait, she said, so no worries; come on out. I mentioned my name so she hopefully might note it. A ten minute drive later and the hostess quoted "30 to 35 minutes," seemingly puzzled about my being told that call-ahead is not offered.

We waited an hour.

Seated, I hoped the food would make up for the experience. Our table for seven had six seats, so I swiped one from a nearby table. We ordered several items. Here are those I sampled:

Onion Rings: Crispy, but extremely salty. Fine.

Side Salad: Extremely basic with a couple of grape tomatoes, a slice of white Onion, a couple peppers and mushrooms. Prepackaged ranch dressing on the side. Lettuce was fresh.

Chicken & Pasta: Quite good. The Fiik sauce is garlicy and delicious. The grilled chicken also was well spiced. The garlic bread accompanying it, however, tastes like they poured the entire salt shaker on top. Easily the saltiest bread I have ever tried.

"Fish Chips": Fried flounder + fries + hushpuppies. Unfortunately, 100% of this dish was just plain not good. The fish was "fishy" and the batter is totally unremarkable (fish joints in our home city, 6+ hours from any ocean, feature better fish + batter than this). The steak fries were soggy and/or greasy and relatively tasteless. Hushpuppies were fine. I was so disappointed I ordered a second dish:

Red Beans & Rice: this is advertised as the dish that started the restaurant back in 1976. It wasn't bad, with a couple of hunks of celery and a wayward bay leaf hiding in the mix. The local sausage was pretty good, with a hint of heat. Accompanying it was the aforementioned salt bread.

One positive I have to mention: the kids' area is a cool idea, complete with a couple of TVs with Disney shows and coloring paraphernalia. Our server, Bailey, was also good.

It gives me no pleasure to write this review as I was really hoping this meal would satisfy my craving for top quality gulf coast fish. Needless to say, it did not—and the whole experience simply missed the mark. The local (mostly elderly) crowd frequenting the establishment doesn't seem to mind. Me? I'll have to find another candidate before...

We came to dinner on our last night out during our corporate fishing trip (Monday 10/24). Once seated the waitress asked together or separate. We explained the company is buying everything except for the alcohol. As it's a company policy. The waitress complained this would just be too much work. We said there's only 2-3 ppl that may drink the remaining 7 of us (9 total) wouldn't be drinking. She starting taking orders, the second drink order asked if they had a kahlua and cream the waitress rudely grabbed the drink menu and said this is what we have. The menu says "We have a full service bar" understandably that doesn't mean they have every drink possible but this was a very rude and unexpected response to a simple question. At this point she rejected the separate food / drink ticket once again saying it was just too difficult in their system (we've been here for a week and not once experienced that response). The waitress and our boss stepped aside to speak with the management. The manager decided it wouldn't be a problem, she would assist our waitress in getting it done how we originally requested. Our boss got back to the table expecting the waitress to follow to continue getting our orders. We sat and watched as she proceeded to take the orders at 3 other tables instead of finishing our order which she had started but couldn't complete. At this point we decided it would be best for us to leave for another restaurant. As we walked out she had a disgusted look on her face and raised her arms as if she couldn't understand why would leave. We ended up a few buildings down at a Cajun themed restaurant that had no issues accommodating our request.

It is a very common thing for us to eat out in groups wether lunch, dinner or retreats of any kind. We always have the same request, everything on one ticket except the alcoholic drinks. To my knowledge this is the first time the request resulted with this rude behavior. I write this hoping the waitress receives the...

I made 2 trips in one to this place. My first and last. I started off with sauteed oysters. I should have quit there. It was the only part of the meal we enjoyed. Next came my order of pasta and shrimp. This dish was a nightmare. Noodles that were tough and cold. (I suspect that they sat somewhere pre cooked for some time but its only a suspicion) they were drowned in some kind of gravy or sauce but the only thing you could taste was the cracked pepper. Then my wife ordered the ultimate seafood platter. The ultimate part was how bad it was. Oysters the size of marbles. Cod breaded to the point you had to peel half of it off to eat it. Then came dessert. The one piece of pie was good, my wife and her sister enjoyed it. My wife however loves key lime pie. We ordered what was listed as (Key lime pie just like in the keys, but better). I vehemently disagree. We kind of knew we were in trouble on the pie, when the waitress set it down and it was brown!! Speaking of the waitress Misty (god love her heart) every time she came to take an order or bring more food. She would ask (how is everything?) I told her about my shrimp and noodles and not being able to taste anything except pepper. She smiled and said (yes I think its a little spicy too!!!!) This played out with the pie as well. (Yes it's very tart isn't it?) We just looked at each other and laughed out loud. The parting shot, was as we left. I was paying a $140.00 bill for food I could get in any school cafeteria. When Misty said ( I hope you enjoyed your stay with us?) I could take no more. I told Misty I did NOT and that I wouldn't be back. She frowned and said (I'm sorry to hear that) and handed me my check. I gave Misty a $20.00 tip ( its all I could bring myself to do) and I left. So for $160.00 bucks I got an education and some...