Jimmy Hula's Lake Mary — Restaurant in Florida

I would just like to express my opinion upon my first and unfortunately last visit to your restaurant. I was looking forward to finally trying the food here and unfortunately with all of the great reviews that you have it wasn't up to par my visit. The first upset was that the food came out at separate times. First we got one person's side, then the other persons side, the one person's meal, and lastly the other twos meals. As a family coming in, we couldn't even enjoy our meal at once and together. Second, one of my family members found a piece of Styrofoam in their meal. One of the team members offered to make something on the house which we declined, but not even a Manager came to talk to us to make sure everything was okay or to offer an apology. Then, we had to physically go up to the counter and ask for the meal to be refunded off the bill. We weren't even offered to have it refunded. That was completely disappointing. On top of all of that, the restaurant was not busy at the time, and yet the table we happen to sit at wasn't even clean. There was food on the table, it was sticky to the touch and we were stepping on food from the floor. This place was a complete let down. I was hoping for so much more from all the reviews from online. I wanted to let you know three people's experience at your business to hopefully fix some of the problems you may be having when it comes to unsatisfied customers.

I forgot to mention the food. I had two different tacos, as well as my partner and my family member had a bowl. I had a fish taco and a steak taco. The fish taco didn't not please me as I thought it may. I choose crispy, and wasn't expecting it to be in little chunks in the taco. The steak taco was extremely greasy which made it not pleasant. The only thing I liked was the side which was the cheesy rice and beans. My partner had the same steak taco as me, and said his wasn't as greasy as mine, and was okay. He as well had a fish taco that had a sauce on it that was suppose to be not that hot, and explained to us that it doesn't ruin the experience or the taste of the food, which for him it did. The side he had was the fries which were actually like the rice and beans were great. Lastly my family member had the bowl, and they had pork as the meat choice and there was barely any meat in it, and unfortunately that was the meal that included...

Let me start by saying that the rating is solely based off the experience, not the tastiness of the food.

We came in about 1.5 hours before they closed, with a party of 5. We all ordered tacos. Two people got their orders and about 15 minutes later the rest of us did. The first two had cold tacos. My uncle, who is an executive in the hospitality industry, and has actually cooked for several presidents, was one who had cold food. He acknowledged that the food had great flavor, but the service, and experience was miserable.

He asked for a microwave - he was perfectly fine with just reheating. But they claimed they didn’t have a microwave so they remade it. However, with only 5 people being in the restaurant, and about 5 coming in after us, it took no less than 45 additional minutes to get his remade tacos. The server actually told us that they were making in order of how the tickets came in! The problem was our ticket went in before anyone else’s! It’s absolutely insane that they pushed his remake to the end, when this was their error.

We also ordered two different fries. Truffle, which we got and jerk, which we did not. We got plain fries. The cashier stated that we got the right fries, and we could tell they were truffle Parmesan by the way the smell. There was literally NO Parmesan at all. So I smelled the fries- they smelled like fries. She was absolutely so rude about it. My uncle asked her a question and she said “ummmm”, and then another waitress came up so she walked away, never answering him.

During the wait, we asked about the food twice and were blown off each time. Then we asked for a manager and we have yet to see him, even as I am typing this.

I fully understand that COVID is going on, but this is absolutely insane. Insane. And the lack of accountability is even worse.

Sucks because the food is good, but if I had another experience like this, I would never return.

And, as a manager, if my staff acted like this staff, I would clean house...

If you like frozen, unseasoned, greasy quick bites then this is the place for you! My wife got the 2 Fish Tacos and a Steak Taco. Neither of which she would get again. The fish was clearly frozen and tasteless. They do a great job of covering the meat of the taco with large portions of everything else to try and hide the subpar meat but then it just becomes a mess. The steak taco was slightly better in taste, but literally had grease running, not dripping, running out of the tortilla and onto the basket. The fries however, were tasty. I ordered a double burnt reynolds burger. As soon as I saw it I knew my stomach was in for the fight of its life. Flimsy oil soaked bacon, soaked in grease smash burgers (nothing like the pictures which show a completely different style burger) and a side of Truffle Oil Parm Fries, that I guess they forgot the parm on and just went with salt and pepper. The best part about this burger was the fried egg and toasted bun. Put on top of that, that you seat yourself, then have to walk back to the front desk and place your order, and then never see or hear from anyone else unless you go back up to the counter, this is far from a restaurant and more like a very confused fast food joint. The menu and the interior are a mix of three different countries and they fail to hit the mark on any of the three. I don't even want to talk about the frozen empanada... There was only one other party in the entire place last night, and clearly its for good reason. Poor food quality, poor service, and just a confusing atmosphere.

Save yourself the trouble, find a good food truck where everything is fresh or just go to Bahama Breeze or something because this place is just not it. If they want to stay open, they should probably call in Gordon or Jon Taffer...