Joia Fabulous Pizza & Martini Bar — Restaurant in Florida

This place is weird. I had a Groupon to finally try out after living near it for 5 years. It wants to be a lot more upscale than it is.

Their website was also offline the evening we went. We rolled the dice and went regardless. Immediately after being asked if I had a reservation we were led to a booth with cracked upholstery. Across from us was booth that had one of those crappy little American Express table reserved signs on it like you might see at a Pizza Hut buffet. Speaking of pizza hut buffets for our appetizer of overcooked mozzarella cheese with a bland canned sauce we were given plastic app plates.

We barely made it for happy hour and we did not get any side eye ordering against the special. Despite what some of the other comments stated, drinks are not $20. It was concerning because they do not list prices on their menu but my pomegranate martini was around 14 and a standard vodka martini with blue cheese olives around 8. With happy hour special of 2 for 1 this was certainly more than reasonable. In fact they made their drinks pretty strong. If you're going for the happy hour special I would say that you're getting an undoubtedly solid value.

Unfortunately that's where the good value starts and stops. I bought $20 chicken marsala and it was the most depressing thing I've ever seen. I asked to substitute the spaghetti that came with it for broccoli for which they were happy to oblige. However the broccoli it tasted like it was microwaved. I'd forgive that since they gave me so much and it's not on the menu except for the fact that the chicken that came with it was straight sad. It was maybe one small 5 oz chicken breast. It covered maybe a quarter of the plate. The taste wasn't much better. Super bland. I often make something better tasting with just a generic $4 cooking wine and some Italian spices off the shelf from Publix. Carrabba's is Michelin Chef Fare compare to this. Stay far away.

My roommates meal of a $17 shrimp spinach salad wasn't much better. While generous with the prosciutto, I'm told it was very chewy and not very enjoyable. It might have been the strong drinks but he agreed it tasted like I suggested it looked - a pig ear dog chew. The shrimp that came on the salad we're not seasoned at all and had the tails still on. Really!?

Service was pretty decent considering how many people were there. I couldn't make any solid complaints in that regard. Not outstanding but not inadequate.

Free bread was soft, and the oil dipping sauce was pretty good, but it was cold despite being told we were waiting for hot fresh bread.

We did not try any of their pizzas. The menu looked good and looking around at the packed bar it seems like that's the most popular thing. I suppose that it is in their name. They do constantly have a good number of clientele. They must be smarter than us and stick to the signature options.

Overall they need to go back to the drawing board and figure out what they're trying to do. I think this is a solid pick if you like any number of martinis from a standard vodka dirty with blue cheese olives to any number of their more fruity creative selections and can hit them on their happy hour until 7 p.m from Tuesday through Saturday (??). Their pizza might be good but I couldn't make any promises. But the entrees are ridiculously overpriced for what you get. For an entree, dinner salad, small app, and two drinks you're looking at 70 bucks. I guess you should just stick to their name - pizza and martinis.

P.s. - throwing a bunch of parsley on all of your plates does not mean you're doing a good job with...

My friends and I were out celebrating our friends birthday. The restaurant was really busy for a Monday and understaffed. So service was a bit slow and that is completely understandable. The first problem to arise is the food delivery. A side order of grilled chicken was forgotten and once delivered was not appeasing. The chicken was overcooked, lacked seasoning and tasted as it had been sitting around awhile and just thrown on grill to be warmed back up. We made the server Mildred P aware of the issue and she instantly has attitude like it was our fault. Again the restaurant was super busy, however our table of 5 was not checked on and drinks definitely were not refilled in a timely fashion. We finished our meals and waited for checks. One of our friends decided to pick up the check of the birthday girl. Ms. Mildred came back with the finalized bills and walked away. As I was looking at my bill I see it was double what it was before I handed over my card. And made a comment to the table, well she certainly screwed that up she put the birthday girl’s bill on my tab. Mildred was evidently in earshot and came whipping around the corner to the table and verbally accosted me. She said “ I don’t come to your workplace and complain about your mistakes. Are you infallible?” Then she storms off. Clearly Mildred P was having a bad night. I get it we all have bad moments at work. However, it does not give you free reign to berate you customers. The manager was called over and we explained to her what happened, we also asked for her to call Mildred P over so we could discuss the problem. She acted as though she did not know where Mildred was. Clearly, she just wanted to dilute the situation and not address the problem with Mildred. She apologized and offered to do something to make it right. She was surprised Mildred acted in that manner as she said she is the most requested server. She came back to the table and gave the birthday girl a gift card for $25 It was a nice gesture nonetheless my bill never got corrected. We have been coming to Joia over 10 years and have never had a poor experience. I don’t believe the previous owners would have tolerated a server acting the way Mildred did. Bring Paulie back out of retirement he knew how to treat the customers. I honestly hope Mildred does not treat anyone else in this manner and is retrained on her customer service skills.

Nowadays it seems everyone is sensitive and quick to argue with a customer instead of not taking things personally and just fixing the problem. Verbal abuse would be calling the server names or cursing at them. If the customer is not doing that, the waitperson is not being abused. In that situation, the best response of the waitperson is to listen patiently to the customer complaint, apologize profusely for the situation upsetting them, and do their best to correct the problem. If they cannot correct the problem, they should offer to bring over the manager so he can help. There is no place for huffiness, sulkiness, or arguing when...

I am the person that loves to compliment places with 5 star reviews and we also love to overtip our wait staff.... But not at this place! First-the one compliment I can give is that the food tastes great and the martini's are yummy. So let's talk about the service... Horrible! We have been there several times now. The first time we went (last summer) the service was amazing and we have not had that experience again. We have been three other times. The second time, we waited... and waited... and waited to be served. If you choose to go here, expect it to be a slow process. The third time we went here, we were sat outside. The restaurant was not busy but supposedly "understaffed but we will get to you" (said the new hostess on her first day). Not only were we forgotten once, but three times. For water/food/just being checked on. We swore that we were not going to go back after that visit, but our neighbors were wanting to check out Joia, though fearful of the online reviews. We were invited to dinner with our friends/neighbors and we accepted. Hoping that maybe any growing pains or turn over of staff had since been corrected. Well last night... not only was our dinner delivered a hour after ordering, but two of the four entree's were incorrect. Our water glasses went unfilled. We were told that our incorrect orders were being expedited (another 10 min). All the while, our waiter was not only NOT attending to any of our needs, but downright ignoring us. We had to get up to get our waiters attention and asked for the manager. We had asked for bread twice-none ever came. After waiting for the corrected food another 20 min, we got up to get the manager ourselves. The manager claimed that no one made him aware of our request to speak to him and made us feel like it was our fault for expecting even sub-par service. In the end we were not charged for the two meals that never came. Our bill for the table was still over $100. We only ordered one martini each. Just keep in mind the overpriced drinks. We have a Groupon that they would not accept.... You know, because we had a meal that was written off and all. But as we were signing our bill they were nice enough to box up the two corrected meals for us to take home and eat, which were less than half the size of a full meal. But thanks for the "taste-test". So all in all... No I would never recommend this restaurant. We have given them way too many chances and I do not see how they will stay in business. They seriously need new management and to put all of their employees...