Marlow's Tavern — Restaurant in Florida

Poor Experience Left Me Baffled:

I will begin by saying that this has won my personal award for the single worst cocktail that I've ever had in 20 years of refining my preferences in drinking. I've had grossly experimental hodge-podges of liquids and anything-goes punch bowls that were more enjoyable than whatever I was served tonight.

I've just dined here tonight for the first time. I cannot reconcile how full the location was during dinner time with how bad the food and drinks were. Surely we bad-lucked our way into ordering exclusively the worst items available, because nothing else explains why people bother coming here. I speak exclusively of my part of the order and not on my wife's behalf, though she reported that her experience was only marginally better than mine.

I started my evening with the Daily Special cocktail: an Orange Cranberry Mule. The drink supposedly is made with orange juice, cranberry juice, lime juice, ginger beer, simple syrup, and vodka. Just a basic Moscow Mule with 2 fruit juices tossed in according to the description. What arrived to my table was a nearly transparent glass of fluid with the mildest pink tinge, which should've been impossible given that list of ingredients. The only flavor in that drink was lime, which actually had to struggle to come out over the top of the sheer amount of wateriness in that glass. No ginger beer taste, color, or carbonation. The cranberry juice was surely applied via single squirt from a spray bottle to get that color. I'm not sure that orange juice was even at the same bar this drink was made - it's nowhere to be seen. I've had cans of LaCroix that had more flavor than this cocktail. They somehow managed to negate all of the good in a Moscow Mule, without bringing in any of the flavors of their variant of it. I took 3 sips and sent it away with the dish stack unfinished, despite the gall to charge $13 for that swill.

The food is when our first positive comment comes in: the Smoked Trout Dip appetizer has a good flavor. It manages to be average when compared to other smoked fish dips with a pinch of fresh parsley on top being the only thing out of the ordinary. The bread-chips they were served with were crunchy, albeit salty - perhaps to encourage you to try their drink menu: an experience I wish I could take back.

The patty on my burger was also cooked to exactly the perfect temperature (medium rare) that I requested, with no signs of being over or underdone.

That's also where the positive comments end. The smoked fish dip was expensive for the portion size: it comes in this barely-baby-food jar with around 2-3 tablespoons of dip in it. Runs just shy of $10. It looked like a single-serving appetizer, not something that could be shared by even 1 other person.

My burger - outside of the patty - left much to be desired. The $15 Tavern Burger with Cheese (jalapeno jack in my case) was a disappointing burger overall. I paid another $1 for the Tomato Bacon Jam addon, figuring that such a unique addon listed in the description for a bog-standard burger must be pretty good to make it onto the menu there. The jam seemed devoid of bacon - or the qualities of bacon - entirely. I was expecting smokiness, saltiness, umami, or something to indicate that bacon was present, but was left wanting. All I got was the acidity of the tomato and the sweetness of the jam; to say even that is being generous as the amount of jam present is only indicated by the clay-color of the top bun that seems to have absorbed all of it. I had to actually pull off a piece of the jam-colored bread to eat by itself to even tell what it contributed to the flavor.

I would gladly continue to expound on how bad the food and drink was, but Google's character limit prevents me from fully exploring the depths of how poor my dining experience was. I didn't even get to touch on issues outside of the meal. I will not be returning here and will actively seek to dissuade anybody else from making the mistake of eating here. $88 ticket after ~20% tip...

I almost did not want to write this review, but I feel like it is something that needs to be said. When I moved to Orlando in 2015, Marlow's in Waterford became an instant favorite in the area. I used to know a lot of the employees by name, and enjoyed all of the food. I frequented for nearly 5 years until early 2020 when COVID hit, after which we ordered delivery several times, and several times for pick up, each time we both got burgers. When the food would arrive it was what I can only describe as "damp" or soggy, but I figured that was because the to-go box contained the moisture. This occurred each time we ordered, and we stopped eventually, but I am not super picky so I did not complain. That was a huge mistake. After we got vaccinated and dined in for the first time recently, we both ordered burgers, the service was great as always, the server remembered us. However when the food arrived I was extremely disappointed, and now realize that the quality has simply gone down hill very very far. The burgers were exactly the same as when we ordered delivery or pickup. The whole burger was soggy and the patty didn't seem to have been cooked properly. I left quite annoyed, and several hours later both my fiancée and I felt physically ill. I am NOT SAYING we got food poisoning, but something is seriously wrong with the food quality. I should also note they were not even very busy, there were plenty of staff, and there is no excuse. I also noticed that the couple sitting next to us complained about their food and left shortly after. It is greatly disappointing seeing this change in quality, as Marlow's used to be a favorite and I would always recommend it and take coworkers out when they were in town. Now I am not sure I will ever be able to give it another chance, at least at this location. To the manager/owner: if you think there is not a quality problem, try ordering a burger blind on a few occasions, so kitchen doesn't know who they are cooking for, and...

Marlow's Tavern! Ahh yes. We have tried another location so what can we say about this one? Let's begin.

Interior is designed well and matches the other locations pretty well. Tables seemed cleaned promptly and staff was very nice. To be honest I saw some great teamwork between the staff such as refilling drinks even if it wasen't their table and grabbing the check/credit card if the waiter was passing out food to other tables. Great job!

The food was good! We had fish tacos with the hale ceasar and chicken club with truffle fries. I will say for my sandwhich and fries it may have been slightly greasy, however, that did not bother me, but I could see where it might for someone that does bother. I personally would eat it again everytime if that tells you anything. So go for it!

My wife's food was good but she did only get two tacos. For this price point I feel 3 would have been better as other places tend to do the same at that price. That being said, they were well filled, and did taste good. She left full so that is the number one thing.

Overall we had no problems and definitely recommend eating here or at any of the Taverns locations. Lots of unique options and specials that rotate monthly/seasonal. Great job!...