Sainte-George Restaurant — Restaurant in Florida

I have never experienced anything like this! I booked a 7 pm reservation online for this place in OCTOBER for Christmas Eve dinner. My family and I were traveling for Christmas and I wanted to get ahead of it knowing that many places would book quickly. The website made this place seem very nice and we were excited to have a nice meal together on Christmas Eve. I had email and text confirmation of my reservation for 7 pm. About a week before our reservation I called to see if there was anyway we could move the reservation to 5, but told the girl on the phone I understood if that was not possible and would gladly keep 7 if that was the case. She was nice, but seemed confused, almost like she couldn’t find my reservation and asked to call me back. I never received a call back, but got a message on open table via my email a few hours later saying they could no longer accommodate my 7 pm reservation but that they could take us at 9. Very confused, I called. I was very kind and simply trying to confirm what time they had me down for, and the woman on the phone this time was so incredibly RUDE!! She didnt seem to care that I had made a reservation for 7 well in advance and literally said “ I don’t know what you want me to tell you, it’s Christmas Eve and we’re very busy”. After some back and forth she finally moved my reservation to 9:30 so we could be accommodated. I didn’t argue, I was just happy to have a place to eat on Christmas Eve and I thought maybe she was just having a bad day, knowing how tough working in hospitality can be this time of year. Once again, I received a text and email confirmation of our new reservation time.

Christmas Eve comes and me and my family arrive promptly at 9:25 for our 9:30 reservation. There are a ton of other parties waiting outside. I go inside to try to check in and there is no one to be found at the front. Everyone seems confused. Finally the blonde hostess appears and very rudely tells everyone they need to go outside and she will get to us when she can. A person in front of me tried asking a server about his reservation and they very rudely replied “ well we close at 10!”

I go outside along with the other parties waiting, who all somehow had 9:30 reservations and were basically scolded to go wait outside. Finally the hostess comes out and very unapologetically tells us that she doesn’t think we will all be able to be seated and that the online booking system doesn’t talk to their computers?? What?!? At this point I’m so over it and decided that we didn’t want to give a place that treats its patrons like this hundreds of dollars so we went back to our hotel and ordered pizza. Not the Christmas Eve dinner I wanted or planned for , but after seeing all the reviews of others who actually ate the food , it appears we made the right call.

Moral of the story, do not waste your time with...

I wish I could give a higher review, because I love this area and its restaurants. I made a reservation using OpenTable and when I phoned ahead to check on stairs/elevator for our elderly guest, the young woman answering the phone could not locate my reservation and said she'd be unable to seat me. I called back a few minutes later and fortunately she passed me off to, probably, a manager who cleared up the misunderstanding and told me she'd try and accommodate us on the first floor where there was only 3 tables. This was great!

Grandma decided to stay home and when we arrived we were pleasantly surprised to find they had indeed saved us a first floor table, although we didn't need it any longer. They did a great job on that issue for us and I'm deeply appreciative. We sat and dropped the issue.

The not so good: -the tap-water bottle of water had a sulphur smell. They need a purifier. -the furniture needs some attention. The back of one of our mismatched folding chairs was broken and gave may daughter a lounge chair to eat in. -the Old Fashioned was sad. A small scoop of crushed ice mostly chilled the cherry and bourbon before it melted but I'm not sure there were any other ingredients in it. The peach sangria was nice though, my wife reports. -the bartender serves these downstairs tables and she's clearly over-tasked. She was friendly, but unable to keep a close eye on us and her arms and legs seemed to never stop. -The $67 thin-sliced ribeye over mashed potatoes and a brussel sprout dish was ok, but I seriously question the value. -The $69 lobster and ribbon pasta was also satisfactory but with the price tag we expected something more. -Our party of 3 table incurred an automatically-applied 20% gratuity and a 1.5% "Kitchen Appreciation" charge. Realistically, I would have left a 15% gratuity because this poor lady was pleasant but couldn't give us sufficient attention because she was too busy to earn my nearly-consistent 20% customary tip for good service. Oh, I'm not digging the kitchen appreciation fee, at all. Summary: If you're looking for a Saint George's street meal, this isn't a horrible stop. I peeked upstairs at the awesome views we passed up and this might make the meal feel nicer for you. But overall I think I would it would have been better with a $25 hamburger and a beer instead of the over-priced and underwhelming meal we had. Check the menu for your visit to see what they're serving. On the plus side, the manager at the door did everything right to accommodate our reservation and seating request. I just wish she or someone else roamed the floors to make the necessary staffing and seating adjustments and to troubleshoot issues.

Enjoy your St....

Anniversary and Christmas Eve Ruined

On December 15th, I made a reservation for December 24th at 9:30 pm to have dinner with my husband and parents in celebration of a very special occasion: my parents' 38th wedding anniversary. It was Christmas Eve, and we were excited to enjoy a meaningful family dinner at a restaurant we believed could provide the perfect setting for such an important celebration. On the afternoon of December 24th, I called at 6:00 pm to reconfirm the reservation, and I was assured that everything was in order.

However, when we arrived at 9:15 pm, I noticed a line of people outside. I went in to inform the staff that we had arrived. After waiting for 5 minutes for someone to provide information, I saw what I assumed was a waitress approaching. She greeted me in a rude and cold manner, stating directly that the kitchen was about to close, the restaurant was full, and they were no longer accepting walk-ins. I explained that I had a reservation, but her attitude remained uninterested and unprofessional, simply telling me to wait for the host.

When the host finally appeared, she asked everyone waiting inside the restaurant to step outside and wait there. A few minutes later, she came back visibly irritated and announced that the restaurant was overbooked due to a reservation system failure. She explained that the restaurant was full and said we would need to wait approximately an hour for a table or leave.

What upset me the most was her lack of respect and empathy. When customers tried to make comments or suggestions, she made a hand gesture, similar to this 🤏, as if to silence them. She did this to several people, and to make matters worse, she said it wasn’t her fault because she was just a "Minion," not the manager or the owner. This behavior was completely disrespectful.

That night was Christmas Eve, and since finding another available restaurant at that hour was impossible, we ended up eating pizza at a Seven Eleven because everything was close. This is how we celebrated my parents' 38th wedding anniversary—a night that should have been memorable for all the right reasons but instead became an embarrassing disaster.

The lack of organization, poor handling of reservations, and the staff’s attitude are unforgivable. If they cannot handle reservations on such an important date like Christmas Eve, they simply should not accept more than they can manage. Furthermore, the staff urgently needs customer service training.

They completely ruined a unique and special night. Not only would I not recommend this restaurant, but I would advise others to think twice before trusting a place that clearly does not respect...