Salty Lime Cantina — Restaurant in Florida

Decided to go and beat the crowd and try this place out on a Friday at 5pm. Upon arrival with our kids, we were walking up the on ramp and was hit by somebody burning down between buildings as you round the corner to front door. It was over the top and not a good look with kiddos. We were greeted and seated relatively quick. We were one of 5 tables seated in dining room. It took about 7-8 minutes before we were greeted by a server and brought a round of warm waters. After another 7-8 minutes our server took our drink order which consisted of a few tasty margs. They got this part correct, we also ordered nachos which were mediocre, the cheese wasn’t fully melted and flavor was bland. We then tried to order tacos, but apparently you can only mix a match Tacos on Tuesdays. Otherwise they’re sold in pairs, which seems kind of silly compared to other Restaurants with similar offerings. We waited an hour and 20 minutes for our food. The restaurant started to fill up when the restaurant lost power suddenly and came back on after about 30 seconds. Apparently something happened in the kitchen, although none of this was communicated to us. The table behind us was told that their order was put in for the wrong table and somehow lost. It became unbearably hot in the restaurant while we waited and no manager came around to say anything and the poor server just kept apologizing. We understand that things can happen in the service industry, but not communicating to the customers is unacceptable. We ended up asking for our food to go after about another 20 minutes. The food came out, again no manager in sight, the server was left to give an explanation, but said she also just found out. Based on the way this was handled I’ll never return to this restaurant. The only thing good was the drinks and to top it all off when we got home we noticed our order was incorrect. There was several instances where items listed on the menu weren’t in stock and the server Repeatedly said I don’t know why that’s on the menu we haven’t had that for a while. What we thought was gonna be a nice relaxing night with a fun ambience, knowing we would deal with the crowd turned into a nightmare that was poorly handled and mismanaged. save yourself the time and go somewhere else unless you’re looking for a variety of margaritas and that’s it, then you’ve found your place. Don’t expect much from the service staff Everybody shrugged their shoulders and blamed the kitchen staff and the reasoning was the microwave broke. Really sad and very frustrating and on top of it all our order was wrong and missing items. I tried calling the restaurant when we returned home with no answer....

We have been coming to Thirsty Marlin for years and always enjoyed! When they opened the Salty Lime, we finally found a go to for Mexican food as so many Pinellas area Mexican restaurants have closed. I know since COVID, everyone is stating they are shorthanded, so it is hard to knock slower than normal service, but....! We came here twice this past week due to entertaining family and friends, and when I went to pay the tab on this most recent visit, I noticed a Transport Tax of 3% on top of the 7% sales tax. I'm sorry, but if you are going to add a hidden fee on, please just go up across the board and add 3% to you menu prices, even if you just add a big notice on the menu that there is a Transport Charge of 3% added to all bills. If this is a temporary charge for food cost increases, make a statement to that affect, and that you hope this is temporary and will be able to remove after the economy calms down, or something to that affect. Cheaper to add a sticker to a menu than having all new menus printed, although this day and age with color laser printers, it should be just as easy. Next, after I noticed the Transport charge, I looked back on my receipt from the previous visit two days earlier, and of course that had it but, I also noted I was charged $19.99 for my blackened chicken salad! I double checked the menu and sure enough $15.99 to the right of the protein choice. Below that, there is a note reflecting an additional charge for steak, fish or shrimp, which is understandable, but the blackened chicken was under basic. When I questioned the server on our most recent visit, whether the charge I had the other day would be correct, he confirmed, they add $4 for chicken or any of the protein choices. So, $15.99 for a taco salad alone? Seems high based on the same salad I order at another area restaurant we frequent. I do like the food here, so I'm somewhat disappointed! So going forward, I guess I just need to ask if the price I'm seeing is correct. Every hot economy, establishments push to see what they can get away with, just like the extra charge for using a credit card, something Salty Lime Cantina hopefully will not do, then I will definitely stop coming. In response to others and the service, I would also agree, we tend to wait a little too long after we sit to be approached, that is a common problem here, so I can't blame the servers, alone, as that would mainly be on management/training. Food taste, quality, and quantity are...

UPDATE: We received a personal phone call from the owner Cynda. She was very sorry to hear about our experience and offered a kind apology. We received two gift cards to their restaurants, a hand written invitation back for us and our group and a wonderful card from (Chasty) inviting us back with kindness as well. This is more than we could have asked for. We appreciate the the generous response and genuine apology. We will plan a visit with our family soon!

This is our second year hosting our annual birthday bike ride/pub crawl at Salty Lime. We had a great experience last January and were welcomed to come back this year. We called to make a reservation for a party of 10-12 several days in advance. The first employee we spoke with about the reservation (Cassy) or (Cassidy) was extremely rude, unwelcoming and unwilling to accommodate a party of 10. When I explained to her we celebrated their last year with the same number of guests and were welcomed back by the owners, She impatiently told me I must be mistaken about celebrating their last year. She seemed pretty upset about making our reservation and handed the phone to someone else. The second employee ( Jocelyn) was very kind, she booked our reservation quickly and made our group feel welcome. The staff had our table ready a bit early and set nicely. This was convenient as some of us arrived early. Our excellent waiter was (Alex) He was so kind, patient with our big party and visited the table often to check on us. We all ordered drinks and our meals right away so we could stay on time for the rest of our pub crawl. Unfortunately there seemed to be a back up in the kitchen that night and lots of miscommunication. Our group waited nearly 1 1/2 hours for our meals. Two of our guests did not receive their food at all. We know this was not (Alex's) fault yet he continued to apologize for the delay. The food we did receive was great but more expensive than expected. We never received a visit from a manager (we never asked) but it may have been courteous for someone to acknowledge the situation. We had to ask to revers the charges on the two meals that weren't received. I think I speak for the whole group when I say this was a pretty disappointing start to our 11th annual bike tour. Unfortunately we don't plan on visiting again and will reserve somewhere more...