18 SIXTY Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Gainesville

I typically don't write bad reviews but this time i feel it is necessary. Although we visited Sarah on the Square many times and sad that they are no longer, we are excited and hopeful about a new concept and surprise how quickly it reopened. Our visit tonight was a big disappointment. The food: we order calamari for appetizer. For $15, the serving was small, dried, heavily battered. Although the dish is called 'salt and pepper calamari', it has no flavors and could use some more salt and pepper. The tomato sauce that comes with it also has no flavor. For main course, i ordered shrimp angel hair pasta which has an option of meat ball instead. i went for the meatball option. The dish came out with very little sauce. i asked the waiter if i can have some more sauce, the waiter told me it would be an extra charge, which i was fine with. Still even with the added sauce, the dish was still dry. Service: Our waiter was distracted and lack of personality. The manager did come by and ask about our experience. After sharing about the pasta being dried, she insisted on comping the meal, which i did not expect. When we got the bill, we found out that if you order the meatball option, instead of being the same price, they charge you additionally for each meat ball and you get no shrimp eventhough you were charged for it. They only remove the charge of the additonal little tomato sauce that i asked for when the dish is too dry. $30 for a angel hair spagetti with three meatball is excessive Atmosphere: cold, sad, no music, no decorations, Instead of doing something to the space to change the personality of the place, all they did was stripping everything off the wall. No new paint, no new decor, still the old furnitures. I asked the manager what their new vision for the restaurant is, assuming they are in transition and still working out the kinks, she said they want to be an upscale American restaurant and something to the effect that they dont like the cozy old atmosphere before. There was nothing upscale about our experience except the price. The sauce was served in plastic cups, and i had to point out to the waiter that my drink has been ready for a while waiting to to be served. Seems like the new owner has a lot...

Update and corrected: Amazing! They’ve listened to their customers and provided, food packing with flavor and tenderness. 10/10

My man and I stopped to try this new gem. This place has so much potential. Great quality of food but it lacks alot flavor. The blackened Alfredo is good. The noodles were cooked perfectly and the sauce was okay but scarce, the chicken was extremely juicy and tender but lacked any flavor especially the signature of a grill, the shrimp was amazing (we added it to the Alfredo, great idea!). The calamari was fried deeply but had no flavor. My gentleman loved the honey jalapeño cornbread. I didn’t like that the water was tap water from the faucet so I opted in for mineral water. The chocolate cake was SO AMAZING and rich, a great finish to the meal. I’d love to come back once they...

I gave it three tries. I really wanted to like this place. Staff is really nice, but the owners have set them up for failure. Start with the bar, you need bottles of liquor and wine to run a bar, however they don't have much. Forget about the wines, never heard of any of them, and mostly out so no problem. The quality and portion sizes don't support the prices. If you are going to go, I recommend late afternoon/evening, the daytime guy will overcook your steak or burger. Hoping they get better, but it is hard if you are running off your...