Covey Kitchen + Cocktails — Restaurant in Gainesville

We visited around 12:15pm on Tuesday since all the other Gainesville steakhouses open in the evening. Parking is valet only since the restaurant is inside the Eleo hotel, or you can walk from the free parking garage down the block to the restaurant. Restrooms were clean and 100% automated. The decor around the hotel is a minimalist nouveau style so very plain colors and barely any decorations. Carpet in the dining area was a questionable choice since anyone could see remnants of past stains on it. The restaurant was semi-busy for lunch and we landed a table near the kitchen. Electronic menu was interesting - low key minimal lunch menu.

My husband and I ordered 2 hot teas, the 6 Oz. flank steak (well-done), crispy cauliflower appetizer, french onion dip sandwich with a side of boursin garlic whipped potatoes, and grilled salmon also with the whipped potatoes. The food arrived about 15 minutes after our order. Crispy cauliflower was spicy and excellent with the dipping sauce. Perfect for sharing. This was the best part of the meal.

The steak, salmon, and sandwich arrived soon after. Oily fingerprints on the black plates were mildly unappealing so I wiped them off with the table napkin. We also found it odd the steak was placed on top of a bed of lettuce since that made it difficult to cut, but at least it was tender and tasted ok. The salmon was cooked well and did not have any fishy flavor at all (which is good). We finished the steak and salmon. However, the side of boursin garlic whipped potatoes was extremely salty, a heart-palpitating amount of salt, so after realizing the entire side tasted like this, it was inedible. My husband then tried the French onion dip sandwich and encountered a tough fatty ligament on the 2nd or 3rd bite so he decided to stop eating and we asked for the check and to go containers. We wouldn't be eating our leftovers, but the garden compost would certainly enjoy it.

Total was $110 with appropriate tip. Customer service was excellent and the waitstaff are friendly, professional, and very accommodating.

But after being disappointed in our lunch, first and last time we're...

This restaurant relies on being a tourist trap instead of offering quality service or great food and beverage. They dismiss their clientele without a thought knowing that each game day weekend will bring droves of fans that will inevitably stay in the hotel and require room service or a bite to eat out of convenience. It's also evident that Covey makes no effort to honor reservations.

Upon arrival the hotel valet tried to discourage us from even entering, saying the restaurant was no longer serving food (this should have been a red flag from the start); when we said we had dinner reservations he quickly doubled-back and said we were OK to enter. At hostess check we waited another 15-20 minutes beyond reservation time for our table, and about 5 minutes after seating our server handed us menus and said the kitchen was backed up and could not accept any food orders for the time being, but he would 'keep us posted' if anything changed. Um, what? How is this acceptable, and why weren't we informed this by the hostess so we could potentially make other arrangements? After 15 minutes or so without another visit/update from the server, we decided to leave and attempt to find somewhere else to dine (no easy task without reservations on a game weekend, but it was clear we may not be eating at all if we stayed here).

I called later to speak with management about my experience but received no reply or callback. A few ways Covey could have handled the situation could be to 1) only accept reservation as to not get overwhelmed, 2) don't accept any reservations to avoid upset when reservations can't be honored or served food, 3) offer a complimentary appetizer and/or cocktail that can be supplied by the kitchen quickly to hold guests over until the rush subsides. Covey did no such thing and could not be bothered to even return a phone call, so it's clear that they don't care about serving their customers or having repeat business.

Bottom line = AVOID THIS...

Set in Gainesville’s hospital hub and inside the brand new Eleo Hotel, Covey Kitchen + Cocktails opened its doors a couple of weeks ago as a great addition to the city’s food scene. For years Gainesville had been missing a new upscale yet casual dining option with the only place on this category in town being Dragonfly.

It seems like Covey aims to create competition in this dining category and so far, does so successfully. The restaurant has floor to ceiling glass windows and minimalistic decor that maximize the surrounding views of the lit up buildings and grand fountain. The outdoor sitting area is great as well, with comfortable sitting perfect for a not so cold Florida winter night. In terms of food, Covey exceeded my expectations in most ways.

Their Caesar salad was unique with infusion of herbs and the inclusion of mint in what is usually a basic salad. The reimagining of this salad pays off however, creating a great cushion of taste. My entree with the Steak Frites was great as well with the steak being cooked to my desired level and the sides tasting well too. The only part where I see improvement needed was dessert. They only had two options which really limits your choices and the one I went with, the Bread pudding one, was less than stellar. It was dry and almost stale like with not much sweet in it so that is something they could work on.

Service was exceptional as well with a very knowledgeable waitress and very attentive, I would definitely recommend this place and would hope that it slowly becomes a bigger part of Gainesville’s...