Florida Room — Restaurant in Gainesville

To start, I’d like to say that the food was good; however, I am never coming back here because of the absolutely disgraceful service. Frankly, management should be ashamed to have someone like our waitress on staff.

My friends and I went to Florida Room for brunch and were split into two groups due to the size of our party. The waitress assigned to my group didn’t introduce herself, didn’t offer a greeting—nothing. She was shorter in stature, wore a bandana and a plaid shirt, and from the moment we sat down, it was clear she couldn’t care less about doing her job properly. She barely interacted with us, took our drink orders, eventually came back to take our food orders, and then disappeared.

We sat and waited for an hour before I went up to the counter and ordered a pastry to hold us over. The pastry arrived five minutes later, and just two minutes after that, the waitress returned—only to place our checks on the table and walk away. Naturally, we were extremely confused since we were all still waiting for our food. We asked our other group of friends if their waitress had done the same, but that wasn’t the case. When I glanced over, I saw that they had already received their food and were happily enjoying their meals.

After waiting over an hour and watching people who arrived well after us get their meals, I went back up to the counter and asked why we had been given our checks before even getting our plates. Another waitress apologized and said she would check on it. Ten minutes later, a third waitress—not even our own—finally came out and delivered three out of four plates.

Our original waitress finally decided to show up, grabbed the checks back, and muttered, “Oh, sorry, I thought you guys had already gotten your food.” I’d like to point out that at this moment, there was only one plate sitting in the middle of the table, and none of us had even unwrapped our utensils. There was absolutely no indication that we had eaten anything.

The fourth plate eventually arrived, and we ate, but at that point, the entire experience was ruined. The food was great, but no meal is worth dealing with this level of incompetence and disrespect.

When it came time to pay, my entire table unanimously agreed: there was no way in hell we were tipping after that train wreck of service. We got up to leave, and some of my friends had to walk around the building to the side. And then—just when I thought this waitress couldn’t possibly be any worse—she had the nerve to look at my friend and snark, “No tip?”

I sincerely hope management reads this and takes serious action to take care of this negligence and...

Been here twice and I’ve come to this verdict: they will be seeing my face for the third time in the foreseeable future.

Didn’t have a single bad experience during my times there. The very first time I went, the waiter was kind enough to go through all the drinks and food menu with us without question, and answered all the questions we had about the dishes. The second time around, we had already gone through the menu so it was just a seamless process in getting our orders across. Both times the waiter made sure to come by to give us water refills and asked if our food was to our standards. Kind people here.

Ambiance and interior design were top tier. I thoroughly enjoyed the modern diner aesthetic they had going on, the decor and vegetation really tied it all together. You just have to sit down and see it for yourself!

Rating the best to worst dishes I had: Without a doubt, try the mushroom omelette. Very delicious, would get it again at my next visit as well. Just a staple meal with a protein paired with 2 carbs of your choice. To which I chose home fries which were crispy and nicely seasoned along with a buttery, soft biscuit. It was simply divine. I also had a little biscuit, omlette and butter combo that I experimented with and it tasted amazing. I would definitely recommend this dish, not only is it scrumptious but it’s also the best bang for your buck.

Their French Toast is also a top contender. Given that it’s one of the only sweet dishes on the menu, me and my friends decided to share it amongst the table. Soft, syrupy, with a nice hint of cinnamon on top with dollops of whipped cream, it was just delightful to end the meal with.

Last but not least, the Loco Moco dish seemed really appealing on their Instagram until I tried it for myself and it was pretty underwhelming to say the least. The rice was extremely dry, as if it day old and left overnight, at least it had a bit of seasoning to it though. The Wagyu beef patty made up for the other lacking parts of the dish, it was nicely seasoned and juicy with a slight crisp to it. As for the gravy, didn’t care for it, not memorable enough to remember the taste. Wouldn’t recommend.

Honorable drinks mention: All of the milkshakes that I’ve tried: peach, blueberry, and coffee were all delightful drinks. I would say blueberry was my favorite because of how fresh and natural tasting it was. The blueberry compote mixed in with their vanilla icecream was sublime and its sweetness paired well with my...

I’ve visited this restaurant a few times since it opened, and while there are some positives, there are also areas that need improvement. Here’s a breakdown of my experience:

The Good: The location and decor are fantastic. The design of the space is well thought out, and it feels open and inviting. It’s a pleasant spot to sit and enjoy a meal. Comfy booth too.

The Okay: The food was decent, but there were some small missteps. For example, the cheddar omelette I ordered was runny inside and felt oddly small—like it was made with about 1.5 eggs and just half a slice of bacon. While the biscuits were tasty, I was surprised they were placed directly on top of my omelette. It would have been better to have them on a separate plate. Since the plate was crowded and there wasn’t room for the biscuit, I had to use my one napkin to move it to the table, which felt awkward.

The Not-So-Good: There were a couple of surprising misses. First, they don’t offer any tea—hot or iced. For a restaurant with “Florida” in the name, that feels like a glaring oversight, especially since tea is such a quintessential Southern beverage. It seems I wasn’t the only one confused by this, as I overheard several other tables asking about tea as well.

The service was also a letdown. It felt inattentive and disengaged. For instance, our server dropped off water at the table without even pouring the initial glass. The overall vibe from the staff was lackluster, as if they weren’t fully present or were recovering from a late night. The most striking moment came when the server dropped off our bill—he didn’t say a word, and his head was completely turned away from us as he placed it on the table. There was no “thank you” or “can I get you anything else?”—basic courtesies that go a long way, especially when the bill for three people came to around $100 for breakfast.

Overall, while the location and decor are impressive, the service and attention to detail left much to be desired. With some small adjustments—better food presentation, a tea option, and more attentive service—this place could feel like a nice place to visit and spend $25-35 per person...