The Yearling Restaurant — Restaurant in Gainesville

Excellant place to eat!! 5 Star menu and service! We stayed in the little cabins next door to the restaurant, and had a couple unpleasant experiences with a few of the staff. When we stayed there, we picked this place because it was advertised as a dog friendly place. We arrived late in the evening and someone had left the key in the door so we could get in, which was nice. We walked our two dog's for the evening, and used small bags to dispose of anything the dogs may have left so no one would have to experience the unpleasantness of stepping in something they wished they hadn't of stepped in. The cabins are rustic but clean. Sleep well. Went out to visit sites we haven't been to since moving from the area. Pleasant day all in all. Then we returned and things just went south. Some woman carrying linen and towels stopped me while we were walking the dog's. I should mention they are elderly laid back Chihuahuas. They did not even pay attention to the woman when she approached. She then told us that when she was preparing the room adjoining our cabin, our dog's barked when we were out. I initially thought she was joking, and replied that yes...they are dogs, dogs bark, that's what they do. She then went on to say the new guests would not enjoy hearing the dog's bark, and I replied that no one would enjoy that and assured her our dogs do not bark as long as we are with them and the new people do not bang loudly in the adjoining wall. This woman continued on, and in..and I finally told her that we had booked this cabin months in advance, it advertised that it was dog friendly, we paid a lot of money extra to have our dog's there while the new guests just happened to come in that night, we had also booked a table in their restaurant for 10 to 12 people..all of which turned a pretty good profit for them. The next day we took our dogs with us, as we did not feel safe leaving them there. Of course our plans for the entire day were ruined as many of the places we had planned to go did not allow dogs. Just as a heads up for other dog owners. This lady said they were going to change their pet policy to NO PETS ALLOWED IN THE FUTURE! Also, after we all enjoyed a wonderful meal we walked down to the river to sit by the fire pit they had advertised. We had bought our own wood, but when we lit it, 3 if the restaurant staff were outside smoking, and they immediately wanted ti know who started the fire. When I said we did, they wanted to know if we were staying there. I said we were and were using our own wood. So..while several other people staying in the cabins came over to enjoy the campfire we had started, I'm not sure what the deal was with that was. 4 stars for the meal, and the chance to regroup with many old friends, as well as new friends we made at the campfire...0 stars for some of the people running this place. We definately will not be...

Went out of our way to go there for the first time. We were seated in the front room right beside a 'waitress ordering' computer/where the waitress' used the computer to order despite the room being less then half full. Ordered then went to the bathroom which is in a back dining area maybe 25% full or 75% empty- mush nicer then where we were seated with live music. When I returned to our poorly located table, I asked the hostess why we were seated there instead of the nicer dining area. She said because we didn't ask for it. I told her it was our first time there and we didn't know about it. She shrugged and said it wouldn't be fair to the waitress to move us. I was mad to say the least. When I waitress came to tell me they had no baked potatoes to go with the steak I ordered but I could have French fries or sweet potatoes (with steak???) I told my husband 'I don't even want to be here' and she asked why and I told her what the hostess had said. She said to follow her with our things and took us back to the dining room and seated us there. Later I saw the hostess who just gave me a dirty look. Then our food came. My husbands fish was okay but very small. My steak which was supposed to be smothered in onions and mushrooms was tasteless. There were onions but the mushrooms could not be found. I ordered green beans that were supposed to be cooked with bacon and really good. They were CANNED beans and no bacon. I don't even eat those at home! We both had cold slaw for salad - once again tasteless. Frozen green beans are cheap and cook in the microwave in a few minutes - would have been better then eating depression beans cooked in water and at the price we paid, we should have had decent vegetables. We found out they don't have baked potatoes on Sunday (why is it on the menu then?) and I had wanted to have a piece of the sour orange pie which is also not available on Sundays but is on the menu. We will not be returning, the atmosphere maybe good for a low/medium priced bar but not for the prices they charge. Being more concerned about their wait staff then the customer's satisfaction was unbelievable! My son has info re this restaurant in his VRBO on Lake Santa Fe and I'm going to let him know he needs to remove it. Sending his customers there only to be treated poorly with only adequate over priced food is not a good move. If you want to see it, have coffee. If you want to eat, go somewhere else. Should have read all the negative reviews...

I give one star because I can’t put a 0. It is not because the place smells old and rotten, nor a bad odor coming from the carpet or the walls. It was not the food (the gator bites were over fried,) but because of the service. We were ignored for more than 10 minutes, not even a hello! They did not acknowledge us. There wasn’t a lack of tables, the restaurant was not busy. The seating hostesses started arguing between themselves because they did not want to take care of us, the manager had to step up and ordered one of them to seat us. If I could describe to you her facial expression, you can tell she wasn’t happy. I still question myself why I didn’t leave that place right then because things gotten worse. We were looking forward to coming here for two years, after FOX 13 News made a special news program about restaurants in Florida. What a disappointment, we didn’t felt welcome at all! In fact, we are sure they don’t like diverse culture clientele. It was clear how different they treated other patrons, they couldn't even make eye contact with my husband. As a business owner, I think twice about writing reviews like this. I don’t like to talk bad about other people or their business and let this things go, much less I don’t touch this topic publicly. However, this time they did it to my family and I don’t allowed anyone to mess up with them so I’m really furious. My daughter, a UF student couldn’t believe this type of ignorance still exist. There’s no doubt, they were too obvious how they don’t liked us. My suggestion is: if you are not a white American don’t go unless you want to...