Tupelo Honey Southern Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Huntsville

I have been a fan of the chain, but it is waning. Yesterday, I dropped by for a late lunch. Maybe 7 to 9 tables were occupied. Plenty of staff about. Was seated right away, but not attended for a time. I ordered a half-sandwich combo with a side for $12.95. You could add a 2nd side for $2.50, so I did. Sounded like a good deal. Ordered mac & cheese and onion rings. Iced tea arrived in a smaller glass, size of a coke can. Good tea.

As I waited, the plenum of the air conditioner in the ceiling began dripping on me. Memories of Bluebell Creamery's listeria came to mind. My server was kind enough to move me one table over while blaming the maintenance problem on high humidity. When I moved, the table was reset with no action taken to stop the dripping.

Service was very slow. Was not served until probably 35 minutes after arriving for basically a grilled sandwich plate with a fried side in a house 70% empty on a Friday.

The sandwich was chicken with ranch and was delicious, perfectly grilled, if poorly served. Either the pickles were dumped atop without draining them, or it was a runny remoulade. Dripped constantly. It felt like a cartoon character trying to dodge the dripping as I ate.

The onion rings were perfect. It would have been nice if the server had offered ranch or mustard or ketchup for dipping, but that wasn't offered. They were good plain.

The mac and cheese was simply embarrassing. It was bland, fussed up with gratin but lacking in any cheese flavor at all and certainly no visible sign of cheese. No taste of cheddar, romano, parmesan, or even Velveeta. Just a creamy, flavorless bechamel. My server offered to replace when I reported it, but I had enough else and had already waited longer than I had planned and was on a schedule.

I ran out of tea while dining, and the server noticed and told me she'd bring another as she headed outside to wait on other parties. Finished my meal without it.

When presented the bill, I noticed the extra side had been charged ala carte at $5.50. When I asked about the $2.50, I was told it was $5.50. I asked to see a menu to show her. She then agreed to correct it. No apology, just a confession that she had not seen it in the menu. When the bill was returned, she had removed it all together since it had been uneaten anyway.

I left a 40% tip since the tab was small, but in spite of the service.

Nothing terrible here. Nothing great either, on the whole. When you combine the bad service with the exceptional onion rings, you get a solid...

I had heard so many wonderful things about Tupelo Honey and I finally decided to come in and try it. It was busy and I’ve been a server for years so I try not to judge too harshly especially on a busy night, however there were so many things going wrong I ran out of excuse to make for my experience. Firstly I ordered a margarita and my boyfriend ordered a double vodka and a coke. Then the server took our appetizer and our food order. Then we sat and waited and waited and waited. Then here comes our entrees (which was both chicken tenders). Both almost at room temp, no appetizer yet, still no drinks not even glasses of water while we wait. Then our appetizer (which was the onion rings) those were at least hot. Still no drinks. Eventually caught who we assumed was a manger and asked him and he said he would go check on our drinks (once again which were a double vodka, a coke, and a margarita) and still this whole time our server never came up to check on us and hadn’t seen her in a while by this point. We get almost done with our food when our drinks finally come out. The margarita was probably one of the worst I’ve ever had and my boyfriend got his double of Tito’s but only half of it was Tito’s. Finally the server comes up to us with some waters and asks us how we’re doing. We say okay. Then I tried to drink my margarita because I’ve been in the service industry for a couple of years now and I try my best to be understanding but I just couldn’t anymore so I told her the margarita wasn’t very good and I didn’t even have to say anything she knew it was the lime juice. She did have it removed from the ticket. She then attended to her two other tables and then came to check on us maybe one more time. Then we moved our plates aside and she asked us if we wanted the check or dessert. Then took another 10 minutes to bring the check. All in all an unfortunately horrible experience service wise which is such a shame because the food seemed like it has so much potential. Then I called and tried to convey this to a manager but whom ever I spoke with seemed more worried about the fact that I didn’t tell them right then than the fact that I was trying to make her aware of a server who seemingly needs...

We made a reservation and arrived 15 minutes early, as requested. While waiting, I counted 15 empty tables. We continued to wait patiently until after our reservation time, watching as no one was seated at the many empty tables, while people stood and waited everywhere. I approached the hostess to ask if there was an estimated time for us to be seated. She, somewhat annoyed, replied, “I can seat you now.” This made sense, especially since there were even more empty tables now, having seen no one seated during our wait.

She led us to a table in the middle of the walkway, so I politely asked if we could have a booth, as we were meeting someone new for the first time and wanted a bit more privacy to be able to converse. I had also noted in my reservation that I would like a booth. Surprisingly, she very rudely, as I was beginning to understand was her only way of communicating, stated that she would have to check because she had other reservations requesting booths. I reminded her that I was one of those guests who had requested a booth. In her typical condescending tone, she said, “You did in the notes section,” as if I were a fool. She then stormed off and eventually returned to seat us at a booth, at which point we realized that the experience wouldn’t improve from there.

We had to ask for our drinks twice each time we ordered. We never received refills on our water. The food was incredibly slow in arriving, and we had to inquire about our appetizer before it magically appeared as soon as we asked. The food itself was disappointing, with no one really finishing their meal. Anything with chicken tasted bland, so be prepared for that. Their cocktails were enjoyable, but they had melted by the time we finally received them.

There are too many great places for lunch and brunch for me to recommend this establishment or consider returning. If there is no one overseeing the situation, witnessing the hostess's attitude or the incompetence of the waitstaff, it’s not worth giving this place...