Salt Rock Grill — Restaurant in Indian Shores

We took our young family of 8 out for a nice family dinner on Saturday night while on vacation in Indian Shores. Maybe if circumstances were different I'd give a 5 star review. But overall it gets a 1 for the experience.

We made reservations a day ahead of time, all that was available was 3:45 or 8:15. We took 8:15. We show up at 7:50 for our 8:15. Cannot find a single parking spot available. Made 3 rounds through the lot, had to dodge what looked like a drunken bachellorette party in the parking lot. Tried the lot next door to the south, no luck. Ended up paying to park a few blocks north at the putter golf place. Made it to the check-in desk at 8:10 to put our name in.

We maintained composure pretty well in the hot waiting area. Watched the drunk girls go by - all dressed in way less than modest clothing (I know it's 2025 and you'd like to show off your fake "assets" - but my children do not need to see it. Put some clothes on). Watched a large engagement party go by (surprisingly even less clothing). Watched at least a dozen parties of 2 or 4 go by. By 8:45 our kids started to get fussy. At 9PM we asked if they forgot about us, they said they would check. We finally got seated at 9:15, 1 hour after our reservation. Our waiter was good. I forget his name - but he was quick, great with the kids, very polite & helpful. I'd give our waiter 4-5 stars.

We ordered 5 various kids meals for our 6 children (ages 18mo through 8 y/o - Yes, they're all ours. No, there's no twins. Yes, we know how this happens. We're a large Catholic family and our children are beautiful God-given blessings. It's rude to stare.) We decided to forgo any appetizers and splurge on our entrees since we do not eat out often or vacation often.

My wife ordered an 8 oz Filet Mignon cooked Medium Well. I went big on the 44 oz Tomahawk cooked Medium Rare. I've never had a Tomahawk and wanted to see what the rave was all about. We ate the sourdough bread and patiently waited for the main course. Next thing you know it's 10PM, many tables who were seated after us are done & leaving. Our children are completely fed up with waiting, sourdough wasnt cutting it anymore, a couple of the younger ones were dozing off. We never thought we'd be here this long on an 8:15 reservation, we thought we'd be fed & on our way home by 9:30. The misery of waiting drug on. At some point around 10:05-10:10 our 18 month old son was wailing from hunger & exhaustion and knocked a 3/4 full glass of Coca-Cola on my wife. This is about the only place our waiter dropped the ball - he gave her 5 cocktail napkins to soak up the 1 quart of sticky liquid on the table, herself, and the floor.

At 10:15 we finally received our food. Honestly the quality of the food was great. The kids meals were perfect and they all ate well. The Tomahawk was divine, cooked to perfection, everything I'd guess you could want from a $125 steak. I did notice my wife wasnt eating much though, I'd assumed it was from the pants soaked in Coke and the sticky puddle still under her feet making her uncomfortable. We made eye contact and she held up a piece of her filet and asked "Does this look Medium Well?" It was Rare at best. She seemed just completely defeated on our "nice evening out". I asked our waiter to have a look. He offered a replacement Filet. It was a nice jesture, but it was 10:25 at night. An hour past the kids' bedtime (trainwreck on a good day). Coke soaked pants. We declined, we mentioned how late it is and how long it has taken and asked if he could just knock $10 off the bill and we'll be good. To which he replied "Sorry, can't do that. But we can fire the grille back up and make it fast." No. Just no. We're done.

Our bill was a total of $212. We paid $240 with a tip. Would've skipped the tip but our waiter deserved better. Could've gotten similar quality food (minus the Tomahawk fad) with faster service at a fraction the cost at Texas Roadhouse.

The cherry ontop was the jeers about our kids from the drunk girls out front on our way out. Almost like 6 kids is a circus act...

WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE SALT ROCK GRILL??? Think twice before coming here!!! My wife and I actually met at Salt Rock Grill in 2015 and LOVED everything about the place! We have been coming here multiple times a year & have recommended this place to hundreds of clients, friends & neighbors, as we are locals & business owners too. That is why this is very difficult to write about such a horrible experience here. I would not even be writing this had the owner, Frank Chivas, called us back to discuss how to make it right. It’s now been well over 2 weeks since we first discussed our issues with several SRG managers about our experience and still no call back from the owner after half a dozen calls by both my wife and I to follow up. Each manager says we have to wait for Frank to call. My wife and I have both owned restaurants and know that it’s difficult to have every customer experience be a good one. We’ve had to refund full meals, throw everything away, prepare a new replacement meal and still give the customers their money back just to keep customers coming back. Even in our new business we do that & customers keep coming back. Our Client come back because of the way we handle each complaint… Individually and with importance. We have been told by every manager, Frank Chivas is busy & will call back within a day or two. It’s been 17 days! We have not been afforded that call & that is mainly why we feel the need to warn people that they are not important at SRG, just your money. This happened back on April 23rd during our dinner for 7 guests. Everyone who has been to the SRG knows you are going for the food and ambiance. You're looking for premium service & atmosphere and you know you're going to pay for it. We ended up getting seated in, what looked like, a Wendy's or McDonalds dining area. It was awful for a restaurant with SRG's reputation! The waiter was very quick to get there and get our drink orders and returned with all of the drinks at the same time. The soda was obviously sitting there while the cocktails were made and the ice had melted, making the Coke flat and watered down. My son immediately noticed that something was wrong, took a sip & stopped the waiter from walking away. He explained to the waiter the Coke was flat, watered down and asked politely if he wouldn’t mind getting him a fresh one. The waiter said nothing, gave him a look that he was annoyed, took the Coke & came back to the table in less than 15seconds… with the EXACT same drink. I made a loud comment that it was the same drink and my son was a bit embarrassed, but the waiter ignored me anyway. My wife didn't want to make a scene. So, I bit my tongue about everything. The under poured dirty martini’s that were about half the size of the drinks others were getting at the bar when we walked in, The Brown Lobster Bisque that is usually Orange, The Lobster tails that were less than an ounce of meat on each one and completely overcooked or even the steaks that were so undercooked or overcooked they had to be forced down. I held back every comment because I didn't want to embarrass anyone in our party. My wife was insistent I not complain and she would call the restaurant in the morning & talk to a manager privately. She thought it would go better. That night my wife, son and I became violently ill, vomiting most of the night. My wife called the restaurant the next day and let them know we were not happy. By not calling us, the owner has shown us he doesn’t value the quality of his food, the restaurant experience for the customer or anything, but the money. We have no alternative than to post this Review to warn others how SRG has changed and doesn’t care about its customers or what happens to them while dining there. I would caution everyone contemplating going to SRG to read this and know this is not the same restaurant it was before the 2024 hurricanes. They have changed a lot about the dining experience & seem to care only about the money. Hopefully, this will be a wakeup call to Salt Rock Grill and someone will...

WAY over priced and WAY over rated! We’ve been here twice, and both times the service was awful. The first time we had a table of 4 and went on a weekday later in the evening. The waitress was NOT interested in actually doing her job. I ordered a mixed drink which I never received after asking twice. She’d disappear and we had to grab another staff member to refill drinks, never received condiments that were requested, etc. The food was decent, but not worth the money we paid for it.

Then last night was even worst! We had a party of 7 and a reservation, but still waited 30 mins to be seated. They were busy, so I can let that slide. The waiter finally came over after 10 mins from being seated and greeted us, then went to get us water. He left and attended the table behind us. He eventually brought water then asked if we wanted something from the bar, which we ordered. Bread and drinks were finally brought to the table. If there was 3oz of sangria in my glass, that’s something. Our cups were FULL of ice. The waiter attended the table behind us 3 more times and took orders from the two other tables around us. After we’d sat there for about 40 mins, he took our appetizer order and went back to the other tables again! Idk, but they must’ve been tipping in gold bars. I don’t normally notice how other tables are waited on, but after trying to get his attention and how he was constantly at that other tables, it was very obvious. Apps eventually arrive and the Bay shrimp cocktail had 6 pieces in it with about a 1/2 cup of cocktail sauce. (There is no way that was 1/3 a pound of shrimp.) After waiting another 30 mins (and multiple attempts to flag him down), he takes our order. The entrée two of us wanted was out of stock, so we had to think on the fly because we didn’t want to wait another 30 mins for him to come back. No refills on drinks, no checking to see if we wanted something else. His other tables all were turned over and were reseated and promptly attended to. He brought 4 salads out to us, when only 3 were ordered. Rather than throw it away, he “gave” it to us. After inquiring about our food and being told 3 people didn’t show up to work, it finally came after waiting 45 mins for it. The orders we wrong. One side was missing altogether, another side was on the wrong plate, sauce was all over another entree when asked for no sauce (but I just ate it anyway because I didn’t want to wait for them to recook it), and a steak was VERY undercooked (asked for med well but got med rare). Those issues were rectified. The food was tasty, but nothing spectacular, especially for the prices ($68 for a ribeye)! Finally received a refill of water. No refills offered or given on soda.

The bill eventually comes after being there for over three hours, and it’s wrong. We were charged for the salad that was “given” to us, there was a mixed drink we never ordered, the sides were incorrect (but the price was the same so that doesn’t matter to me), and an extra charge for bacon that no one ordered. Those mistakes totaled $20, so if someone doesn’t actually look at their bill, that’s a win for them and their already extremely over priced food. On the bottom of the check, they have the audacity to put a 25% suggested tip. I do understand the waiter can’t control the kitchen and he’s at their mercy, but at least check on our table. Refresh drinks, bring more bread, see where the food is, etc. His other tables received their food (and attention) in a timely fashion. (Incidentally, his tables were turned over a second time while we were eating.) If I’m paying over $300 (we split our checks btw) for dinner, I expect EXCELLENT service! Last night was just an overall disappointing experience for a place with such hype. Yes, the view of the water is pretty, but not...