Fondren Taste Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Jackson

OVERCHARGING ALERT! Will begin with the many pluses of this establishment! It’s cute, cool, modern & a good look for the city of Jackson. Street & lot parking is easy, along with valet available. Seated right away at opening time for brunch with no rsvp for a party of 4. Waiter was charming, helpful & attentive. Ok, 1st Flag..As soon as we were seated, a staff member yelled through the restaurant that there was a max sit time of ONE hour. Weird & rude, but were told we would be free to move to the lounge area of the restaurant or the outdoor patio area (which looked nice but they were still setting up). Because we came to dine, drink and watch football, we decided right away we would go elsewhere after the meal. Next Flag…We expected to try many dishes after having looked up the menu online, however there were only 4 options available (will attach photo). There were no vegetarian or vegan options, so 1 member of our party cancelled prior to arrival. There was no mention of a specific brunch menu or limited options on the website. After placing drink orders, waiter returned to inform us that we were unable to order from the house drink menu placed on the table & quickly removed that menu lol. We put in new orders, but later discover we were UPCHARGED to make mixed drinks. This is where it gets ridiculous: The total price for a (Teremana) margarita was $17; $12 for the liquor & $5 addl to make it a margarita. The total price for a Teremana Reposado Old Fashioned was $14, plus $5 to turn it into an Old Fashioned. Unlike the 1st round of waters, THESE DRINKS WERE SERVED TO US IN PLASTIC CUPS. (My marg tasted like a liquor-free very sweet lemonade—no salt no lime, my companions said their Old Fashioned’s were good but also no garnish). Because there was plenty of appropriate glassware hanging in sight above the bar, I requested ‘real’ glasses, but the waiter checked, then relayed that they could not accommodate this request. Needless to say, a customer should not have to ask for actual glassware with a $20 cocktail, & def shouldn’t be denied the request if asked. For me, that’s only for Happy Hour specials, not full priced cocktails. We literally had to look at the many available empty glasses sparkling above the bar the entire time we’re sipping from plastic cups (lol! Still tickled about that). On to better news! Food came out quickly, was tasty, seasoned & plated well! Perfect amount, Flavor profiles good! HOWEVER, same issue! Plastic fork & knife, The kind you’d get at a takeout joint with the mini salt, pepper packet & napkin folded inside. No linen napkins offered, (or even reg size paper napkins) no S & P shakers on table. Bc we were being rushed out, we asked for the tab so we could move along. There were now several open tables & no need for a rush. Waiter then appears with an electronic card reader that does not show an itemized tab (We dine out often & this is always a FLAG!). The tab was paid without question, but we did request a printed itemized tab on the way out. Discovered we had been charged an extra $5 per cocktail to make the cocktails, extra dollar per mimosa flavor & the KICKER, we had been charged an 18% “DELIVERY FEE”, ON TOP OF THE 18% GRATUITY. You can see the double charge of $28.26 below. Discovered this AFTER having already tipped the waiter in cash, bc they got kinda sketchy about providing an itemized bill prior to payment. We left perplexed wondering what exactly had been “delivered” & chuckled yet again about the new establishments cosplaying as high end, but don’t even want to wash glasses & silverware.

Sadly, unlikely to return after this experience. Despite the good food, treating customers like cattle to rush out while overcharging & using plasticware is unacceptable. We would have been repeat customers if not for this. We paid roughly $100 over the subtotaled bill (inc the addl cash tip)

Might I add, none of this was the waiters nor hostesses fault, the staff was great & cooks did their thing! Just REVIEW YOUR ITEMIZED BILL before paying so this doesn’t...

I went here a few weeks ago and had an ok experience. I heard about this restaurant because I watch the show. The atmosphere and decor were nice. We came around around 7 and it wasnt too packed nor the music too loud. We were immediately seated and our server, Cliff took our orders. My drink was good and I tried oysters for the first time and I didn’t care for them. Not saying they were bad, just not my thing. There is a lot of seafood on the menu so my friend ordered dessert first. She ordered the fried apples and they were delicious. Definitely something everyone should order. I had the salmon with asparagus and rice. It tasted like something out of a TV dinner, but it was still good. My server Cliff, you would think he fell off a cliff because we kept looking for him. There was a lady that kept coming to our table, so we asked her if she could get our waiter, and she did. My friend finally decided to get a burger and she said it was very good. I only tasted one of the fried apples that my friend ordered, so I wanted my own. Cliff was standing at the table beside the kitchen talking, and I waved my hand so that he could come to our table. I ordered the fried apples and we waited for about 20 minutes before Cliff came back to our table. He said and I quote 'they cooked your apples but somehow they put Cajun seasoning on top so they had to throw them away and that was the last apple we had’, my friend and I looked at each other confused as Cliff laughed. He said they would give me a complimentary dessert of my choice and I chose the cheesecake. The cheesecake wasn’t good, so I took a few bites and left it there. This place is overpriced, but I think I would only come back for the drinks and those fried apples if...

This can be a cool spot but definitely need to get the service together. I reserved a table for dinner for my birthday dinner a week and half in advance. As myself and friends that I invited were walking up I was informed that there is no table and it would be an hour wait. We enter the lounge area and I’m told again there is no table. At first, I was just like ok but it was later reservation and trying to find another spot for a group was a headache. I stopped a young lady and let her know that wasn’t right considering I made a reservation in advance. The young lady worked and got me a section in the lounge area.

We wanted to order food and drinks. It took a while to get a menu and then it was realized we got the limited menu. The people in the section were ordering pasta and turkey sliders but our menu only included a handful of items. Not sure why we didn’t get a full menu. Once food was ordered, it took over 2 hours to get food. Loaded fries, wings, fried catfish and fries. We finally got some good but not all. Now comes settling tickets. People having to swipe their card more than once because one server has drinks. The second server has food. No run wants to run their card repeatedly. The servers really tries to make it a great night with the service which is appreciated but the birthday experience was ruined. Plus we didn’t get real dinner when I told people it was dinner then the lounge. The food, when we finally got it, was good. The owners were there but neither one bothered to come by, apologize or offer anything even despite me seeing one apologize to a group earlier.

I would like to experience again but if hosting a special moment I wouldn’t consider them a great spot to do so. Maybe for the...