Refinery Jax Beach — Restaurant in Jacksonville Beach

I enjoyed everything about this location the welcoming/cozy/ beautiful atmosphere and the beautiful views of the Atlantic Ocean! The food was absolutely DELICIOUS! The drinks were tasty! The overall service and experience were excellent! I would love to give a big thank you to our amazing waiter/server name Micheal! He made our experience one to remember. He gave us great suggestions on food and drink options. He was very knowledgeable of everything! He was nice, friendly, very funny, had great energy and just simply awesome at his job! Thanks to him and the delicious food and great service we will definitely be returning to this location!!!

One thing I did not like which involved one of the staff members at this location was the fact that when we ordered our bottle of Dom Périgon, our server went to put in the order for our bottle and was TOLD by another staff member to come back and ask us if we were sure we wanted to get the bottle and if we knew the price of the bottle because it was “supposedly” the last one they had. I did not like this because I felt as if they only told him to ask us that because they probably figured we couldn’t afford it being that we are some young black people who had just ordered a mixed drink and a double shot of Hennessy with our food. So that person just automatically assumed we couldn’t afford that type of bottle which really blew my mind for a sec being that I was just talking to my husband about getting another bottle to open while we were there right before Michael came back to the table being that he said they got plenty bottles and being that the one we order was requested to be in fridge in chill until we leave. And so to that person I would like to say this, Please don’t ever assume that people like us would ever waist time making dinner reservations at any restaurant, sit and view menus at the dinner table and place an order wit the menu in hand just to not be able to afford to pay for anything that is ordered because you almost caused us to leave and you caused is to not even want to order anymore bottles to avoid any more questioning.

To the Refinery Management team I highly request that you please teach employees to not judge a book by its cover because the ones they think not gona spend a lot will always be the ones spending the most or a lot and supporting your business in the long run! And can your team also give Michael a big thank you for having great energy with us and making us comfortable enough to want to stay after that award moment of questioning my bottle...

Where to begin? Let’s set the stage. We arrived early for our reservation and were told we could wait at the bar and we did. We were excited to have our own bar in this little back room. There was a male bartender and a female trainee. The male bartender was a bit slow and didn’t seem like he wanted to be there. The trainee was very sweet and had lots of smiles for us. We got our drinks and when it was time for round two, I was told they only had “this much” Maker’s Mark left in the bottle so they could only make one of the two drinks in that round. So I ordered something else so the other person could have the Makers. On a Saturday night the bar should be stocked. I guess someone else in the party asked to speak to the bar manager or some manager because they did locate another bottle of Makers but by that time I had already switched to something else. We sat at the table and ordered. I felt the food came out in a reasonable amount of time but was overpriced for what it was. The cheeseburgers were on untoasted buns with cold, unmelted cheese for $20-some. I had the Apple bourbon pork chop, which had a nice flavor but literally came with five skinny beans as the side for $39, and it was overcooked and a little dry. So good flavor on the outside but dry on the inside. Overall just okay. But back to the service. I asked for a soft drink, he never brought it so I had to go up to the bar and ask for it again. When I asked for a refill he took my glass and never brought my refill so I had to go up to the bar and ask again. Also the soda was flat, but I know that’s not on him. He cashed out half the table and the rest of us, the grown folks, he just sort of left us alone? I had to go to the bar and ask for another round, and then he shorted us a drink on the round so it was another wait. He sat with empty glasses for a while before I finally went back to the bar and asked for the check which the trainee informed me he had to give us. When he came back he told us he wasn’t supposed to split the check again (I guess he split the maximum times on the kids end of the table) but that he could do it for us but by that point I didn’t want to wait anymore. He split off my one friend and I put the rest of my card to sort later. I just felt like I was working instead of relaxing with my friends. As a bartender myself, I know the job. I still tipped well because everyone has an off night but…dang. Don’t think I will be returning. That was too much...

Dined for the first time lunch Oct 13, 2023. The only redeeming thing from this restaurant was the hostess, she was awesome. After about 5 minutes after seating me, she brought me a water, and said your server will be over shortly. About 5 more minutes and he arrived. My friends were running a little behind but 10-12 minutes to greet your table??? He definitively needs to go to food handling school, has his hands all over food contact surfaces and his thumb was in the food upon delivery. Drives me nuts especially when they cup your beverage on the brim of the glass and wont even leave a straw to avoid that nastiness. We ordered the Pretzel Cheese App which maybe had 2 ounces of cheese dip if we were lucky, there certainly wasn't enough to pleasantly dip the bread and leave enough for the other 2 diners, so we majorly skimped on the cheese sauce with each dip. We ordered some wings (the only thing that was ok) presentation none, sauce nope, blue cheese nope celery ranch anything to dip the overcooked wings????? Nope. One of my friends ordered a salad, it was very uneventful was like pulling teeth to get the waiter to tell us what was in the salad. I ordered fish tacos, who toasts a soft tortilla shell anyways, if I am lucky there was an ounce of fish on each one, and a pathetic portion of lettuce, I asked for the PICO on the side, and that wasn't PICO, had peppers in it maybe corn and something else, I certainly wasn't going to eat it didn't look appetizing, no cheese no sauce, extremely unsatisfying. Luckily I ordered a side of datil tarter, or I would not have been unable able to eat my very expensive boring dry tacos with an overcooked shell. My other dining partner ordered the Fish and Chips, and he said the best thing about that meal was the fries. The sad thing at $18+ per lunch plate, I expected at least good food. I could get better in a Mayport road dive bar. I cant see any reason to every go back to this place, pricey and no value quality or service for high cost. We sat outside, and unfortunately cant see the beach due to the high dunes. It is also confusing when you walk up to figure out where you enter the place. They need Gordon Ramsay to come to a Kitchen...