Morton's The Steakhouse — Restaurant in Jacksonville

My review is for the Jacksonville location and relates only to the food experience I had Christmas day and this was my first time there. I dined as a party of 3 - my mom ordered PRIME CAJUN RIBEYE 16 oz., me and my dad ordered PRIME RIBEYE 16 oz - all 3 medium well.

A helper brought the dinners to the table and apparently all three steaks either got mixed up or they picked up the wrong ones from the kitchen. Despite stating a "thin line of pink", my PRIME RIBEYE was well done and definitely not rib-eye. It had the texture of a grainy overcooked sirloin. It was extremely salty and spicy just short of Nashville Hot. I specifically asked whether the Cajun seasoning would leave the meat "powdery" (dry rub) caked on layer "coated" (blackened). The waitress assured us it was only a 48 hour liquid marinade, but not a dry rub texture when cooked. My steak, was also either slightly blackened, charred or sat on the grill to the point that it had the very kind of crispy coating I don't like on steaks - like a crust. It had no marbling at all, but the other two ribeye steaks did.

Midway through the meal we started cutting into each other's steaks to see who got the wrong one. I am very convinced I had my mom's cajun steak. But even more odd, all three had a totally different flavor. Given the fact that me and my dad ordered the exact same thing, I expected at least two out of the three to taste exactly the same. My dad's "medium well PRIME RIBEYE" was very tender, although to cooked well done, and had a distinct rosemary herbal flavor. My mom's "medium well CAJUN PRIME RIBEYE" had the usual medium well pink, it was tender with a slight garlic earthy flavor, very mild, no "kick" and mine basically tasted like a burnt backyard BBQ short-rib soaking in a plate of salty marinade that the kitchen tried to pass off as "au jus".

I heard so much about Morton's I was truly expecting a steak to be like Bob's Steak & Chop or FishBones (Lake Marys, FL).

The sides were not exactly what I would call sharable portions like they have at Bob's, although I will admit other patrons around us appear to have had larger side portions. My waitress packed the leftovers to take home, but she forgot to bring mine back so on top of having an overcooked steak, I didn't even have my leftovers and remaining sides and 1 bacon wrapped scallop appetizer to take with me. More money wasted on top of a $335 bill - which I certainly would not have mind IF it were actually the same quality of Bob's Steak & Chop House.

My suggestion to rectify the confusion about who got what steak, is for the kitchen to go back to the days of Steak-n-Ale, and use "steak markers" and/or "doneness indicators." Especially when you have so many varieties of steak seasoning preparations with a variety of textures. Mine was tough...who knows, since it didn't have marble, maybe it was the dry-aged cut or a NY strip - neither of which I wanted.

Don't even get me started on the bread pudding. As a Southerner, all I'll say is if it can't be done the traditional way, don't even attempt to serve Southern dishes. Just don't. Call me for a real recipe, or reach out to Chris at the Jekyll Island Grand Dining Room for theirs. Otherwise, don't serve that. Real Bread Pudding doesn't need ice cream.

In all fairness, our server (K) and the service at Morton's in general, was AMAZING. Very attentive. But the food experience was disappointing for a long waited Christmas dinner at Morton's.

Final observation - more for the facilities manager, but very important for a restaurant establishment - If the bathroom sinks/toilets are not in full working order, close it with detour signs to another one. There were 3 sinks, and 2 without operating water coming out, and the third one was stopped up...few soap dispensers also empty... it all just made me uneasy wondering how the staff was able to wash their hands properly. You can't really do it with a stopped up sink filled to the brim with water. The hotel facilities need to be made aware to make restrooms near dining...

⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️ PLEASE READ do not go to Morton's in Jacksonville, FL ⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️

I had an absolutely amazing birthday dinner! But no thanks to Morton's! Please do not ever support Morton's! Despite the fact I have been there numerous times and never had issues and always enjoyed the food, I will NEVER return after my birthday dinner experience! My friend booked our reservation at 9pm! We thought it was odd that would be a reservation time since the restaurant claimed they closed at 9pm. We all figured it was when they would finish sitting but the employees are just used to working till 10-10:30 but just no sitting after 9pm. We all met there at various times of 8:45, 8:50, 9:00, and 9:05. The manager was being rude saying if the whole party wasn't there by 9 pm they would not serve there and lock the doors. at this point the majority of the group was there! 12 girls were all there and sat! Only 3 we're going to be maybe 10-15 min after 9pm. The manager came over and was very rude, absolutely TORE into me in front of all of my guests ON MY BIRTHDAY, when I simply wanted to understand why they would accept 9pm reservations if they would make a group feel so unwelcomed or as if we would inconvienance them. I said how much I loved Morton's and didn't realize how strict everything was. He proceeded to tell me well I could leave and didn't need to be there. At this point my whole group of about 15 girls were there, not even all our drink orders were taken, and no food order was taken. And not because the stragglers but because the server just had not gotten to that point of our evening. It was probably 9:20 at that point. He was very very rude and non apologetic. A girl from my group spoke up and said most of us have been service industry/customer service/own businesses and he should just apologize for the inconvenience. he said nothing and huffed off. My group wanted to leave and I was obviously horrified and offended. We felt passive aggression all night from the serving staff. I chose to stay because it was my birthday, we all got dressed up, and I wanted my steak/lobster. My lobster never was rung up or brought out so they took it off my bill but the service was horrible. Half my guests didn't even wanna eat or order after the ordeal. Our bill was $1200 and imagine if half of my girl's appetites weren't completely ruined how much more we would of spent? So yea, MORTON'S is a big no from me and every female who was there. The manager's name was a bald man with glasses named James! So please write reviews on google and on their Facebook page! Luckily my girls made the evening amazing and we didn't let the bad experience ruin my birthday!!!!! Do not go to Morton's and James clearly isn't cut out to be a manager or to be in any fine dining establishment! He gave Normandy McDonald's manager vibes! So if y'all can please leave a terrible review for Morton's The Steakhouse in Jacksonville, FL! It was utterly embarrassing and I will never go there again. After I wrote this review on Facebook and his wife jumped on the post trying to degrade us and talk down to us due to our medical conditions and blatant lies! Will be contacting the owner or corporate somehow! Don't come with kids, don't come with big groups, don't come for anniversaries, don't ever book late! Don't come if you're not white and above the age of 35! Don't come if you have tattoos! They are prejudice and their manager JAMES is disrespectful to woman and doesn't know...

Pulled up to valet the car and a very scary shirtless man, pants below his bottom, pacing in an agitative state was entering the lobby and exiting but not leaving the valet area. No one was addressing the situation.

Now lets address the restaurant. Seated by a hostess without much personality, past a very loud bar area, all open dining space makes for a very loud evening, and hard to hear conversation. TV playing in the bar which is open to dining and sports fans cheering along with the bartender was not what I expect or want when spending $650 on dinner.

It took 24 minutes, before water was poured and a drink could be ordered. Our first waitress Taylor introduced herself and shortly after, a new waitress Kay arrived. No goodbye from Taylor and intro of Kay, just a changing of the guards so to speak, again not what you expect when spending $$$.

We ordered wine a bottle of white and two glasses of red, we took our first sip of alcohol. 43 minutes after being seated. Trying to get a second glass of wine was almost impossible. Our water glasses were never refilled.

We asked for bread and butter ordered 3 dozen oysters, no horseradish , they were out?!!! We had to ask for extra cocktail sauce as there was enough for 12 oysters not 3 dozen. We asked for extra butter, which arrived after the bread, we asked for more bread, never received it. We had to get silver wear and small plates from other tables as Kay was given far too many tables after the shift cut, POOR MANAGEMENT.

We ordered entrees, and French fries, Fries never came, the Chilean Sea Bass was awful and tasted fishy. When i asked for to go boxes because it was almost 11 (8:00 reservation ) we were just over the entire experience, i mentioned we never received the fries. We were offered dessert, but charged for it!!! If you were making up for something you forgot wouldn’t a desert be offered for free?????? The to go boxes arrived, I had to ask for the dessert that was offered and charged. JOKE.

The bartender Sean who said goodbye while nice, was just too much for the area he was in, i dont expect shouting hooting bartenders at Mortons, it used to be classy.

On a final note when leaving, Sean was the only person who said have lovely evening, we could not have been happier to leave.

Kay had a great personality but was clearly in the weeds and had too many tables.

I would NEVER go to this restaurant ever again, i would not only tell people not to go, but discourage it.

On a final note, i never used the ladies room as someone was murdered there once.

This is the furthest from fine dining I have ever experienced while paying fine dining prices.

IMMEDIATELY NO!!!! In fact, RUN!!!

The email Mortons responded with is false!! After several attempts to reply I realized the email suggested by them is not a working address. They just wanted to look good in their attempt to address the horrible experience!!!!...