Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar — Restaurant in Jacksonville

This USED to be a regular on our restaurant rotation. No longer after a pretty terrible experience today, May 11.

In the past four months, we’ve eaten here together and with others probably 6-8 times. The food is always good (although a small limited menu) and we like to eat outside. For those who aren’t familiar, it’s set up as a counter service where you wait in line to order and then take your number and go pick your own table or bar top. There are “wait staff” but you aren’t assigned a particular person and they basically are just running and dropping your food. Sometimes your food comes out with the rest of your party and unfortunately often there is quite the delay between each person’s food arriving to the table. So suffice it to say it’s good food in a very casual almost fast food dining experience (with somewhat expensive prices). So, today we decided to come for lunch. I had hurt my back and had sciatic pain shooting in my leg, so my husband suggested I just go sit down at a table and he’d wait in line to pay. He was about four people back at that point. After sitting down, one of the staff came over and asked if I had a number. I explained that my husband was in line to order our food. About five minutes later, “Brandon” (who says he is the manager for that day) came to my table and told me I have to leave. I asked if he was kidding and he said he was not and that “I’m going to have to ask you to leave because we are very busy.” I pointed to my husband who was next in line behind the people currently placing their order and informed Brandon that that was my husband, he’s next to order our food. Brandon replied, “He’s next to order but he’s not ordering yet” and that I had to leave because he needed the table. (There WERE tables available in the restaurant as well as barstool dining spots.) This was a first. I’ve never been told to leave a restaurant before. We still can’t believe this happened and intend to follow up with their corporate. My husband called the restaurant later in the day and got Brandon on the phone. He dug his heels in and insisted he handled things exactly right and as per Tommy Bahama’s policy. So congrats to Brandon—you lost longtime...

I am a local to Jacksonville, and have frequented the town center throughout the years - I have never been crazy about the Marlin Bar. Visiting for lunch on Wednesday to break up my work day, I ordered at the counter, and decided to wait to tip in cash until after the service was provided, so I wrote a — as the tip, totaling the bill to be the original amount (~$30)

I ordered 2 tacos ($17) and a side of fries ($8) along with a coke. My food came out ~15-20 minutes after my coworker's food, the fries were soggy, and my soda was flat - all in all not impressive quality for the price and hardly any service was given.

By Friday, I get a notification from my bank asking if I left a 30% tip, making my total bill $40. I called on Friday at 10AM, spoke with Antonio, and he let me know he'd follow up after speaking to another manager.

3PM rolls around and I called back, this time more upset, stating that this is fraud and there is yet to be a resolution, he passed my conflict over to Nicole who told me since the GM was off, she couldn't process a refund, and she'd have to call me back the following day. It has been 2 days and I haven't received a call back, or a resolution. Highly disappointed in not only the service and quality from when I was physically at the restaurant, but now their lack of communication + resolution to my issue, which involves them stealing $ from me.

UPDATE: I called Marlin Bar back for the third time now, being that there was no update, and spoke with the Bar Manager, Shannon, who held no remorse or sympathy. She did not apologize once, and all she said was that 'the refund is processing and depending on my financial institution I will see it in 2-3 business days. Is there anything else I can help you with?' I told her that she seemed unbothered about the situation, not apologizing for it happening to begin with, or the lack of communication, or how they will prevent this moving forward ensuring a satisfactory resolution. I have worked in retail for 10 years and the customer service was nonexistent. I will not be returning here and encourage any customer to look at their transaction to ensure they're not being charged the...

I have visited this location on two separate occasions and there is always a problem with billing or customer service. The first visit Me and my boyfriend came for their happy hour and sat at the bar. We were not aware that only the drinks were apart of happy hour and not the food. Also happy b hour is only at the bar on a first come first serve. My boyfriend decided to not get a drink off the menu but he ordered his traditional jack and orange juice which he said did not taste right. When we told our waitress at the bar (younger blonde girl not sure of her name) she explained that it was made with actual orange juice instead of traditional orange juice from a carton. He opted for a different drink in which she gave to him. When the bill was brought back to us he noticed the drink that he didn’t like was on the bill and when he told her this she said she would ask her manager about removing the drink. We watched her walk over to ask the manager who was coming from the other end of the bar (older blonde woman wearing all black) and that lady got snobby with her while refusing to make any contact with us. When our waitress came back over she told us that the drink could not be taken off. There was no apology or anything for the inconvenience. We paid a hefty bill and left disappointed with the lack of service that day. The second time I visited was with my dad and sister. We were told after making it to the front of the line outside that we had to put a card on file in order to be seated. I gave them my card and asked when we’re finished dining can it be paid for in cash since my dad was running late but he would foot the bill. The hostess said of course and we were seated to a table. At the end of dinner, our waitress comes over and thanks us for dining in and hands him a receipt. When I asked if everything had been paid for she said yes we used the card on file. We explained to her that we were told something completely different at the hostess stand. She apologized and told us that that was not communicated to her. My dad just ended up giving me the cash for dinner and we left. Again, I was disappointed in the experience. I...