Tulua Bistro Springfield — Restaurant in Jacksonville

We had the opportunity to visit Tulua Bistro in Springfield. This place was a cool vibe so I'll just get right to the point. We were told that we'd have an hour wait and our wait exceeded an hour and a half. The front host was snappy then nice after realizing our party of nine had been waiting so long. Our part consisted of 4 couples and our friend.

Now seated, we waited about a min before even being approached. The menus were on the table when we sat down. Waitress arrives and offers us drinks. At first everyone just chose water. We were hungry after waiting for so long. She leaves running all over the place appearing to be very flustered and overwhelmed. She returns and asks for our orders. I said can you tell me about the boards. She just reached in her order book and passed us the paper and some pens with the options for the board on it. Well thanks for no explanation! So since you get to pick from certain sections, we choose the large board not realizing it enough to feed clearly more than 2 people.

I thought an establishment such as yours would make that a requirement since the board is the main attraction. We were able to see the sizes because someone in our party managed to buy a small, medium and we bought a large😤 I got a pic of the small which clearly is enough to feed 2 people. We were amazed to see the amount of food that came out. It looked great. The option were mini pancakes etc. These were definitely not mini pancakes. Wow..The food came out quickly and was fresh. They brought the eggs first then took 10 mins to bring my board. Eggs cold now 🤦🏾

Now our flustered and overworked waitress goes to the pick up our food and it seems as if all hell broke loose. The waitress and the food runner had words, my waffles fell. She brings my board and drops my hash browns as she approaches the table. Both were replaced.

The grits, sausage, pancakes, hash brown patties, chicken and waffles, eggs, BLT, bacon, and Italian salad was good. I also tried a blackened shrimp and it was perfect! The STEAK was horrible, dry and overcooked. I also failed to mention that we did try to order sodas but everything tastes flat. The drinks they ordered came out rather quickly as well.

Overall, Tulua Bistro food is great! I ate more good than bad and my family enjoyed the food as well. Besides the wait, the waitress not explaining the board, flat soda, overcooked steak, and dropping all my food. The place was a cool vibe. The music was at a great level but the service seemed a bit subpar, rushed and not attentive. I'm hoping service improves because I would love to bring friends and family to experience the boards and other menu items. Now that I'm aware how the boards are, I could tell family and friends. I do plan on returning because overall the...

Came for a drag/brunch show & paid prior to arriving for a section that came with a couch and two bottles. When we got there they basically said they didn’t have it available so they gave us a table and that was the best they could do. On eventbrite it was two different cost for a table and a section, and the section was higher $200. So when I asked to speak with the manager to see if we could be compensated for the $200 we already paid, the person waiting on us said the owner wasn’t there but he was the shift lead, & basically said he can’t compensate or do anything about that, and eventbrite doesn’t show how many sections are available. That’s not our problem that’s y’all problem!. But that’s fine if you can’t, but his whole mood changed like he was one of the gworls and it came out. Which is fine because I’m one too, but that’s not how you conduct yourself. I watched him go right to the host station after that and he was moving his head like he had an attitude and was talking and the girl who said that was the best she could do, looked over at our table, it didn’t take all that. Fast forward to when we got our food. As they’re bringing the food out, he comes to me and says they were out of bacon did I want anything else? So my thing is you wait until the rest of my food is done to ask me about an alternative when we already waited almost 2 hrs to eat (which is fine because we were enjoying the show). So at that point I told him I didn’t want any food I’m good. They STILL brought it out. I put it to the edge and did not touch it. When it was time to pay my friend reminded him that I said I didn’t want it and asked him to take it off the bill. He says “I can’t do that but I will do it”.. that means you can! His whole attitude sucked if I was to go there again I wouldn’t let him be my waiter. The host (who said they were the owner or manager) was very great! They put on a real good drag show I wouldn’t let definitely go back. But the service we received when we paid money prior to arriving for COMFORT...

1st time at this location a friend and I went. We didn’t mind the wait because the decor and ambiance were intriguing. The extra wait allowed for us to explore more of the restaurants artful details. The food was pretty good. However at end of our brunch we began to get rushed because there was a show that was supposed to start and the server said they needed our table and if we didn’t pay for the ticket we wouldn’t be able to stay. When we sat down someone should’ve communicated then that there was a show and we would’ve needed tickets. 2nd time we arrived with a large group. We had been told on the phone before they didn’t take reservations. Upon arrival the hostess says we were given misinformation and they did take reservations and since we didn’t make one we would have to wait one hour. Once again we agreed to the wait. 30 minutes into waiting a different hostess says the wait time has changed to 2 hours. Then our original hostess says “oh and for parties greater than 10 there is a $5 seating charge per person”. She states this has been going on for months. We asked is it a gratuity charge and she said she doesn’t know the owner makes the rules. That information should’ve been communicated at the same time our name was placed on the list. There should also be a sign displayed with this information. I feel like we were getting discriminated because of the size of our party and staff feeling overwhelmed...