Thirsty Turtle Seagrill — Restaurant in Juno Beach

TABLES OF 4 OR MORE UNWELCOME CAN'T BE ACCOMMODATED. I want to start off by saying that I don't like to give bad reviews and I rarely do but this time they deserve it. As many of us do when we get older we rarely see our families. Only on Holidays and birthdays do I have the privilege. Well I picked this place for my birthday on Thursday because I thought they might have good, music. We called 2 hours ahead of time letting them know we had a table of 9. They said they don't take reservations but I don't regret calling because many times they appreciate the heads up and can prepare for it anyway. My father came early and put our name down at 7pm and all but 3 of was there by 730. I finally came at 745. They wouldn't even consider STARTING to find us a table until every single one of us were there. Not only that but when 6 of us were there waiting they didn't even prepare for the fact that a 9 top needed to be sat soon. As a former server of many years I know there are many things you can do to prepare for that. They would not put 2 tables inside together for us and waiting for one outside would take at least an hour from 745, which is when they began even trying to accommodate us. Incapable of giving us the slightest effort, they wanted to seat us at two separate tables right off the bat. Well it was my birthday and I didn't want to split my family in 2. I was really looking forward to this. So I walked out side and I saw that 2 tables were empty. Not only that but the table in between the two just got sat. Like I said NO EFFORT at all. Why couldn't they seat that party at one of the empty end tables putting the other two together? Now I know for a fact that if I asked that table nicely if they would mind switching with us so we could sit our family together they would have no problem doing it. Problem solved. I explained this to the girls at the front and they would think nothing of it. You would think I asked them to carry a mysterious box through security at an airport. They gave me the most ridiculous excuses. They couldn't do that because they would have to transfer a server to another table. My answer to that is “And?????” It's done all the time. They would not go the slightest bit out of their way to accommodate us. I was so upset I was in tears. It was so obvious how important it was to me for us to sit together. Yet i was still treated like. how dare I ask for such a thing. It's was “take the 2 booths back to back or wait over another hour”. By then most were already there an hour already and I couldn't make them wait any longer. I had no choice. So I spent my birthday dinner with half of my family while the other half was at another table we couldn't speak too. I am the least picky customer anyone has ever had. You could spill hot coffee on me and I would say ”Oh don’t worry it's OK” I even found an easy solution for them. They are the LEAST ACCOMMODATING RESTAURANT I HAVE EVER BEEN to and treated us like we were a burden to them. THEY RUINED MY BIRTHDAY. I will never go...

Sadly our experience was a bit mixed. We waited a very long time for a table and then when we were finally sat we were walked passed multiple tables that were empty but needed to be bused. The hosts at one point had told us they had a table for us but needed about 5 min to bus it. They took over 15 min to eventually get sat after already waiting over 30-40 min for a table. After being told it would be ready in less than 5 and waiting 10, I heard one of the host say she was gonna check on our table-go to the back and then come back and say she was still waiting for someone to bus it before the other host got a rag and said she’d do it herself. Go her! On our way to our table I walked by 4 dirty but unsat tables waiting to be bused. We should not have waited so long to be sat if they had that many open tables. When we finally got sat our table the service was slow and the server was not very informed on drinks. She took forever to bring us our cocktails and I had to flag her down to get refills. As an ex server I am usually pretty chill about a server being overwhelmed or busy but she seemed like neither. I watched the multiple dirty tables still take forever to be bused. A change in staff maybe necessary. We ordered nachos to start and they were really good. Took a long time but good. The chicken sticker wrap was also good and my onion rings came out hot and fresh. My friend had the fish and chips and was very impressed with them. The oyster po’boy was also good. The food was a win. Also this is close to my house and I had heard really good reviews. In the end we won’t be returning any time soon. While the food was good and the prices great the service broke it for us. Not only that the server brought me the wrong drink after she questioned my order and I had to tell her what it was (I ordered a sea breeze and she said ‘bay breeze?’ And I said no sea breeze. A bay breeze with grapefruit instead of pineapple’ she still brought me a bay breeze which was frustrating. My boyfriend was so frustrated with the service when we got in the car he said the food wasn’t worth it bc there are similar places all over which would take better care of us with the same quality of food. If you have no interest in good service and plan on being left alone for long periods. From the moment we got there to when we left was an hour and 45min. About 45min was just waiting for a table bc no one could take the initiative to...

Setup: Several sporadic visits over years and every bit of the three stars is generous (mind you I think this is probably a solid 4 star place if you have kids 5+).

Pros: The staff would have to be at the top of the list. I'm pretty picky about service and I never have a complaint here. Beyond that, they have your sports covered pretty well and I've heard a lot of good things about their outside bar, but haven't been myself. People rave about their wings and I always agree when I try one (more on this later). Outside of that, beer selection has been ok.

Neutral point : this is what makes this a 3 star place for me, but if you have kids might allow it to be a 4 star place for you or even push it to 5, but there's a lot of people here with kids. I love kids, but not other people's spoiled, ill behaved kids (which is what most of them seem to be now). This place always seems to be teeming with them and they always seem to be the loud, chasing each other around type.

Cons: The biggest issue for me by far has to be the BIZARRE bar setup. There's a manager in a bar behind the bar making drinks... So I order a drink from the bartender and then they go to that person and reorder the drink.... I've been told this whole system exists to subsidize the way this ownership pays their managers (just rumors I'm sure). I'd imagine internally they probably say it's inventory control. Regardless of the reason I find it insulting/confusing as a bar customer and am against it on a number of levels, as a customer and former food service employee. Aside from that, I find the food to be consistently mediocre and even the wings (as mentioned above) which they're known for, become lackluster after a couple of bites. In my experience, the sauce divolves into a particulated, semi-emulsified, pseudo-paste which makes them inedible unless perfectly hot (reminder - I'm in the minority on this. Most people love their wings and...