Smith's American Tavern — Restaurant in Lakeland

After going to the Punk Flea Market my son and I decided to grab food before heading home. I looked to see what was available in the local area, Lakeland, and decided for The Back Nibe based off Google reviews. Well, I can say once again, Google got it absolutely wrong. Upon placing my order I went directly to their website to do so. I selected the menu option from the drop down which then gave me the opportunity to select whether the order is for pick up or delivery that they partnered withDoorDash for their delivery services. Either way, pickup or take out orders are placed thru the DoorDash site. Once I placed my order @1546 p.m. I immediately received a text @1547 motifying me that my had been placed and that i would receive a pick up time soon. After 20 minutes had passed i called the restaurant to get an estimated time for my pickup since I had not received any notifications. I was then told it would be another 26 minutes. At this time I was never told that one of the meals we ordered was sold out. After another 38 minutes had passed i had ro call the restaurant again to get a status of my order. It was then that I was told they were out of chicken strips for my son. That they had tried to call me but that the call went to VM and stated that the VM hadn't been set up. I then checked DD to make sure my number was correct for which it was and I had no missed calls or VM so I'm not sure who they called or what happened there. I then had to place a separate order to replace the chicken strips. I was told it would be another @8 minutes for fish and fries. My son and I headed that way after arriving to the restaurant it was a total of another 18 minutes making it a total of 78 minutes for a to go order when they only had, what looked like 3 parties at the bar and one party at a table. We ordered the cuban egg rolls, fish and fries (they were out of the chicken tenders from the initial order) and pasta Alfredo with grilled chicken. The fish and fries were a decent portion, the fish was very bland and not chrispy at all and the fries were soggy and of different shapes like mixing steak fries with crinkle cut fries 🤔 the Alfredo while an ok portion was extremely bland and dry. The only thing that had a little flavor was the broccoli because no matter how you cook broccoli it always has a broccoli taste. The Cuban pork rolls were the best of the 3 items ordered but even they were soggy and not crispy. I had to reheat them in the toaster oven to chrispen them up. When I called once I was home and was able to taste the food,on top of the time it took to get the food and lack of communication all around the manager kept trying to justify that they dis attempt to contact me regarding the item they were out of rather than the food being awful as well. I could have gotten better food from the frozen section at Dollar Tree. As a manganese she should have been apologizing and staying something in regards that the restaurant has a high Googlenrating and that she apologies I had a bad experience, let me make it right, if you'll give us another chance I'll give you $10 off my next visit or a free desert, something, even just an apology but it was about excuses. I will not return to a place who doesn't take accountability for anything, especially with the cost of things today. It's too costly for subpar...

Customer service/ satisfaction should always come first. We saw a disparity on the menu regarding the price listed on the mimosa menu vs what was in the servers hand held device. The young server didn’t think to bring it up to management. Maybe she Was afraid to.

The mimosa ordered was bitter tasting, so I requested just a regular mimosa. They did replace it at no additional charge, which was very good and appreciated. Then there was a charge on the bill regarding the toast we ordered. The waitress did not try to make it right on her end. We will give her the benefit of the doubt… she probably was new and very young. Therefore, we asked to speak to the manager. When she came to the table, we could see from her body language she was a bit upset and on the defensive. We made it a point to be polite and kind but explained the mixup and the fact we didn’t want to say anything about receiving the wrong toast because they were extremely busy and the server was being pulled in many different directions.

She defended her point of view that they do not carry the kind of toast we ordered, but we explained that we told the server what we wanted and she said that they did have it. Additionally, we told her we did not want to bother the server again because she was busy and the restaurant was crowded therefore, we ate it.

She did take the charge off the bill but her demeanor and lack of empathy with no apology could not make up for removing the nominal charge. IMHO the manger/ owner could use some brushing up on her people skills. We eat out a lot and repeat visits to restaurants that not only serve great food but offer excellent customer service to their customers. The chicken and waffles I ordered were interesting… not what I expected. The waffles were great but the chicken with seasoned with an unrecognizable spice in it: it did not taste like fried chicken you would expect for brunch. I not care for it at all and didn't finish it for that reason

I did not complain or mention it when the manager came to the table about the bill. I felt like she would not have accepted or appreciated the comment.

A small business cannot afford to not please the customer, and/ or apologize for any misunderstanding regarding prices on the menu and/ or not receiving the food they requested.

We wish them the best especially being a small business trying to make a living, but we hope that they might take into consideration some of these comments and make some adjustments to improve their customer service.

We left feeling like we were the worst customers in the world for bringing some valid points to management. So sad that we are in the days we are in where you are made to feel guilty for speaking up for yourself especially in a struggling economy and you are an honest paying, hard working custom as they are.

We are all human and everyone makes mistakes but when you’re not willing to be gracious and apologetic to your customers for a lack of satisfaction, that’s an error you cannot...

Today, I attended Smith Tavern’s annual Galentine’s Brunch. The restaurant was pretty dark inside. The flowers on the table were pink, red and white, which looked pretty. In my opinion, their breakfast was not good at all.When I ordered breakfast, it came out ice cold, eggs undercooked, potatoes warm but a very small portion. The undercooked eggs kinda made me lose my appetite. I also was hoping the menu would have a pancake or French toast/egg/meat combination but nothing like that was listed. I tried a bite of the chimichurri steak my sister got and it tasted good. After speaking to the owner, I decided to try a lunch item. She apologized and was very warm and kind about addressing the issues with the food. I don’t like to complain but in this case, I had to. I decided to try the buffalo chicken wrap-it was delicious but definitely could be bigger! The fries on plate were a very small portion also, and cold. The owner asked if everything was good, I told her the wrap was delicious but the fries were cold. I handed her a French fry to prove I wasn’t making it up. She took french fry and walked away. No hot fries were offered, but she did discount my tab, which was appreciated. At $15+ an entree, portions could definitely be more generous! Fries really aren’t too expensive to make. Overall, this would definitely not be a place I’d return to anytime soon. Although the owner was very nice about the matter, asking for hot food isn’t an absurd request. I gave 3 stars for my overall experience and the awesome taste of the wrap. I’ll update to 5 stars if I ever go back and the food is hot and they improve...