Mason's Grill — Restaurant in Louisiana

TO THE OWNER: Thank you for your kind reply. Please note it's not just the sides that are often overly salty. My hamburger steak was so over salted it was unenjoyable. Besides brunch, burgers, and Cubans everything I've had from the menu has been salty. Granted, I've hardly had a comprehensive sampling, but when most dishes are over salted I'm hesitant to veer off the burgers & Cuban sandwich for fear of having a salty meal.

3/15/24: We went in for our favorite dishes that we know aren't over-salted like most of Mason's food. The Cajun Shrimp Burger & the Cuban sandwich were excellent as always. Unfortunately, the onion rings & fried mushrooms were very salty. Even more unfortunate was the lackadaisical service - We were completely out of beverages for almost 10 minutes before I just carried our empty glasses to the bar for refills. Our server only passed by once after taking our order, right after someone else brought our food, then they never bothered to check on us again.

Most insulting is after that experience to be presented with a bill suggesting only 20%, 25%, & 30(!)% as tip amounts! That's VERY presumptive of the restaurant & 8 never tip above 20% as that's already a hefty percentage. Tips are to acknowledge excellent, above average service. We barely received service at all. Maybe I should bill Mason's for having to refill my own drinks.

3/18/24: TOO SALTY! While the food is usually very good, one bothersome thing remains - they oversalt nearly everything. This often ruins what would otherwise be a great meal. Today, I had a hamburger steak with mashed potatoes & a bread stick. Everything except the bread stick was WAY too salty! It was hard to enjoy such a salty meal and every time we visit the salty food reminds us why we haven't been in a good while. We'd be "regulars" if they'd lay off the salt and let the customers decide if they want properly salted food or hypertension. Also, my wife had "stuffed shrimp" but the stuffing was just 1/4 inch thick breading! She had to peel it off to even taste the shrimp.

Salt is the one seasoning that very well may be better added at the time of consumption than cooked-in. Their chefs, creating so many wonderful-looking dishes, should know this but for some reason they seem to use more and more salt as time goes on. This ruins everything and I wish they'd just ease up on the salt.

Having said that, they have quite possibly the best burgers on Planet Earth with a selection that'll astound you (Try the shrimp burger!), the Cuban Sandwich is the most authentic I've had...

Never again. If I could give ten stars to my waitress I would, but the owner? Zero stars!! As soon as I walked into the restaurant the male owner, who was standing at the host stand, looked at my party of three and walked away without saying a single word to us. Now, I suppose it isn't a big deal, but as an owner you would think someone would greet all of his customers with a smile. His action rubbed me the wrong way from the very beginning. Everything was going smoothly until we had ordered alcohol beverages. I ordered a Tiger Tini, which consist of tequila, rum, blue curaçao, cranberry and sweet & sour. As a previous bartender/server I never complain about food or drinks. But this drink had tasted awful. I asked if I could change the drink out for another after being extremely apologetic. I took one sip. I didn't think it would be a big deal until the owner came over and told me since I was sending a drink back the whole table was not allowed to order anymore drinks. He never introduced himself. He didn't arrive with a mask. He seemed irritated and never apologized. Poor customer service is the number one reason I will not return to a restaurant. My waitress, along with another waitress, came to explain the situation and they continued to apologize. The owner made it sound like I was in trouble and was no longer allowed to drink. It was the two waitresses who had to go back and speak/clarify with someone else, come back to my table and explain the table could continue to order alcohol beverages if I kept the beverage on my tab. I appreciate my waitress for excellent service and this was by no means her fault. I have never heard of this policy for any bar or restaurant in my life. I could have understood if I had drank half of the drink, but I did not. The male owner was unprofessional and rude. His wife and daughter have always been nice and welcoming and I appreciate that. I have been to Mason's Grill numerous of times, but never again. He put a bad taste in my mouth and I left feeling very unpleased and singled out. I refuse to give my money to an owner who treats his customers as such. I can't help but wonder if I walked in with different people would the situation have...

First, let me say our server, Ciara, was wonderful!! She was super friendly, very attentive but not intrusive. Also, the ladies’ bathroom was extremely clean, which I greatly appreciate. Unfortunately, the positives end there. This is the third time we have tried Mason’s, and each time the food is just meh. It’s not bad, but it’s not really good. Dining out today has become very expensive, so if the food isn’t great, I leave feeling like I wasted hard-earned money. The potato soup was strange. It wasn’t bad, it just tasted nothing like potatoes. It was a creamy bowl of something, but just like a generic creamy base soup that you could add various things to and change the name of the soup. Like I said, it was strange. For my entree, I ordered the penne pasta Alfredo with shrimp. The shrimp were not gulf shrimp. They were those rather small, frozen generic shrimp they use on salads, etc. The Alfredo sauce (if you can call it that) that was on the pasta was just not very flavorful. It was super bland, and not rich. My daughter ordered the same Alfredo penne pasta but with crawfish, and she didn’t care for hers either. Our pasta came with a super strange breadstick. I hate to keep using that word, and I don’t usually use it to describe food! But it was a fried corn breadstick exactly like what is on the outside of a corn dog. I understand you want to be unique, but that breadstick just doesn’t work. Finally, they have the system on a handheld machine for automatic tips where you choose 15%, 20%, 25% which is calculated to tip on the total including tax, instead of the subtotal. Now, I didn’t mind the extra (negligible) amount because Ciara was such a lovely server. But it's the priniciple of it that annoys me. Customers aren't supposed to tip on taxes. Mason’s isn’t the first business I’ve seen lately do this, but it’s improper. Anyway, thank you for hiring such lovely servers, Mason’s. And for the clean bathrooms. But I’m sorry, we’ve given you three chances and your food is just very meh each time. I really wanted to like it, as you are relatively close to my home, so it’s in a...