Brendon's Catch 23 — Restaurant in Louisville

My experience at Brendon’s Catch 23 was very lukewarm and I was extremely disappointed by the way certain things were handled. My fiancé and I arrived at the restaurant for a 7pm reservation with a group of 4 others. Our waitress was not very receiving of our group. We were there about 10 mins when we had our drink order taken, I ordered a glass of the Moscato. We were given warm water with no ice, no worries but it was another hour before the appetizer order was taken. She exhibited very little desire to assist us and from the very beginning a friend commented on how “unwelcomed” he felt in the space. Still we made the most of our time, we are all young professionals and we take pride in how we spend our money. The appetizers arrived about 25 mins later and at that time we were once again left for another 30 minutes before we could order dinner. I am newly disabled and have at times adverse reactions to certain food components. My fiancé ordered a Tomahawk and some additional sides. I ordered the cornbread salmon. Once we received our food I was not satisfied with the state of my food—everything was cold, my spinach and potatoes had been drenched in the Sherry vinaigrette which was heavy in lemon and lacked pretty much any seasoning and flavor. I could understand a side of this sauce but everything was drenched as to help the unseasoned nature of the food. I asked if I could change out the sides because the acidity of the dish itself was unsettling to my stomach, I was told that regardless of if I couldn’t stomach it or not I could not substitute or chose another dish. Being as this was our first time eating at the restaurant I was not aware how intensely acidic the food drenched in this vinaigrette would be—I do believe that if a guest cannot stomach a dish they should be able to request something else. I would’ve been fine with the dish minus the sauce, considering the cost at almost $40 plus two appetizers and multiple rounds of drinks my dinner alone was roughly $120-30 while my fiancé spent over just under $200. My fiancé is very sensitive about me, we are navigating my very tedious and new autoimmune disease diagnosis and we found it extremely insensitive especially since the request was denied very nonchalantly in front of other friends and relatives. The waitress only added with an almost sarcastic tone that she would “tell the manager”. A request to have a meal fixed should not have been denied and we will not be returning to this restaurant. We were as a group very understanding of the staffing shortage and the lengthy wait times, I wanted very much to enjoy this restaurant. Unfortunately this experience missed the mark and I left feeling very...

My boyfriend and I decided to go to Brendon’s Catch on our 2nd Anniversary to celebrate the achievements we had overcome throughout the past few years as well as share the love we have together. We decided on a 7:15PM reservation back in November, as we had heard phenomenal reviews over Brendon’s Catch. My boyfriend and I had shown up an hour earlier of our designated reservation and the staff happily seated us, almost immediately. Once we had sat down at our table, a kind gentleman named Jime began to work his knowledge of the restaurant as well as develop personal connections with us during our time at Brendon’s Catch. I was very excited to have conversations with Jime as he was very enthusiastic regarding the menu. He had provided exceptional details to each item my boyfriend and I had questions about, leaving us to reflect on the variety of choices the restaurant had displayed. Our food appetizer was the Whipped Goat Cheese Bruschetta, and it was an incredible lightweight snack that provided so little, yet so much. Next, we had cornbread with a creamy butter. I am not particularly too fond of cornbread as I feel as if the dough becomes too dry, but this cornbread maintained the right amount of moisture while the side of butter added texture of smoothness to the dish. Each time we had finished our food, the staff was quick to their feet to ensure the cleanliness of our space and to stay free of clutter. For our main course, my boyfriend had ordered the Kansas City Strip with the Mac and Cheese, and I had ordered the Seared Yellowtail Tuna with yellow Yukon potatoes, asparagus with a creamy glace added to the plate. As soon as the main courses were brought out, we were very impressed with the display of the food as it was presented clean and organized. We had began digging into the food, and were blown away with how exquisite each item tasted. The amount of flavor could not compare to experiences in the past, up until our very first experience with Brendon’s Catch. Lastly, dessert was a must. I had ordered the flourless chocolate cake, while my significant other chose the pecan pie. Again, a 10/10 experience. I highly encourage those to go to Brendon’s Catch at some point and time in your life to gain the experience we had while we were at this restaurant. We only go to nicer restaurants on special occasions, and now that we have had different experiences at different locations regarding a wide variety of food, Brendon’s Catch, most certainly,...

Let me begin by saying there was absolutely nothing wrong with the food at Brendan's. Actually, quite amazing. The blackened yellowfin was incredible. The steaks were incredible. And that's where it ends. We had to reserve a table through Open Table, which mandated a credit card hold for $200 if you failed to show up. Since we had no intentions of NOT showing up, that wasn't a problem. Upon arrival we were informed that there was a $200 minimum bill, which we didn't think was going to be an issue at all.

About 80% of the way through dinner it was brought to our attention that there wasn't a $200 minimum - it was $200 PER PERSON minimum with a mandatory 20% gratuity! That's a quick $500 - and for service that was non-existent. We couldn't get our server to even fill water glasses on a regular basis and ended up having 2 ADDITIONAL servers assist us. One asked 'who was helping us' and our response was 'no one'....When we asked to speak to manager about this, since we weren't informed by the hostess of this fun-filled little twist, he said it was 'on the confirmation at open table'. Which was true. In small print - and AFTER you had already reserved the table and given up $200 - nonrefundable.

He offered us a glass of wine 'for our troubles'. I told him that if they were struggling that much to stay afloat, they needed that glass of wine more than I did.

The couple behind us had the same surprise when they received THEIR bill. We are fortunate enough - as were they - to be able to cover such an exorbitant cost, but the haughty, pretentious nature of the staff was absolutely unacceptable. In addition, we went to their website and the prices listed ONLINE ARE NOT THE SAME AS WHAT WE PAID IN THE RESTAURANT. My steak is listed online at $67 - I was charged $86. My wife's crab cakes were $52 online and we were charged $70.

After learning of the 'policy', we asked our server to bring us the menu again, as we might as well get something to go and at least try and get CLOSE to the $200 per person goal. She said 'she wasn't able to do that since we had already ordered'. I just about lost my mind.

Probably one of THE most maddening experiences I have ever had at what is SUPPOSED to be a very high end establishment. I would not go back if someone paid me to do so. The 2 star rating is simply the quality of the food - very good. Every other aspect...