Kali Love — Restaurant in Midlothian

We wanted to try out the new restaurant so we went with our friends. We have been to the Island Shrimp Co and the atmosphere was the same which I think it pretty nice. It has an island feel and nice colors. The food was okay. Two of us ordered tacos, one a salad and the other fish and chips. The tacos were not amazing especially for the price but the salad was pretty good and the fish was good but a little pricy. The problem came with the bill and an added 20% service fee. We did not see it or know it was coming but the real crutch was when the waitress told us that she would not receive any of it. We asked to see the manager and apparently the manager was on the phone and couldn’t come. So we paid the service fee and a tip! This was the weirdest experience we have ever had at a restaurant. A service fee that we didn’t know about, a bill that says it has a service fee not a gratuity and a place for a tip too. Did the waitress play us or does this restaurant treat their servers terribly? We just don’t know. On top of that the food and service just can’t make up for that seriously odd encounter. Some people are upset about the service fee but we would have been fine with it because we usually tip more than 20%. We just didn’t see the fee so we couldn’t know exactly what it was for. The receipt called it “service fee” and with just that info and the word of the waitress just soured the overall experience.

Edited: see below the company reached out and just again gave me information that I did not see in writing before. Communication was terrible at the restaurant and the response below is another attempt to explain something that I shouldn’t need to write a review about to receive the information. Transparency is receiving correct information in a timely manner. I emailed the company immediately and did not receive a response. I rarely write a review unless I think it would be helpful for me to read before going to a restaurant. Others can now go and know what to expect, not because the company was transparent but because someone let them know beforehand. I would definitely go back again if anyone writes a review on a particular menu item that...

Places this dismal go beyond merely "bad." The Lindsays, despite their completely unearned reputation here in Richmond, turn out to be scammers who filch tips from their staff while lying about providing a living wage, all while serving slop food, mostly from bags and buckets, that requires zero skill in the kitchen.

The Lindsay Food Group lives up to their corporate name here, serving bland, tasteless fare with no love or finesse. The short rib is dry. The shrimp are rancid. The fish tacos are tiny, overpriced, and low quality. Your pico de gallo is from a bucket. Your avocado sauce is from a bag.

Decor and theming is essentially nonexistent. I suppose they wanted it to feel like a California restaurant? This is not at all clear from the drab, dreary, industrial decor, nor from the extremely limited and even more unimpressive wine menu made exclusively of mass-produced swill.

What's worst is that these clowns posture as pro-worker while underpaying and understaffing, charging a 20% built-in tip to "pay their servers a living wage" and then not giving this tip to the servers at all, but rather hiding how much money is being made under the false pretense that the money will be split evenly among the staff.

Anyone one the staff will tell you - the Lindsay's steal from their employees, who make well below poverty wages to sling this cafeteria-quality slop. The Lindsays are frauds getting away with paying their employees less than minimum wage while selling their unfortunate customers a bill of goods about how "ethical" their business is. They are snake-oil salesmen of the most lowly variety.

A health hazard waiting to happen, a creatively bankrupt disaster of a restaurant, and a scam. You'll regret every penny you spend here....

I really wanted to love this place. We came in to see the live music on the rooftop bar which is a great space. Love the atmosphere up there and it was a gorgeous night.

Our first clue should have been that the entire downstairs area was empty on a Friday night. And then the table next to ours said their server came by to get their drink order but never came back. They weren’t kidding. Another server had to pick them up.

We sat for at least 10-15 minutes before a server came by. We ordered two bar drinks. The server brought one drink and left. Then she came back about 10 minutes later and asked if we wanted food. I had to ask her about my missing drink. I got it about another 10 minutes later after our appetizer arrived. Drinks were very weak. Food was ok. I was expecting a bit better with the ML reputation. Server didn’t come back until 30 minutes after we finished our food. Then we may have seen her twice over the next 2 hours. Finally got the check and automatic 20% gratuity was added. Fine. As someone who is a former bartender and an over tipper I have no problem with automatic gratuity, but if Kali Love is going to force it on their customers, the service needs to be much better.

I love to support local businesses but if this place is going to survive they need to step it up in...