Whiskey Kitchen Mount Dora — Restaurant in Mount Dora

There were three of us at Whiskey Kitchen for dinner. We ordered a BLT sandwich, a shrimp quesadilla, and a salad with blackened salmon.

Also, one person ordered a drink. The drink was taking a while, and the person who ordered it asked the waitress about the drink. Rather than just say something like "I'll check on it for you" the waitress became defensive and started into a diatribe about why it wasn'ther fault that the drink hadn't arrived. She said she was just the delivery person, and the bartender was busy, so the drink would get here when it was ready. Had I been the only person dining, I would have left at that moment. The waitress finally relented and said she would go check on the drink. Within a couple of minutes she returned with the drink.

Regarding the food, kale and arugula didn't sound appetizing to me as a salad base with blackened salmon. I asked if they could put the salmon on a lettuce wedge instead -- the same iceberg lettuce wedge being used for the filet mlgnon salad. The waitress said yes. There was no mention of an added cost. The waitress also asked how I wanted the salmon cooked. My reply was "pink and soft." On arrival, the salmon had zero pink and was somewhat dry. Since it wasn't completely dry, and we'd already been through the drink episode, I didn't want to make a fuss about it.

The person who asked for the shrimp quesadilla soon had a gooey mess on their plate and had to eat it with silverware.

The BLT had plenty of bacon, with a nice smoked flavor, but overall the sandwich was dry.

When the checks came, I was charged $25 for a Filet Mignon Wedge Salad rather than $20 for a Blackened Salmon Salad. Eventually, they agreed to "do me a favor" and credit back the $5 -- but only after discussing it three times with two different staff members.

The ice tea was good, but at $3.64 is overpriced. The french fries are average, nothing to write home about, and at $7.28 are also overpriced.

In addition to the lack of staff training with regards to customer service, and the apparent lack of training in preparing or cooking the food, there is another issue with the restaurant.

Though none of the menu items are a bargain pricewise, the restaurant also charges 4% for allowing you the privilege of paying with a debit or credit card. Since the food and drinks are not underpriced, in my opinion the owner is engaging in gouging customers to pad the bottom line with another 4%.

After dining here I can see why the reviews are coming in at only 3.4 out of...

UPDATE Honestly, I gave this place another chance hoping things had improved, but nope—still not great food, and the service wasn’t any better. But let’s put that aside for a moment, because what really blew my mind was the owner’s attitude when replying to reviews. You have to go read them yourself—it's wild.

If someone says they didn’t like the food, instead of taking it as feedback, she basically replies saying “our food is always great” and shuts it down completely. It’s like… okay? Just because you believe your food is the best doesn’t mean everyone will. And god forbid you leave a negative review without causing a scene in the restaurant first—she’ll lecture you about not talking to a manager or making a “drama” at the time. Not every customer wants to argue in public or confront people—we just hope businesses take feedback seriously and improve. But her responses? Pure entertainment. So defensive, so rude, so unbelievably full of herself. And if your review happens to fall on a holiday, she’ll toss in some sarcastic “Happy Mother’s Day” or “Merry Christmas to you tooooo!” at the end like a cherry on top.

Honestly, I don’t know how this place is still running with that kind of energy. Imagine how different things could be if she just listened, even a little.

She mentioned in one of her responses that she owns another restaurant in Mount Dora that serves Cuban cuisine. I looked it up, and in a reply to someone there, she made a comment along the lines of, "I’m sorry, but Latin people should support each other!" Honestly, that didn’t sit right with me. This is a business — a restaurant — and bringing race or ethnicity into the conversation feels unprofessional and a bit exclusionary.

ALSO — I looked up the health inspection ratings for both of her restaurants. The Cuban place has an F rating, which is the lowest possible, and Whiskey Kitchen has a C, which is still pretty bad. That indicates a lot of violations and serious issues. No wonder the quality isn’t there. Instead of criticizing reviewers online, she should focus on getting her restaurants up to standard — starting with cleanliness and food safety.

First review Additional training is required for the staff, as the prices were exorbitantly high for the subpar quality and lackluster taste of the food....

My family and I visit the whisky kitchen about a week ago and would never recommend this place, especially for families. The worst of it feeling threatened by the manager Juan in front of our 1 year old child. We arrived at whisky kitchen and were seated quickly by a very sweet hostess, however it just went downhill from there. We immediately ordered an entree for our 1 year old daughter, an appetizer, and a drink from the bar. We then proceeded to wait 20 plus minutes to see our waitress again and had not even received the beverage which we later learned had sat up at the bar for over 20 minutes and had to flag someone down to get it and was watered down due to ice melting. When our daughter’s food and the appetizer finally arrived our waitress finally came back to take our order, which would be the last time we would see our waitress for over 45 minutes. The appetizer we received was cold and lacked any flavor. After waiting over 45 minutes without seeing our waitress, or receiving an updates on food or a refill on drinks and being in the establishment for over an hour and a half we flagged down the hostess again to see if she could find someone to get us the check as our one year old was now restless and tired of sitting in a high chair for so long. When we did so the manager came out and rudely stated - “so do you want the food or not” to which we indicated that we needed to leave at this point because it had been so long and we asked for the check for the food we did receive. He walked off and it took an additional 10-15 minutes for our waitress to come out to bring us the check. The manager then came out again began yelling and berating my husband in front of our daughter my husband was upset and annoyed at this point but at no point raised his voice. He then began abrasively asking where we were from to which I stated that it was inappropriate and to please stop yelling. We paid our bill and got up to leave, upon doing so the manager sat and stared me the baby down as we walked out of the establishment making me very uncomfortable and uneasy with my...