NBC Sports Grill & Brew — Restaurant in Orlando

Genuinely horrendous — but in an almost inspiring way. I’m not here to name names because I’m not into public shaming… but I am into public storytelling, and this one’s a doozy.

We had a reservation for a medium-sized group and knew there’d be a bit of a wait — totally fine. They were busy (when we first got there, they were almost completely empty when the end of the story happens) , and we were cool with that. Eventually, we got seated… at two different tables. Not ideal, but we pulled up some extra chairs and made it work.

We ordered drinks and appetizers, and then we watched time pass. About 25 minutes later — after some solid eye contact with our beers just sitting on the bar — our drinks finally made it to the table. A bit of a slow start, but hey, no big deal. Could’ve been a fluke, or maybe someone was just writing our names on the glasses in calligraphy.

Appetizers arrived and were decent. Morale was stable. Then the entrées came… sort of. Multiple orders, including a few of the apparently elusive chicken tenders, were completely missing. A couple people sat there with nothing, politely waiting while the rest of us nervously pretended this was all normal. Eventually, the rest of the food showed up, but the mood had shifted from “Friday night out” to “held hostage by a casual dining experiment gone wrong.”

Then came the final trial: the check.

Our server gave us the classic, “I’ll be right back with your checks,” and then disappeared into the void. Not even a blur of motion or the swoosh of an apron. Just… gone. We waited FORTY minutes for a check. Not forty seconds. Not four minutes. Forty. We could’ve watched a whole episode of a show — two, if you skip the intro.

No one checked on us. No manager swooped in to apologize. We just sat there, sipping water and giggling like people who’ve completely given up on logic. It truly started to feel like we were in a simulation where the main objective was for the restaurant to ignore us as much as physically possible.

And then came the real kicker: we were automatically charged 18% gratuity.

Now listen — I’ve worked in the service industry. I understand that some nights are rough. But if you’re going to make us feel like invisible background characters in your restaurant’s disaster movie, the least you could do is let us choose how we express our gratitude (or lack thereof). Or — here’s a crazy idea — apologize properly. Just once. Something simple like, “Hey guys, we are unbelievably sorry for how long things are taking, our system is experiencing difficulties and we are on the phone with our tech team right now” or whatever the case may be, the key is COMMUNICATION. Heck, I don't even care if you are lying to me about why its taking so long, at least communicate with me and ensure me that ill at least escape at some point.

And as fate would have it, we ran into another table on the way out… who had the exact same story. Misery does love company, and apparently so does this restaurant’s management style — if there was any.

It honestly takes a symphony of small failures, a cast of unbothered staff, and a completely disengaged leadership team to create a night this memorably bad. I applaud the effort it must’ve taken to drop the ball this many times and still act like everything was fine.

If you offered me $200 to come back, I’d ask if that includes hazard pay.

At the end of the day, we left hungry for justice, full of tap water, and weirdly amused — like we’d just escaped a restaurant-themed escape room… without solving anything. I've never felt more impressed with the...

Please, just go next door and get the Texas donut from Voodoo. I will never come back to this place, and I come to City Walk all the time. When we first got to our table the floor had piles of trash and the seats were dirty. The server was a nice guy, but super slow on followup, especially after we got our food. When gratuity is automatically charged, like it was in this case, the server did not fulfill his duty. It is also frustrating to see, based on other written reviews here, that not every other customer was automatically charged gratuity, whereas we were. We did not have a large party, this feels a bit targeted. Jose knows he was slow with his service. He disappeared for extreme amounts of time only to show up and walk on by.

The bbq was terribly dry despite the server praising it and recommending it. My burger was overcooked tremendously too. They ask how you would like it cooked only to bring it charbroiled. We sat by the fire grill where you can see the cooks just leaving food on the fire for extended periods of time. That said, I would say stay away from anything with grilled chicken. The pieces i saw on the grill on fire looked like they were done cooking two days ago, yet still being cooked. The bbq was also very bland, I mean damn. You guys also need to get rid of both the bbq sauces you have and try again; they are both variations of ketchup.

The $ 17 cocktail we had was unbalanced and no good. Usually I try to avoid going to places at tourist spots because it feels like they don't try to keep their food consistent or good because they have such a high turnover of customers they don't need to rely on repeat business. This place is no different.

Also, if you are going to serve bbq, you need to take notes from the people who do it best. There is a way to keep your meat tender and intact through the whole day. I can tell you that having such lean cuts of brisket and pulled pork is not the way. You should be cooking with plenty of fat and let the customer takeaway the amount they don't want instead of what you are doing or just take it off the menu. Train your cooks to know when the food is not servable. A good cook would take one look at it and say stop selling the bbq, it's no good. Forget your food cost, customer cost is much higher of a loss.

One positive, the wings were good. If you are starving, you might just be hungry enough to enjoy your food, but avoid the bbq at all costs. If you guys need a consultation on how to keep your food consistent and full of flavor, hit me up. If I was the manager or owner I would be embarrassed.

You should have managers walking around checking all the tables and see who still has a plate full of food, not touching it. You should also train your servers and food runners to pay attention to these things and work as a team to keep everyone happy. It's super easy to spot the unhappy table as they are usually all looking in the same direction wondering where their server is. You had dozens of people walking by ignoring our obvious issue. You need to foster a team of employees, not a congregation of employees. I write all this to say that you could be great, but you gotta set the...

Seemed like an awesome grill to catch the game at. Sunday Night Football ready to have a good time. Was seated quickly and had to wait a while before being asked for our drink order. Decided simple Coke products.. .waited... when the waitress came with our drinks she asked if we were ready to order my wife asked for an order of pickle poppers which unfortunately they were "out" should have stopped there if we knew that that was a sign of things to come.... we continued our order that included our entrees as well..while waiting for the appetizer I drank my glass of coke the staff brought us our spinach and artichoke dip... I have had spinach and artichoke dip numerous times from numerous places this was definitely more like a pesto no cheese just a green mess of spinach and oil.. the pita chips were awesome the dip was horrible. So then we waited again no drink refill. They brought our food about 30+ min... no refill... when the entrees came my wife ordered steak which was "charred " on the outside to the equivalent of a charcoal briquette now mind you my wife usually wants me to burn the food at home so it's charred but even she was disappointed. On her first bite a burnt piece gouged her gum.. the garlic butter on the steak was frozen and asparagus was flavorless...my order was the smoke house stack.. the brisket was burnt to the point that it was hard and burnt is not the word I could use to deal it it was black. The burger had no flavor and the pulled pork was minimal. Def a disappointment. The waitress came by once asked if we needed anything noticed my empty glass and stated oh let me get you some more drink and my wife requested steak sauce...I usually eat the meal out of being raised that way but unfortunately I walked away with barely taking a bite. The worst part was I couldn't wash it down with the refill I was still waiting for. when she returned she placed the drinks and steak sauce quickly on our table and walked off. Mind you my wife noticed other wait staff engaging with their customers about rides and where to go and such and it wasn't overly busy. My wife went to the host and asked for our bill which the waitress quickly showed up with she asked if we needed any boxes being that most of the meal was still on the table.. I gave her my card and paid. When she returned with the receipt she stated thank you for our patience and walked off never once questioning why we were leaving with the food on our table.. truly...