Santiago's Bodega — Restaurant in Orlando

Horrible experience. We came on a Sunday night for a party. It was our first time there. We had no idea what the reservation would be under or how many people. It didn’t matter because the hostess, who was sweet, had no reservations on the books any way. We arrived early to get some drinks as the bar. We were told that they were speaking to the manager to figure things out and the hostess walked us over to the bar section. We were walked to the table closest to the wall. The busser came over and said “you know you’re sitting at the only dirty table here right?”. No, we did not. We were brought to the table by the hostess. I thought that was kinda rude but who’s happy about being a busser? We looked through the menus for about 5 min and just assumed we order from the bar. We got up to the bar and the bartender completely ignored us. It wasn’t busy either. There were about 6 people total at the bar. After trying to flag her down we tried to order and she said I had to order from our server. There was no server. We were still waiting to hear from the manager about what they planned on doing. So we go back to the table and waited another 5 minutes. Server comes over, mind you there’s only 3 of us, and we put our drink order in and ask to be on a separate check. She said she can’t do that. I said then put our order in and I’ll cash out right now. She said she couldn’t do that either. She said that she was only going to have 1 check for everyone. I told her we’re leaving early. She still said no. I said ok I guess we have no choice which was absolutely ridiculous. We then waited another 15 min for our drinks to arrive. This entire process from walking in the door to getting our first drink was about 40 min. Then people for the party slowly started trickling in. The bartenders kept glancing over at us with awful expressions. I’m not sure why. We all work in the restaurant business and know proper etiquette. The fact that we were just hanging there not knowing what was going on but had to abide by some sort of rules that weren’t explained and being treated terribly for it was absolutely ridiculous. We’re not idiots. If anyone who worked there just explained to anyone one of us what policies were or what they needed from us in general there would be no issue. Our server ended up splitting off my drinks. Which in turn she just made her job harder by keeping everything on one tab. We even offered for her to group it by table but she held fast to the one check. I understand large parties can be hard to navigate but as a restaurant during the holiday season I best suggest you get things straightened out properly. You had a party of people who were willing to spend a lot of money and tip extremely well. We were all willing to make things easier but instead your establishment chose to make it awful. I hope that server made off great and didn’t share too much of her tips with those nasty bartenders. Smiling and being accommodating in the hospitality industry goes a...

Man... I had so been looking forward to coming here. After visiting the Key West location, I was excited to bring my husband here. The place is pretty, but the table we were sat at seemed to be the timeout corner.... which no big deal, but there wasnt much to observe. Server came and took the drink orders... those came out fine. She asked if we wanted to start with anything, and yes we always do.... so we order only apps because I often have to course my own dinners to prevent all the food arriving at the same time. She seems put out and says that she can hold the order if we just give it to her. I hesitantly agree.... spicy shrimp bisque for my husband and the french onion for me... after that we wanted the ceviche. Soups come out.... and before we take one bite... ceviche come out. She apologizes flippantly and continues on. The ceviche has large chuncks of tuna... i mean the size of a mega leggo block.. which you may think, hey thats great, lots of tuna... lol... but it wasnt a beautiful fresh color tuna. It was old, brown oxidized tuna. (I know this to not be the acid of the ceviche... but poor quality. Im a chef of 15 years, CIA graduate from NY and had the pleasure of tutelage under Roy Yamaguchi.... a suberb sushi chef.) We had not one bite.... but that was because a german cockroach crawled off the plate onto the table. My husband saw it first and quickly got it with his napkin. We stopped everything and waited for someone to walk by us that worked there.... eventually I had to flag down another server. Manager came up laughing and joking that we made "friends" with someone..... uh no. Declined that friend request. She proceeds to tell us she lives down the street and has those too. And like, Im aware we live in florida and there are roaches... palmettos... waterbugs... what have you... but if you know about them then you know there are distinct differences in their attractions. Palmetto bugs although larger and creepier... are loving water/moisture... so you typically see only a few..... german cockroaches are due to hygienic environmental issues. And they are legions... thousands.... and quite tough to get rid of. Anyway, she told us we could change tables if we wanted... but we just wanted to leave. And that was ok... she took care of the bill... we tipped the server for the inconvenience. I hope this was just an isolated event... but, probably happens more often...

Disappointing Experience at Santiago’s Bodega

From the outside, Santiago’s Bodega appeared to be an elegant and inviting restaurant — the kind of place that promised a refined dining experience. Unfortunately, what followed was quite the opposite.

Our experience was deeply disappointing and, quite honestly, frustrating. The food was overwhelmingly salty. The ceviche was nearly inedible due to excessive salt, and the catfish dish suffered the same fate. The cocktails were another letdown — bland, unimaginative, and lacking the complexity you’d expect from a place that presents itself with such sophistication.

However, what truly ruined the experience was the service. One of the servers, John Henry, was clearly under the influence of some substance. He struggled to hold a conversation, couldn’t stay focused long enough to take our order properly, and at times seemed like he might fall asleep standing. It was extremely uncomfortable and unprofessional. Even more concerning was his lack of basic menu knowledge — a server should at least be familiar with the ingredients of the dishes they’re serving. John Henry couldn’t answer the simplest questions, which only added to the overall confusion at our table.

On a more positive note, Madi did her best to make up for the chaos caused by him colleague. She was attentive, kind, and tried to salvage what he could of the evening — and that effort deserves recognition.

Final rating: 1 out of 5 stars. Unfortunately, the food, drinks, and lack of professional service overshadowed the atmosphere and potential of this place. I truly hope management addresses these serious issues — especially for the sake of future guests and the hardworking staff like Madi who are trying to do...