FireFin — Restaurant in Palm Beach Gardens

I have been going to Firefin from the day they opened which is fairly new. I liked the happy hour menu but more so the friendly staff that have always been such a pleasure, accomodating, and just beyond nice. I love Phillip and Autum. They are absolute the best. Now, the managers Tom and especially Garret, I cannot say in my entire lifetime have I ever ever come across a manager as exceptional as him. When I say this ..I mean it..this guy is so amazing, classy, friendly and just a real nice person. Garret is the best part of the restaurant. I go back because they make you feel special. I am very cognizant of people in the industry because my degree is in hospitalty management from the #1 university in America in this field. This does not mean I am critical because I get how hard this job is. I am a Firefin regular all the time and the staff know me and my husband and even though happy hour technically is at the bar...they let me sit on the patio tables right next to the bar and I always receive the happy hour menu/pricing. My tips are always very generous because they deserve it. This week, I went and my usual staff was not there....the bar area was closed due to Covid. A manager by the name of Brian or a Bryant was in charge. He refused to present us with the happy hour menu unless we moved a few tables over to the high tops...and we had our golden retriever and did not want to take him over with all the other people. I had called to confirm if we could bring him this time and if it was quiet enough again and if we could sit away due to our dog. There were no others sitting having dinner and it was 530 so it is not like we took up a dinning table...they are never packed anyway. Business has been dead even more so due to Covid. I had explained we always get the happy hour menu as we are regulars. This time I said I wanted the happy hour menu and the regular menu as I wanted the filet mignon which was the regular menu. I said I come at least weekly and the others know me beyond well that they always come to chit chat. Brian or whatever his name is... is a complete disaster to the restaurant. Poor hire choice compared to the others. He said the change happened 2 mths ago that they insisted to go to the high tops but I was there the week before. I just do not like liars...dont lie to me...I am a regular. I had really liked going to this place..it was a fav...but Brian was so rude and unaccomodating unlike my special team members. They will never get my business again ever. I went to the Dive Bar and spent $175. Of course I called to go to the Twisted Tuna their sister company in case Garret was working as he had said he was going to be training their staff...but they were not opened yet. You have hired the worst person for a manager in Brian....I wont ever be back. I used to really love it there. Brian is a disgrace...

TLDR; Don’t waste your time or money. There are several better restaurants within a mile of this place who will serve better food and offer a better dining experience.

First off, if you go definitely valet park. The parking lot is way too small and a total zoo. We made the mistake of trying to self park, a mistake we instantly regretted and continued to regret for the 10 minutes it took us to park after that.

Our waiter was full of enthusiasm but was just not that good of a server. He gave a straw to one of our party, didn’t offer straws to the rest, and we had to track him down to get straws. Also, we didn’t know they provided bread for the table until 5 minutes before our food came out, because he forgot to bring it to us or offer it to us.

Now, the food. One person ordered the soup of the day, and I was shocked at how tiny the bowl was. A few sips and it was gone. He was also disappointed with how thin and watery the soup was. It was New England clam chowder so thick and full of ingredients would have been better.

I ordered the crab cakes because they happen to be my go-to order when I can’t make up my mind at a seafood place. They were not good. In fact, they were tasteless. The rice they were served on was EXTREMELY salty also. I don’t think I have ever sent back crab cakes but I did tonight. I ordered the spider roll, and to their credit it was a tasty sushi roll and large as well. If I can recommend anything about this place, it would be the sushi. Also, to be 100% fair, they instantly offered me to order something else when I complained about the crab cakes.

The other person at our table ordered the orange salmon. She enjoyed it a lot, but after walking out she was still hungry, owing to the small portion size of the salmon. Another let down. That’s 3/3 people disappointed with the meal. At least there was consistency.

I have not been so disappointed in a restaurant in a while. The decor was nice, but the experience was a let down. Look, there are a whole lot of restaurants in North Palm Beach county with $20-$40 main courses. Some are out of this world, some are ok, and some are black holes where you throw money away. Sadly, based on what we experienced, this place doesn’t justify its own existence. I give this place 2-3 years before it closes down. All I can say for sure is that unless I’m going as a guest or to a business event, I will never...

TLDR: dirty dishes, dirty menus, music way too loud, food so so so bland, out of stock of many items.

If you look at my account, I'm a 5 star rater most of the time - so not typically picky.

We just ate here for my birthday tonight and I was impressed... With how poor of an experience we had. I couldn't even blame the waiter, even though he wasn't much help. I'll just give an account of the experience, no opinions.

We approached our outdoor table and noticed the person performing live music was a bit loud but it should be fine, so we agreed to sit at the table. We sat down and immediately noticed the glass was dirty, the waiter picked it up, apologized, and went to get us a new one. We then realized we couldn't even hear each other so we asked to move once the waiter came back. We ordered drinks at the same time, where we noticed the menu was written in with crayon all over multiple pages. The waiter informed my boyfriend they didn't have that drink but it's "the only thing they don't have". The music was still incredibly loud, even the waiter was like "sorry the music has been so loud, I'm having a hard time hearing" and this was AFTER we moved.

We ordered appetizers where he again informed my boyfriend they didn't have a menu item (steak tips or something like that) and again apologize so he ordered something else. He also ordered his main, and I was struggling with picking mine, but ordered the lionfish, the restaurants namesake. When he told me they didn't have that, I would've been fine if that was the only thing they were out of, because lionfish are horrible for Florida waters and not having them would mean less of them, but then he said it was a problem with coordination with the supplier and I just couldn't believe it at that point. I then ordered salmon.

While we were waiting incredibly long for our apps, we noticed other tables had bread and butter and we were never offered that, not that we wanted them, the buns looked poor anyway.

To make long story short, once we got the food both my boyfriend and I were shocked with how utterly bland our food was. It was cooked well, like texture/temperature but the taste was... Below par for what's supposed to be a nice PBG sit down. We were gonna get the sunshine cake but just couldn't be bothered...