Mila’s on the Manatee — Restaurant in Palmetto

The River House Café was always a favorite of my families growing up in the Sarasota area. When they were closed due to Covid, we were all very sad as we went there almost weekly, however, we were excited to see that Mila’s had taken over the location. Upon entering into the restaurant, we were greeted by a very rude waitress who although we had been waited on her before by the former restaurant, I just made an excuse for her behavior thinking that she had just gotten through a very busy lunch rush. We were then sat down and another party of 4 about 10 minutes later sat down next to us. The party of four was greeted as we had not even been asked our drink order or given menus. We again decided to overlook it as we thought you know what this is a new restaurant maybe they were just really busy for lunch and so we just proceeded to wait and have our order taken. This is where our visit takes a pretty bad turn. I had my daughters service dog who had not been qualified for a service dog until recently. The very rude waitress (red hair), then says “Oh I remember your dog well, she snapped at me previously”. The thing about my dog is she’s very kind loving dog but when she senses emotions off of people she does tend to be very protective. We did however work with her diligently on this and she has been an amazing service dog for my daughter who suffers from PTSD. My dog also protects her, and that is a part of her service to my daughter. Continuing on, we order our food, and the food comes out and they had brought clam chowder with no clams and All bacon in it. My daughter who was actually going to eat the soup cannot and does not like bacon and so I asked politely if they could exchange it because it does not say in the menu that there is bacon. So I had some and over a gentleman that work there, and the first thing he does is act very rude to me, and says hold on a moment and returns and says there is no bacon in that soup. I then proceed to show him the pieces of bacon in it and he reaches in front of me and my dog growled at him. Well first thing he says is that is not a service dog, I have never had a service dog do that, I’ve never seen a service dog like that, and he was raising his voice in front of the entire restaurant. He then asked me what she is a service dog for, because of the way she acted, which violates the American disabilities act, as he is not to ask me what the service dog is for. He then asked me if I have her card which I had not had her card, as everything was packed in our luggage heading out of town. Now mind you this was to celebrate my great aunts 93rd birthday, and the way we were being treated was unacceptable. I then tell him you know what let me speak to your manager, he then says to say he is the manager which surprises me, because you’re the manager and you don’t know that you have bacon in your clam chowder? Then the waitress chimes in and says all clam chowders have bacon in them, which is not true, New England clam chowder, a true clam chowder, does not have bacon in it. He then turns around and says under his breath get out of here, and says our meal is comped and just leave. So basically what we are looking at here, is horrible food, and service. The chowder that they did bring was watery no clams, full of bacon, and a manager who obviously does not know his food. What we are dealing with here is Hippa violation, discrimination, lack of knowledge of menu, and lack of knowledge of service pets. And extreme lack of professionalism. The way we were treated is completely unacceptable, and if he is the manager, not the way a manager should treat patrons. I have worked in the restaurant business and design hotels and restaurants all over the country for over 20 years before I became a nurse. I have never in my life experience such a complete lack of professionalism, and rudeness. I will be contacting the appropriate entities to further this matter. Go up the pier to the Riverhouse where the food and...

I just wanted to complain about something that just bothered me extensively that some of you may think is childish on my part but I just don't understand it and I think their stance to be very nonsensical. I have been frequenting this establishment at the very least once per week and sometimes more. I spend hundreds of dollars per month between my wife and I. But on this one evening not being overly hungry just wanted to order a grilled cheese and fries off of the children's menu and even though my wife was ordering a regular meal they refused to sell it to me. And of course they do not have a similar offer on the adult menu. The wait staff was quite rude to me and seemed to take pleasure in the fact that after calling the manager that they upheld their policy of not selling items on the children's menu to an adult. It wasn't like it was kids eat free, it is still nearly $10 for a grilled cheese and fries so they would not have lost any money. I just think it's atrocious that they would treat a regular customer in such a manner. I have eaten more than my share of adult items and do not see the difference in buying an appetizer as a meal or something off the kids menu. I'm sure they wouldn't stop me from ordering an adult menu item for one of my grandkids. Just poor treatment of a customer if you ask me. I will not be going back, EVER!

Just to update, I was at the Dockside the other night listening to live music with some friends having drinks and guess what I ate, a grill cheese and fries off the kids menu. I guess that will be my new hangout.

Can you believe we went back to the seen of the crime about a month later and they refused to serve us, me and my family because of the bad review about the grill cheese. How nuts is that. Being banned from a place because they refused to sell me a grilled cheese which is on the menu. and based on an email I received from management it is normal policy to offer items off of the kids menu with an upcharge. Well, this is obviously this is a lie because had this happened this whole incident would have been avoided and this review would not exist because I offered to pay more for it and was still denied. This place does not care about...

Visited this restaurant for a late lunch with my group of 10. We expected to wait because of our large group but didn’t expect the experience we received.

Upon arrival, signs stated to seat yourself. We didn’t see outdoor seating suitable for our group so we went into the building and found a lot of empty tables. It wasn’t a busy afternoon at all.

A server asked how many and told us to sit anywhere. We were surprised to not be given any guidance on where to sit with our large group. I tried asking if we should push tables together but the server walked away. We had to push tables together and pull chairs from other empty tables without any assistance from the servers. The tables weren’t even wiped down. We just had to figure it all Out ourselves which isn’t a very nice first impression.

Afterwards, we sat with our party (4 adults, 6 kids) and waited at least 20 minutes before being greeted, getting menus, or giving our drink order. In fact, when the server arrived we’re already looking for a different restaurant to go to. It was extremely unsatisfactory. By the time she arrived, the kids were very antsy, thirsty, and upset. Mind you, servers walked in and out many times while we sat with our empty tables.

To add, there was only two other tables occupied in this building contest a matter of the servers being overwhelmed.

Food arrived after a little bit. It didn’t take too long thankfully. However, the food was subpar. I ordered the blackened mahi tacos. Which weren’t blackened AT ALL. They completely lacked flavor. It wasn’t as if my food wasn’t cooked correctly. My friend ordered the same thing and here fish wasn’t blackened either. My whole group was very “meh” about the food. I did love my house salad though.

Unfortunately, food is overpriced for the quality received.

The only nice thing about this restaurant was that it was on the water with beautiful views. I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant any other reason.

Also, the single bathrooms were not convenient at all. At one pint, a large group of girls were playing in the restroom and blocking the men’s restroom entrance, where I saw other customers waiting...