THE POINTE Restaurant and Bar in Gulf Breeze, FL — Restaurant in Pensacola

I wanted...I mean really wanted to love the Pointe, and for brief period of time during their Sunday brunch, I did love them. It was what I looked forward to during the week.

Fast forward to our experiences over the last 6-months or so, it couldn't be more underwhelming (and frankly, disappointing.)

One experience recently really took the cake, though. I'll set the scene...It had been a long week. We were all looking forward to not cooking (we do this probably more than I should admit) and decided that the Pointe would be an okay enough option, and that we'd try them again, after our prior experience that was sub-par.

I get my food, and it looks and smells delicious. I am mid-bite when my youngest child mentions that her chicken "tastes funny" -- well, bad on me, because I initially brushed thinking she's just not that hungry after the appetizer. Until my husband bit into his buffalo mac & cheese and immediately spit out the raw chicken saying it was nowhere close to cooked.

Naturally, I'm horrified. I look to my youngest, grab her chicken, and start to tear it apart. Queue frantic mom, as she's been eating undercooked / uncooked chicken. The liquid from the chicken is far from running clear, and it didn't even have the appearance of having been cooked.

I ask for the manager, who acknowledges that the chicken looks raw. She promptly tells us she's taking care of it (no thanks, we lost our appetite, but appreciate the gesture.)

She comes back out and says "the kitchen says they checked the temp" and again agrees that from the look, consistency, and drainage of the chicken, it's not even remotely done.

Great, she [the manager] comp'd the meal, but what about the unease (followed by vomiting -- not sure from sickness or sheer disgust)? It sure didn't help that.

Fast forward many weeks, we decided to knock it up to a bad day (everyone has those, right?) and we regrettably tried again. Our server was good, the atmosphere was great, and the food was mediocre at best (but hey, I'll take that over raw... don't worry - we didn't order the chicken this time.)

Fast forward again 2 days to now. I see a Facebook post from golf-course "management" that anyone using the golf cart path cut through (that long pre-dated existing management) will be fined immediately a $500 trespass fee with no warnings. So we can give second chances when you could have made my family ill, but you won't give as much as a warning? You who served us plenty of bad food, and now raw chicken, and can't return that small favor to the locals and neighbors who support you weekly, despite your bad to mediocre food? I can't even get to the bar or restaurant by golf course or foot anymore without fear of being trespassed.

No thanks. I'll take my dollars elsewhere.

Check your chicken folks! And if sub-par food is your thing (maybe it makes you feel better about your sub-par golf-game)...

It is really disappointing to see a restaurant and bar venue with such potential suffer from a lack of leadership and management. After attempting to participate in their weekly Trivia Night event, I will sadly never be giving this place my business again. My party arrived an hour early to make sure we got a spot for Trivia. After seeing the game start, we asked the boy in charge of the running the game if we could have a tablet to play. The boy then stated that none of the tablets were plugged in when his shift started at 6:30 and proceeded to provide an excuse for every question we asked. Having worked in the restaurant business before, I would have apologized profusely and offered to get a manager to try and make it right. It was also quite gross to see him eating a burger behind the bar and wiping his hands on himself then touch everything around him.

Our server, Kirsten, was awesome! So it was unfortunate and distasteful to hear the manager of the night try to blame Kirsten for not telling her about it. Our server requested that the manager visit our table to try and make it right. After authorizing one round of beers to be removed from our tab, Jess, the manager for the evening, waited until we were packing up our things to leave to come to our table. We waited 45 minutes to speak with her. When she came to our table, her only reply was "I don't normally work Tuesdays so this is great feedback". She also asked if she could do anything for us after knowing we already paid the bill. We spoke with 4 staff members (including the manager) about Trivia night and every single excuse included "I don't normally work this shift so I don't know". The manager, Jess, was extremely unhelpful and kept asking how Trivia Night could be better. She did not take any responsibility and tried to blame her staff for her oversight as a manager. When I am spending $30-$40 per person for an entree and 2-3 drinks at a "nice place", the management should 10x better than it was last night.

The first time my boyfriend and I came here, a hostess sat us outside, told us she would go get our server, then no one came to our table after 30 minutes of waiting. So, we left and still decided to give this place another chance! The lack of leadership astounds me for a place like this.

Overall, this review is a message to the General manager of The Pointe. I would love to have something like a Trivia Night to engage the community I live in. However, it all starts with the leadership and it is obvious there is none. Please do not have a Trivia Night event if only 3 people can play. Or perhaps, post that Trivia Night is canceled on the door so some people do not waste their...

I would like to start by saying our family has always loved going to eat at the Pointe in Gulf Breeze but our recent experience has drastically changed my mind. My son is having a small beach wedding at the end of September and we wanted to find a place for everyone to eat dinner afterwards and thought the beautiful location and variety of food at the Pointe would make a perfect location. I called and spoke with Brittany Bandy and told her we wanted to make a dinner reservation for 36 people. I told her we were not interested in having a reception there as we already have another event space booked and only wanted to eat dinner. Each person would be ordering and paying for their own meal. If possible we would like to bring the cake to have after dinner but it was not completely necessary if we weren't allowed. Brittany said she would email me information and sent me wedding reception information with packages starting at $2500. I called back and again and after several attempts finally reached Brittany and explained that we only wanted to make a dinner reservation for 36 but are not interested in all the extras and would not bring a cake if that was the issue. Brittany then told me if we didn't bring a cake then it should not be a problem but she would email confirmation of the reservation. I never received confirmation so after several more attempts I finally got in touch with Brittany again and she told me they had other large parties wanting reservations in September so she had to make sure no one wanted to schedule a wedding reception before she could confirm our reservation. Our first email contacts began in July and we still do not have confirmation for a dinner reservation. I am utterly disappointed in the level of customer service and feel that if they could not accommodate a reservation for a large dinner party then they should say that instead of asking us to wait until the last minute and possibly have nowhere to take everyone for dinner. Maybe it's my fault and I should've never mentioned the wedding but repeatedly said we only wanted a dinner reservation where everyone ordered and paid for their own meals, no decorations or any other extra staff necessary and would not bring our cake if it meant paying a $2500 event fee. Just very sad and...