Ford's Garage Plantation — Restaurant in Plantation

I really wanted to like this place. We wandered through Plantation Walk to look at all the restaurants and see the menus before we decided on a place. We came with another restaurant in mind but wanted to see all the options. For context, I’m American, worked on yachts with Michelin star chefs, and have dined in around 30 countries with all different cuisines. I was hungover and really wanting a burger (arguably the most American food) and assumed a restaurant inspired by Henry Ford himself would make an amazing classic burger. I ordered my burger medium, it came out well done with cold fries. The patty was big but dry and flavorless. Like literally just a chunk of straight up minced beef smushed into a patty with no seasoning. I have a small mouth so with the veggies and bun I couldn’t fit it in my mouth without smushing the bun down which wouldn’t be an issue, except literally no juice came from it. It was dry af.

On top of that, my boyfriend got the bourbon chicken bites and they were literally covered in a sweet syrup. It might as well have been a dessert.

The lime on our bloody Mary’s were browning, one of the olives was dried and had literal mold on it (and not from the blue cheese).

They do a team service model which we were told up front about. They automatically add 20% to your check and in return promise that you will have a whole service staff making sure your taken care of. Our waitress was attentive until the end. She gave my bf a box and didn’t come back with the check for 15–20 minutes. The table next to us that left had drinks and empty containers on it for nearly the whole duration of our meal. AND when we left and went to the restaurant next door to have drinks at the bar, we had a full view of the side patio where we had lunch and saw our half drank bloody Mary’s (terrible), plates, etc sitting there for a whole entire hour while other people were being sat around that table.

We come from the service industry so It’s with the utmost respect that I post this review because I get the vision but it’s not being executed properly and the owner should know. We genuinely wanted classic American hangover food, nothing fancy, just simple food done right and it was awful. We paid $71, got to go boxes because we didn’t want to offend our waitress (who was super sweet) and then immediately threw them in the bin outside.

We saw good reviews and I’ve never left a bad one because sh*t happens but it was an all around bad experience. I can tell the owner put a lot of money into the place. The menu was well thought out with burgers inspired by people. But the execution was just trash.

(I’m sorry to be so harsh but out of respect for the owner, I had to get my...

Let me explain to you my experience step by step and you rate my experience yourself!

We approach the hostess stand they welcome us and saying just wanna let you know that we do charge 20% service fee to every check ! We were like ok no problem!

Before we sat down and even open the menu the server came up to us saying hi my name is bla bla bla what would you like to eat ! ( she just saw us that we just sat down and we didn’t even hold the menu ) I was like just give me a minute please ! She left after a minute she came back holding my menu pointed to one of “ amazing appetizer” as she claimed! I’m like ok get it ! It turns out horrible Before the appetizer came out she asked if we are ready to order ! I said yes ! We ordered black and blue and one of smoked briskets melt also turned out horrible ! Before I took the second bite of the sandwich she asked me if we will have room for dessert or you will get the check ! I said we didn’t even finish yet ! Why the rush ! She said oh sorry I just wanna know ! Long story short we got dessert also turn out horrible ! Some kind of cookie with ice cream!

The funniest part is ! Before I finish my beer she asked ! Hey do you want the check now ? 😑😑😑

I told her ! Are you going to leave soon or are you guys closing soon ! “ it was 9:15 and they close at 11

She said no no I’m not leaving until we close take your time I said ok give me another beer ! Before the second beer comes to the table, she dropped the check saying that service charge doesn’t go to the server it goes to the staff but not us…. claiming that she makes couple of dollars hourly while the bussers get 16 an hour 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ But also she gets 8.9% of the food sale !

“So if you make money of the food sale why don’t you sell more rather than trying to drop the check”

So apparently ( food runners-bartenders- busses) get the 20% and the server should tipped them separately! So the check was 70 something $ alone with the tip 20% and I had to tip another 20% to the server So get ready to tip 40% on top of your check to get the worst experience in plantation walk !

I’m in hospitality business as well but I’ve never experienced that before! I understand that sometimes bussiness struggle when they open until they find the best staff and harmony between them but that was something else

Now I want the management to rate...

I wanted to like this place. The concept is very cool and the menu looks amazing. That's where it ends. I walked in this location and went to sit at the bar. I sat at the bar for about 5 minutes before anyone came in the vicinity to help me. Once other people came and sat down the bartender appeared and went to help them. I was visibly uncomfortable then the bartender greeted me and asked if I was ready to order. I mentioned it was my first time and that I wanted a margarita, but I wanted to continue to look at the menu b/c it is extensive. She then made a point to hand me a small card and said, "here is our pricing structure, let me know if you have any questions about it." She never did that to any of the people who came up after me and sat down. I ordered a top shelf margarita that was horrible. It came in a smaller glass than what's shown on the menu and coupled with the fact that it was more expensive and poorly made, I was very turned off by it. She threw the straws at me when I would ask for a straw for my water and drink. She reiterated it comes in a smaller glass than the other margs as if I should know that when she was aware that it was my first time, so the concern is valid. I ended up going with another drink and it was poorly made as well so I just kept it and moved on to order. The food was ok. It is not freshly made. I ordered a patty melt and it came with 12 french fries. I watched as the bartender actually served others, happily answering questions, offering pertinent information, refilling drinks and checking in on them as I sat there. She treated me like I did not exist. Like i was bothering her for being there. Bryan finally noticed that I was just sitting there being ignored and he asked how I was doing, if everything was ok, if he could get me anything, and ultimately rang me out. I spent almost $40 for 1 drink, a sandwich and 12 fries. I think the "pricing structure" needs to be revisited if that is indicative of the type of service one will receive. I am sure the food, drinks, and ambiance can be good, but not at...