1200 Chophouse — Restaurant in Saint Pete Beach

My husband has never had a tomahawk steak. He's been wanting one for years but he never wants to spend that much money on food. I decided for his 50th birthday he wouldn't have a choice. I finally talked him into it and we looked forward to it. We were there when they opened at 5pm and we got a seat right away. After a couple visits from the waitress, she was finally ready to take our order. My husband orders his tomahawk steak and the waitress says, "oh we don't have any of the 'big' steaks today" ... whatever that means. She then clarified, no tomahawk steaks. I was devastated. We looked up restaurants before we went and decided on 1200 Chophouse because there were good reviews about their tomahawk. We drove there from Ft Myers!! I said, you literally just opened for the day, how are you out? She just kinda shrugged her shoulders and said sorry. I proceeded to tell her we drove 2 hours to get there because it's my husband's 50th birthday. She said sorry again but no happy birthday or any acknowledgement of that. This restaurant KNEW they were out of the steak they're known for and had ALL day to get some but chose not to then didn't even put a sign out to warn people. We both reluctantly ordered New York strip for $40 each. My first bite was all gristle that nearly broke a tooth! Mine had a lot of gristle, my husband's didn't have any. They were both cooked "ok". Nothing my husband couldn't do himself at home. The waitress didn't seem to notice or care about our disappointment. Never offered a birthday dessert or even a simple "happy birthday". She brought the bill, which was $79 for the 2 steaks. We didn't get anything else, not even a drink. I gave her my credit card and she brought back a receipt for $130!!! I then went back inside to find out what was going on. Once again all she said was "sorry" and that she'd fix it. That was 3 days ago and I still don't have the credit on my card, only the $130 charge. I'll be calling them tomorrow if this isn't fixed. The parking situation is terrible as well. Only a few spots. The only good thing about this whole experience was the...

My girl and I went for a shared birthday dinner and were looking forward to a great meal based on the reviews and a recommendation from a friend. We got there about 6pm and were seated with about 25 minutes, which was fine. We were seated in the center of the very small dining room and ordered the scallop appetizer, which came out pretty quickly. It was pretty good, although a little under cooked in the center. The salads were nice as well, so we were looking forward to the steaks we ordered, the ribeye with marsala sauce and the filet with peppercorn sauce. Both medium rare. Unfortunately, they came to the table overcooked, mine worse than my girls', so she decided to eat hers as it was and I asked for another MR steak, and snacked on the appetizer "truffle Fries" we ordered. Those turned out to be recycled baked potatoes from the night before; dry, rubbery and unappetizing with some hard parm and a hint of truffle oil sprinkled on top. Terrible excuse for an $11 potato dish. Our side veggies were also disappointing as they were woefully unseasoned. Finally my steak showed up about 20 minutes later, pretty crispy on the outside but this time very rare in the center. I decided to just deal with it, as I had lost my appetite by then. The mashed potatoes they brought on the 2nd plate were even worse than the truffle fries; very gluey, starchy and curiously gray with the only identifiable seasoning being a heavy dose of garlic. Yuck. By then the beach crowd was descending on the place and the atmosphere went downhill quickly. Our waiter was very understanding and offered to take off some money from the bill, which was cool, but even for that money it was disappointing experience. There are too many good steakhouses out there, so we will leave this one to...

Edited 2/4/25: we wrote the restaurant about our experience and they refunded my dinner and sent a gift card so we can try them again. Class act!

We were so looking forward to the New Year’s Eve dinner at 1200 Chophouse. We had company in town and on the one night each year they were taking reservations we reserved a table for seven at 9 PM. To start, we arrived a little before 9 and were kept waiting outside on wet furniture with no patio heaters turned on for over 20 minutes. Finally got seated and there was no attempt to wish us happy New Year’s or take initiative to explain the prix fixe menu that night. There wasn’t even an attempt to take drink orders – the waiter moved right into ordering entrees. The bacon wrapped shrimp appetizer was delivered with bacon underdone, and then the entrées started. Steaks not cooked to order, potatoes cold and hard, and just in general very disappointing food. To add to that, an entire glass of water was spilled by the waiter onto my husband‘s lap. The $120 prix fixe price was way too much for what we got. You might have thought at that price they would include a small glass of champagne for a toast but not so. One of my pet peeves with food delivery, having been a server myself, is that you pay attention to who ordered what and deliver the food without yelling out what it is and having someone say “mine”. It just detracts from the overall experience and is frankly tacky. We are locals and have enjoyed 1200 Chophouse in the past and we recommend it to visitors all the time. After this total failure on New Year’s Eve, we will not go back and never recommend them again. FYI, before writing this review, we actually wrote the restaurant about our disappointing experience, but have...