Shula’s 347 Grill (The Westin Lake Mary) — Restaurant in Sanford

The wife and I attended for our 5th wedding anniversary... we chose Shula’s (rather than our usual high end choice Ruth’s Chris) because we had received some gift cards for Christmas.

Service: got seated relatively quickly (we had a reservation) and our drink order was taken. Ordered a glass of wine and a cocktail along with some waters. Water came after about 15-20 minutes with an apology that there was a mishap at the bar... apparently the printer was out of paper. Drinks end up coming about 5 or so minutes later... okay... things happen I get it... but why so long for the water? Later on in the meal I ordered another drink and... sure enough... 20 minutes later my drink finally comes. Guessing the bar printer ran out of paper again, right? Crowd-wise I would say there was a decent amount of tables occupied, but the restaurant definitely wasn’t packed so there was no good reason to explain why we were not checked on frequently enough and the drinks as I said were slow to come. I think there was supposed to be bread and butter (we saw it on other tables), but we never got it nor were offered it.

Food: one word: meh. 20 something years ago I ate at a Shula’s Steakhouse and remember it being really good. I was thinking the same would be the case at Shula’s 347 Grille. Even our waitress mentioned that fact: “we’re known for our steaks.” So, I ordered a filet which came with two sides... although not a side salad... that’s extra. I ended up ordering a baked potato and grilled baby zucchini... also went for the extra charge to get a Caesar salad. The wife got the same filet along with a farro and pea risotto dish, pomme purée (mashed potatoes) and a wedge salad. Salads were good, although the shaved cheese on my salad was rather waxy and chewy. Steaks came and were cooked properly, but taste-wise were a huge let down. There was no seasoning at all to them ... I felt I could have gone to the grocery store down the street, bought filets and thrown them directly on the grill adding nothing to them and recreated the same flavor (which was bland... even a little salt could have improved things) for 1/3 the price. For a place known for their steaks I’d say that’s a big fail. On top of that the farro and pea risotto was NOT risotto and tasted like nothing... we couldn’t even detect any pea flavor. The head chef was out at one point walking the room and when he stopped at our table he could see my wife wasn’t enjoying her farro. He said yes it’s not a true risotto and asked if we liked Brussels sprouts. My wife said she loved Brussels sprouts but didn’t see them on the menu... he said they were there (they are NOT) and that he’d bring some out. They finally came out... although at this point we really just wanted to go... and the Brussels sprouts had so much honey on them that that was the only flavor.

We honestly would have rather gone to Outback and enjoyed the food so much more for less than half the price. Of course for the next anniversary dinner we won’t make the same mistake we did this year and we’ll drive past the Shula’s and pop in to Ruth’s Chris just another minute down the road for a steak dinner that is worth...

First time visiting 347 Grille by Coach Shula. The greeter was attentive, the hostess was kind, the waiter was clearly overworked and stressed because of under staffing but he was still a decent waiter. I ordered the Breakfast Quiche Lorraine (it was slightly cold, but the taste was acceptable), Cauliflower Gouda Soup (completely bland), Crab Cake Benedict (absolutely delicious), and the Chocolate Tuxedo Cake (mmmm, so good)! But… here is where things become uncomfortable and disappointing, it was that overwhelming feeling that we weren’t welcomed at this establishment, this unwelcome feeling came from one person, to be exact I’m talking about the Assistant General Manager - his name is Jonathan. I watch this man for more than an hour. He walked back and forth greeting customers and asking them if they were enjoying their meals, he struck-up what seem to be good conversations with these people. But, he never once came to our table where me and my family were sitting and asked us how we were doing, nor did he speak or acknowledge our presence. I swear for the first 40 minutes in observing Mr. Jonathan I didn’t want to jump to conclusions… that was until I witness that he went out of his way to completely ignore another African-American family who was sitting a few tables down from where we were. At that very moment my suspicions of Mr. Jonathan was confirmed! I’m the type of person, I don’t need attention, I don’t need for someone to ask me “How I’m doing” every 10 minutes, and I’m not quick to jump to negative conclusions about anyone, however, Mr. Jonathan’s actions were so deliberately deplorable and prejudice I found it hard not to be affected by his quietly racist demeanor. Every other employee of the restaurant was awesome, their mood and energy is what you would expect from good customer service, all is well except for Mr. Jonathan his attitude and overall demeanor is not a good look for the restaurant, unless of course 347 Grille tolerates racist people like Mr. Jonathan. I would sincerely hope not, simply because it’s not good for business, potential profit, nor is it good for morale. The meals were expensive, the money spent would have been worthwhile if it wasn’t for that “One Person”. Me and my family will never spend our money at this restaurant ever again… and that’s...

I had such a bad experience starting with making the reservation on OpenTable, arriving for my reservation and even after leaving the restaurant! It started last Friday when I made my reservation through OpenTable for the evening of Dec. 4th. It told me I was making a reservation for Thanksgiving. I even got an e-mail confirmation stating it was a Thanksgiving reservation. Thanksgiving was over a week ago! About an hour later I get a text asking to confirm my reservation by pressing 1. I replied to the text by pressing 1 and got a response thanking me for confirming my reservation. About an hour after that I get a voicemail from Marie at the restaurant asking to confirm my reservation! How many times do I have to confirm my damn reservation! I just made the reservation less than three hours ago and I'm being bombarded to confirm my reservation over and over! Extremely annoying! I arrived for my dinner reservation the evening of Dec 4. The clueless hostess had no idea where to sit us. We also smelled cigarette/cigar smoke in the restaurant as we were waiting to be seated. It turned out that a customer was smoking in the back room! I'm allergic to smoke. The smell was so bad that we had to move from the inside table that we were sitting at to a table outdoors. It was 59 degrees outside. We were quite cold and uncomfortable. The food came out and my short rib dinner tasted horrible. My guest ordered the Ahi Tuna and it was plain; no sesame seeds or crusting on it at all! At this point we were so aggravated we left most of out food, didn't say anything to anyone and paid the check and just left. About an hour later I get an e-mail from OpenTable stating that I didn't show up for my reservation. The clueless hostess had no idea how to check us in. I saw my name on the OpenTable screen when I entered the restaurant and made it very clear to her that was me. I was only a few minutes away from the restaurant when I got the e-mail so I went back to the restaurant and gave the manager on duty Adolfo Suarez a piece of my mind about my entire experience! He told me a manager would call me on Monday. Nobody ever called me! I'm not a bit surprised. I do not recommend this restaurant. There are many other great restaurants nearby within...