Jack Dusty — Restaurant in Sarasota

I hate having to write this, but it's necessary. My mother and I went today at 4:30 pm to celebrate my birthday before we went to Van Wezel for a concert. We had a little under two hours, but we went early enough that we thought it would give us the best experience. We were very wrong. It started off decent. We gave our waitress our entire order and had plans to stay for espresso and a birthday dessert. We enjoyed drinks, raw oysters, and a salad, but then, for over 30 minutes, we sat and waited for our dinner. With hardly anyone else in the restaurant, we couldn't understand what was taking so long. As the time ticked by, we were told twice that our food was coming out, but another 10 minutes later, it was too late. We had to go. They then brought our food out, but the plates were so hot they couldn't even be touched, and the waitress even said, "That's the hottest plate I have ever seen in my life." We looked at the food, and it was obvious they had both been sitting under the heat lamp for a long time. The potato puree was like soup with a film over it, my tenderloin was tough even though I asked for medium rare to rare, and my moms pasta was dry on top and the sauce had become like glue. How they thought it was okay to serve that to us, I will never know. I strongly dislike being the person who complains, but there was no way we were paying for the entrees. Even when she comped the meals, she asked if we wanted to take them home, and we both said no, even though they were free. That right there says everything. We asked for the check, and she repeatedly apologized. I am still baffled how, with only a handful of tables in the restaurant, our food came so late and was so inedible. The biggest disappointment was that my mom and I barely get to spend any time together as it is, and the dinner she had been so excited to buy for me for my birthday was ruined. No dessert with a candle, no nice dinner and conversation. Needless to say, we will not be going back, and the reservation we had made for dinner next month before Christmas will be canceled, too. Such a disappointment...

Disappointed is an understatement. It was my first time here and I was with a party of 20. We had the party room reserved and it was nice but I saw something that I know normally a lot of restaurants have. I just happened to sit right next to the cabinet where I saw it. Granted it was cold that night so I understand bugs like to get in.

Anyways as I walked into the restaurant I thought it was beautiful. The decor and vibe was nice. More upscale. As I sat down the server took a while to come over. For the party we were all limited to a small menu and had to pay $99/person. Now usually I don’t mind paying because I pay for good food always but I was not impressed with the 4 course meal. For starters I had the shrimp cocktail, nothing special. Then I had a Caesar salad—didn’t like that it had anchovies on it. For my entree I had the beef tenderloin—it was not well seasoned at all and the mash potatoes were a little too runny for my liking. The beef tenderloin seemed half seasoned which I thought was odd because I only tasted on half of the tenderloin and for the dessert I had the key lime tart. For what I experienced and what the birthday girl paid—it was over a $3000 dinner it’s a one and done for me. The birthday girl was very chill about everything besides for the fact about what we saw and at the end of the dinner all they offer was a glass of Prosecco for everyone. We all know how much that is! I think they could’ve done better and on top of it they charged two of the kids that were $99 each and they only got chicken tenders and mash potatoes. The birthday girl was too nice to say anything but if I had known I would’ve said something. There are plenty of other places to dine in I wouldn’t recommend eating here just because it’s located...

Made reservations weeks in advance for NYE ... been there a few times and I like the setting and although last time we were there things were not quite right , I was hoping to see improvement as I did love my experience with Rirz Carlton in the past .

we always ask for a particular table. But when we arrived , We were told all tables were reserved and we couldn’t have any table in the area we requested. We were seated in a high traffic area . They gave us the regular menu ... when we ordered they told us everything we are ordering is not available. The waiter then brought the NYE SPECIAL MENU. So we ordered eventually ... The terrible table we were seated at was in the path of people using the one main doorway . I tried to go with the flow but could not help but notice none , not any of the “ reserved tables” I requested were being seated , a row of 8 or 10 tables never got seated at all the entire time we were there and even though I asked to move there we were told no , you can’t . When we left still none of them had been seated ... I’ve never experienced such awful contempt towards me as a customer . Incompetent managers , and another awful restaurant experience . I wanted this to be special, it was not at all special.

I’ve soured on this restaurant and I’m afraid to take a chance with your hotel , there are so many other places to dine or celebrate and I have Ritz Carlton experiences that have been good in the past. Funny how a couple of awful dining experiences can sour the customers overall opinion of the entire Brand. Never...