Iron Axe Bar & Grill — Restaurant in South Daytona

WILL CHANGE STARS TO 4 IF THIRD VISIT IS AS GOOD AS FIRST VISIT BECAUSE SECOND VISIT WAS AWFUL

Never had the desire to go but the restaurant has been in the news recently and co-workers of mine said they had been and enjoyed both the food and the axe throwing. So I convinced my husband and elderly mother that we should try it.

First visit was on 9/2 between 6:00PM and 6:45PM. It wasn’t very crowded and we were able to obtain a table immediately. Our waitress was named Taylor C and she was amazing! Friendly, cheerful, and very accommodating to mine and my mother’s requests. My mother was over the moon with her lobster roll (it did need to be heated up a bit), but ultimately she said it was the best lobster roll she has ever had. My husband had wings and he said they were very good. (He is a prep chef for a high end restaurant in NSB and also in the past was responsible for cooking wings at another establishment, so I figure he knows what he is talking about). They did look plump and meaty. I had a bowl of chili and although a little thinner than I am used to, it tasted very yummy.

It was a bit loud in the dining room, but bearable. My mother is hard of hearing but wears hearing aids so I am always concerned with her comfort in this regard.

We visited the axe room briefly and my 87 year old mom was excited to possibly try it out on another visit to dine because it was such an enjoyable experience.

HOWEVER, when we visited again on 9/4, two days later it was a completely different experience. We went around the same time period but it was busier, which would have been fine except that it turns out the acoustic design is terrible for loud volume and between the tv sounds and loud patrons it was not pleasant.

I had asked if Taylor C was available but she was not on duty. Not a problem, we’d have a different server, fine. NOT. Our server this time was a young man named Riley S. This man had the snarkiest attitude from the get go. If we made a comment or tried to ask a question he would cut us off with a roll of his eyes and be extremely condescending verbally. I held my tongue.

He did try to get the specifics of our order correct in his hand held ordering device, but seemed to be having difficulty. (Taylor C had no issues taking our orders). My mother is unable to tolerate too much spice and the lobster roll comes with a spicy sauce on it. When Taylor waited on us she was able to have the kitchen just use regular butter. Since mom enjoyed this dish so much the first time she ordered again. Same exact request. This time I ordered Blackened Red Fish and my husband ordered the smash burger. I am on a special diet so I requested the sauce for the red fish on the side. (I did receive it on the side)….but my meal took at LEAST 20 minutes to come out of the kitchen! After my husband’s and mother’s meals. Not only that but my mother’s lobster was cold, not hot as was ordered. (You are given the option for cold or hot). In addition, when Riley S returned from the kitchen to give my mother her food, he mentioned that the kitchen had actually messed up and had put the spicy sauce on the lobster roll. Don’t know what they did to the new order but my mother was very very disappointed. By this time she couldn’t even pick it up to eat it the roll was so soggy, completely different from her experience with this dish from just two days before. My meal was edible, the shrimp on the fish was pretty tasty, but the huge bowl of sauce had no flavor whatsoever. On top of everything I was so distraught about having to wait so long for my food while my husband’s and mother’s food was getting colder by the second. I kept insisting they go ahead and eat but their good manners really held them back.

I also am not thrilled with different servers, not the one that takes the order, bringing out the meals to us. My husband believes that the staff in the kitchen was not as well trained as the first night. Will...

Let me start by saying that I had a great time throwing the axes, the whole family enjoyed themselves. We decided to go get food in the restaurant, Now let me start by saying I really don't bash people, it's not my style but this was something that I feel was well could have been taken care of. We walked into the restaurant area and it was far from clean. Many tables still had food drinks and other stuff on there as well as stuff on the floor. Sat down and started giving the waitress our order. My daughter is allergic to certain things that she cannot have and it seems to be an issue with changing up an item to suit her needs. We were told my daughter's steak ordwe could only be made one way and the chef will not vary from the way it's always made. It took roughly a 1/2 hour to get the food and it when the steak cane out it was so overcooked that was beyond edible as it was extremely chewy and looked disgusting. Before we even started as the plates will being put on the table the waitress told us she had to go search for silverware and ketchup as they were busy and nobody had time to keep up with those items and asked if she provide "to go" utensils could we use them . I had tacos and the beans that came along with it looked extremely dry as they were all cracked, at this point I decided we just getting out of here I did not want to eat the food. I left $5 on the table to pay for 2 waters and a soda and the waitress went running to get the manager. As i was walking out the door the manager asks what the issue with the food was I told he proceeded to tell me that we were real busy tonight, that is not a customer's issue as I told him. They were so busy that this man, while I was throwing axes, was in there throwing axes as well so how busy could he have been if he had time to go in there and throw access with people . As I stated we had a great time in the axe room but the restaurant leaves something...

Usually a great experience, great food and friendly service but I'm not returning to this place again. 30 minutes after arriving and ordering food I was told the dining room would be closing early and I would have to sit in either the axe room or outside bar. It was a warm humid evening and despite my protest, I was forced to move from my table to the bar where it was hot and uncomfortable. I agreed since I was hungry and my food was ordered but I mentioned to the waitress this was not right and I may post a negative online review. Shortly thereafter I was confronted by an angry manager who told me to go ahead and write a bad review because they were not making any money that night because there were not a lot of customers. I again protested about the heat and horrible smell of garbage inside this place but was offered no accomodations. I went to the axe room to watch sports and eat but could hear nothing but steel axes crashing into wooden targets and onto a concrete floor (louder then a bowling alley). So I went to the outside and suffered through the heat and humidity while getting my food put in a box to take home because I'd lost my appetite by now. Watched the sporting event on a tiny tv and to top everything I was blasted in the face by clouds of marijuana smoke from people sitting 10 feet away on the opposite side of the bar vaping marijuana. Now I know why this place doesn't have customers on a Saturday night, doesn't make money and has angry managers. It's...