Martini's Organic Restaurant — Restaurant in South Daytona

OWNERS PLEASE READ… I left a review 2 years ago and went into this dinner expecting the same experience. My wife is from Daytona originally, but we have lived in New York City for the last 12 years. I have been in this industry for almost 23 years, and I run and operate several restaurants throughout the nation, NYC, Miami, and Las Vegas, to name a few. This review comes from a place of sincerity, and I'm genuinely upset to have had such an awful experience and to have been treated the way we were. Especially during the holidays!

Firstly, I want to preface that I had not arrived yet, as I was in the hospital in an emergency. I was on the phone with my wife during this time.

My wife and son arrived. She bravely carried her entire stroller and child up the stairs. The older woman with dark hair who is always at the door when we have come in the past, stood there glaring at her, watching her struggle and with a look of disgust on her face as if it were the child that was the problem. She then, in a sarcastic rude tone said “we have a ramp in the back.” That would have been helpful to know before she carried it up the stairs. She made my wife feel as if she wasn't welcome and was breaking some sort of rule with having the baby.

The "manager" or "hostess" then proceeded to seat her and her guests in the bar area at a 6 top (we had a reservation for 4) right next to a couple. The whole bar and the rest of the tables by the bar were empty. Why would she seet her right on top of this couple and at such a big table? Despite her rudeness at the door, my wife politely asked if she could have one table down so she didn’t haven’t to sit right on top of the other guests. That was NOT ok for her. She explained that this was the servers table, so I would “have to sit here to be served.” This is comical. So you are telling us that the server can’t take 10 steps further and wait on us at the next table? If a guest requests a table and every table is empty, why wouldn't that be okay? She never smiled, never welcomed her, didn’t do anything but tell my wife that should have “used the ramp” such an awful start to what should have been a nice night with friends gathering for the holidays.

This is where I arrived. Now comes the service. We couldn’t believe what unaccommodating, sarcastic, disingenuine, rude, condescending, and honestly horrible service our server provided. Every encounter we had with her was awkward and off-putting. Any interaction we had with her she would proceed to run to this so-called manager and clearly gossip and point at our table. Made us extremely uncomfortable. Our server explained that the “chef" recommends that she take the full order.” I get it. I recommended the same at my restaurants. However it’s not a rule, and if a guest doesn’t want to order that way, you shouldn't force them to. Our server refused to back down to the point that we had to ask for a manager. We were then aggressively greeted by the dark-haired woman to whom we thought was the hostess or maitre de, by the way she was acting. Needless to say, she didn’t apologize for the servers behavior, didn’t really say much, other than she would see what she could do. The manager never returned to the table. She proceeded to stand at the host stand, glaring at us. The bigger issue here was that we still had the same confrontational server. It was extremely uncomfortable every time she came over after that. She never tried to make it better. The manager never checked in to see how things were going. There was no attempt on anyone’s part to make our evening enjoyable. The manager and server also proceed to pace around our table to hurry us out and continue to glare at us while gossiping to the bartender. What did we do to deserve this kind of treatment? Both employees do NOT understand service and hospitality and should not be given the opportunity to further ruin this restaurants reputation.

Friends of my wife's that’s still live in Daytona all told us not to go here as it has completely changed for the worse. Well, they were right! So...

OWNERS PLEASE READ… I would like to begin by saying how much I liked Martinis before this visit and how much I respect the elevated atmosphere and quality of food they’ve always produced. I’m from Daytona originally but have lived in New York City the last 12 years and am the Director of Operations for a restaurant group with restaurants in NYC, Miami, Las Vegas and Mexico City so this review comes from a sincere place in genuinely being so sad to have had the awful experience we had and to have been treated the way we were. If it happened in one of my restaurants I would want to know. Treating guests in this manner is unacceptable and NOT hospitality. Firstly I arrived with my son, which I understand is not typical at this restaurant but unfortunately we had a change of plans and he needed to come with us. I bravely carried my entire stroller and child up the stairs. The older woman with dark hair who is always at the door when I’ve came in the past literally stood there glaring at me, looking at me struggle and with a look of disquest on her face because I dare brought a child. It was such a hurtful unwelcoming feeling I almost left. She then in a sarcastic rude tone said “we have a ramp in the back.” That would have been helpful to know before I carried it up the stairs. She could have easily opened the door and told me that before I carried everything all the way up. Then she proceeds to seat me in the bar area at 6 top (we had a reservation for 4) right next to a couple. The whole bar and rest of the tables by the bar were empty. Why would she seet me right on top of this couple and at such a big table?Despite her rudeness at the door I politely asked if we could have the table 1 down so I didn’t haven’t to sit right on top of them. That was NOT ok for her. She couldn’t rap her head around me sitting one table down. She explained that this was the servers table so I would “have to sit here to be served.” LOL so the server can’t take 10 steps further and wait on me at the next table? If a guest requested a table and every table is empty why would it matter? She never smiled, never welcomed me, didn’t do anything but tell me I should have “used the ramp” such an awful start to what should have been a nice night with friends gathering for the holidays. Next our service, I couldn’t believe what unaccommodating, sarcastic, dis ingenuine, rude, condescending and honestly comical service our server provided. Every incounter we had with her was terrible. If you would like to know her name please feel free to reach out to me because if she worked in any of my restaurants I would fire her for the way she treated us. She explained the “chef recommendes she takes the full order.” I get it, my restaurant and my chef recommended the same. However it’s not a law and if a guest doesn’t want to order in that way you can’t force them. Our server was going to stand by this and refused to back down to the point we had to ask for a manager. Well who comes over? The dark haired woman from the front, great. Who needless to say could have cared LESS. Didn’t apologize for the servers behavior, didn’t really say much but she would see what she could do. Can you imagine she never came back over to the table but the server did to rudely take our order. Another problem here was that we still had that server. In a situation like this they should have given us another server. It was so awkward everytime she came over after that. She never tried to make it better, the manager never came back over to see how things were going. There was no attempt on anyone’s part to make our evening enjoyable. What did we do to deserve this? Because we didn’t want to order at once? For that we’re treated like garbage for an entire evening? Both should be fired because they do NOT understand service, hospitality and should not be given the opportunity to further ruin this restaurants reputation. I will NEVER step foot here again. $450 dollars completely waisted on an average meal with terrible...

First of all, I will admit. The 4 appetizers we ordered were great. Very pricey, but good. This was just a weird vibe from the moment we walked in. We made an anniversary date reservation. Upon arrival, we asked if we could sit outside. The reply was "Yes, but we have a table inside for you". Hey, maybe they had some kind of anniversary setup for us at our inside table... Nothing. So we felt obligated to sit inside for nothing out of the ordinary, when we should have just sat outside. Saw reviews about the hostess walking around and "watching" you. This is 100% accurate, same thing happened to us, it was like we were doing something bad, even though we weren't, it was just strange and was an uncomfortable feeling. Our waitress was a little on the rude side and we felt rushed from the moment we sat down. We wanted to start with some light appetizers, review the menu and then order a main dish. The waitress said "ohhh well Chef wants all of the orders up front from the table". Come on! That's a little ridiculous, especially being the first time ever here. We were not presented with any "specials" like the tables around us were. The waitress was very snippy, like corrected us when we spoke, when in fact, she was the incorrect one. At this point we said "lets just order 4 appetizers and see where that takes us" (Once again, we were rushed from the beginning) Like I said, the food was great. After we finished we ordered more drinks and asked if we could sit outside. The reply "sure! no problem, sit wherever you would like". (let me also add that NOBODY was outside at all, not a single person, except us two). Magically, a group of 5-6 people arrived and we were asked by the Martini staff to move because the one random spot that we picked to sit outside was "reserved". But we could overhear them talking upon their arrival, and guess what... they didn't even have a reservation. They asked to sit outside, and then we were asked to move because they had a "reservation". 100% lied about what was really happening. We complied, shouldn't have, but we did. We are very nice and patient people, we never complain. After that, it was just time for us to leave. Almost $200 later, not impressed. This place is horrible, has the potential to be fantastic, but the staff just make this place miserable. I hope other people get great service here, but for us, and from other reviews that I have read, I do not think that change is in their near future. I would avoid this place at all costs, strictly due to their customer service and just how...