44 Prime — Restaurant in Starkville

We are from out of town doing a business trip and met here for dinner tonight. We weren't sure we arrived at the correct place since we pulled up to an old somewhat dilapidated building and falling apart parking lot. The entrance to the parking lot has a huge pothole that you have to drive over to get it.

As soon as we get into the restaurant, we are berated about your business attire and told we can't wear any hats. Again, we are a group of professionals in business attire but this wasn't good enough for them. I have been in far nicer high-end restaurants that had no issue with what we were wearing. I guess I should have returned the favor and berated them about their building exterior and poor parking lot condition but I didn't.

I did refuse to remove my hat, not because there was anything wrong with it but because they just don't allow hats in their restaurant, except their employees are wearing them.

Eventually Jeff, the restaurant manager came out and said that he will not serve us, a $1,000+ meal for the 7 of us, until we removed our hats. I pulled him aside and tried to talk some sense into him but he doesn't have any sense left to talk to so I gave up and removed my hat because of his poor hospitality and customer service.

Financially, as a manager, this was a bad call on his part for the restaurant. He told me that he would rather have a $1,000+ walk out of the door instead of accommodating our professional business attire. No wonder the restaurant was almost empty at 6:30pm when they treat their customers like this.

I would like to add that we witnessed other customers wearing shorts and sandals and employees wearing hats.

Anyhow, trying to not let Jeff and his idiotic rule ruin the meeting, I complied and let it go and we ordered.

The calamari was some of the best I have ever had, and I have had a lot. Again, I have gone to many high-end restaurants. However, this was the only good part of the meal. The caesar salad had a funky pickled taste to it and I couldn't eat it, the 18oz $70 ribeye was burnt on one end and has absolutely zero seasoning to it and the creamed spinach was just unseasoned cooked spinach in a little cup. No "creamed" about it. The waitress was good and she stayed on top of our needs for the most part.

I don't recommend this place, not only for the senseless unaccommodating manager and his no hat rule that he inconsistently enforced but the food was by far the biggest disappointment. The food was on par with a cheap diner but with less seasoning, even cheap diners know that you need to season your food. Find a better...

My partner and I dined here in October 2024 for our anniversary. He ordered a 12oz Filet Migon, as opposed to his usual Ribeye because our waitress informed us the Ribeye is quite marbled (has fat) and my partner was wanting to eat the less fattier cut. He ordered the cut medium, but it came out medium rare. The waitress did offer to take the steak back to recook, but he didn’t want to risk overcooking it. He enjoyed the steak with the butter sauce he ordered, but he stated he’ll stick with his usual Ribeye for next time. I ordered the Bay Scallop Risotto, and as our waitress said, it’s the perfect fall dish; it was warm, beautifully plated, and a large portion (I had to take half home). We both shared the broccolini, mac and cheese, potatoes au gratin, and fried blue crab legs and all were warm and delicious!! We also ordered a dessert: the special cake, which wasn’t on the menu. We wanted the cookies and cream ice cream cake, but with us having a reservation 1.5 hrs before closing and the restaurant being extremely busy, they were out. We had the special cake, which was filing and HUGE, but I think we would’ve preferred the cookies and cream cake, but that’s just personal preference (based on taste profiles).

In addition to the food, the greeter was nice and our waitress, Brooklyn, was informative and attentive. The restaurant was extremely busy, so while we were waiting on Brooklyn, the greeter gave us water. Brooklyn then answered our questions about drinks and the food. The bartender that night made me a delicious drink, which I gave her full control of besides the base (champagne). We spent about $230 total (this price is without gratuity).

The atmosphere is dim with individual mood lightings on tables and a blue back lighting throughout the seating area. The music was suitable for the fancy aesthetic and it wasn’t too loud, even though it was packed.

As we were leaving, we asked a staff member to take our picture and he took several so we had options (he changed the lighting, angles, etc)!! To top off this experience, the staff gave us a card for our anniversary, which was so sweet! We don’t even know anyone who works there, so the fact strangers took time out of their day, it means a lot and we will...

Came for my 21st birthday and just moved to the area for work and this was the only upscale near the area so we gave it a try, I left a review via directly to the restaurant but haven’t heard back. I was extremely disappointed, the waiter was very friendly but not very attentive as you get bread for a starter and we had to ask 4 times and didn’t receive it till our full meal got here. We spent $200 just for two people and the food was not great, we both got a appetizer which was the oysters and shrimp cocktail which was great and fresh but we also ordered drinks that were okay and a wedge salad to spilt and that took a very long time to get to our table which the restaurant was not very busy at this time. We both ordered our meals which he got the Ribeye and Mac and cheese and I got the salmon with mashed potatoes well that was very disappointing and not good. His steak was very over cooked so he sent it back and once again it was over cooked and barely able to cut through it, my salmon had absolutely no flavor what so ever it had no seasoning and tasted bland. They forgot to bring his side so after he sent the steak back he asked for the side and once more took a long time to receive it and it was the wrong side as well as the over cooked steak again! Once again asked and they brought out the Mac a cheese which was good. The waiter then asked if we wanted a dessert for my birthday so I said yes thinking most restaurants give you something jus to be nice for birthdays or celebrations and then proceeded to charge me full price for the dessert which was extremely expensive and dissatisfied. You should not act like it’s included for a birthday if it is not. Overall I think it is extremely overpriced and food quality...