717 South — Restaurant in Tampa

I traditionally have nice things to say about places I visit but I cannot in good conscience rate this experience as anything but what it was. Looking over the other reviews it appears this restaurant has hits and misses and this time was definitely a miss. We made the reservation for ten a couple weeks back and the restaurant told us the only time they could get a party of our size in was 830 as they had other commitments. Yesterday when we arrived the first few guests were seated in good order and other members of the party trickled in over the next half hour or so. The server was informed that we were gathering for a birthday and I'm not sure if the restaurant does anything for birthdays i.e.: singing, cupcakes, etc. but if they do nothing of the sort happened. The problems began shortly after the final food orders were placed as up to that point our server was doing a decent job. First one person ordered the Cajun chicken and asked for spinach with it as the garden mix was unavailable according to the server. When the food arrived there was no spinach and upon being notified of this it took at least ten minutes to arrive. The problems only got worse from there. Another person ordered an appetizer before the entree and when her appetizer platter was removed her utensils were removed as well. When she got her food finally, after it was given the wrong person initially, she did not have anything to eat with. She finally got the server's attention and asked her for silverware and the server went to another table removed just the utensils, not the napkin, and just put them down in front of her. She was still looking at the server when the server then says to her "What else do you want?" She then told the server nothing and she walks off. The person sitting next to her, who was a part of our party, then went over to another table and got her a proper set of silverware. The problems continued as someone who ordered Mac and cheese requested something else as it had bacon in it, which wasn't on the menu. Next another person at the table ordered a blackened chicken sandwich with no cheese because she has allergic to cheese. The server places the sandwich down with cheese on it apparently have forgotten that cheese wasn't requested due to an allergy. When notified the server seemed to resent having to take the food back and have it remade. In fact she resented it so much she didn't even out the order in for another sandwich. Another table member noticed the kitchen winding down and then said something to the server who seemed shocked that another sandwich was wanted and then she was informed yet again about the allergy. At this point people in the group wanted items removed from the bill. The sandwich for one and then the girl who was treated so rudely with the utensils told the server to take her food, which was untouched, because she had lost her appetite being treated in such a matter. The server then mumbled something about talking to the manager to have items removed like they were doing us a favor. The manager never once came over to the table despite all of these issues. Members of the party had been to this restaurant before and they all agreed they had NEVER experienced something like this at that restaurant let alone any other restaurant. They also felt the party was treated that way as the server already had her tip secured due to the size of the party. The birthday dinner was more or less ruined and we will likely never return to...

Went for a family dinner/birthday celebration. The decor promotes are great atmosphere. The service was slow and spotty. As for the food......the appetizers were much better than the entrees! We were a table of 9, so we had a good variety. We had crab cakes, great flavor not much fillers, so they were firm not loose. Great crunch on the outside. The Mango relish was flavorful but very dry. We had the sweet heat scallops, perfect sweet/heat combo. The sauce was very complementary. They we perfectly cooked. We had the wings, they are fried naked which is our favorite and dusted with light seasoning. I think the seasoning could be more flavorful, but good fry on them nonetheless. We had the calamari as well. Good fry/crisp. The batter has good seasoning, but would have liked more of the cheese throughout the basket instead of just on top. The white sauce was not as complementary as the red, but with a squirt of lemon, it comes alive. The drinks were great! Couldn't really go wrong there. Now the entrees.......Grouper has a good sear, but lacked flavor. The cornbread under it was the star of that plate. The sauce was sweet and not very complementary of the flavor of the fish. The Sea Bass also had a good sear but again, lacked flavor. The polenta was great! If your not a fan of grits, you may not like polenta. The Japanese fries chicken was fried well but no seasoning at all! The garnishes are what have it it's flavor. The Short ribs tasted more like pot roast with a cacciatore sauce than an polynesian braised short rib. The Ahi Tuna was crusted with white sesame seeds and lightly seared. There was not a "crust-like" sear on it like most other Ahi Tuna I've had. The was no seasoning on it outside of sesame seeds at all and again the accompaniments have the main item it's flavor. The Salmon (ordered medium served well) had no seasoning. It's flavor came from the sauce and garnish. The garnish was a cabbage mix and was a total salt bomb! It came with bok choy which was the best prepared thing of the dish. The Whiskey Pig was PERFECT!!!! It was the best entree of the table! Great seasoning, sauce to match, great crust, and juicy. Came with polenta and sauteed spinach which were both very complementary. Last but not least, dessert. We did the birthday trio of apple crumb cake (I think), apple pie in a souffle cup, and coconut crusted (I think) cheesecake. The crumb cake (no icing) was moist but lacked sweetness. When eaten with the icing it was overly sweet. The icing was very poorly made. It was super grainy and overly sweet. The apple pie was a good balance between sweetness and tartness from soft but firm apples. I'm not sure if it was intentional, but it had a bit of a smokiness to it. If it wasn't intentional then it burn at the bottom gave it a better flavor with the slight smoke taste. I think it would have otherwise been overly sweet. The cheesecake didn't bind well to the crust and the crust sort of stuck to the plate. The cheesecake was good crustless and the crust was good cakeless. The combination of the two was okay. Overall the experience was positive due to the company and conversation within the atmosphere. The food could definitely use some tweaking, so for now, I don't recommend the experience for the price. We'll try it again and see how it...

Food Poisoning Alert Yesterday, 9/30/16, was only my 4th time at 717. I had never been SUPER impressed, but always satisfied, and never disappointed by there food/service. Living social had a deal on their site, so my girlfriend and I decided to go for her first time for a dinner/movie date night. Worst mistake we made. Service was very good. Waitress was attentive and nice. But unfortunately the food was not so kind. We shared the Brussel Sprouts appetizer. I cant believe im saying this, but it was overly cheesy, and I LOVE cheese. They were also way, WAY too salty. I ordered the Szechwan Duck Breast per our waitress suggestion. I ordered my duck medium, it came out well done. The roasted vegetable medley was all cauliflower and was ridiculously over seasoned and salty. There were HUGE salt rock crystals all over them. Couldnt even eat them. I ate half the duck & sweet potato jalapeño mash becuase I was starving and we didnt have time to wait for another meal. I showed the waitress, she agreed with me about my meal. The manager only offered 50% off, but when I refused that offer, I did get the entire meal taken off. However that was the least of our problems. My girlfriend ordered the Chilean Sea Bass with sauteed shrimp, sauteed spinach, a tomato butter sauce, and subbed the grits for purple potato mash. She was very pleased with the flavor of her dish, but for the $39 market price, we were both very disappointed in the serving size of the sea bass. We frequent Watercolors in Clearwater so are no stranger to quality fish, at MP, and what a good serving size is. I wish that was our only concern though. I am writing this the next morning as my girlfriend is still extremely sick in bed after being up the entire night with the worst case of food poisioning I have EVER seen. Im not sure what it was on her plate that made her sick, but something DEFINITELY did. She had only drank a meal replacement juice in the morning that day, so it was easy to determine the cause. Nothing makes you feel more helpless than to watch the one you love VIOLENTLY sick while you can do nothing but get them ice cubes and rub their back to try your best to comfort them. Obvioulsy I know something like this is NEVER intentional, but it still would make anyone extremely angry. Needless to say we are NEVER going back there. I know most have very postive reviews about their food, but after our experience, just the mental aspect alone of knowing what we went through makes it extremely difficult to ever consider giving them another chance. Obviously, I can not, and will NOT, ever...