CW's Gin Joint — Restaurant in Tampa

Went to Gin Joint yesterday for my birthday. The drinks are amazing and unique. The food is some of the best in town- really enjoyed the Caesar salad as appetizer. The lemon sherry chicken was excellent. The sauce was flavorful and bright and the chicken moist. I loved the carrot ribbons on top as well. Got the crème bruele for desert which was the perfect texture and had a perfectly torched top.

The only reason I am giving a 4 star review is because of our server who was awful. He greeted us initially and we said we wanted a few minutes to choose drinks. He returned 15 minutes later to finally take our drink order. Our first round of drinks and appetizers finally arrived around 840pm (our reservation was at 8pm). After we were completely finished with our appetizers he finally came back and we had to prompt him to order our entrees. About half way through dinner we were out of drinks and our entire party stopped eating to wait to order some dinner drinks. He circled us a few times and despite our clear cues we were finished eating (silverware laid on plate not eating) we finally stopped him and asked for a box. When he returned with to go boxes he told us last call was in 15 minutes and we again had to prompt that we wanted after dinner drinks and dessert before close.

Thank goodness for the excellent support staff- assistant wait staff refilling water and prebusing plates and managers or other servers helping run drinks from the bar for saving the dining experience. I honestly wish I could have tipped them because our server did not deserve the any part of the tip since he provided little to no service in comparison.

The other complaint regarding the waiter comes after we left. The waiter had individually handed each of us the to go box of our dinner he had boxed in the back. There was a total of 3 people at our table. When I got home I went to put my food in the fridge and found out he gave me another persons to go box. I had to go out of my way today to swap our to go boxes back after a long day at work. I was excited to have my left over for dinner. When I went to heat up my food, I found he had included all the scraps I had on my plate in my to go box. These scraps included an already squeezed lemon, pieces of chicken I had cut off and intended to discard, and the top stem of the roasted carrot I had already eaten. These were all in a clear pile on the edge of the plate away from the uneaten food so I’m not sure why anyone would think to mix them back in with the rest of the leftovers.

I will 100% return to Gin Joint because of the food and drinks but if I was to be seated with this same server I would promptly be asking for a manager to get me...

Friday Feb 25, 2022 my wife and I and another couple went to CW's Gin Joint. We were surprised that we were able to get a reservation within 24 hours for 4 at 7PM on a Friday. In the past we have not been able to get a Friday or Saturday night several weeks away. We live in downtown Tampa and go out to eat regularly. When we arrived at 7PM, there were at least 10 empty Tables, which surprised us and we were seated at a nice table. The waiter was responsive and did a good job. When he told us about the specials, he really harped on the Pork Belly appetizer and his explanation sounded delicious. Since I get Pork Belly at many restaurants, I did order it. In general, all the food was ok to good and in the past, it was much better. There was no music yet even by 8:30PM which just doesn't make any sense. The Pork Belly arrived, and it was not good, actually it was terrible. It was described as VERY crispy on the ends and moist in the middle. Some pieces were crispy on the ends or one end and the middle was not tasty and was chewy and fatty. I decided after tasting 2 pieces to send it back and the waiter was very accommodating. We left about 9:20 and the music did start playing at 9PM. We thought it was late to start music but so be it. We then got the check and was very surprised that the $14 Pork Belly was not taken off the bill. This was a $300+ check. I asked the waiter and he stated that executive chef told him to not take it off as I had eaten some of it. Shocked that he needed exec chef permission and I was annoyed and asked to speak the manager or GM. He said the Executive Chef was in charge of the back kitchen and the front of the house. That was another surprise and after waiting 10+ minutes she came by and did not apologize and took the stand that they were not going to take the $14 off the check. I was very disappointed and aggravated. She was also not professional and didn't care how I felt or if I wrote a bad review or if I told this experience on social media. She was arrogant and this was ridiculous and a very easy situation to resolve. The couple that came with us was never there and thought the food was just OK and that the mgt solution to the pork belly was absurd. So many more new places opening up in Tampa.!!! I suggest going elsewhere as this restaurant has definitely...

Tonight was an experience that I hope never happens to anyone else. I took my friends to have dinner at the CW Gin Joint for the first time because I knew it would be an amazing experience for them (I had been twice before). Our server was incredible - polite, respectful, knowledgeable and very friendly. The food was delicious, as were the cocktails and live music. We were having a wonderful evening and were wrapping up our entrees/cocktails until the host walked over to my friend and whispered something in his ear. I thought it was a bit odd so I asked him what the host said to him. “They’re asking us to leave because there is another reservation and they said our reservation is over.”. It hadn’t been but 2 hours and we still had full cocktails. I honestly thought to myself “Surely they can see we aren’t finished yet and will give us the time to finish OUR reservation”. The host proceeded to then stand across the room from our table and stare down my friend as if intimidating us. Not even 5 minutes later, the host came back and with force, demanded that we leave because he had another reservation and our table was needed. I was embarrassed, shocked, and appalled that we were being treated this way. We were polite, paying customers that had maybe 15 minutes left to our evening, finishing our cocktails and this interaction DESTROYED our experience. The table next to us had not been seated the entire time we were dining (almost 2 hours). When asked why the next reservation could not sit there, I was told it was a large party of 12 and our table was needed. So, because of their bad planning and organization, and the luck of where we got seated, we had a limited time to enjoy our evening?! It didn’t even matter that we still had cocktails - and what if we decide we wanted dessert?! The way the host spoke to us was so rude and dismissive, I still honestly cannot believe it happened. I have never experienced this at any restaurant here in Tampa…ever. Regardless of any reservation, I have NEVER been asked to leave not once, but twice simply because there was another reservation. This was also at 7pm (we had arrived at 5:15 for ours), not even remotely close to closing time. I will never dine here again because of...