Steelbach — Restaurant in Tampa

Absolutely horrible customer service. I booked a reservation a while ago for Mother's Day through open table. I wanted to try a new place for brunch with my daughter on Mother's Day while she was in town from college. I received a random call a couple weeks ago someone asking to confirm my reservation. I confirmed we will be there. Then they asked for my credit card information. I told her I did not feel comfortable giving the information over the phone and that I have booked through open table many times and if restaurants require a credit card to hold the reservation through OpenTable it's entered at that time. I found it a little strange. Steelbach through open table did not request it. The girl then said well we just want to confirm you're coming. I said I will be there with daughter. Then today 5/9 at 4:12pm I received an email my reservation was cancelled. I called Steelbach and a girl answered I explained to her what happened and what is going on. She told me her manager had her cancel every reservation that didn't have a credit card on file. This poor girl I knew was just doing her job as she was instructed to by her manager. I asked to speak to the manager on duty. She placed me on hold and told me the manager was no where to be found (not a surprise). I told her again while it's not her fault this is horrible poor customer service. After confirming my reservation weeks ago and booking even longer ago the manager cancels every reservation without a credit card a day and half before Mother's Day? I will not be able to find a brunch place to book last minute. I asked to her take my information and have the manager call me back. I am just disgusted how this "Manager" is running this establishment. I work in customer service and I would never ever provide my clients this type of experience. I am not looking for anything free, not a discount, or rebook what needs to happen is who ever this "manager" was to implement their own rules, change rules, or decide to tell customers something different after booking and confirming their reservations I hope this person boss or their corporation looks in to their training and honestly look a little deeper in to who is running this restaurant you will lose more business by treating...

Update (6/4/24): A team member did not get in contact with me about my experience as they indicated they would.

My experience ranged from pleasant at the start to very frustrated by the end. My meal began well. I arrived early, and they were able to accommodate me 45 minutes before my reservation time, which I very much appreciate.

The mezcal cocktail I started with was well balanced and very pleasant, as was the overall pace of the meal. I was dining alone but didn't feel rushed.

That's really where the positives end. The Bleu Cesar I started with was heavily overdressed. While the dressing was tasty, there was so much of it that the greens were soggy. The bread crumbs were also a little too hard to be considered crunchy and were difficult to bite through.

For my main, I ordered the NY Strip medium-rare and a side of the crispy potatoes. The potatoes were great, but the steak was served well done. My server checked on me before I had a chance to cut into the steak and never came back. I had to ask another server to send it back.

15 minutes later, I received a slightly-more-than-medium steak. At this point, the potatoes were cold, and I didn't feel like waiting another 15 minutes and wasting the meat, so I settled. The steak itself was fine. Not trimmed at all, with a massive chunk of fat along the side.

For dessert, I wanted the ice cream and was told my options were white chocolate, raspberry, and dark chocolate. I asked for the dark chocolate and was told that they are typically served together and that the white chocolate and raspberry were actually one flavor. I said that together was fine.

When I got it, it had no dark chocolate and was just white chocolate and raspberry. Once again, it was another server who helped me, and I learned that they were out of dark chocolate that day, and my server just didn't know.

At this point, I was done and just got the check. Nothing was comped. The overall experience was deeply unpleasant, especially coming off of the wonderful experience I had at Ulele the day before. I don't know why people recommend Steelbach. There are a lot of other steakhouses, and I would recommend going to...

I should have added photos but that would have been deceptive. The presentation was great, but here are the facts about the food. Broccoli came out almost cold. The server said the filet mignon would cut with a butter knife and tender, no way, it was tough with stringy elements to the filet. not good Caesar salad had a gallon of dressing on it, literally drenched. Others at the table of 6 had issues also with their food. The worst and I mean the worst part of it was the booth, yes the booth. It was so tight and not movable with the table or anything else. You were squashed in the booth. I am 190 and 5'9 and could hardly fit ! My wife is 5'2, 115 and still was complaining about the booth. Go ahead and get a booth and see what I mean. I group of women tried to sit in the booth behind and left to go to the hi top since they could not fit either , so not just our issue. Last but not least the protocol between courses has the server collect all the silverware and I mean knifes forks used or not used and people passing all of this over the table to the server before the main course of dinner, if you had pasta, pass your silverware over, if you have chicken, pass the silverware out of there. Very inconvenient and wrecked any mood of an elegant dinner to me and my group.The drill sergeant server, kept coming back after 5 min. and asked ready to order ? ready to order ?and no one was even in the restaurant much. Even after only being there 8 minutes. after 3 or so times we caved in and said OK we will order now. Just everything was a disappointment. I do not blame the server 100% she is instructed with the timing and protocol I blame the manager of this place.We even complained to her the manager about the cold food and she said sorry and moved on to say have a good night ! Maybe give us a tiny discount when our bill was $700 for 6 people ? I mean geez, Never go to this place too many issues from...