Sugar Factory - Tampa Bay — Restaurant in Temple Terrace

Awful experience. My best-friend and her friend got there before 9 for the reservation she booked in March. She was told she couldn’t be seated because most of the party wasn’t there. 6/7 of the party showed up before 9 and was still told that if we wanted to eat we would have to wait. Why would we have to wait for a table when we booked a reservation and most of the party showed up before 9.. so then it became very clear they never had a table and tried to pro-tray that we was late and that’s why. We were seated at 9 outside in the corner next to a couple smoking while we had a child that was 2…. Tried to talk to waitress because we were unsatisfied with the table and saw a open table that was perfect and was told we couldn’t have it because we didn’t make a reservation… WHEN WE LITERALLY DID. sierra the waitress went to grab the host and when the host came over to the table she began to try argue with the birthday girl getting in her face and waving her hands. The manager Tyler sat right there and DID NOTHING my dad and sister had to tell her to chill and then she walked away. The manager Tyler completely excuse her behavior and tried to basically blame us for being late for pure reservation for one we weren’t late and for two they claimed initially we didn’t have one so it was also very clear they didn’t have there lies in order and didn’t want to take accountability. The manager Tyler made it seem like he would take care of us. HE DIDNT. he was to busy prancing around with the host idk maybe she is his girlfriend or something. My friend order was messed up and the waitress sierra told another waiter to not send it back because the people in kitchen “hate her” due to her failure to send back the food he didn’t get his food and we had to flag down Tyler to get it which took him 15 minutes to do so my friend just took the order to go. When leaving we asked the ladies at the counter for host name there refuse to answer asked the waitress she decline until after we communicated that due to Tyler’s failure to resolve the issue properly and the host nasty behavior she had received no tip. Double checked with the manager to make sure we got the host name. So Tiffany , our party will be in contact with your general manager and let her know that you felt very comfortable to argue with someone on their birthday , your extremely unprofessional and that you need to loose your job. I will be following up with the company and if your still there I’ll be sure to leave a follow up letting people know that sugar factory must allow that type behavior and it’s not a worth the money. Horrible experience ghetto service and...

A few things to share about Sugar Factory that we experienced in Tampa.

The restaurant was surface clean but had an unsavory smell wafting throughout. Waiter was pleasant and doing the best that he could given the fact that he was the ONLY server. Food is WAY overpriced! Nothing on the vast menu was anything that I would spend $20 on. NOTHING. My daughter got the slides ($26) and the meat was hard like rubber. No one asked how she wanted the sliders cooked and they certainly were cooked long enough to resemble hockey pucks. With that, we specifically asked for the buns not to be buttered and the "signature sauces" to be on the side. When she received her sliders, the buns had a sheen to them that only grease or butter could make. Dining with friends (a 4-top); it took more than 40 minutes of the mediocre food to arrive. I picked at my food and my daughter only ate 1 slider. While the manager was kind enough to removed her sliders from the bill, I was astounded at the price of the bill. Yes, my daughter got 1 non-alcoholic drink and I simply had water. She had the sliders and I had a small bowl of soup. With the sliders removed from the bill, our bill was $45 and some change... VERY pricey for what we got. We noticed that one of the employees had black rubber gloves on for sanitary purposes (great idea) but wore those same gloves to clean tables and wipe his brow... and handle food. DISGUSTING. We had our meal at 12:45 today and at 7:30 pm, my daughter started having major stomach cramps and has been in and out of the bathroom since.

This restaurant is within the Hard Rock and it's glaringly obvious that their signatures are not sweets, but alcohol and ways to get people to spend more time in a casino. This is NOT what I had hoped the excursion would have been. The namesake doesn't coincide with what is served. I was thinking candies and decadence, not food poisoning and filth.

I am not one to write reviews unless an experience is super amazing OR the polar opposite. This was the polar opposite.

While the staff was friendly (and no fault of their own necessarily), I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS...

The Sugar Factory, located inside of the beautiful Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, is a super trendy restaurant and candy store featuring oversized sugary drinks with recipes that were inspired by celebrities. The Sugar Factory is also a full service restaurant serving appetizers, sandwiches, pastas and desserts including pancakes, waffles, milkshakes, ice cream sundaes and hot chocolate. Absolutely the place to come for your sugar fix with an old fashioned style candy shop up front! From the lighting to the jewel toned candy colored decor and inspirational artwork, the ambiance is as alluring as their enormous bubbling drinks served over dry ice and topped with nostalgic candy! We came for an oversized non-alcoholic drink to share with our teen and thoroughly enjoyed our experience! While on the pricey side, parents ordering alcohol free drinks for their underaged kids will be happy to know that the cost is roughly half of their alcohol infused counterparts!

Our order: Our daughter picked the alcohol-free version of the Soul Man drink inspired by Dwayne the “Rock” Johnson: Peach, Pineapple and Lemonade juice topped with Gummy Cherries, Tropical Gumdrops with Strawberry flavored Rock Candy stirring sticks. Regularly $37.00, we enjoyed this fun family sized drink for only $18.50!

Pros: We went shortly after the dinner rush and were quickly seated in the front of the restaurant (by the Candy Store) where we people-watched while sipping our drink! We thoroughly enjoyed the lights, the decor, the people and it’s overall ambiance. The servers were wonderful and the host allowed my teenager to stop by the Candy Shop on our way out and get herself some gummies. Just a family friendly fun night with the teen and a very Instagramable drink.

Cons: I honestly can’t think of a single con with exception to the parking which is handled through the casino and isn’t anything the restaurant could...