Nautical Whimsey Italian — Restaurant in Tupelo

We were passing through and I found this place on Google when we were about 2 hours away. So I had plenty of time to look at the reviews and make sure this place was worth the stop especially with so many other eateries around. When we pulled into town we were very confident we made the right choice because most of the restaurants were either empty or half empty but this one was full and we were third on the waiting list. The service was great and I have absolutely nothing bad to say about our server. The food however was sub par. My son got the spaghetti and meatballs and I understand that a big ole meatball gives a great shock value but it was dry as can be. I've never seen a meatball that my son wouldn't eat, if I thought it was a one off I would have mentioned something to the server but it's not exactly something you are going to remake fresh. The second issue was with the "market price" on the filet mignon. Some restaurants, this being one of them are getting a little too frivolous with the use of market price. Market price should be reserved for things that are caught fresh that morning not meat that only fluctuates a few cents either way weekly. I will fully take the blame on this one but I ordered the 12 oz filet and assumed the market price would be reasonable as was the rest of the menu but to my shock when the bill came the filet was $68.00 (no salad) this only included a baked potato. I almost could have justified my filet being 68.00 if it had not been the most bland filet I'd ever had in my life. It has a sweet sauce on it that completely overwhelmed the unseasoned steak. Sweet sauce should only be used with steaks with bold/salty flavor. This steak had zero flavor. Again if I thought this was an issue that could be fixed by sending it back I would have.

But with all this being said I'm not going to get on here and give a bunch of one star ratings just because I had a bad experience. I was just passing through and my experience may have been a one-off. The locals seem to love it, the place was packed and the service was great. So there's absolutely no reason not to try this place out and see for yourself, I just recommend you ask about the market price before...

We were really looking forward to a beautiful experience with family. The wait would certainly have been worth for the food if the customer service has been better. Our dinner group was seated then another larger party was seated in the smallest area for dining.A very small space between both tables. The wait staff used as a thorough way to the kitchen. We later found out there were two other entries that they could have used The Manager later admitted it would have been better for the staff to use. The wait staff actually hit me 18 times by bumping into the chair as well as my husband. My purse was filled with the drinks that fell onto me from the waiters tray and all my items, phone, wallets and everything in the purse soaked. My hair was a sticky mess, dress under garments and jacket were drenched. The table and the area where we were dining was flooded with teas and ice. Accidents happen but to be bumped into 18 times by all the waitstaff created a terrible experience. After sharing in a subtle way to the management, the manager and owner decided taking my meal off the ticket (about $15 off of a $223.00 meal was adequate compensation. A 250.00 purse, dress damaged, and. 100.00 jacket, shoes were ruined. Never made a stink about it. However, we will never be back. We are from Texas visiting. We would never recommend this to anyone. I get accidents and mistakes.. but I don’t like it when a business does not take accountability or at the very least, tries to make up for the bad spilling experience by taking measures to avoid further making the evening a bad experience. It was truly a nightmare and...

We came during lunch time and were looking forward to a nice Italian meal. The restaurant appeared pleasant enough and we got seated right away. The food is why I gave this restaurant two stars. The serving sizes are large but the food is very disappointing and overpriced. It also looks unappetizing. I ordered the fettuccine alfredo (a basic dish)and got fried breaded chicken strips with fettuccine heaped on a plate. It was confusing and unappetizing. The fried chicken strips tasted old. I only took a few bites before I settled on eating bread. The menu does not have any descriptions of the food so I had no idea the chicken would be fried chicken strips. Given that this isn't how its typically made, a warning would have been nice. The chicken wasn't even presented well. It was literally fried chicken strips (similar to those found in a fast food kids meal) on pasta. My friend got the spaghetti and meatballs which was equally disappointing. The spaghetti came with a large meatball. It was rubbery and tasted bland. I've never had a meatball with such an odd consistency...The pasta was just okay. It's hard to go wrong on spaghetti and meatballs but they managed it. The food was definitely not worth the price-even with inflation. Everything tasted like leftover food. Hopefully this was just an off day....We went here based on the reviews. I'm not sure how this place got such high ratings...I've had much better Italian food for half the price. We will not...