Armando's - Winter Park — Restaurant in Winter Park

Beyond disappointed in tonight’s experience. We have come here for years to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and all of life’s monumental moments. The manager that was working tonight ruined over a decade of tradition (including our weekly visits to ALL locations) within 2 minutes of “speaking” to us and we will never come back. I have never written a negative review or approached staff to speak to management, but tonight was something I have never experienced and am left completely baffled.

We waited over an hour and a half (no exaggeration) for our food to come out and had no acknowledgment from managerial staff whatsoever. This was shocking in itself, but when the bill came and nothing had been discounted/removed/or any type of apology for the wait, I felt the need to ask if something could be done or if we could speak to management. When we were informed the manager refused to discount anything or speak to us because “everyone’s ticket times were running long” (including the $25 cake fee for celebrating our mom’s 64th birthday) we asked again to speak to him/her directly.

He came out telling everyone that there was not a single ticket that ran longer than 45 minutes so we must be exaggerating… I didn’t even bother to pull up my text receipts from texting others when we got there and when our food arrived because I was speechless by this “manager’s” entitled attitude and telling a large party of regulars they were lying.

Working in the service industry for almost 20 years I was in complete shock and have NEVER encountered a manger to treat customers with so much disrespect. It was truly baffling. Sweet chef Daniel came out apologizing numerous times and even offered to take care of our bill as to not lose our years of patronage. We refused to take him up on that offer and pointed out to the manager (who still has not told us his name) that this is all we wanted… acknowledgement of the mishap and some sort of apology. He STILL refused and said he “wasn’t dealing with this” and tried to run away.

I am shocked, disappointed, and deeply concerned for Armando’s future if this is the type of management they have in place. This used to be one of our favorite restaurants and again, we will never come back. I hope they get rid of the poison at the Winter Park location before they lose too many dedicated patrons. Chef Daniel was amazing and maybe they should hire more people like him to manage FOH since current management...

This was on Dec 21/2024

I don’t even know where to begin… This was my first time at the restaurant, and a part from the food (that was pretty good), the experience was VERY disappointing. We were a party of 6, but I arrived first. Upon my arrival, I went to the hostess desk, which is at the main front door, to ask for a table, ask about wait time, etc. The young lady at the desk, gave me a very bad look, as if I was bothering her or I shouldn’t be there. Without making any pleasant connection, she said they were full and almost convinced me to go elsewhere. I stood outside for a few minutes, trying to register her demeanor, and a possible plan “B”(go elsewhere). When all of a sudden, my cousin arrived. Too late to leave, and I told her we’d go to the bar(which was even worse there) arriving a the bar, we sat down I got a head movement from the bartender, instead of a: hi, welcome, how are you doing, what can I get you, type of greeting…. Just UNFRICKING believable, the HORRIBLE service we were getting since i arrived😱 , I’ve never seen anything like it! Well, I ordered a bottle of wine, and continued at the bar waiting for our table to get ready, and thank God, it didn’t take too long🙏 , and that was nice. A few minutes later, the others arrived at our table, with our waiter, which was nice. Having said that, he(our waiter), was very good, attentive, courteous, and even spoke Portuguese, and that was amazing, considering some of my guests were from Brazil. Since the menus were on the table, I had already peaked at it, and I recommend an appetizer, (fried Calamari), which tasted pretty good. UNFORTUNATELY (portion x price) a little disappointing. After, we all ordered our main course and that made up for some of the so far, negative experience 🙏 we were all VERY HAPPY with our food 😊 At the end, I asked for the check, and to my surprise, the overall price(with a bottle of wine), was very good, despite the appetizer being small. Well. Unfortunately, and I say it again, unfortunately, I never expected to ROBBED! Yes, robbed, because when I paid for the check(with my Platinum Amex), I CROSSED the tip line and gave our waiter his 42.00 tip(which was 20% of the check), IN CASH, to find out today, he added it again to my card. Out of ALL THE bad service I got, this for me, was the worse! VERY DISHONEST, to say the least So please, BE CAREFUL when you pay your check and leave the...

This place is amazing! My fiance and I have been frequenting this spot ever since our first date here, over 7 years ago. Every visit has never failed to amaze us. Tonight was no exception! We had another awesome experience with over 20 family members and friends. The patio area in the back is GORGEOUS. My fiance was in Instagram heaven 😆 We were so impressed with the service we all received. From mouthwatering entrees, to delicious cocktails, this place absolutely nailed every step of service! Our servers were attentive and anticipated our every need. My parents arrived early and had esspesso martinis at the bar. They said the bartenders were awesome too. Most importantly though... GET THE ESSPESSO MARTINIS.. OMG! Pretty sure our group ordered a million of those after my mom and dad recommended them! Ok.. so on a somber note... The one and only down side today was a very belligerent man who came in after the restaurant had closed (it was 12am by this point) while we waited for our Uber next to the front entrance. We saw him come over from an event happening across the street. The manager (don't know his name... pretty sure he is new) handled everything with a grace and calm that was beyond commendable. After being asked in the nicest way ever to leave, ( because the man was screaming and cussing up a storm) we heard the man start to make violent threats towards the staff and the manager. He was yelling his head off about not being able to order a pizza or something. He refused to leave and even dared the manager to call the police... There really are some crazy people out there these days... anywho..We both still can't believe how well everything was handled. That poor manager must be an absolute saint lol. Right before our Uber driver arrived the police were already searching for the drunk guy. Big shout out to the men and women in blue and the entire staff of Armando's. We LOVE this place and can't wait to come back. The staff here go above and beyond time and time again. Thanks so for a wonderful night! Did I mention the...