worst restaurant experience!!!!. my husband, mom, and i attempted to eat at this restaurant for dinner friday night. we have been excited to try the pizza...heard great things, but we didn't get to eat. we showed up at 6:15 or 6:30 on a friday, so obviously quite early/before the big dinner rush. we showed up dressed casually, which is not important to me, but is important for this review. i feel that we were treated poorly because we were not all dressed up. we sat at the bar to order a drink while we waited for ourtableto be ready. my mom and i ordered a bottle of bubbly and my husband got a big beer. we really should have just eaten at the bar in retrospect, but we wanted atableso we could share a few things. we ran into some friends and chatted with them at the bar, then the owner/host came over to show us to our table. it was in the middle of the street between the restaurant and hannibals. first of all, it had been a hot day, but was now super windy and chilly so we were freezing and my mom wasn't pleased we were sitting in the street to begin with. i am still unclear as to why we were sat here in the first place as there were open tables inside. anyway, my mom is in town from sarasota (she also worked all day and then drove two hours to see us) and we were trying to take her out for a nice dinner and show her around winter park. we ordered some pumpkin ball appetizer thing. by the time that came out the whole evening at this restaurant was ruined. the wind picked up and our menus flew all around, knocking both full glasses of champagne over (and all over my husband's pants). i went to ask if we could move to atableinside, thinking of course we would be accommodated due to the circumstances, and we were told we could move to atablefour feet to the right...no longer in the street, but still not inside or even under the overhang, essentially on the curb. what's the difference? the host scoffed at our request as if we had asked the impossible. look...i get it's friday night, but under the circumstances wouldn't you think something could be done? he had the worst arrogant attitude and acted like there was no way to do anything better than anothertableright next to the street. literally, using the word correctly, the street. normally, a host at a restaurant is kind and accommodating, but he could not have been farther from it.
i told him that simply did not work for us and we'll take the check, certainly assuming that since two entire glasses of champagne spilled all over my husband that they would not charge us for the (four pumpkin balls for $8.95) and they did!! they actually brought us a bill for $8.95 after all of this (we paid for the drinks at the bar). it was a joke. i honestly found this particularly insulting. the two glasses of champagne my husband was wearing totaled more than the half eaten appetizer. we expressed this to our (super nice, funny, dedicated, knowledgeable) server and he completely understood. he missed the scene with the host/owner and wasn't aware how unhappy we were until we told him. the thing is, we live in winter park and we are major foodies. we frequent luma and prato and we thought this could be a new regular place for us. i wouldn't go back if you paid me. i wore leggings and a little dress and toms shoes, so i wasn't exactly dressed up, but we weren't going to victoria and albert's. i felt like we were treated so poorly because we weren't dressed up and we didn't have a reservation (it was 6:30, and we were more than happy to wait at the bar with a drink for a table, we are not unreasonable people). my husband is a corporate chef for a major company and he could have brought a lot of business dinners here, but we will be telling anyone who will listen to dine elsewhere. the host/owner is an inept and abrasive unprofessional, the likes of which i have never seen dining all over new york city at le bernardin, marea, wd-50, blue hill, jean georges, etc. i'm used to being treated with respect and was treated so poorly; i was beyond pissed. we left the restaurant so frustrated and still quite hungry. in all my years as a foodie (my whole life) and all my years in winter park (ten) i have never been so upset with a restaurant experience. the host/owner is so arrogant and acted as if he was heading the front of house at the finest of restaurants, except i have eaten at the finest of restaurants and have always been treated with respect and like an absolute lady. he needs a crash course in tact, kindness, and humility. we also saw him barking at the servers and treating them poorly. i can't wait to never eat here and to let everyone know to spend your money elsewhere. too bad too...we were excited to try the pizza. whatever, we will have some at prato today where we are treated like family.