Awhile back, a PR rep for a major chain began to email me. She would send me recipes and ask for me to try them out. I would just kind-of look them over and quickly move them to my recipe box (I get a lot of recipes).
I finally emailed her back and asked (in a very polite manner) what was she trying to get out of all the recipe emails.
She responded:
“Sure…we recently began doing some digital monitoring to identify local foodies with blogs who often post recipes, reviews, etc, so we can send them some of the recipes we often send out to the media. We thought this would be a great way to reach real people and engage them with the brand, especially since we give away our recipes quite frequently….We believe in complete transparency – we hope that those foodies…will share their honest opinions – good, bad, anything! That way, we can learn about real perceptions and improve our company!”
Wait, a chain restaurant that is taking a proactive approach to bettering themselves by throwing themselves to the wolves (true foodies don’t do chains)? I’m intrigued.
I was honest with her. “I don’t do chains, sorry, but thank you.”
Next thing I know, there’s a Bahama Breeze gift card in my mailbox with a hand written note from the PR rep.
“Enjoy and let us know what you think.”
I sat there, head half tilted with a look of disbelief on my face. “Well, that was nice.” I thought. Fast forward.
After a menu-consulting meeting with a potentially new client (good vibes people, give me good vibes), Chef Hubby and I headed back home.
“Let’s get some lunch.” I said
“Okay, where would you like to go?” he responded
“Bahama Breeze.”
He nearly drove off the road.
You see, whereas I steer clear of chain restaurants these days (in my former life as a buyer, I would often be asked to meet for lunch at “Chilli’s” and “Brenham” type establishments; I got pretty good at ordering the least offensive items), Chef Hubby wouldn’t be caught dead in a chain restaurant. If he is asked to meet at chains, he quickly suggests another non-chain destination.
“Come on,” I said. “I’m really interested in this PR Reps method.”
“It’s not going to be good.” He said
We pulled up to the massive Bahama Breeze located at 3045 N. Rocky Point drive. You know the one. It sits just off the Courtney Campbell on the ugly part of the Bay where all of the construction is.
It looked like a Caribbean resort from the outside. Valet parking signs everywhere. The inside was very large and again, had that Caribbean Island resort feel. Large faux wicker furniture for the waiting area, sprawling dining room, and a partially open kitchen. It looked quite comfortable. The walls were adorned with restaurant reviews from local media. I waited to read them until after I had my own experience. I didn’t want anything to sway my opinion.
We approached the hostess station where three employees stood.
“Can I help you?” asked a young kid with an air of annoyance.
“Um, yeah. We’d like a table. To eat at.” Responded Chef Hubby.
“Outside if it’s available.” I interrupted. It was such a beautiful Friday afternoon, I had to.
“It’s seat yourself out there.” Replied the kid. He then turned his back to us and continued his conversation.
Strike one.
Don’t tell me it’s seat yourself and then turn around. Show a little more interest. Act like you actually care that I am spending money where you work allowing you to pay your Go Phone bill.
We found our way outside and chose a shaded table. It was fairly busy out on the deck. People were enjoying an early Happy Hour, others pulling up on their super-expensive boats (for which Bahama Breeze provides a dock). A man was setting up his keyboard for a live music serenade. I was certain the song ‘Don’t Worry. Be Happy’ would open.
On another deck, sat about 7 or so tables with umbrellas affording perfect Margarita sitting. It was quite nice on the decks. Very beachy. Very Caribbean.
So, Chef Hubby and I waited and we waited and we waited. Several servers passed by bringing food and drinks to surrounding tables. Another couple, which had sat after us, already had drinks.
Finally, I noticed a man, who appeared to be a manager, stop a server on her way inside. I read his lips, “That table has been sitting there for awhile. Go greet them.”
She motored on over to us and handed us menus and stated she would be right back. The first page of the menu offers specialty drinks. Fruit Mojitos, Caipirinhas, and other tropical concoctions. Prices weren’t listed, which is standard.
We ordered a Caipirinha and a Strawberry Mojito, well that is a few minutes later when the server finally got back to us. There had been a total of 13 minutes pass from the time we seated and the time the server took our drink order. Chef Hubby was getting impatient, but the view was nice, it was Friday and the band started to play “Don’t Worry. Be Happy.”
The menu was rather small. We were surprised how small it was. A good amount of appetizers, a few sandwiches, some salads, and a couple soups. No real entrées to speak of. (We would later find out, the entrée menu is only offered inside.)
After a little more time, our drinks came out. Surprisingly, many other servers were bringing drinks out left and right, but not our girl.
The menu was composed of catchy Island themed named dishes, like Crab Claws St. Thomas and Grilled Fresh Salmon Tostado Salad. Items ranged from $5.50 to $10.99. We settled for West Indies Patties ($6.99) and Tostones with Chicken ($8.25). This time our server was quick to take our order.
Chef Hubby and I sat, enjoying the Bay breeze and our cocktails. Well, Chef Hubby not so much. His Caipirinha wasn’t to his liking. 
A little too sweet, this wouldn’t be the fault of the bartender, the drink was made perfectly. I; however, loved my Strawberry Mojito. It wasn’t really a Mojito, but it resembled one. It kind of tasted like a Strawberry smoothie without the yogurt. It was perfect for a Friday, sunny afternoon.
The food came out rather quickly. It made a few rounds before it got to us, though. I saw the same manager walking up to tables almost setting the food down and finally asking our server where it should go. He didn’t look pleased.
The West Indies Patties were just as we expected. Meat stuffed pastries! Something Chef Hubby and I fell in love with while in New Orleans. The Patties were served with a seasoned sour cream and apple-mango salsa.
Are you ready for this, Chef Hubby REALLY liked them! The pastry dough was fried to a clean crisp, the filling was beef, curry, carrots, and onion, and the salsa was diced perfectly and accompanied the Patties well. They were very good. Really good, actually. Half way through, we ran out of the seasoned sour cream. I attempted to get more but our server was nowhere to be found.
Chef Hubby and I began a conversation on whether the cooks actually take the time to perform the delicate diced knife work or if it was done with some kind of dicer. We agreed that it had to be a dicer because the time involved would send a chain kitchens payroll through the roof. People go to culinary school to learn to cut like this. The attention to detail did not go unnoticed, regardless if it was done by hand or by machine.
The Tostones with Chicken was completely not what we expected. Bahama Breeze serves them, as their version of nachos and again, it was really good. Fried flattened Tostones scattered a metal hot plate and stewed chicken, green bell peppers, red bell peppers, onion, and cheese topped the Tostones. By sight, they aren’t so appealing, but these little buggers were tasty. I liked the inventiveness of using Tostones in replace of ordinary corn chips. The stewed chicken was tender and seasoned well. Both dishes had large portions and would easily feed two people.
After we were almost completely finished eating, our server returned and asked how we were doing. I almost said, “We could have used some more sour cream”, but I figured what was the point.
Chef Hubby had just lifted the last bite of the West Indies Patties when she came back and grabbed the empty plate. No “May I take this?”, no “Are you finished Sir?”. She just grabbed the plate. He was still chewing. I said, “I guess you’re done.” I guarded my plate a little bit better than he and eventually pushed it to the edge.
When the server returned for another plate pick up, I asked her if I could see the Dinner menu. We had arrived around 3 PM, so we assumed the limited menu was a lunch menu. She gave me the same menu we had just seen. I asked for the right one, she never brought it.
After a little bit of waving down and finally bumping into the server in the bathroom and asking for our check, Chef Hubby and I headed out. We walked inside before leaving so I could take a peak at the dinner menu. Inside we were informed that the dinner menu is only served inside and a “Deck menu” is served outside by another snotty hostess. Well, that would explain the small selection.
I thought that was kind of stupid. If I want to sit outside and eat Calypso Shrimp Linguine or Bahamian Grilled Steak Kebabs, I should be able to. Overall, the food was pretty good. Okay, surprisingly good; however, the service was awful. From the snotty host to the weeded server, it was just bad.
I’ve done time as a server; I know what it’s like when you’re busy. This place wasn’t so busy that a congregation of servers couldn’t meet at the top of the deck stairs while we waited for anyone to take our drink order.
I’d recommend Bahama Breeze for take-out, but with this my only experience to go on; I wouldn’t recommend dine in simply because of the service. It was chain restaurant service; Kids serving for a fast buck who don’t care whether or not you enjoy yourself.
Too bad, the deck is perfect for sunsets, cocktails, and those addictive West Indies Patties.
jason
1 year ago
I have had similar experiences with this location, although my service was never this bad. Don’t try to go to the location on I drive in Orlando anytime of the weekend, you are looking at an hour wait for a table and almost as long to get your car back from the valet. The food, however, is consistently excellent. That location does have a small back deck that they can seat you at and be served a full menu, you might have to ask for it or reserve those tables if it particularly busy. It sounds like all of your issues were related to the front of the house which is a shame.
Mr. Picklefeather
1 year ago
You obviously had an attitude before you went in there. You created your own self-fulfilling prophecy. I have never eaten there but wouldn’t be swayed by your review. Bad service is everywhere…. if one looks for it. It doesn’t define the establishment as a whole. Restaurant food is sandbagged by even the finest of restaurants these days which is a shame. Even top-notch culinary graduates find that their talent is wasted microwaving entrees that have been pre-cooked and shipped from another State. (I am in the industry 15 years) and good servers are harder to find (I happen to be a good one). Eating out has become a joke. And restaurant critics and their snooty Hubbies should find real employment. Anybody can bitch.
Shawn Paonessa
1 year ago
Re: Mr. Picklefeather,
Yes, bad service is everywhere, but you missed the point. Everyone has had bad service both in chain and independent restaurants. When you get it, you know it. But when you are repeatedly ignored or greeted with apathy by several servers, can’t even get a drink order for 15 minutes when it isn’t busy enough to validate it, and find out the hard way that the inside people get a better menu than you do, I’d say that establishes poor service. Though I don’t have 15 years of experience in the industry, I have more than that in being a patron of restaurants, including in my resume, eating at that Bahama Breeze. I’d say the review was pretty spot on. As to a self-fulfilling prophecy, I’d say that went out the window when the people who hate chain restaurant food really liked the food there. You did read that part of the article, didn’t you? Or were you just proving the one thing you are right about: anybody can bitch.
Mal Carne
1 year ago
Aww, pickles – someone have a case of the Mondays?
I’ve been called a lot of things in my life, most of them unflattering and well deserved. But snooty? That’s a first. Thanks for the laugh, and good luck on that blossoming acting career.
David Jenkins
1 year ago
Bad service is everywhere … if you look for it? No, bad service is everywhere where there is bad service.
I can’t abide bad service. Going out to eat is expensive enough between the meal, drinks, parking and gas. If I’m going to be subjected to bad service I might as well get take out, order in or just stay at home and cook. I’ve written off plenty of places because I was either ignored or treated like an asshole. There’s no food worth bad service.
That’s not the chef’s fault, sure, unless the chef is an owner/manager. But, it DOES define the establishment. Sorry. It can’t be that hard to find people who are some combination of not lazy and not shitty to people who come in to keep their business running.
Clyde
1 year ago
I believe I’m correct in thinking that food service people (waitpeople if you you will) do not fall under the minimum wage laws, so restaurants are free to pay them below minimum wage. The idea is that the waitpeople will be making the really big bucks from tips. That’s not always the case, and, not infrequently, they are required to share tips with non-service support people and sometimes pool tips which penalizes the most productive people. I know for a fact that that happened at the Ritz-Carlton (golf course)in Naples a while back. Do you think that might have a bearing on waitstaff attitudes? Of course, there are the attitudes of the great American public. Face it, there are some people who are simply incapable of dealing with service personnel in a civil manner, in addition to being too cheap to leave a decent tip under any circumstances. In my experience, when you have good restaurant management, the service is normally pretty good. BTW, you would be wrong to assume I have worked as a waitperson. But I do know something about the restaurant business and service.
The Urban Eater
1 year ago
In the State of Florida, minimum wage for waitstaff is $3.38 per hour. All resturants must pay waitstaff this wage AND should the waitstaff not claim enough tips for the week, the restuarant must make of the differance for the employees total hours worked to meet the federal minimum wage of $6.80 per hour. Restuarants are heavily monitored by the State b/c it is often the most likely to commit unfair labor acts. However, many resturants do abide by FL Labor laws b/c it’s such a well monitored industry. Just about every server in Tampa Bay knows the number to call if they are getting gyped out of money.
As for waitstaff having to share tips, or tipping out, as it is referred to in the industry. Servers typically only tip-out to bussers (those who clean the tables after the customer has left. Bussers are paid full minimum wage and it is often up to the server if they want to give the busser more) and bartenders. Why? Because the better you treat your busser, the faster your tables will turn. Servers can clean their own tables. Bartenders are paid the same waitstaff wage and have to take time from their bar customers to make drinks for servers. Typically, tipping out the bartender is mandatory.
I was a server and a bartender for 3 years for Rio Bravo during my college days. I know what its like to be a server in a chain resturant.
As for money, tipping out, or wages causing wait staff to have attitudes,I say get a new job. Its not my problem if the server has issues with the establishment. I’m there to spend money on good food and good service.
server at the breeze in tampa
1 year ago
OMG are you kidding me!!!! arriving around 3 pm hhhhmmm shift change then you sit for a couple hours make 2 servers share your table expect this super duper service probably pay with the gift card and dont even tip extra if you notice when you walk up dumb ass the SIGN SAYS DECK SEAT YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!! so your little bad atart and carring it through to your server and your review may i say all the food is frozen and hardly prepared anymore (just another tgifridays) and you think the cooks give a shit they dont even give those guys raises back there they work tham till they quit and get another food thawer back there that doesnt speak english so your little blog has made our already a bitch mananger even more bitchy she the reason why we dont smile anymore and care is because she only cares about the gay employees there so why are we gonna give a fuck the tip outs crazy and the hours and side work is outta control enjoy your next west indy patty and remember it had double the meat a couple years ago and your server and host just put up with the dumb ass shit that is going on there and how the manager treats the stafF DIRECTLY RELATES TO THE CUSTOMER IN YOUR CASE LIKE SHIT
another gay server @ B.B.
1 year ago
The previous server obviously has an ax to grind. Yes you recieve good service and bad service anywhere you go, and I believe, no matter how great the food is, people will not return if the service was bad!! I can give you many excuses for your bad service(i.e. Fri shift change, Fri. night alone, server with bad attitude, etc), but in your eyes there is no excuse, and frankly there isn’t!! We need to step up to the plate on service, and that resorts to our training and hiring standards, it is changing!! The person who wrote the last comment is a coward, if they have this anamosity towards B.B. or the GAY servers they should step forward. Better yet they should leave B.B. (if they haven’t already done so). And for the record we do have a prep staff that does take care of dicing, marinating, and prepping everyday. Please reconsider coming back to B.B.
island girl
1 year ago
I happened upon this review by accident while serching for a BB recipe. I live in Miami, and go to BB ALOT! As much as I can really. I’ve had great, good, ok and so-so service at BB over the years. The food however remains excellent to me. I’m from the islands, and while some of the name sake dishes are not 100% authentic, they are complimenting immitators in my opinion. Rather than be knock-offs, I think the dishes have been tweeked and adapted well. I frequent the appetisers more than the entrees. I have a couple of younger family members who have worked there, and have seen first hand that the food is fresh and someone does do the prep work [dicing etc]. These kids are also caribbean and have mothers who are excellent cooks and they too love the food and continue to eat there after their employment ended. If you receive bad service I believe it should be addressed. I never do it on the spot, if I plan to eat the food there, as you never want to piss off the person handling your food. But you can call the restaurant or contact the head office online or by phone and address the situation.
Bottom line, I hope you do go back. The food is worth it, and think how great it will be when the service matches the food =)