Address: | 11105 Causeway Blvd, Brandon, FL 33511, USA |
Phone: | +1 813-661-3673 |
Site: | fordsgarageusa.com |
Rating: | 3.9 |
Working: | 11AM–11PM 11AM–11PM 11AM–11PM 11AM–11PM 11AM–12AM 11AM–12AM 10:30AM–11PM |
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Dana C
I honestly don’t write reviews, especially negative ones. However, this needs to be addressed and I hope will bring light to an establishment poorly ran. Yes, good beer, ambiance, and depending on the item, good food. Last night was a catastrophe the minute we stepped into the door. I understand there was going to be a wait, it is a Saturday night, and a newly opened restaurant in busy Brandon, FL., but when we were told it would be a 60-90 minute wait for four people I expect it does not go beyond that 90 minutes. It did. After clearly being frustrated they sat our party. I sat down, wanted to shake it off and order a beer, we all did since we just waited well over 90 minutes for a table. So the hostess drops off the menus and walks away. Well 7 minutes go by, yes I was counting and no server showed up to take our drink orders, or even to tell us that she will be right with us. Strike 2 thus far. I get up, and ask for a manager. He came over, apologized and trying to mend the difficulties we already experienced, gave us fries, and however the fries he gave us were definitely old, as they were limp and cold. Thanks Mr. Manager. The server finally came over, introduced herself as Cheri and asked if she can start us off with drinks. Of course the beer I wanted, was no longer available I quickly decided on another. Cheri drops off the beers and takes our appetizer order. The other couple that was with us, ordered wings, and we order the Firestone shrimp, which by the way is amazing. About 10 minutes later their wings came out along with a bowl of French onion soup? Where were our shrimp, and who ordered soup? Not us, and when she came back she informed us they read the ticket wrong. Now, having worked in the restaurant business for over 12 years, I know for a fact, she rang in the wrong item, as the kitchen staffs that make the soup and salads, I highly doubt make the French onion soup. But instead of owning up to her mistake, she decided to blame the kitchen, easy way out. I would have respected her more, if she stated she entered it wrong. Cheri then takes our dinner orders. The other couple orders, however we were not ready and asked for a few minutes. She comes back, takes the order and we ask to not put it in as we were still waiting for our shrimp. She stated the kitchen was behind and it was our best interest to put it in now. I said when we get the appetizer, you can put it in. Well our shrimp comes out, and we enjoyed it and all of a sudden our friends get their meals? SERIOUSLY?? She walks by, and you can clearly see on her face that she was thinking, I messed up again. She runs to the kitchen, our friends wait to eat as they don’t want to be rude while we wait on our meals. I finally told them to eat as we didn’t receive our meals for another 20 minutes!!! Then when it came out, my rare burger that I ordered is well done. I am more than mad at this point, and then she decided to tell me that the Reuben burger has one temperature. Then why did you ask me how I wanted it cooked, rare, and then not inform me it comes one way. She then leaves my side, the mac and cheese, which is also amazing, to return to the kitchen to custom make my burger. Another 10 minutes goes by, I get the burger and I definitely would not choose this item ever again. No flavor, extremely bland and simply blah. Not to mention, the garlic aioli my finance ordered with his burger never came out until he then asked again for it. The check comes and as I am now not shocked she up charged for our sides, shocker!! Next time something is additional you should make it known, not just slip it into the check. The manager never returned to see how the rest of dinner went, poor management there, and the service was awful. Cheri either needs more training, or another career. Thank you goodness for good company, as that was the only saving grace for enjoying that time spent there. If Fords Garage would like to investigate this experience further my check number is 4152, table 13/3, with 434 Cheri R as our server.
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Jeremy M
This place is beyond the worst for service, quality of food and price. Lets start with the service, when entering you expect maybe a 20 minute wait on a mild day. That being said like four five booths open, some tables open and the bar decent. NO, you walk in and see this and its a 35-45 minute wait. You wonder why and see that it take forever to get food to the customer. You realize what youre in for so pull out your phones and start reading posts on your social media accounts. Once you finally get seated it takes 15 minutes just to get your drink and another 20 minutes to get your food. Its fun when youve been looking forward to a burger that you want no pink and guess what, the whole damn thing comes back pink. Then your other persons food comes back wrong as well and then you have to wait another 15-20 minutes on your food to be made correctly. This brings me to the quality of food there, which can be hit or miss depending on what you ordered. Now if you order any of the starters or non-burger products you should be fine. These products are decent quality and good portion. If youre feeling like a burger then you better make it clear to the wait staff that you want it a certain way or you will get a wrong order. The burgers are normally dried out beyond belief and only condiments or steak sauce will save it. The buns are fluffy enough to look good and taste good, but the grill mark is way over done and makes the food look well stupid. I know we live in a day and age where snapchat and instagram have became staples and food must look just right but a business like this doesnt need to feed into that but sadly it does. Lastly I can talk about price which honestly is a joke. The previous quality really plays hand in hand with this. The types of burgers that are served and the type of sides that are served with it honestly are priced way too damn high for you to actually justify the price. I can go to Wendys and get a better quality meal at a fraction of the cost and be just as happy. Im not sure how they get away with prices so high for such poor quality but I wouldnt bet on them for too long. If you want to be blasted with very loud and I mean very loud music then yes go. Just remember it wont be worth the wait, the service, and the quality of food youre going to be paying for.
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Robert Paulson
I went on a Saturday night around 9pm and was expecting a mob scene but not so bad, and not so good. First things first, hostess staff. I see that this is becoming a trend, not just at this restaurant but at allot of restaurants in the past year or so. Restaurant managers please, for love of God, I come to you on my knees with tears in my eyes, stop putting the stupidest 18 to 20 year old girls at this position. If your employee doesnt have people management skills, an ability to multitask, and situational awareness then they shouldnt be the first impression of your business. When our party (3 of us) showed up 1/3 of the tables where unoccupied and cleared yet the hostess said it would be an hour wait. I asked as to why the long wait as there was only two other small parties waiting and there where many tables available, she answered with "I dont know, oh yeah umm.... I guess it maybe wont take that long?" Atmosphere was a clean and thoughtfully presented old-timey automotive theme, yet they where playing "Jock Jams." Yeah, that techno pop from the late 90s, that CD with the pink cover at Wal-Mart for $2. Playing that music with this theme is like fetish con at Vatican Square. Morally, it just doesnt work. Much like the baby Jesus, I forgave that sin of bad taste, or suppressed teen-age angst manifesting into adult antisocial behavior, and pressed on. We found some seats at the bar and ordered away. Our bartender/ server was nice and was speedy with his service yet had the attention span of a gnat. I found that a bit annoying but it could be worse. We had a slightly longer then normal wait for our Burgers to show up after ordering, about 30-45 minutes, not bad, but not good either. Burger was good, not $12 good though. I ordered it med-rare and it was cooked correctly, but it was dry. I dont know how you do that, but I was impressed with that twist of continuos irritation. I was thankful for the experience and maybe I will be back again if the reviews get better. Sadly, I feel that Stake and Shake is the better burger joint at the end of the day. I really wanted this to work out but I have to be honest. The lack of management experience displayed by the employees lack of professionalism bring this restaurant down to the low end of mediocrity.