Rumba Island Bar & Grill

Reviews 7

PA

Patrick Johnson

Huhhhh.... where do I start. We came for a birthday celebration with family for my mother-in-law... 10 people in total. Out of 10 diners, only 2 were "satisfied", and I use that term loosely. My sons burger came out charred. Just meat, cheese and bun... nothing else... nor a mention for a LTOP. My daughter found her food (Barbados Rib and fries) revolting. She took 2 bites and asked why her tasted like that... we salted and peppered them, still didnt like her food, and refused to eat anymore of it. I ordered the fried jalapenos and mussels as appetizers... both was fairly good. I really enjoyed the broth the mussels were in til I had to keep pulling thyme stems out of my mouth. SEVERAL. For dinner I order the Trio, the shrimp tasted like cornmeal and pepper. I started eating my wings, the sauce was tasty, but meat was ho-hum, I was okay with it til I bit into my second chicken wing....wasnt even cooked all the way through....huhhhhhhh Braised cabbage had yet again, whole Thyme sprigs inside... not cool. With over 12 years of professional culinary experience, I usually give restaurants some slack with food, I understand not everyone loves food as much as I do, and many dont have a passion for cooking...even with my generous "curve" applied... our visit feel severely short. My mom-in-law ordered the lobster and black beans... the beans were pureed, and lobster was rubbery... smh. Sis-in-laws jerk chicken pasta didnt taste like jerk chicken at all... The visit was my mom-in-laws idea.... Im sure we wont be visiting again.... at least the Patron tasted right...

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John George

Rumba has 2 locations, here and Oldsmar. We usually go to the Oldsmar location, but since we were meeting friends from St Petersburg, we chose this location for our most recent visit. We made a patio reservation over 3 weeks in advance, and when we arrived they tried to sit us inside, saying they didnt have any patio tables available and it "might be 30 to 45 minutes for one" after we just watched them sit 2 couples at 4 tops that were side by side and would have very easily accommodated our reservation. We eyed a round top table off in the corner of the patio and suggested we could squeeze around it and were seated, but had we not done that, wed have bee out of luck and they probably would have sat another group on the waiting list there instead. This shows me poor management of their seating, and that they dont understand the whole point of a reservation. Other than that, the service was good considering how busy they were, and the food as usual, was great! Parking can be a nightmare at this location, almost forcing you to use their valet service. I gave them 4 stars on this review, though it was more of a 3.5 star visit due to the reservation snag and how they handled it.

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Timothy Hackler

We had our first and only experience this weekend. My wife and I wont try visiting the restaurant again. The food may well be great, but the attitude we met with kept us from staying. Parking is limited. While searching for a place to park, we spoke with the attending Valet. He was so rude to us, my wife actually told him to stop being a smart " blank ". She never talks like that. Weve been married almost 35 years, and she doesnt respond like that. He was so rude she said she didnt even want to try the restaurant. We figure if he is representative of the employees attitude and manner; we didnt need to stay and experience any further disrespect. We drove on down to the Marina and ate at Crabby Bills. Despite the name, Crabby Bills was great. The food was great and our waitress, Melissa, was awesome. We told her we were headed to a concert at the Capitol Theater and needed to watch our time. She got us our food quickly, attended to us and got the check for us so we could leave when we were done. Awesome food and awesome attitude! That is what we did not find at Rumba Island.

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KA

Kaohu Mookini

First. I was hungry. Second? I was REAL hungry! Just drove in from Orlando to spend the weekend in Clearwater. Since Id be passing it on my way to my hotel, I decided to stop for a late lunch. I had their Wedge salad. Crisp. Plenty. And Deelish. I ordered a glass of wine. Then I saw they had 2-for-1 drink specials "All Day". I had to try their "Rumba Island Signature Libation" which consisted of Pineapple, Mango and Coconut rums mixed with 3 juices. For my entree I had the coconut shrimp. My two sides were coconut rice and the house crab mac & cheese. I cant say enough of how good everything tasted. The service was consistent. There is music tonight which begins at 7:00pm. Now let me circle back to the 2-for-1 rum drinks. Golly! The were good but potent. How could I tell? Well, the right side of my face had melted. When I left at 4:30pm the parking lot was already full. I guess I will return tomorrow night to enjoy the music (P.S. - Did I mention that I was happily stuffed?).

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Maria P.

Oh my goodness this place gave me the biggest and best foodgasm of my life! I had the Rumba Trio which came with a rib, jerk wings and fried shrimp. I had it served with garlic mashed potatoes and greens. Their corn bread muffins are reason enough to try this place! The atmosphere was great because it had this Island feel and it wasnt too loud but not awkwardly quiet either. Our server Brian was the sweetest too! He was so nice and very quick. I never had to ask for anything because it was like he already knew what I needed. Even my friend didnt notice when he refilled her drink. Im from Chicago, so were used to good eating there, but I seriously wish I could take this place home with me. It wasnt just Brian that was great though, Joe the server who brough us our food had us cracking up! Amazing food, amazing service, and one happy satisfied Maria :)

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DA

Dale Brann

Very disappointed!!! We gave you 1 star because we couldnt post this with no stars. The hostess seated us and we waited for over 10 minutes for someone to come to our table. I got up and ordered two drinks for us from the bar and brought them back to the table. By the time we finished our drinks, still no one came to take our order even though 5 or so servers were serving the tables around us, several of which actually looked at us at our table and knew we were there. At one point, we saw 4 servers all standing at the bar talking to each other but were not picking up drink orders or anything else, just talking. Before we left, I told the bartender why we were leaving. She apologized but did not offer to get the manager. VERY POOR MANAGEMENT MOVE, RUMBA ISLAND...we wont be back or recommend you to any of our friends.

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Jennifer Coleman

Besides valet crashing a Range Rover into my Mercedes, all around worst dining experience Ive ever had. We went for my grandmothers 80th birthday. I asked the hostess to speak to a manager about the accident in the parking lot & she (the hostess NOT the manager) came back to me and said "we just hired the company & have nothing to do with them". The manager would not talk to me. Ummmm Im pretty sure since your restaurant hired the company AND it happened on your property you do have the proof of the liability insurance for the valet company. Horrible experience! The server was very unprofessional & seemed to be irritated that he had to wait on a party of 13. The food was way over priced & not that good. I ordered the chicken parm with spaghetti. Comparable to Olive Garden. Needless to say we will not be back

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