Ate there last week....the waitress was really rude and cavalier....food was very average, forgot our appetizers....wine list was good....
Southern Cafe in Seaside
- Thread starter WJL
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Jennifer Steele
Beach Fanatic
I was pleased to hear that the onion ring side item had gone down from $8 to $6 (sarcasm).
You guys let me know when it consistantly gets rave reviews and I will go check it out, sans $6 onion rings.
steeleing1 said:
A lot would have to change before we would try this place again. Ditto first quote too. There are way tooooo many good places to eat down there to waste money there. Some really liked their experience but not us.
I was there for appetizers at the bar last week. Our party liked the food, and service was good at the bar.
The owner (sorry, I forget his name) stopped by to chat. He said he was having to deal with turnover in wait staff and kitchen staff. I gently suggested he probably chose the most inopportune time of the year to work the bugs out of a new restaurant...
I think I'll give him a couple of months and then try them for lunch.
The owner (sorry, I forget his name) stopped by to chat. He said he was having to deal with turnover in wait staff and kitchen staff. I gently suggested he probably chose the most inopportune time of the year to work the bugs out of a new restaurant...
I think I'll give him a couple of months and then try them for lunch.
TreeFrog said:
I am tired of hearing that excuse here about turnover and labor shortage. The consistently good restaurants in SoWal have at least a core staff that is constant. The difference is they are willing to pay fair (a little more than the compettion i'd bet), and they treat employees well. A few have a truly family atmosphere (Borago) with employees that are part of the "family" and truly give a damn. And are nice people to boot.
If you're going to get in to bed with Larry Davis and Seaside, pay for the highest-traffic spot in SoWal, spend a bunch of money renovating, take away a family favorite (Shades) . . . there is no excuse for not doing it right and that DAMN sure means having a decent staff in place and well-trained. GIVE ME A BREAK! Any owner that blames crappy product on staff problems (even if deserved) needs to have his hat handed to him and a bus ticket back to where he came from.
It will be interesting to see if they thrive because of the location or just limp by. Can you say "Mall Food Court"? Great Southern, Pickles, Roly Poly, Bud & Alley's, Spiazza . . . it seems they are only as good as they have to be to keep from getting the boot. Not at all how they do it in Seaside's "sister city" over in Italia.
jim45 said:
May I respectfully make a correction to the above quote:
Larry Davis is the half brother of Robert Davis. Robert Davis is the developer of Seaside. Larry rents space in Seaside from Robert for his real estate company, Davis Properties of Northwest Florida, Inc.
These are two completely different men.
jim45 said:
Don't shoot the messenger.
For the record, I'm not defending bad service or bad food. Just like everybody else, I don't care for the way Seaside appears to have done Shades, although I know none of the inside details of that deal.
I'd bet that almost every restaurant along 30A was a little lumpy when it first opened. I can't do anything about lingering resentments over the loss of Shades. And I do think it was bad judgement, or at least bad timing, to open right before the summer peak season. In time, the free market system will take care of inequities, if any, in staff pay or treatment. I'm not going to speculate.
I didn't sense that the owner was blaming his problems off on his staff. For what it's worth, he had a pretty good sweat from working in the kitchen - not parading around profiling in a white shirt. His wife (or so she appeared to be) was hustling around trying to keep the front room going, too.
I don't doubt that WJL and Skippertoo had poor experiences and I respect their decision not to go back. But I'll stand by my original intent to give Great Southern a couple of months and then try them for lunch.
Ok, I've got what will probably be a stupid question, but I'll axe anyway.
Did Seaside force Shades to leave? And is the Shades on the Loop place the same Shades?
Did Seaside force Shades to leave? And is the Shades on the Loop place the same Shades?
I feared the worst when we went there for lunch and the hostess was a buxon gal from eastern Europe in a tight black dress with a slit going w-a-a-a-y up her thigh. Then the waitstaff were all in black ala a chic hair salon. Nonetheless, I had a very good grilled shrimp caesar salad and Mrs skunk had something which was pretty good. I think the whole thing just seemed silly when you consider it was Seaside at lunch-and you know that you sat at the same table when it was Shades and had a casual (really casual) meal without the black-clad staff pushing bottled water treatment. :roll: