After reading other reviews, it's hard to believe I visited the same restaurant.
The good: The restaurant is gorgeous. The bar is extremely nice and large and the dining room is equally attractive. It looks very high class and with its addition of valet parking, the restaurant appears fine dining at first impression. Our server, who's name I regrettably cannot remember, was pretty good and had a solid knowledge of the menu. We began at the bar while we waited for a table to open up (which I'll touch on later), and then moved over to a table in the bar area. The appetizers we originally ordered at the bar were seamlessly brought over to our table. And this is unfortunately where the good ends...
The bad: My mom, who's birthday it was, asked to go to Seasons 52 for her birthday. Since I had never been, I agreed. I was intrigued, especially after reading the good reviews. The second we stepped in the door, our experience began down hill. The dining room was empty aside for maybe 3-4 tables. The hosts told us there were no available tables as all the tables in the dining room were reserved. The only available seating was around the bar, which was first come first serve. Essentially, what you have to do is sit at he bar, and stalk every table to see when a party is finished, so you could pounce on the table. I mean, there were literally people standing right on top of tables waiting for people to pay their check. I understand this is a chain restaurant and this is likely the standard across all the locations (though I've never visited another), but it's an absolutely horrific system. It's rude to ask people how much longer they're going to be and its worse to awkwardly stand next to them while they're trying to enjoy their experience. As for no tables being available due to reservations, I mean I understand you need to keep those tables reserved, but perhaps you should keep some tables available for walk ins. It was only 5:30 pm, something tells me some of those reservations were likely not until 7:30-8.
After we beat another group of people to a table in the bar and were able to sit down, I took some time to review the menu. I have to say, I felt the menu to be inadequate at best. It's a seasonal menu, which the restaurant changes frequently to keep specials and other dishes up-to-date. That's a great thing, but I felt this menu lacked true variety. It was mostly compiled of seafood with very little variety of red meat or pasta dishes. I get it's a summer menu which means a lighter menu, but if you want a pasta dish or a burger, it should be available. I felt like the choices were extremely limited. While I reviewed the menu, our appetizers arrived that we had ordered at the bar. They were very small, and I assume it's because they're happy hour "snacks". The meatballs were over cooked and very dry, the lamb chops were well done and under seasoned, and the scallops still had what appeared to be sand on them. I managed a restaurant and have been in the business a long time. I won't say that I know it all, but I have plenty of experience when it comes to what a dish should taste like, and when it completely strikes out. Myself, mother, father and girlfriend all agreed the appetizers fell short of our expectation. The only notable item was the chicken skewers (which had an Asian twist), these were satisfactory.
I really couldn't decide what I wanted for dinner, as I mentioned earlier, the menu wasn't my favorite. I decided on the shrimp and grits. I know...a strange choice but I figured after eating the appetizers, it was basically impossible to mess up shrimp and grits so long as you have hands to cook. Well, I was wrong. They came smothered in tomato sauce, with chorizo and peppers. I'm not southern and I don't often eat shrimp and grits, but smothering the dish in tomato sauce really makes no sense to me. You couldn't taste anything else and the grits that were described as "cheddar creamy grits" were more like watery tomato soupy grits. The shrimp were okay, not very flavorful, just meh. I was so disappointed with the experience that I literally shoveled down as much as I could tolerate, and put my dish to the side so that my displeasure didn't hinder my mom's special dinner.
My dad had a dry pork tenderloin, my mom had a steak and mushroom flat bread with well done steak that resembled something you could use to play hockey with, and my girlfriend got a plate full of lettuce with a few small slices of sushi grade tuna and some crunchy things. The best thing I ate all night was the little chocolate peanut butter dessert our server showed us after our meal. Though it didn't blow my taste buds, it definitely satisfied my sweet tooth.
I never complain and I never write negative reviews, but I couldn't help myself after this experience. Maybe it was a bad night, or maybe I'm more honest than other reviewers. Either way, next time I'm in the area I'll be going to Cheesecake Factory despite the wait. read more