Jacksonville

2 Reviews on “Jacksonville”

• Maria Jones

  So tragic….. Jacksonville Restaurant is a beautiful spot! It feels good to walk into a black establishment that is doing well. This is a fairly large place with lots of seating. From the outside you can see a second level as well as an outdoor patio. Parking is scarce so they provide shuttle service from a parking lot a couple blocks away. Food is delish and the cocktails are priced moderately. There is a coverage charge of $10 for the entertainment on Friday evenings (not sure about the weekend) regardless if you are having dinner. The live band was amazing as well as the host and all the performers.Now let me share my experience….Apparently getting reservations here are very difficult and you need to reserve a week or two in advance. We were fortunate enough to get a reservation at the last minute thanks to someone who knew the owner (they were booked up). Upon entering, there is someone at the front collecting the cover charge. No hostess. Basically, pay and find your way to your party…..We found our table thanks to someone who we didn’t know who suggested we must be with this party. Our friends had their drinks already and we sat there for about 20minutes waiting for a server to come over and take our order. No one came so we headed to the only bar at the front entrance of the restaurant. We waited at the bar for at least 20 minutes before being served. The bartender did not look up or towards us at all. Now, I was a bartender for many years and have been in the weeds many of times but I acknowledge every person either with eye contact or by saying I’ll be right with you. The poor guy was slammed with no help! Every cocktail glass on the bar was empty along with plates and silverware. The floor was dirty with trash. This poor guy was slammed with NO help! In any case, he finally came over to take our order. I asked for the cost of a bottle of wine and he did not know. I said never mind and ordered a couple of glasses. He was out of the wine and had to get another bottle (poorly stocked). Another 5 min passed….finally got squared away….back to our table….Waited about 30 min before the server came over to take our order. Mind you, we had to flag her down. She explained there were tickets backed up in the kitchen a mile long and she did not know when we would get our food. It is now 11pm….an hour later, no food, no server to explain. SMH! Decided to go back to the bar for another glass of wine to have when we finally got our meal. Same crap again! Bartender was slammed with no help. Servers were basically making their own drinks. I’m not kidding you, 20min later I asked where was management to help out. A young man working said there is nothing management can do they are just busy. You have to be kidding me. Oh there’s something management can do, get your ass behind the bar and help serve drinks!! In any case, the same guy who said that came over to help us with drinks and served us. For a moment I though he may have been management….back to our table….Still no food. The appetizers that were ordered 30min prior to us ordering came out with no condiments , no plates, no napkins, and no silverware. We were not asked if we needed anything nor did anyone check up on us. Our food never came and we didn’t even bother inquiring. We left….Clearly, the joint is poorly staffed and managed. It’s sad because profits were lost and will continue to be lost. People like me who enjoy the experience of being served and great food will not come back to an establishment like this because of poor service. We could have easily dropped $500-600 and returned over and over again.If you don’t really care about service and tidiness then this is the place for you but I’m going to wait awhile before I go back. I think I may try it again on a night that is not busy where I can enjoy the food because the coconut shrimp was banging….

  June 16, 2013, 7:33 pm

  Log in to Reply
• Marmar

  This is a really nice place and very entertaining with an amazing ambiance. Surprised me since It’s in Paterson. I went during one of the open mike nights on Friday and wanted to express some improvements I thought should be made to a place with such potential. The servers need to be trained better. The girl serving us didn’t have a pen and had to borrow one from us, had to repeat our order more then once, our food took an hour to come out, and she messed up on a couple orders. I am not sure if there were not enough servers or if she just needed more training. She was very nice which is the only reason I didn’t ask to speak to the manager. The band and singers is amazing but as an open mike I thought that most of the performances would be from the people who signed up. Come to find out it was really just a concert by the lead singer and a sprinkle of those who signed up. She was an amazing singer but I just wish that she let a lot of other people on stage. This place is so nice and has lots of potential but their are some key things that need to be improved upon.

  September 2, 2012, 4:12 am

  Log in to Reply