Bahama Brezze in Orange Village, Ohio
On December 23rd in the Northern portion of the United States, the name alone sounds thoroughly inviting. Just say it to yourself, "Bahama Breeze." I conjoures up the... Never mind. It was just a restaurant.
We have been trying to get to this place for some time but either schedules or weather or something always keeps us away. Well, by God, not this time. Seven of us took two cars and drove the twenty miles to this chain restaurant off Chagrin Boulevard in the Beechwood/Woodmere area, not something to be taken lightly at the height of the shopping season.
Somehow we were luck,y traffic-wise. We arrived at approximately 2pm to a mostly empty parking lot and an interior with less then 10 tables occupied. We were greeted relatively quickly, but the hostess was on the phone rather than acknowledging us immediately. We told her, twice, that there were seven of us, then told the woman who was to seat us, Mia, again that we were seven. What do you think they did? Exactly. Proving some cosmic interpretation of seven we did not understand, Mia took us to a six-top. Instead of doing what we did and look around for an easy solution, of which we had three within 30 seconds, she had to go back to the hostess. When she returned, she had us put two tables together which had a bench on one side a three chairs on the other. I guess seven still equalled six in her mind. I gave her a few seconds to correct herself, but she walked away while I was still standing. I went to another table, one at which we would have seated ourselves if given the chance, took a chair and some silverware and proceeded to sit at the end of the table. Something like this should never happen. If there were billions of people in the place and it was wildly busy, something that idiotic should still never happen, but twice in a span of 1 minute. Come on, now..
Adding insult to injury, I had checked the website the day before at approximately 5pm. I found exactly what I wanted but go to the restaurant and they did not have my entree listed on the menu. It was a seafood paella, therefore I was relegated something less intriguing. There, again, is absolutely NO reason it should have been on the website and not on the menu. Updates should be simultaneous. Anything short of that makes the public think there is little though coming from the top, which actually may be that case from what I have seen.
I ordered the Crab Claws, St. Thomas and iced tea while others ordered the jerk shrimp and tostones for appetizer. These items took at least 20 minutes to arrive which is entirely too long for appetizers. Though I must say they were all very good. Also ordered were a couple of Ultimate Pina Coladas (superb) and a Rumrunner (also wonderful). The entrees, though were something else all together.
I got the Steak Kabobs which were tough and quite boring as was the rice accompaniment. Another had the Mahi which had little flavor as well as the jerk chicken pasta. I was thoroughly unimpressed with the main courses. I think if I come back I will just get appetizers, they took as long as a main course anyway, because they were so much more flavorful. No on was really impressed, but the ambiance was nice. It would be a great place to go in the summer with the open patio.
Our server, Kai, though generally quite nice and efficient, at first, did what the majority of servers do in today's markets. She left us alone to wonder if she had gone on break at the end of the meal. One of the group even asked if maybe they left people like that to have them order more drinks. The problem with that was she hadn't been around in about 15 minutes to even ASK IF we wanted more drinks. I have written about this very problem at least 30 times over the past year or so, but these dumb ass managers seem to think it is OK. It is not. The place has potential but the greeting and serving staff need training, as does the management, obviously, or the under staff would be doing things correctly.
I might come back, but as you have probably already deduced, it would be for the style not the substance.
We have been trying to get to this place for some time but either schedules or weather or something always keeps us away. Well, by God, not this time. Seven of us took two cars and drove the twenty miles to this chain restaurant off Chagrin Boulevard in the Beechwood/Woodmere area, not something to be taken lightly at the height of the shopping season.
Somehow we were luck,y traffic-wise. We arrived at approximately 2pm to a mostly empty parking lot and an interior with less then 10 tables occupied. We were greeted relatively quickly, but the hostess was on the phone rather than acknowledging us immediately. We told her, twice, that there were seven of us, then told the woman who was to seat us, Mia, again that we were seven. What do you think they did? Exactly. Proving some cosmic interpretation of seven we did not understand, Mia took us to a six-top. Instead of doing what we did and look around for an easy solution, of which we had three within 30 seconds, she had to go back to the hostess. When she returned, she had us put two tables together which had a bench on one side a three chairs on the other. I guess seven still equalled six in her mind. I gave her a few seconds to correct herself, but she walked away while I was still standing. I went to another table, one at which we would have seated ourselves if given the chance, took a chair and some silverware and proceeded to sit at the end of the table. Something like this should never happen. If there were billions of people in the place and it was wildly busy, something that idiotic should still never happen, but twice in a span of 1 minute. Come on, now..
Adding insult to injury, I had checked the website the day before at approximately 5pm. I found exactly what I wanted but go to the restaurant and they did not have my entree listed on the menu. It was a seafood paella, therefore I was relegated something less intriguing. There, again, is absolutely NO reason it should have been on the website and not on the menu. Updates should be simultaneous. Anything short of that makes the public think there is little though coming from the top, which actually may be that case from what I have seen.
I ordered the Crab Claws, St. Thomas and iced tea while others ordered the jerk shrimp and tostones for appetizer. These items took at least 20 minutes to arrive which is entirely too long for appetizers. Though I must say they were all very good. Also ordered were a couple of Ultimate Pina Coladas (superb) and a Rumrunner (also wonderful). The entrees, though were something else all together.
I got the Steak Kabobs which were tough and quite boring as was the rice accompaniment. Another had the Mahi which had little flavor as well as the jerk chicken pasta. I was thoroughly unimpressed with the main courses. I think if I come back I will just get appetizers, they took as long as a main course anyway, because they were so much more flavorful. No on was really impressed, but the ambiance was nice. It would be a great place to go in the summer with the open patio.
Our server, Kai, though generally quite nice and efficient, at first, did what the majority of servers do in today's markets. She left us alone to wonder if she had gone on break at the end of the meal. One of the group even asked if maybe they left people like that to have them order more drinks. The problem with that was she hadn't been around in about 15 minutes to even ASK IF we wanted more drinks. I have written about this very problem at least 30 times over the past year or so, but these dumb ass managers seem to think it is OK. It is not. The place has potential but the greeting and serving staff need training, as does the management, obviously, or the under staff would be doing things correctly.
I might come back, but as you have probably already deduced, it would be for the style not the substance.
posted by johnathan e at 10:02 AM
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