JJ
Janae Johnson
6 days ago
Firstly, I will be very clear in this review: the serving staff is phenomenal, friendly, knowledgeable, and accommodating. Having patronized this location multiple times over the past few years, and having spent hundreds of dollars here, with full confidence, I can say the food, servers, and shuckers are never an issue, and contribute to a welcoming atmosphere.
That being said, there are drawbacks where the kitchen is involved. While the food is delicious, the kitchen staff is very lazy. I don’t expect fast food service speeds, but waiting on food for 45+ minutes for two meals on a relatively quiet day is unacceptable; especially when the menu is very straightforward, limited, and basic.
During my experience today, I experienced a large insult to my intelligence from the kitchen. I’m not a picky eater by no means, but I cannot eat any form of mayonnaise based sauces, which I explained to the servers, and they fully understood and were extremely accommodating while understanding my request to modify my shrimp po’boy sandwich to not include any mayonnaise based sauces.
The first sandwich I received, I sent back due to this food aversion, which I as well the server were very understanding. Mistakes happen— no big deal. The second sandwich, I had to send back because the kitchen staff decided that it would be a good idea to not remake the sandwich entirely; instead, they changed the bread, removed shrimp, and wiped the remaining shrimp with mayonnaise sauce off with a napkin— as if I wouldn’t notice. As someone who becomes physically ill where mayonnaise, aiolis, etc. are involved— this ruined my appetite to where I couldn’t finish my food. I did not take one single bite out of fear of retaliation by the kitchen staff.
Granted, my meal was comped, but I feel a strong sense of disrespect by the kitchen staff for just changing the bread, removing most of the shrimp, and wiping the remaining ones off with a napkin. Utterly unacceptable food safety, and I fully believe that had I had an egg allergy, this would have sent me to the hospital in anaphylactic shock. As a former food service worker, the proper protocol would be to discard food that touched the table and fully remake the meal. This is extremely concerning, regarding public health standards and cross contamination.
Because of this incident, I will not be returning back to this establishment. I fully believe that their lack of food safety standards poses a major risk to patrons— which is extremely disheartening because the food (especially the oysters!) were a huge highlight.
To the kitchen staff: do better or do something different. Instead of taking shortcuts, actually take pride in your product. Someday, you all are going to make someone very sick. Due to lack of food safety practices, I will be making a larger report to the appropriate channels, as well as contacting management for additional training. This experience has been completely unacceptable— however the serving staff are truly a gem and the saving grace of today’s experience.