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Anyone ever eaten at Graeme's new restaurant in Orlando, Nona Blue? I'm thinking about heading there for lunch today, while I'm in town.

According to the reviews, its menu is pretentious, the food bland, and the management terrible.

(06-17-2013 09:19 AM)demiveeman Wrote:  According to the reviews, its menu is pretentious, the food bland, and the management terrible.

I started to reply, then bit my tongue, and then said,,, what the heck,, this guy must have a sick sense of humor or else ,,,, ???? (fill in the blank).

(06-17-2013 09:32 AM)BlazrDawg Wrote:  

(06-17-2013 09:19 AM)demiveeman Wrote:  According to the reviews, its menu is pretentious, the food bland, and the management terrible.

I started to reply, then bit my tongue, and then said,,, what the heck,, this guy must have a sick sense of humor or else ,,,, ???? (fill in the blank).

?

(06-17-2013 09:19 AM)demiveeman Wrote:  According to the reviews, its menu is pretentious, the food bland, and the management terrible.

Without having ever heard a thing about it, that would be my guess as to how the restaurant is.

The restaurant business is so damn complicated and difficult, and people just don't understand that. It is very simple to think I have money, how hard can it be to open my own restaurant? Then, a year later, the restaurant is in the tank, and the money is gone.

I don't want my doctor working on my car. I don't want my lawyer taking care of my lawn. I don't want my mechanic performing surgery on me.

Hell, I'll eat pretty much anywhere once. Take a shot and report back.

Well, I was in Orlando last week and had I known it was close by & if the pricing was reasonable, I may have given it a shot.

(06-17-2013 09:19 AM)demiveeman Wrote:  According to the reviews, its menu is pretentious, the food bland, and the management terrible.

Quote:The tavern opened in March, the same week as the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Not surprisingly, it was difficult to get a table. There were some complaints about service issues (expected at a brand new restaurant) but no issues with the food.

Earlier this week, I met some friends who were flying out of Orlando for lunch at Nona Blue. The Lake Nona area is about 10 minutes east of Orlando International Airport. Nona Blue is a great option for a meal and a drink nearby the airport. There are also several quality golf courses near Nona Blue as well.

The menu is diverse without making one wonder if the kitchen makes so many different things that perhaps they don’t make anything well. Typical American pub fare is available, burgers, ribs, steaks and the like. A great selection of draft beers, wine and cocktails is available as well.

Quote:Restaurants have not been able to keep up with the growth happening in Lake Nona. Along with the Medical City that is rising there, with the UCF medical school, research centers and various hospitals, Lake Nona’s homes are filling up and new ones being built to house the people who will work there.

They need places to eat, too, and those have been slow in coming, especially from the private sector. Only a handful of independently owned restaurants have opened in the past several years, and those have had varying degrees of quality and success.

Maybe that’s why Nona Blue is so jam-packed most nights.

Nona Blue Modern Tavern opened last month and has been been keeping the tables filled ever since. The first time I visited was a Monday, and the place was doing the sort of business that some restaurants in town would cherish on a weekend. Part of that, of course, is the newness and part is the aforementioned scarcity. And some of it has to do with the allure of Graeme McDowell, the golfer, who is one of the owners (along with Joe Davi and Bill Bona). Whether they will keep coming is yet to be seen, but with a few tweaks here and there -- especially in the area of service -- they should be able to keep those seats filled.

Quote:Nona Blue is a much needed shot in the arm for the Lake Nona Area. It is what I imagine Gmac is like, full of energy, in your face honest and down to earth with some flare. The patrons all seemed happy, it was crowded, the staff was upbeat and the food was good. It's a 10 minute ride from the airport and half hour from downtown. It's a great mix of the Lake Nona CC crowd and the fee for play crowd from two local course (North Shore and Eagle Creek). Nona Blue is a welcome addition to the central Florida dining experience. Do yourself a favor and drop by for an afternoon beverage and handwiches or in the evening for a full meal, either way you will be satisfied.

I can't seem to find the reviews you are referencing...Other than service glitches that come with opening every new restaraunt most everyone seems positive about the place.

http://www.thehackersparadise.com/forum/...-Nona-Blue

Quote:The bartenders were in attentive AND UNDERSTAFFED , they spin their wheels running around trying to work the register and change TV channels, while dozens wait at bar to be served. the Three female bartenders last night didnt even have the professionalism to acknowledge our presence and at least say "i'll be right with you". They wouldn't make eye contact with anyone. totally ignored us, it was infuriating. They had no organization or system in place and served whoever caught their attention first rather than who ever has been waitng longest. The hostesses gather at the stand and do nothing. Cross training would be a good idea. My second time there. The first time service was better but food was terrible. Ray's pâté should be taken off the menu....it was nasty and frozen on inside, had to send back. Don't go to this place if you are in a hurry or really hungry. If it is doing well at all right now, it's because Lake Nona has limited places to go.

Quote:I understand this place is new but when a restaurant is new, it should be the best. The food sucks, the drinks suck, and the service needs serious help. I ordered the lobster Mac and cheese- I struggled to find any lobster in there. It wasn't good. The drinks are watered down. They need to hire more servers so that their servers could be more attentive. The food seems "overpriced" because it isn't worth what you pay for it. You're even better off at a place like Orlando Ale House!

Quote:I haven't been able to try the food yet. Not sure I will at this point. My party of 7 had a terribly confusing first visit with the host stand. They might have a booth now to accommodate us...no, wait, they'd need to put tables together...oh, that'll be at least an hour. Oh, hmm, the empty tables...they're for smaller parties and we can't put them together yet. SO AWKWARD. Then the party of 6/7 in front of us were told they could have a booth...but only for the next hour and a half...then they'd have to leave. And BEST OF ALL...when I posted my comments to Facebook, I got a nasty reply back. One of those "You've never worked in a restaurant" ones. No, lady, I haven't. But I sure as heck have eaten in a bunch of them!!! And then...they deleted my post. Along with others about bad food and service. So they like to censor what we customers say. NOT COOL NONA BLUE. You guys will learn from your mistakes. Hopefully a food editor will pay you a visit soon, unannounced. Then the truth can be told that you guys need some Customer Service 101 training. Needless to say, we left before we could be seated and went over to the local spot Nona Tap Room where we had a great experience, lovely staff and great food. BOO TO YOU, NONA BLUE! SHAME SHAME.

Quote:This place is so frustrating! There is so much potential there but sadly, just too many problems to warrant a return visit any time in the near future. From the front of house to the back, we have experienced a handful of issues. Problems being seated, bartenders not knowing how to pour a Black and Tan, the inconsistency with the food and a manager that seems to be new to the restaurant industry and poorly trained. I think the only reason we kept going back is because we were just rooting for this place to succeed. With some serious fine tuning, they could have one of the top spots in southeast Orlando.... But they better hurry. My time and money, as well as numerous others I've talked to, will be spent elsewhere.

Quote:The first time we visited Nona Blue, we didn't have a great experience. This was about a month ago, so to their credit, they were new and probably still working out some kinks. Never got a table (though there were dozens visible) because we were quoted a wait "over an hour" at 5 pm.

Decided to try it again this past weekend. Again, dozens of tables visible inside, but we were told they only had seating available outside. We didn't mind because it was a beautiful afternoon. Ironically, we noticed that almost everyone seated outside had children - including us. Kind of makes me wonder if they DID have tables available inside... just none for patrons with kids?

Anyway, we ordered beers (mixed drinks were way overpriced) and an app. The firecracker shrimp were good. I thought it would be like the Nona Blue version of bang bang shrimp, but they were different. A hint of Asian flavor, but not too spicy. For my entree, I ordered the fish tacos. The verdict? Just okay. They were bland for my liking. The fish was dry and had little flavor, and I thought that the chipotle mayo topping would have some spice to it, but it didn't. They were just sort of, well, blah.

The service was good. Our server was very nice and attentive - a much better vibe than you get from the hostess stand, which is way overstaffed and filled with arrogance. I'm not sure if they are told to act snotty or if they simply are snotty. Either way, they don't give a very great first impression of Nona Blue.

Unfortunately, the good service was just about the only thing that made up for it. I'm glad that we went, if anything to say that we've been there and done that. But I don't think we'll be back. The food isn't worth the money, and the atmosphere is too uppity. It's a shame. We were looking forward to having more options out here in Lake Nona!

Looking through Yelp it looks like the biggest problem is consistency. Though, I would take individual internet reviews with a grain of salt. Their rating is 3.5 out of 5 so they're probably not too bad.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Re...orida.html

Looks like the place has gotten better. 23 reviews, only 2 in the terrible category.

(06-17-2013 11:23 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Re...orida.html

Looks like the place has gotten better. 23 reviews, only 2 in the terrible category.

I've actually found TripAdvisor to be one of the most accurate of all the online review sites. Should have checked that first.

Those are much more updated and seems to show the improvement.
Looks like it would be worth checking out. Although it probably was for the Graeme factor anyway.

Why didn't he name it Nona Green since he went to UAB? He must hate UAB

(06-17-2013 11:57 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  Why didn't he name it Nona Green since he went to UAB? He must hate UAB

The name actually has a meaning...nothing conspiratorial going on here.

Quote:In fact, McDowell inadvertently gave the concept its name after a victory at the 2012 Tavistock Cup, staged at Lake Nona. Clad in Team Nona’s iconic blue and celebrating another victory in the annual team competition for touring professionals, McDowell shouted, “Nona Blue!” to a gathering of supporters, and a signature name was born.

Well, he needs to put up some UAB stuff on the walls then.

Well, I ate there. The burger was outstanding, but the homemade mini doughnuts for dessert were terrible. No doubt, the doughnuts were reheated by microwave as the last two I ate were hard as bricks. Excellent beer select, as I knocked down a couple Smithwick's. The hostess said he has two partners in owning the restaurant. Didn't see and UAB stuff, but I was running late for Disney and couldn't look around long. Really nice outside patio.

(06-17-2013 08:22 PM)mobileblazer Wrote:  Well, I ate there. The burger was outstanding, but the homemade mini doughnuts for dessert were terrible. No doubt, the doughnuts were reheated by microwave as the last two I ate were hard as bricks. Excellent beer select, as I knocked down a couple Smithwick's. The hostess said he has two partners in owning the restaurant. Didn't see and UAB stuff, but I was running late for Disney and couldn't look around long. Really nice outside patio.

Although Im a consumate Homer when it comes to UAB,,, a restaurant in Orlando probably wouldnt benefit from having UAB stuff hanging in the rafters, I hope our folks dont come down on GMAC about this sorta stuff.

(06-18-2013 09:02 PM)BlazrDawg Wrote:  

(06-17-2013 08:22 PM)mobileblazer Wrote:  Well, I ate there. The burger was outstanding, but the homemade mini doughnuts for dessert were terrible. No doubt, the doughnuts were reheated by microwave as the last two I ate were hard as bricks. Excellent beer select, as I knocked down a couple Smithwick's. The hostess said he has two partners in owning the restaurant. Didn't see and UAB stuff, but I was running late for Disney and couldn't look around long. Really nice outside patio.

Although Im a consumate Homer when it comes to UAB,,, a restaurant in Orlando probably wouldnt benefit from having UAB stuff hanging in the rafters, I hope our folks dont come down on GMAC about this sorta stuff.

Someone is missing the joke. :)