- Overall 1
- Food 1
- Service 1
- Ambience 4
My fiancé and I visited Shands General for the first time over Valentine’s Day weekend, excited by the great things we had heard about the restaurant. While the ambience was beautiful—especially in the cozy right-hand dining room—the tables were uncomfortably close together, making the experience feel far from intimate.
Service was disappointing. Our waitress was sweet, but for a higher-end restaurant with premium pricing, the overall service didn’t meet expectations. My first cocktail, a winter special vodka drink with fennel, was delicious but very light on alcohol. We were greeted with a spritz, which was a nice touch, but throughout the meal, it took too long to receive drink refills.
For appetizers, we had the shrimp dish and the French onion soup with short rib. Both were good but not particularly memorable. For entrées, my fiancé had the chicken dish, and I ordered the truffle tortellini. I was really excited for the truffle, but the portion was disappointingly small—only six tortellini—and the pasta itself was just okay.
After my first cocktail, I switched to a classic martini with a lemon twist, which was very well made. Overall, while the restaurant had a great atmosphere and solid cocktails, the food did not live up to expectations. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t return.
