Have not been here in awhile. Went to dinner last night (Wed night) with my daughter and we shared the firecracker shrimp appetizer and the mushroom flatbread. Both were wonderful! Nice portions and tasted great. We split the cheesecake dessert, which came out as three brownie-sized portions - very tasty and nice amount ! Overall, we were very pleased and will start to come back more. Our waitress was friendly and attentive, food came out quickly (although they were pretty full), and music was nice and not too loud (band was inside because of rain, and we were near bathrooms fairly close to the band). The only reason for 4 stars was because they had buckets out for water leaks (raining), which took away from the experience.
Ballyhoo was once the pride of Gainesville---high quality and well run. Not any more. Not even close. It seems like many restaurants they have fallen victim to the Great Resignation, ever since reopening after the height of pandemic, whereas people---especially young people---are not willing to work any more. As a result, Ballyhoo has to employ anyone who is willing to work there. Unfortunately the kitchen is now an absolute train wreck. Over the last year, there has been a near zero chance that food orders will come out correctly and nobody seems to care. In one instance, kitchen staff served up a bowl of spaghetti sauce, even though I ordered chile. The server looked into the matter and then disclosed the reason: The kitchen ran out of chile and spaghetti sauce was the next best thing. They hoped the customer would not notice. This is only one example of failure after failure, where customers say to one another "you can't make this stuff up." Even more sad is that the problems have gotten progressively worse. After going there once or twice per week for more than 10 years, I cannot hold on any longer. Maybe some day they will get their act together, but I will not go back for quite some time.
I had the Shrimp Rockefeller is was very good, very decadent. I also had the steak & blue cheese flat bread. The balsamic vinaigrette is delicious and makes the whole dish. I would definitely get the flat bread again. Next time I hope I get to try one of their versions of the margarita....the watermelon one sounds yummy ?
My first time here. Dinner with friends was nice. Eric our server is a meat eater so did not recommend the Greek salad which was great! Hubby’s ribs were good. Eric was friendly and professional. Fortunately I was done when the music started so I sat in the car and waited for others to finish. I would only return if the band is NOT playing.
We traveled into town for a family member graduating from UF. The grad lunch was scheduled there for about 25 people. The service was great, the food came out quick, and the atmosphere was fun. I ordered the blackened mahi tacos with beans and rice. I also ordered a side salad as an app and a draft beer. The flavor in the tacos were fantastic! Also, the beans and rice were probably some of the best I’ve had! The side salad was large and it tasted like their ranch was homemade. The beer selection was decent. We will definitely be back when visiting family.
This was our first time dining here. It was a very busy Friday night but we were seated right away and even though it didn't seem like we waited long, our server still apologized for it. Phil was an excellent server. He refilled drinks so accurately and fast. The food was delicious! I had the burger with cheese and fried egg. So yummy. For such a busy night it was awesome to have good food and service! We will be back.
Wait times are horrible, “shrimp scampi” congealed. Fish has frozen taste, cole slaw came out warm. Just disappointed for the price!
Great place, food, service outstanding, definitely will go back again the next time we in town, our granddaughter suggested this place
We had a birthday party for 4 people there, so we had 10 (or 11) adults and 5 kids. They were very accommodating (we did call as head (a week, then the day before and day of) to let them know we had a big party coming). Our server was awesome & I wish I could remember his name. He always had a smile, he remembered who ordered what. We had a wonderful time there and the food was awesome.
great staff/service and great food.