1884 Restaurant and Bar

Really enjoy the atmosphere. Heard nice reviews about their daily menu. Decided to come in on St. Pattys Day for corned beef and cabbage. Our plates were served luke warm. Taylor apologized and went to get us fresh, hot plates. Watched the cooks throw new plates in the oven. So that tells me they don’t keep it a proper temp, but we gave it another shot. It was warmer but not hot.

3÷11÷2016 7pm reservation for 4. Like Susan S from Leesburg, who also reviewed on 3÷11÷16, my in-​a-​nutshell review is ok food but slow service.
We arrive on-​time for our reservation and were seated quickly. It was a busy night. It was packed including two large tables of 15+ people. What struck me immediately was the noise level, it was LOUD. Certainly not a place to go for a quiet dinner.
We were with another couple and were seated over by the sushi bar. It was a little quieter. The tables and chairs in that area though lacked the character of the building and resembled something I would expect to see in a diner, e.g., vinyl stackable chairs.
The waitress, equipped with a tablet, which she took our order on, arrived to our table fairly quickly. She took our beverage order and they arrived slowly, first water, then later our cocktails then she took our food order. I asked for water with lemon but no lemon was provided.
The food was slow to arrive. My husband and I both ordered the side salad as one of our 2 sides. They were super basic house side salads. Our entrees finally arrived. My steak and mashed potatoes were slightly above room temperature. The steak wasn’t all the flavorful and the mashed potatoes didn’t even come with butter. My husband had chicken and a baked potato, which was ok.
One of the other people at our table ordered her burger well-​done++. What she got was barely medium. She sent it back with the young man who brought our food. When our waitress finally returned to the table, she had no idea that the burger was wrong and although everyone else was half through our entrees, the burger wasn’t back for the kitchen.
When the burger arrived, it was correct. They gave her extra sweet potato fries and a free dessert.

Good food but SLOW delivery. I was there for over an hour waiting for 2 sushi items. This is definitely a hang-​out with a fun bar crowd so it’s good for them, and for Eustis, that they are struggling to keep up with their success.

Our party of four arrived and it was obvious that 1884 aims to please! Our steak, burgers and mahi mahi were perfectly cooked and the live music was dinner appropriate. The restaurant, itself, is beautiful and the bar is especially gorgeous with a fantastic beer/​wine/​liquor selection. To top it off, the service was awesome, too… Arielle ROCKED!!! A++++++ eatery in downtown Eustis!!!

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We went as a group an ordered 4 steaks medium rare 2 of the steaks came out well done. The manager Tyler was helpful and offered to redo the steaks which came out 20 minutes later after everyone was finished eating. We came back a second time the next Tuesday and the same thing happened except the second steak was over cooked as well. Tyler informed us that the owner gives him no authority over the kitchen staff which means the problem with over cooking steaks will continue
In addition, the first time we went to this resturant there was radio music and a country singer who was good. This time on a Tuesday there was an old man singing so far off key it was offensive and so loud you could not enjoy the meal. Despite several tables complaining management continued the poor live entertainment
This resturant has the potential to be good but has some serious management.

Thought I would give it a 2^nd try. Food is awful. Menu changed again and not for the better. The karaōke made me want to stab myself with a knife. This is just another place gone down hill in eustis. Eat at home people!

Food, very average. Prices are priced too high for what you get. It’s sad because I believe they know there isn’t anything in this small town that has a comparable menu. Service hurting. There were approximately 49 tables and only 7 were occupied. Service was very slow. Another table complained to their waitress who made the excuse that the place is large and there is a lot of walking. huh? Biggest beef is they pitch that their buns and fries are homemade. The fries have to be frozen. You snap them open and they have the mashed potatoe consistency, no skins. I eat hand cut only so can tell a frozen fry a mile away. We ate lunch immediately after the Georgefest parade and thought the place would be packed with locals. It wasn’t for obvious reasons.

The staff and kitchen did a great job for our party of 30. The food and service was impeccable!

Not a good experience …
1) Minor issue — had reservations for 8 but discovered they had it shown for wrong day. No problem, they had plenty room and seated us.
2) One filet migon was delivered rare. needed to go back to be cooked. One was «OK». One shrimp dish was OK.
3) Blackened Mahi needed to go back to be cooked… is was ‘fleshy” and pink — badly undercooked.
4) two of 8 didn’t get soup prior to meal — had to ask for it… wrong soup then delivered. one of those 2 didn’t get it until restl were done with meal.
5) mashed potatoes poorly mashed with huge chunks, barely warm, no gravy, no butter… when requested, the butter delivered was barely enough for a slice of bread.
6) meal took 1.5 hours, waited almost 20 minutes after requesting the bill… made show across the street with 5 minutes to start time.
Bottom line, drinks quite pricey, pleasant folks, nice facility, the only meals almost worthy were a salad, a mushroom burger, a porkchop. It was obvious that either their little computer units don’t allow for specifics on an order, or the chefs can’t understand what was requested. Folks busy but we noticed several other patrons also having send-​backs and issues… They had a bad night and unfortunately, we were a part of it.

Growing up in Eustis and knowing the historic aspect of the building this restaurant is in, I am SO happy about how well 1884 is doing. In the past 5 months the food and staff has improved significantly, plus the ambiance and entertainment is just worth going for. The new sushi bar they added is amazing. Triple grade sushi, I’ve never been disappointed. The bartenders are experts at what they do and take pride in it. Every time I go in I get a Bloody Mary and it is made in house, real deal homemade. They stuff their blue cheese stuffed olives by hand.
All their meats are hand cut, and everything is prepared in house and cooked fresh. No microwaves or «heating belts». Do not come in for dinner if you are in a rush, because you won’t get out of there in an hour. Dinner is meant to be enjoyed with the company you are with, so just come in and hang out, have a drink and listen to some music while you wait. 1884 is most definitely a place to go to!

I have one wish for 1884 the chef & crew learn how to send out HOT food with more flavor!!! We love the ambiance & the staff is wonderful!!! I was there with a group of people — our waitress Ashley tried her best but it is the chef that needs the most improvement in order for 1884 to succeed. This was my 3^rd time & yes I will give it one more chance!!!

Really disappointed. Went for lunch & it took over an hour for burger & chicken sandwich. Got multiple stories on why but when it finally arrived it was thoroughly disappointing. Bland tasteless and tardy! Manager picked up check & good thing as we wouldn’t have accepted anything else. Go elsewhere– anywhere!!!

It was our first visit. And a pleasant time it was! While the server was a lil over eager, once we told her ’ We werent in a hurry’, all fell into place. We had #friedpickles for an app, a fav of mine, and it did not disappoint. We were told, they make thier own pickles, which was evident in the product. Delish!
The wife had the grilled chicken breast sammie, while had the club. Both were very tasty, altho wfie’s sammie had to go back to the pass for #cheese oops, stuff happens, it is how you handle it.
We will return.

We love Dawn, she truly is the best. She serves us every week and never misses a beat. Ask for Dawn when you visit!!!

So I was hesitant to order anything from the kitchen because I have heard horror stories about food from here. Since my baby Momma was starving, we decided to get us a little something. We were encouraged by locals to try their best appetizer on the menu, «Chili Cheese Fries» and I’ve got to say they were the best chili cheese fries ever. I would go as far as to say they were almost as good as the ones I get at Sonic. I was a little disheartened when they told me that they couldn’t delivery them to my vehicle on roller skates. Hopefully they will add that in the future.

Great atmosphere. Old building with new entrees. Kind of a weird combination of foods (burgers, pasta and sushi) but then again… I ordered a weird combos too. Had wings and seared tuna. Took my mom out for dinner and she had the shrimp Alfredo. It came out cold, but the server quickly brought out a new one. Desserts were awesome too. I’d eat there again 100%

This building was originally a department store, first opened in 1884. After a number of incarnations, 1884 Restaurant has finally managed to celebrate an anniversary here! Probably because their food and staff is much stronger than in the past.
This locale’s bar is beautiful. A massive thing that seems to belong in a bygone era. Their selection of whiskeys and bourbons is fantastic, and their bar peeps know what to make you even if you don’t. The menu is compact, but everything I’ve tried has been very tasty with lovely presentations. Their service is attentive without being overbearing; though I did once have to wait for change a ridiculous amount of time, and it was wrong.
They have a couple balcony areas good for parties and events, just call ahead to book it as large parties have been know to request seating there.
Overall I dig this place, even if just for a leisurely libation on a sweltering afternoon. They’re open Monday’s too, which surrounding places are not.

I had dinner here the other night with a couple of friends. One of them comes here often and raves about it, so I drove to Eustis to meet them.
I started off my meal with their wedge salad, which is enormous and definitely enough for 2 – 3 people! I didn’t expect that at all, but then again, it is $ 10. Instead of bacon, they use pork lardons (pieces of fatback or salt pork), which were pretty overcooked in this salad. I missed the saltiness/​crispiness factor of actual bacon. I ordered their sirloin steak for dinner. It came perfectly cooked, but didn’t have much flavor at all. It tasted like it hadn’t been seasoned before it was grilled and it needed salt. The baked potato wasn’t much on flavor, either.
Compared to my friends, though, I felt pretty fortunate. Both of them ordered the bacon parmesan pasta, which is a pasta in a creamy sauce with parmesan cheese. One of my friends asked me to taste it, and sure enough, it was extremely bland. No seasoning at all and only a faint hint of garlic. It was also extremely greasy, to the point where pools of yellow grease were sitting at the bottom of their plates. Gross! One of my friends explained the issue to the server, who said, «What do you want me to do about it?» My friends asked for more cheese to see if they could make it tolerable, which they were given, but even that wasn’t enough. My friend spoke to the manager and got the pastas taken off the check and paid for everything else. She said the manager was helpful and receptive to what she was saying. Our server apologized to us, but it really wasn’t enough to make the experience better.
Perhaps we ordered the wrong things, but I don’t feel like this experience was worth the money or the drive.

My DIL and I went to 1884 hoping to enjoy a nice meal and an adult beverage. We chose to sit in the bar area — which was a mistake. Our server had a very bad attitude which was obvious when he threw our beverage napkins at us. Downhill from there as server also made his own drinks and was only qualified to open a beer. Food wasn’t great either. My side salad was wilted and ugly and DILs steak was bland. Mahi was good-I’m giving stars for that.
Would we go back? Absolutely not. It wasn’t just the nasty server, the food was mediocre at best.

My friend took me here after discovering this gem. We went intending on having a few drinks and calling it a night but we ended up staying until damn near closing time because of how awesome this place is. We sat at the bar and had the pleasure of meeting and being served by one of the best bartenders I’ve come across, ever. We were served amazing craft drinks and ended the night ordering a few plates of food to share. Everything was delicious! We joked that we would tell no one about 1884, to save the secret for ourselves, but really they deserve the patronage. Go, soak in the great atmosphere and enjoy every thing you can get your hands on!