Manny’s Original Chophouse

We have gone several times and the food was really good when it first opened in Lakeland but has gone downhill since. We had dinner last nite and my daughters macaroni and cheese looked like it came right out of a microwave. My other daughter ordered a cheeseburger and she took 2 bites and said it was way to dry and didn’t want anymore. We ordered fajitas for the other 4 of us and the waitress only brought one plate of tortillas. The waitress never came back to check on us to see how we were doing so 4 people are sitting there watching the fajita meat get cold.
Won’t be going back. The waitress did get the cheeseburger taken off the bill and gave my daughter a free desert but the rest of the meal was poor also

Place is awesome. Only downside is the wait time due to everyone coming here. The prices are on point and the service is excellent. You can call ahead of time for seating, but not reservations. This is defiantly the place to come for a steak. The homemade hot rolls with cinnamon butter are excellent.

The food is excellent and they give you large portions. Great value! I would give the food 4 stars, but the atmosphere is so chaotic that you cannot really enjoy your meal. They set people within inches of each other. It is always a crowded mess and not enjoyable. It is so bad that the waiters have a difficult time even getting to your table to serve you.

I’ve been going to Manny’s since I was a little kid and they never fail to deliver the best food around. The only restaurant that has never disappointed me at in the slightest! Cool atmosphere, great service, and bomb meals. The fajitas are my personal favorite.

My family went to Mannys for my mothers 70^th birthday. It was raining that night and there was not enough room for guests waiting to be seated. People waiting for a table were in the way of people leaving, trying to get to the bar, and trying to get to the restroom. We did a call ahead for seating because we were a party of 8. After checking in with our full party there, we waited 40 minutes. There were 3 girls working at the check in station and each of them were incompetent and didn’t seem very professional. One of them started arguing with a male employee who was mopping the floor in the waiting area. The table we were sat at was a table made for 6. We were very cramped for space. There were 2 tables for 4 nearby and the could have been put with our table to better accommodate our group. Our waitress was very nice and did a great job. When our food came our steaks and mash potatoes were cold. Our plates were overlapping one another’s due to the table being so small and cutting the steak sitting so close was a challenge. This was a less than pleasant experience on what was supposed to be a fun family birthday celebration. I would not recommend going to Mannys because of the lack of organization and professionalism of the hostess’.

I am saddened by the last experience at Manny’s chophouse. We have lived in Florida for almost 4 years. Coming from Chicago it was hard to find food like back home. We moved into Haines City and found Manny’s. This became our go to spot along with Egg City. When we had visitors from out of town this was the spot. We recently moved to Lakeland and were thrilled that we were yet again close to a Manny’s. That all ended about 3 weeks ago.
We had family in and they wanted to go to Manny’s since they had already been there prior. A new Manny’s had opened in Kissimmee so we decided to go and eat there. We arrived at 830 on a Tuesday night and were told the wait would be at least an hour. That is fine as we expect a wait. About an hour later we were brought to our seats and placed our order. It took another hour and a half for our food to arrive. During the hour and a half we saw numerous tables that were sat after us be served their food and although we understood that we were a party of 4 adults and 3 children and parties of 2 – 4 would be a quicker ticket there were large parties that were served. Once we inquired about that they assured us that our food would be out shortly. When the food arrived we began to cut the chicken for our 2 year old daughter and as we are cutting notice that it is completely RAW in the middle. So we waited an hour and a half for RAW chicken for our child. They did attempt to make it right by giving up a discounted ticket and a gift card for another visit.
Fast forward to the next weekend we decide to order take out from the South Lakeland location. They told me that it would be ready in 30 minutes. My husband shows up a few minutes later and had the WORST customer service EVER at Manny’s. The bar tender who he was told to go pick up the food from was rude and he had to wait another 30 MINUTES past when they said it would be ready. When he questioned where the onion tangles for the meal were she told him «we have never carried onion tangles» very rudely. When he asked for a menu and showed her they were on the menu she said well we haven’t ever had them since I been here they must be out. I have had onion tangles on my steak EVERY time I have ordered from them. He gets home with the food and it is COLD!!! Why did he wait 30 minutes extra for cold food??? The steak had to be reheated on the grill and cooked properly as they did not cook it to our specifications and the rest of the meal was so disgusting that it had to be tossed and new sides had to be made.
I did attempt to contact Manny’s about both experiences and to date have heard nothing back. In that time we have found a new restaurant that we will be frequenting and bringing our out of town guests too.
We understand a wait and we don’t mind but serving my 2 year old raw chicken and then being rude and serving us disgusting take out has made us who were once Manny’s regulars and boasted about them want to NEVER go to Manny’s again.
If serving our daughter raw chicken wasn’t the end all the rude customer service definitely was!

Local Florida restaurant, a lot of country locals with Donald Trump signs, BUT, the meal was perfect and the service was great, a little expensive for a place called Lake Wales but I was very satisfied.

The hamburgers are amazing! I was able to order mine medium and it was cooked to perfection!

PATRONS BEWARE! The owner Manny, is a complete a-​hole. We had a horrible experience and will NEVER give this business another dollar. We waited almost 2 hours for a 3 top order. Our appetizer came out burnt and required to be remade. Our food failed to come so we asked the server to box our food and bring the check. 20 minutes later the food came out plated and had no check. We again asked to get boxes. Manny witnessed something was off and approached our table. Granted we understand it can get busy at times, however, the interaction we had with him was 100% unacceptable. He approached the table asking what was so wrong with our experience and made us feel extremely uncomfortable. He screamed, yelled and embarrassed my family in front of the entire restaurant. He refused to accept our payment stating «I don’t want your god damn money», my wife was mortified as was I. He cornered us in our booth and continued to yell obscenities. He refused to move or let us leave. His son, Niko (I believe that is his name) saw what was happening and came to remove his belligerent father. As he was being escorted away, he kicked the high chair my daughter was in. Luckily she wasn’t in the chair or things would’ve escalated rapidly. Several other patrons asked us what happened and why he was so mad. Not sure if he had a bad day or what but there is no excuse to treat a customer like this regardless of what the situation is. We will not be back and will ensure to share this story each and every time someone asks us where to eat.

This place is terrible. From the lackluster food to the absolutely non existent service. We sat at the bar and waited forever without being greeted. Once we were, the bartender asked if anyone has helped us and then rolled her eyes. She took our drink order, but it was about 15 minutes before we could catch her attention to put in food. There were two bartenders and only about six guests at the bar, yet servers were having to make their own drinks and we couldn’t get decent service. When the food came out, they couldn’t figure out what was supposed to go where and offered us several plates before they figured out which was ours. The food itself wasn’t well seasoned and the mashed potatoes were disgusting. The Caesar dressing on our salads was terrible and our meal was supposed to come with rolls that we never got, even after I asked for them. We were never offered another drink and waited with empty glasses and plates for about 20 minutes before we could ask for our check. We will not be back!

the food was excellent and the employees were great… highly recommend this place.

this was our 2^nd visit to mannys in Lakeland. our first visit was a complete disaster, food took a very long time and service was not up to par. We figured we would give it another shot. On this visit all of our food came out perfectly (hot and just how it should be). It was absolutely delicious. Our server, Ash, was very attentive and made sure our visit was exceptional. All of our needs were met without having to ask… we will be asking for her next time! We sat in the bar area this time and loved it, the new early bird menu (all meals $ 9.99!) and Happy Hour was great! All in all, we will be back.

I believe the New York Strip steak I had was the BEST NY Strip I have ever had! It was perfectly cooked with the texture of butter! The unending salad bowl was okay, just a basic lettuse salad but the baked potato was really good!
I also had the hot wings. They were breaded and good, but nothing «special.»
Our waitress was very nice and attentive but it did take a little time to get our orders, after folks who arrived/​ordered after us.
I love the hospitality of the staff. All in all worth a visit if you want beef!

this is a very good place. We stopped in for dinner and the food was great and the service was good. we had the country fried steak with garlic mash. it comes with salad all was very
friend had the ribs and pork chop both was tender and very good. I will be back to try more of the menu.

We have been here a total of 3 times on our way back to the Orlando area after going to the beach or legoland. The food is tasty, all made in house (dressings, hand breaded chicken fingers etc) and you cannot beat the price for good steak. It is also hand cut grass fed beef which makes it taste even better in my opinion. The waitstaff has always been friendly and fast.
Only a few negatives to mention. Last time we were there the rolls came to our table super dark. Not burned but at the very edge, I was surprised that they let them come out like that. We should have asked to have others brought out. Our salad also came way over dressed but we light out dressing on the light side and will just be asking for it on the side from now on.

Visited manny’s for the second time and it was just as good as the first time I visited. The yeast rolls were amazing the service was good our servers Amy and Corey were very attentive and on top of their game. My steak and ribs were cooked just how I ordered it and the baked potato was just right. My wife ordered the country fried chicken with a baked sweet potato and it was a nice helping. For desert we had the Jack Daniel’s chocolate cake to go it was suggested by our server Amy and it was also delicious not to chocolatey and fresh.

There isn’t anything at Manny’s I don’t like! The portions are huge! The servers are great! BOGO fajitas on Wednesdays are very good! The ribs are the best out of any other restaurant around!

We’ve been to Manny’s in Haines City. They were REALLY good. This location, Lakeland, not so much…
— Salad was pretty good
— Before we could even really eat salad/​soup, our meal was served. Timing, was way off. Need to learn to hold back a main course more than 5 or so minutes after bringing salad and soup.
— Server, nameless, was eh… When asked how everything was, I explained mine was over cooked (Porterhouse). Hubby’s Porterhouse was wayyyy under cooked. The servers comment was yeah it’s pretty red at the bone are huh? Hubby replies, yeah… It was RAW… Hmmm, most servers would’ve said, let me take care of this and have them prepared accordingly. Nope, not this one. In fact it was quite a silently awkward feeling. Neither of us ate much of the steaks. The server came back to ask if we needed just one to go box. Ummm no two., the hubby cut all his meat off the bone so we can take it home and microwave it (cook it). Mine, well our dogs will get a treat.
Btw, yes I know it was near closing time. You made it very apparent by repeatedly asking to take my salad plate away despite my repeating not to because I was snacking on it; One didn’t have time to eat it. Two, it was more edible than the Porterhouse.
I think we will stick with the Haines City location.

The reviews for Manny’s seem pretty hit or miss for this location in Lakeland. I’ve only been once, but I thought it was delicious (especially for the price). I ordered a small filet with a blue cheese crust, and garlic mash potatoes. The blue cheese crust had come to a golden brown (never seen it like that) which gave it even more flavor blending amazingly with the filet. The mash potatoes were great, although the portion was enough for three people (not complaining). I also ordered the jack daniel’s chocolate cake for dessert. Just order it. Its flippin’ fantastic. Service was up to par and the prices were super reasonable; my meal was under 20 $. I cant wait to come back when I’m in the mood for a steak dinner sans extravagant prices.

Overall, pretty good American fare with really good service. They have some pretty good specials. Kids eat free on Monday’s and Tuesday’s. Buy one get one free Fajita’s on Wednesday. Early bird prime rib is only $ 12 for 8 oz! Both the Fajita and Prime Rib were good, though the fajitas were better. Every meal comes with all you can eat salad and yeast rolls. You get really good value which is what they’re known for. Servers stay really busy and do a great job every time I’ve been there so take care of them!
The only negatives would be very close seating (tables) and the loud noise.