International Grill (Now Closed)

[ChriswUfGator]

My husband and I have eaten at the International Grill 5 times now and have no complaints about the food; it was delicious and healthy.  A.J., the owner, has been gracious and very accommodating.   The one time we went when he was not there, the wait staff was inattentive, but I notice that person no longer works there.  The atmosphere is very pleasant, and we like watching the news as we eat.  Give this restaurant a chance; it's as good or better than any in Avondale (Town, excluded) and much more reasonably priced.  -JRP

International Grill

In spite of the bumps new restaurants go through, my evening meal was quite pleasant. Service was excellent and the restaurant was very clean. After some discussion w/ the proprietor, AJ, it does appear he is revamping the menu, paring down items, and focusing on more traditional fare. So in response to earlier negative comments, I suggest they give owner a break & visit again.

My friend and I decided to try dinner @ this new grill.  She chose the eggplant Parmesan (she prefers Vegan)  which was prepared fresh & not on the routine menu.  I selected the house Gyro w/ fresh Greek yogurt. My gyro was HUGE! Freshly prepared w/ large portions of lamb,  and well seasoned lettuce, cucumber & tomatoes to enhance the presentation. + a side of tabbouleh. The tabbouleh, was light, w/ crisp cucumbers & hint of lime. My drink of choice was strongly brewed Turkish coffee.  Coffee was Excellent!

Dessert was ordered to go for spouse ;-). The most chocolate item in the house. Excellent  choice, dark moist chocolate cake. I shall return, next time bringing spouse. Thank you AJ, for your kind hospitality & greetings.

LMFAO...

You seriously chose the wrong forum for this B.S.

[goldy21]

International Grill

In spite of the bumps new restaurants go through, my evening meal was quite pleasant. Service was excellent and the restaurant was very clean. After some discussion w/ the proprietor, AJ, it does appear he is revamping the menu, paring down items, and focusing on more traditional fare. So in response to earlier negative comments, I suggest they give owner a break & visit again.

My friend and I decided to try dinner @ this new grill.  She chose the eggplant Parmesan (she prefers Vegan)  which was prepared fresh & not on the routine menu.  I selected the house Gyro w/ fresh Greek yogurt. My gyro was HUGE! Freshly prepared w/ large portions of lamb,  and well seasoned lettuce, cucumber & tomatoes to enhance the presentation. + a side of tabbouleh. The tabbouleh, was light, w/ crisp cucumbers & hint of lime. My drink of choice was strongly brewed Turkish coffee.  Coffee was Excellent!

Dessert was ordered to go for spouse ;-). The most chocolate item in the house. Excellent  choice, dark moist chocolate cake. I shall return, next time bringing spouse. Thank you AJ, for your kind hospitality & greetings.

[Dashing Dan]

Everyone's a newbie at first. 

Maybe this place is worth giving another chance. 

I would like to see a success story at that location.

[ChriswUfGator]

Everyone's a newbie at first. 

And some are shills...

[ben says]

Starting to feel bad for these guys....

[fja]

Unfortunately this place doesn't look like it will make it.  A quick search shows that in November they received 17 Restaurant Inspection Violations  several of them critical.  http://data.gainesville.com/restaurant-inspections/duval/international-grill/sea2614664/4417938/       

[blfair]

The two "reviews" posted as responses in this thread are hilarious.

Is there something like a darwin award for managing bad publicity?

[north miami]

The best meals are at home. Eat in often, save the neighborhood.

[PeeJayEss]

Actually got to go into this place and try it out. The food's not bad, but I can't say that I plan on rushing back. It's a very bad experience from a service standpoint. They have an expansive menu that I am pretty certain they don't have the kitchen to make half of (horrible sentence, sorry). There were two guys there, the cook and a guy that I can only assume is the owner. The "owner" basically rattled off a couple of specials (gyro, chicken, pork, beef or whatever), walked away, and came back asking what we wanted. I asked if it was possible to get a menu and he brought 1, noting that they are in the process of shrinking the menu (its not that hard to print a couple sheets of paper with what you actually serve and what its costs, is it?). Menu didn't help much, as I had no idea what on it was available, so I just asked if I could have some kind of tabouli-related sandwich (wrap, rider). He said yes and walked away. Nothing about what I might want on it or sides or anything. Just a very strange experience altogether.

Also, the HUGE flat screen TV they have mounted on the wall that is situated so that it is basically only convenient to view for the cook was turned up so loud that we moved our seats from under it. Not a deal-breaker in itself, but it was pretty flippin' loud (and I'm not at the point in life where i am particularly bothered by loud things). Its just a symptom of the poor way in which the joint is run. This place could be decent if they tighten up the operation and maybe do a little marketing. But I can't see it lasting without major changes. But again, the food I and my coworker had was pretty good (though criminally over-priced, which is not apparent given the condition of the menu).

So there you go, a fairly negative review from someone who is incredibly easy to please.

[Ernest Street]

This place to survive must talk to their new customers so they can fine Tune the place.
Trying to juggle too much menu is a death sentence.

[ubben]

I agree, the TV is waaaaaay too loud. Why is the sound even on anyway? It's a distraction. Turn it off, please!

[Jumpinjack]

The whole experience screams restaurant-amateur-wannabees. I agree with Peejay that the food is not bad. The seating looked like cobbled together tables and chairs with bad varnish jobs.  The waiter was obviously new and kept apologizing about not having items on the menu. At least he was attentive.

But when the lunch came, one small green salad and one grilled chicken wrap, the bill was $22. Last meal I will eat here.
Come on guys and get it together. Would like to see you succeed but you have to do better in this town.

[BTM]

In response to your negative 'one post wonder comment', some venue's should receive fair reviews, both negative & positive; The VOLUME of posts/ comments, has nothing to do w/ quality.

Enjoy your own bitterness. maybe IT impacts your own dining experience.

[PeeJayEss]

In response to your negative 'one post wonder comment', some venue's should receive fair reviews, both negative & positive; The VOLUME of posts/ comments, has nothing to do w/ quality.

Enjoy your own bitterness. maybe IT impacts your own dining experience.

What? Volume of posts does not indicate quality or a lack thereof in posted content, but a forum account with a single post positively reviewing a retail establishment in an over-the-top way while all the other reviews are negative but helpful is cause for suspicion (particularly when accompanied by another single-post user writing a similar post, seemingly by the same hand). There is no requirement that a restaurant receive positive AND negative reviews, certainly not in balance. Some establishments are not good, some are very good, some are mediocre. Some have potentially good food with a weird setup, awkward service, poor business acumen, and no discernible marketing strategy. Reviews should reflect that truth, whatever it may be.

And "one post wonder" would indicate that your first post was, in fact, a "wonder," which it was not. Please continue posting on these forums, whether you are a shill or not, as they are a great resource for knowledge about the city. If you are a shill and involved some way with this restaurant, I think we've given you pretty fair reviews. I recommend you take them to heart and improve accordingly. Additionally, I'd stop doing dumb things like posting bogus reviews of your own establishment and assuming that the readers on this site are not intelligent enough to tell the difference. Its insulting, lame, and ineffective (That is, of course, IF you are a shill. If you just have bad taste, that's not a big deal. We've got plenty of them on the site too!) No one would like for this place to succeed more than me (I'd dare say including the owner, given the above discussion).

[RiversideLoki]

Whoops...

In Riverside, an inspector ordered International Grill to close Thursday after finding no water pressure in the restaurant’s kitchen sinks and bathrooms.

International Grill

Address: 2545 Riverside Ave.

Closed: 2:47 p.m., Thursday, April 12

Opened: 8:25 a.m., Friday, April 13

Violations: 1 total, 1 critical:

No running water to handsinks, 3-comparment sink and bathrooms due to a broken water pipe.

Inspection history: In three inspections dating to the restaurant’s opening in November, two required follow-up visits.