"We decided to try Embermill for lunch downtown on a busy Saturday. Upon walking into the restaurant, we found it nearly deserted, which should have tipped us off. I thought it must be very new, though, and my family has lived in the Caribbean and loves the cuisine, so we decided to give it a try. The space has been extensively remodeled and is airy and pleasant. The server, who was kind and enthusiastic and seemed as if she had possibly been hired half and hour before and put to work without any kind of orientation, informed us they were out of anything containing avocado or soft shell crab, which eliminated about half the menu. I asked for beer, which apparently they have, but it wasn’t on tap, so I couldn’t have any. There were no kids options so I ordered bread for my 4 year old and also requested butter. The server then informed me the restaurant was dairy free. Okay...Neither the signage nor the menu said anything about dairy free and, in fact, the breakfast menu (as it appears on open table lists butter and cream cheese. At this point, though, we had realized this was perhaps not entirely a real restaurant so I didn’t press the point. Then the food came. My artichoke toast was basically a salad sandwich (see photos. Not bad but not good and certainly not like artichoke toast. My father’s chicken, fish, and shrimp gumbo was, according to him, “okay,” but contained no shrimp and there were large chunks of tentacle in it. My mom declined to eat the pumpkin soup. The coconut shake we’d ordered shortly after being seated arrived toward the end of the meal and was largely tasteless. I still feel guilty I convinced my family to try this place."
