Like a previous reviewer, I and my companion arrived for lunch a little after noon on a recent Saturday. We were escorted to the very back of the restaurant, in the room with the boat and, inexplicably, a small church pew & mock choir loft (???) We were the only diners in the room and were seated next to a wait stand / beverage service area. So far, so good.
Then, the waitress came. "Surly" is the best word for this surprisingly unpleasant young lady in tight, stretch denim Capri pants and a loose-fitting tee-shirt. She was exasperated with every question: "Is the fish fresh?" "Do you put lemon in the iced tea"?, etc., as if these were the most outrageous and improbable questions every verbalized in a restaurant. Even though we had driven over 100 miles to sample this restaurant, we should have gotten up and walked out, based on her reaction to these simple questions.
Instead, we ordered 2 lunches; the first a Grouper sandwich, the second an Oyster sandwich. We also ordered iced tea, Coke and an appetizer of conch fritters. At the same time, I had a brief but succinct conversation with the waitress about my preference for iced teal without lemon, lime or other fruit.
Upon hearing my request for un-sweet, un-lemoned iced tea, this waitress made no attempt to conceal her displeasure with the "special order". In the end, she did agree to withhold the lemon in my iced tea and stomped off with an air of disgust.
When the iced tea was served WITH lemon, I politely reminded the waitress of our previous conversation, then requested a new glass of iced tea. Unbelievably, the waitress told me to "just pick it out" - no apology for her error, not even the decency to correct the error quietly and without delay. Along with the "pick it out" comment, I got the "three-second-eye-roll" favored by 14 year old girls faced with an unpopular parental directive.
The new, tepid glass of "iced" tea arrived 10 minutes later, and contained approximately 4 semi-melted ice cubes. I said nothing but got the message loud and clear.
Our lunches arrived after a moderate wait; no real complaints about the wait time. However, with sandwiches, a diner needs condiments; we requested catsup and mayonnaise. Then, we waited. And waited. We ate the last of the now-cold conch fritters and waited some more.
While our sandwiches assumed room temperature, we waited.
As we waited, the waitress - with only two tables in the entire dining room occupied - conducted her activities in the nether regions of this dumpy little hovel of a restaurant. And we waited some more.
Finally, I started walking around the dining room, looking for either the missing mayo, or the waitress. I caught the waitress at a computer near the kitchen door, approached her and requested the missing mayo. To my great astonishment she snapped, "IN A MINUTE!".
As she (finally) delivered the mayo, my companion requested another Coke. His existing glass was one third full of melted ice, upon which the waitress poured the new Coke, resulting in a watery, carbonated, undrinkable mess.
We had wanted to sample the desert menu but simply could not escape the misery of this lousy service quickly enough.
In summary:
The prices at this "restaurant", which was apparently decorated by Fred Sanford, are WAY out of line with the terrible service. As a previous reviewer noted, at these prices for average American fare, the service should be absolutely impeccable.
The conch fritters were very good, lots of conch and served with a nice dipping sauce. Because of the TERRIBLE service, there is no way to fairly gauge the quality of the meal: would a cold oyster sandwich have been excellent when it was hot and ready to eat? Hard to say.
The waitress/poor service is 99% responsible for this review. The server's attitude and actions were abominable and unprofessional to say the least.
I would love to review the food and service if these service errors are corrected and will do so upon notification that this establishment has hired some professional management and wait staff.
