PIER 22 — Restaurant in Bradenton

We frequent Pier 22 perhaps a dozen times a year to enjoy their Happy Hour or dinner on the patio. We find the Martinis spot on with the accompanying multiple JUMBO green olives lanced by a plastic epee and hanging on the exterior of the glass, actually crisp. My bride takes her Martinis plain while I opt for the in-house blue cheese stuffed. We enjoy sitting at either the interior bar or the patio bar, both of which, along with their respective dining areas, have recently undergone major floor to ceiling upgrades. We have yet to peer into the main dining room and thus are unable to comment on any changes in that arena.

We have dined in the main dining room quite a number of times over the years and have found the atmosphere warm, table clothes and cloth napkins adorning the table tops, and like all of the various Pier 22 dining areas, servers friendly, knowledgeable of the menu, and sporting name tags indicating which state they hail from, a great conversation starter.

Moving along to the quality of the food, we find the menu diverse with an ample selection of entrees ranging from flat bread pizza and burgers to a variety of seafood, steaks, chicken, chops, and daily specials. I especially enjoy the Pier 22 Caesar Salad. The dressing is plentiful and not overly garlic ridden. Anchovies are available as requested.

The dessert menu is intriguing and may I suggest the Key Lime Pie! It is a delightful alternative to the traditional KLP slice. Served atop a moderate sized circular tart replete with Graham Cracker crust, the sweetness of the plentiful whipped cream proudly anointing the perfect tartness of the of the abundant filling is a savory ending to a well prepared and equally well served meal.

Menu pricing is relatively fair based on the quality and quantity of the entrees served along with the pleasant atmosphere of the establishment.

Of the 75 or greater times we have visited Pier 22 over the past 10-years, there has been but one occasion whereby we felt it necessary to return an entre to the kitchen. That's one hell of an average and believe me, I can be a picky SOB...

This place has such great potential. It has a good atmosphere, beautiful views, bar drinks are good. But I've been here about 5 times now and every time the food is a letdown, and sometimes the service isn't great either. I keep thinking I just hit them on a bad night, but when it happens again and again, I'm not so sure.

Last night I ordered the Tenderloin. It took an hour to arrive, even though when we arrived the restaurant was starting to empty out as we were there late. The steak was one of the worst I've ever seen. Supposed to be 6 ounces, it was maybe 4, the depth of a small hamburger patty. Cooked properly on the inside but charred and hard on the outside. I don't know if it was ready first and then they had to make my wife's meal so it just sat on the grill drying out or what happened but I really couldn't believe they would serve that to someone. I had to hunt for our server because he never checked to see if we were happy with our meals. When I finally did find him (by walking all over the restaurant) I told him about the steak and he sort of smirked and said he'd send a manager (Jen).

To her credit she took our concerns seriously and had a new steak delivered in about 5 minutes. Amazing they could get that one out so fast, and it was 100% better.

Our server continued to have a strange attitude. When my wife made eye contact with him, just to get a refill on her water, he blurted out "Oh you don't like yours too?", which wasn't the case at all. That was the second time she made eye contact with him and he assumed it was a complaint but it wasn't.

So we left a smallish tip because despite the fact they adequately fixed our food issue and compensated us for our inconvenience, our server went lonnnng stretches where we never saw him, he seemed to feel we shouldn't complain, and he never got better. I am thankful the senior staff did their jobs properly and courteously.

So I want to recommend this place, it really should be great, but the food is always a letdown, and that may have been...

My mother and I came to enjoy some brunch today, March 3rd. We aren't exactly the richest, but we dressed presentably enough, and were polite.

The woman who checked us in at the counter was nice, but the two that were standing behind her met us with judgemental and off-putting glares. We were seated and when our server, Abby, took our order, she avoided eye contact as much as possible. She took our menus without asking if we wanted any appetizers, sides, or any other options. She didn't inform us of any specials or deals, but she did so with multiple other tables. As we watched her throughout our visit, she was incredibly talkative and friendly with the other customers, but barely bantered or looked at us at all when she came to check in.

Our food was brought to us lukewarm. The eggs benedict I ordered was served to me with overcooked poached eggs and broken, chunky hollandaise sauce. I don't have to be a Michellin star chef to see a clumpy, sour egg sauce and immediately know that there's an issue. Also, the home fries were lukewarm at best, confirming that our food had been sitting for quite a bit before it was finally brought to us.

Overall, the atmosphere was incredibly unwelcoming with most of the staff, as my mother and I were both made uncomfortable by the looks we were given on the way to our table.

When my mother confronted Abby about her behavior, she couldn't provide a solid answer as to why she was being so abrasive. There was one point during our visit at which Abby was serving us something while speaking to a customer behind her, not at all paying us any mind and, once again, avoiding eye contact.

The two of us were incredibly excited to dine here, as a friend of ours cooks at the establishment, but I'm disappointed in the way we were treated and regrettably have to say we will not...