Keel Farms — Restaurant in Plant City

If I could give 0 stars, I would. Truth be told they only deserve 1 star because of our waitress who was really friendly despite the nightmare we had during our experience. We booked a party of 14 (one reservation of 8, and one of 6 due to the website not allowing anymore than a reservation of 8 at a time even though it states a max of 12?) for a graduation dinner. That should have been my first clue.

We called and spoke with the catering manager prior to making our reservations (a month in advance mind you) and he assured us while he couldn’t guarantee 1 table for the entire party, they would do their “best” to accommodate putting our two tables next to each other, knowing it was ONE graduation party. Because we booked on a Saturday; we were anticipating a BUSY evening, and knew we’d have to potentially be at 2 different tables close to each other as discussed. We took him at his word and went ahead and booked 2 separate tables because that’s all the website would allow. When we arrived, the hostess informed us that one of our tables was to be INSIDE, and the other was to be OUTSIDE. We let her know we were informed that we’d at least be seated CLOSELY, and we asked her kindly if there was anything she could do to accommodate putting us outside together. To her credit; she did end up putting both parties on the patio, however we did not get seated near each other. 8 were seated at one table, and 6 at another. As we were seated separately, our table of 6 had noticed that all of the tables around the party of 8 were emptying with people leaving. Our party of 6 had not yet been greeted by a server, and no orders had been placed, so we had asked the server of the table of 8 if we were able to just slide over to the empty table next door, so that we’re able to sit with the rest of our party. He told us that it was up to the “hostess staff” and to take it up with them at the front, so we went ahead and approached them. We were continuously told they couldn’t accommodate us moving tables. We spoke with multiple wait staff, multiple hostess staff, and supposedly they even spoke “with their manager” (who never came out to show face) and moral of the story: they were completely unwilling and unable to allow us to move next to each other DESPITE the tables surrounding the party of 8 remaining empty,

At this point in our frustration, we contemplated leaving, but many members of our party had traveled from out of town and we did not want to inconvenience them to travel any further, so we reluctantly decided to stay. As the evening went on, we noticed that the same tables around our party of 8, that were empty when we initially sat , remained EMPTY and continued to be so throughout almost our entire visit. I couldn’t believe that this establishment would be so non accommodating when there were literal empty tables! They gave every excuse in the book, different waiter sections etc, of why we couldn’t move. I could understand if there was a massive waitlist and they were slammed busy, but fact of the matter is, they weren’t! To top it off, our table of 8 had horrible service, and while our waitress was our only redeeming quality at the party of 6, we can say after all the headache of having to seat a party separately, we will NEVER be back and NEVER recommend Keel and Curley to anyone we know!

BEWARE: If you’re looking for a low-key night with a 2-3 person reservation, you should be fine here. BUT if you want to try and have anymore than that, DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME. You’re better off at a chain restaurant where they’ll actually seat you with your party. This place thinks it’s a high class establishment and are completely unwilling to accommodate guests and they provide subpar service. Do yourself a favor and look up other wineries who deserve...

I really wanted to enjoy my experience here. It's a gorgeous setting, and super convenient location. Unfortunately, the service was sub par.

In a nutshell, the food and wine are good, but the service is terrible. Please note, like most Florida wines, it's on the sweet side. So if you're a dry wine drinker, I wouldn't recommend it. The atmosphere is very nice and there is a small area with goats as well as a playground. The live music was also a treat. But they definitely need more meatless options on the menu - one entree at the very least.

Now, for the details:

When we arrived, there were 4 young ladies at the front desk. It took about one to two minutes before any of them even acknowledged us. There were no customers that they were busy helping. It takes a few seconds to greet a customer and say 'we'll be with you in a moment.' They are hostesses, and really, that's their job. But, I guess that didn't dawn on any of them. We were interested in the brunch, so we're directed to the back and look for the food truck.

The 1st Sunday brunch is not what most restaurants offer - it's really just 4 or 5 items from a food truck. And they cannot do modifications (like no sausage with the eggs). Other than the blueberry French toast, there were no meatless options, so we went back to the front desk to request a table.

We were told it will be about a half hour wait, so perused the shop, then headed to the bar. After we placed our drink order, we received the text that our table is ready (much quicker than anticipated, which is a good thing), so cancelled the order and headed to our table. The bartender was super kind and fast.

Now, if we knew it would take over 20 minutes for a server to come to our table on the patio, we would've gotten our drinks from the bar and brought it over to the table. I saw another party of 2 which was seated after us placed their drink order and received it before our server even showed up once.

Our server did check on us once or so after ordering the tuna tacos. But it took her a while to come back because we wanted to order more food. We also wanted more drinks, but she never came around. I also noticed that she waited for the bartender to pour the drinks for her other tables and delivered them right away, but for whatever reason, our flight was sitting out for a few minutes before she brought it. Normally, that's not terrible, but because of the outdoor setting, there were lots of flies. Later, the empty glasses from our flight were attracting flies, but she never bothered to clear it. She did not bring plates, and was never around for us to ask. We had to wait at least 20 minutes again after we finished our meal for her to come by so we can ask for the check. Mind you, she was polite, but there's much more to providing good service to customers.

The tuna nachos were very good and the tuna tasted fresh. The ranch flatbread was good, but it would've been nice to have more veggies. They were kind enough to put the chicken on the side as per our request. All four wines we tried were sweet and true to their respective fruit, but the watermelon was our favorite.

I was looking forward to doing a wine tasting, but the lack of service is definitely a deterrent. There are many other establishments that value customers and treat them...

This is one of the coziest, homey feeling wineries you may come across. It’s not the upscale, kind of bougie and very luxurious feeling wineries are typically known for. But that makes Keel Farms kind of amazingly refreshing.

The main parking lot is directly across the street, and then you take a quick stroll over. I definitely recommend booking a tour if you are able- for that, you walk past the main building and then there will be signs for the tour. It’s not super obvious upon a first look.

It was really cool to tour the property and learn about the history of the winery and their brewing processes- our guide Brady did a fantastic job. Something special about them is they use fresh fruit in almost all of their offerings, so if you like sweeter or fruity wines/ ciders, then this is a must hit.

We were able have 4 different tastings on the tour- but the elderberry cider was a standout. I don’t think they’re serving that officially yet except if you book the tasting room. Which they need to change real quick.

After the tour we had lunch at the restaurant. I’ll tell you- I WILL make the 30-40 minute drive just to come back and eat here. Everything was so good. I had the pesto chicken gnocchi and just about finished the whole thing. The plant city beef is an open faced beef sandwich that was pretty good too if you prefer something more along those lines.

Lastly, my party of 4 decided to share 2 flights. There were so many things we wanted to try that this was the perfect way to do so. And honestly I did not try a single thing that day that I didn’t enjoy. However, to the great surprise of my group, we all were in agreement that the cotton candy cider was by far the winner. Seems so weird right? But it was just so oddly good you couldn’t resist. If you’re looking for an enjoyable outdoor activity that’s still more chill, this is a great place to come and very kid...