Skillets - Ft. Myers - Cypress Trace — Restaurant in Florida

My family decided to go here this morning to see if the food was any good. My sister and her friends had said the one near FGCU was fantastic, and, living in South Fort Myers, we decided to try the location across from Costco. First, we waited about 30-45minutes to be seated even though the table that was supposed to be cleaned for us did not have any guests for the duration of that time. To be fair, the hostess kindly kept reminding the bussers to clean the table but they kept going to other ones and cleaning them. When we finally got seated, our waitress came after about 15 minutes and we ordered a few hot and ice coffees and some waters. Ironically, one of the members of our party requested another water. After another 15 minutes, the waitress returned with the water but then left and did not ask if we were ready to order. All in all, we waited for over an hour just to get a few coffees and to have a wait staff ignore our party (admittedly, six people can be quite a lot). After she didn’t ask us if we were ready to order, we just decided to leave given we didn’t want to wait 2 hours for some bloody eggs and potatoes (I can make such food at home for cheaper and quicker)...

During this “trip,” we noticed a few things that contributed to the inefficiency and aloofness of the service. 1. There only seemed to be 5 waiters and waitresses and 2 bussers working in a large restaurant. This made it difficult for them to go inside and outside of the building to provide adequate service. 2. The waiters and waitresses as well as the bussers seemed to be walking around the restaurant but not servicing many customers. For example, we noticed a woman on the computer near the kitchen who stayed on the computer for about 20 minutes. I am not sure what she was doing, but the guests at the bar area were not talking with her. There was another gentlemen who was behind the bar walking back and fourth to the kitchen for the same duration of time but then all of a sudden started walking around the restaurant asking customers if he could help them, then returned to behind the bar and stayed there. This led me to think about efficiency... 3. It did not seem like the wait staff was sectioned, meaning waiters and waitresses were scrambling to go inside and outside and help random tables without a sense of order. The tables next to us on both sides had different wait staff from us. How can they actually keep track of anything if they don’t have an ordered area in which to service? Inefficient! 4. After bringing drinks, I really think the waiters and waitresses should ask if customers are ready to order... she did not. And it made us leave, irritable. 5. When service is that poor, they should not charge us for our drinks... but they did...

Overall, due to this organizational inefficiency as well as the time we had to wait just to get some coffee, we all decided not to return to...

I highly recommend Skillets at Cypress Trace Shopping Center. They’re located at the intersection of Daniels Parkway and US-41 in South Fort Myers, Florida. As a 65 year resident of Fort Myers, I’ve seen a large number of restaurants come and go. In my opinion, the tone and attitude of the most successful of those businesses starts from the top. The management team at Skillets is active in creating a positive experience for both staff and patrons. The staff is friendly, personable and professional. They deliver on attentive service. Our favorite Day Manager/Server is Jasmine. She’s delightful. Austyn and Lily are wonderful servers with a great attitude. Since we go there regularly, they spoil us by remembering our preferred drink and meal orders. Also, another great reason we visit Skillets is the comfortable outdoor seating which allows us to take our little dog along for an outing. Skillets’s current managers make this particular location a must-visit restaurant where you can expect exceptional service and a delightful dining experience. A few of our menu favorites are the Blueberry Pancakes, Tomato Provolone Bacon Panini, Potato Pancakes and the Veggie Goat’s Cheese...

Generally I trust Google's star rating for a business. I feel like I was duped. It could have been a bad day for the kitchen staff. Could have been the norm.

The good the bad and the water. We walked in and we're greeted got our table with no delay. Our server was polite and answered our questions. Then our food came 😔. We had watched food from other tables come out and be sent back to the kitchen so we were afraid. The grits were like soup . Even after they sat at the table for 10 minutes they couldn't firm up. The corn beef hash tasted what I assume an Amazon box tastes like. The food had no flavor no butter no salt nothing. Our server took the food back and asked if we wanted something else. At that point we had lost our appetite after a few bites. She tried to make right by it but we didn't want to try anything else on the menu.

Here's the high note. The frosted orange juice mugs were great. The orange juice was sweet and fresh.

Even after we had our food sent back, other tables had similar issues. I'm not sure how we still ended up with a $38 check though. Our server felt bad and apologized so many times. We told her it wasn't her fault and she had a...