Sushi Sake Key Largo — Restaurant in Florida

Worst dining experience I have ever had.

My family and I visited the Key Largo location. The major issue we experienced was that the sushi we ordered was spoiled and unsafe to eat. The tuna was discolored and had a terribly foul smell. We realized something we should have deduced prior to stepping foot in the door - that a franchised sushi establishment is inherently a bad idea and food quality would be poor, which it was. More than that, the sushi was clearly not made fresh and I strongly suspect that it was pre-made and all the "chef" had to do was plate the sushi.

Worse than low-quality, spoiled food was that this establishment served alcohol to a large group of rowdy underage teens. How do I know they were underage? I have a 16-year-old and have over 25 years of experience in college administration with particular responsibility for adjudicating underage drinking cases. These boys were 18 years old at best. I also have 20 years of food service

I told the server that no one in this group was not 21 and they were being served alcohol. She responded by saying they showed her ID and there was nothing she could do. I educated her about fake IDs and she shrugged it off. The group of 10 underage teens were heavily intoxicated. They were loud and banging on the table and yelling throughout the restaurant. Several patrons left before their food arrived. We should have too.

After 20 more minutes, of waiting for the replacement order, the group grew louder and rowdier and tossed racial slurs at the staff. My younger 10-year-old daughter said to me that she felt uncomfortable and my 16-yo was visibly impacted by the aggressive and disorderly group. I rationalized to myself and my family that there didn't seem to be a manager on duty, the staff seemed not only apathetic but disempowered and thought might be intimidated by the larger, bigger group.

But I was wrong. When that server's shift ended, the manager arrived. I asked our new server if I could speak with him, thinking he might be more empowered and comfortable addressing the issue. He came over and I indicated to him that the group was underage. He said they showed ID and there was nothing he could do about it. I told him that if someone got injured after leaving his establishment, that he and his servers would be held legally liable. He said, "Well they come here often."

Shocked, I said, "Oh I see what is going on here - their locals who frequent often and you don't want to lose the business. Four parties have already left because of them - I'm not sure this is helping your business."

I then told him he could at least address their behavior. He replied that they almost done. We paid our bill (I so regret this in hindsight) and...

Let's start with the positive -- the sushi here is good. Not great, but certainly better than anything else currently available in Key Largo/Islamorada. My wife characterized her "Blackjack Roll" as very small and average quality. It was about 4:00, we were the only diners. I ordered the "Sushi Dinner" and asked if wasabi could be applied to my sushi (this used to be customary). The waitress replied that she would bring me extra wasabi. I asked again and was told that she would be glad to bring me extra wasabi. This is a $34 entree that doesn't include any sides. My wife's miso arrived lukewarm and when we we sent it back, we observed what appeared to be a squabble between the waitress and the kitchen about the miso. The music was a combination of Christian rock and sappy pop that was ridiculously loud. The decor was a quality contemporary look that while not my taste, looked nice. In conclusion, there are no alternative choices in this area if you really want decent sushi. We will be back, albeit reluctantly. Follow up: 3 years later (3-12-2020) we ventured back. Absolutely outstanding Nigiri sushi and various rolls by Chef Geano. Finest sushi experience, by far, that I've ever had in the Keys! Exceptional service as well.

UPDATE: Reducing my review to 2 stars from 5. The customer service is now atrocious. Chef refuses to accommodate even the smallest customer request, even with no other customers in the dining room. Servers more concerned with talking amongst themselves and texting than helping diners. I live across the street (Largo Sound Village) and I'll try to avoid Sushi Sake...

Our experience was very poor. When we arrived, there was only one other table (of 4 people) aside from my boyfriend and myself. There was 2 waiters throughout the night, and 2 sushi chefs. The sushi chefs were fantastic and ultimately saved our experience. Throughout our time there, there were several people who walked out due to lack of service. The restaurant was never busy, but the two servers working did absolutely nothing but stand around and debate how to clean tables. Every customer there was unhappy and looking around at one another wondering what on earth was going on. It seamed to us that the servers there had to have been on certain substances and therefore completely unaware of their surroundings. We witnessed a customers sushi order sit on the counter for more than 15 minutes, and when the waiter finally brought it to the table, the customer pointed out how long it had been sitting there while the servers had been doing nothing. One of the waiters then shouted across the restaurant that there were only two of them and they were very busy (with then 4 SMALL tables). Within this time, we also saw the sushi chefs talk with the servers trying to get them to do their job. By the end of our meal, we decided the server did not deserve a single cent of our money. We definitely made sure to tip our wonderful sushi chefs. The wait staff should be drug tested. This was...