15th Street Fisheries — Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale

Avoid this restaurant. There are MANY better restaurants in this area by the intercoastal.

First, we were a party of 4 and were sat in the downstairs restaurant by a very large party with lost of kids running around and screaming. One of the servers approached with a sour look, didn't say hi, and brought water. No words. After ordering jumbo stone crabs, she brough red appetizer dishes and SLAMMED them down in the the middle of the table.

After they brought our crabs, they smelled like strong ammonia had been poured on them. The server said they smelled fine to her, no apologies and no manager was directed to the table. However, she brought large ones without us asking, and said "here are large ones that just got in today and are fresh" I guess the jumbo ones were not. When the crab shells were removed from the table, the server dropped them on the floor next to the intercoastal water, she scooted all the shells into the water off the deck. This was unbelievable.

When our dinner came, my swordfish I had ordered had several type of seeds poured all over it. This was not mentioned or printed on the menu. I am deathly allergic to seeds. I was NOT offered any other dish why the rest of the 3 in our party ate, nor was the unfriendly server server apologetic. This was after the spoiled stone crab.

The fresh Ahi was prepared the same, the others in the party said it was good. We also ordered wine, calamari, and salad, were good as well.

In closing, I had to go speak to a manager to have the uneaten swordfish off the bill. The swordfish was removed by the server before it even hit the table. The manager had not been notified by any of the servers or kitchen stsff regarding our spoiled crab and other issues. His name was Scott. The unfriendly servers never gave us their names.

Here's the important thing professional restaurant owners should know. Sometimes when you eat out there are no do-overs. It was a very special evening and my brother was only here for the day and chose to eat at this restaurant. If it were us eating out which we go there often, it wouldn't have been such a big deal. On special occasions like this you can't repeat them and hope for a better experience the next time.

The reason I am compelled to write this review is because my brother and I and my adult children ate there 2 years ago. However it was upstairs. The food, service, and entire experience was unbelievably awesome. The older gentleman owner of the company, or restaurant, personally came by and asked us how everything was. He spent several minutes at our table and a lengthy conversation with us about himself and boasted about the restaurant. My brother was so impressed with this professionalism, he asked to go there again during this visit. We could have went anyplace comparable along the ocean or intercostal. It was such an opposite experience I felt that I should write it here for others so that they did not ruin any special evenings and or to let the owner know what goes on at his restaurant downstairs, if he is still there.p

I hope this helps your restaurant choice if you took long enough to...

I've been going to 15th St. Fisheries for a little over 15 years for special occasions and always have eaten in the restaurant on the 2nd floor, but tonight we decided to try eating on the 1st floor deck because of the different options of food they offer that's not found on the menu on the second floor restaurant. We (party of 3}arrive and the wait time was very short maybe 15 minutes before we were called and escorted to our table on the deck overlooking the intracoastal waterway. While we were being escorted to our table by the hostess, I saw a large dog there with its owners sitting at the bar. Moments later another couple arrived by boat with a smaller dog and they also went to the bar to be served. The bartender saw the dogs and decided to give them both a bowl of water but it's what she did while leaving the water for both dogs was disgusting. She began playing with the dogs, rubbing them and the dogs are licking all on her hands. After playing with the dogs, she gets up and goes right back behind the bar, does not wash her hands, and continues to mix drinks and picking up lemons with her bare hands, placing them in some of the drinks (same hands that she was playing around the dogs with and had the dogs licking all over them).

The food that was served was no good. It was cold as if it was prepared and sat in the kitchen for a while before the server brought it to the table

This is very unsanitary and can cause people to get sick. I observed her serving drinks for over 45 minutes and not one time she washed her hands.

Valet is complimentary which is good (just tip the valet attendants) but today was different. After leaving the restaurant I go to the valet attendant booth, hand them my ticket and the attendant hands me my keys telling me I have to go get the car by myself because everyone was busy. No one told me where the car was parked so I had to walk around the lot and street to try and figure out where the attendant parked my car when I dropped it off when I arrived. This was something I never experienced in the past years I've visited.

The unsanitary workers, bad food and valet service has made it my last time I'll ever visit...

I do want to preface this by saying everytime I have been or taken my friends/family to the fisheries it’s been a good experience. Last night was an anomaly.

My friend had her birthday dinner here before as we’ve both eaten here before. One thing they’ll usually do for us is allow us to order a dessert from the upstairs menu like the duo creme brûlée. Props to Chef Beatriz because her pastries are the main reason we come, especially since my friend has a shellfish allergy.

Gabriela was our server last night. From the get-go we made her aware of my friend’s allergy and asked about the creme brûlée from upstairs. She had immediately shut it down but we asked her to see if it was possible as it was done for us in the past. She claimed she did ask and that the answer was no. Which was disappointing but it was fine. And after explaining the situation and that it was said friend’s birthday, she said she could see what she could do.

She brought out a creme brûlée later and it was great, my friend was happy and she enjoyed it, but she completely dodged us for 20 minutes after eating and had to be flagged down for the dessert menu. Come to find the creme brûlée my friend received on the menu.

I think all of this could have been avoided from the get go if the waitress just mentioned “Hey, I can’t get you the dessert from upstairs but if you like our crème brûlée, we offer one dockside” and that would have been just as well.

Not to mention we had to flag her down for refills, she rarely checked on us until the end when it was time to leave, and her allergy didn’t seem to have been considered much with appetizers. (I have ordered the fried gator for me and said friend before on other occasions and it was prepared in a different oil. I had told this waitress I wanted this appetizer to split with her. She didn’t tell us it would be cooked in the same oil as the shellfish midway. If I knew that was going to be the case tonight, I would have ordered something else that she could eat)

It was a Saturday night and it was busy, so I understand if our server was overwhelmed, but this is not the service I have been used to at...