Marker 88 — Restaurant in Islamorada

Nice tranquil location in The Florida Keys , restaurant with private beach which could be accessible for a fee of $5 per person and $10 per beach lounge chair ( not allowed to bring or use your own ) The Restaurant has great atmosphere and offers outdoor seating overlooking the west side ( Gulf ) of the Keys, for that perfect Sunset picture. The food and service was great the first time we went there, but the second time it was not as good. I ordered a lobster bisque which was the BEST I’ve had in the many years I’ve been to Restaurants all across USA , many of them being local restaurants in The Florida Keys. The bisque was creamy and savory, but the second time we ordered it and it was not as good as the first. The onion batter crust fried Mahi-mahi / Dolphin was amazing! As well as the natural mashed potatoes it came with. We spent around $110 The guy who runs the Private Beach was very nice the first time we attended but the second time around their was a female attendant which was extremely rude and unprofessional. We where told that we couldn’t have our own chairs but there was a group of people whom had their own chairs and I pointed it out to them and they said that they where allowed due to medical issues. The group I was part of included my 2 year old and 7 year old daughter as well as my niece who’s 13 , my husband 30 and myself 30. We were allowed to have our own beach chairs due to my history of medical issues ( hip operation ) but not because of the baby???? Paid to use the beach $5 per person ( except the baby ) 4 people x $5 = $20 The second time my cousin and her husband ( 30 years old) who also had a baby ( 11months old ) joined us. My husbands little twin sisters , 9 years old and oldest of sisters, 21 with her boyfriend 22. 6 adults, 6 children. Paid to enter $5 x 8 = $40 The male attendant gave us a discount the second time. I brought snacks for the whole group of kids in a small cooler and, The men of our group brought a case of beer cans 24 pack. Immediately the female attendant came over and told them to get drinks from the restaurant which are served in plastic cups and that the plastic cups are okay and that we needed to throw everything away after. We went to the restaurant and bought 4 drinks. Average drink prices $16x4 = $64 without tip. I left with my niece to buy medicine and when we returned. As my niece sits down on the beach chair for a few minutes or until she would feel better but within 2-3 minutes the female attendant came over with attitude and gave me a warning to have my niece stand up because she has no medical reason! My cousin starts to come out of the beach to sit down and put her baby to sleep, and the female attendant returns to me giving me another warning , rudely and unprofessional! I gave my niece $10 to pay her for us to be able to use our chairs!!!!!! Almost instantaneously. By the time I was finally able to enjoy the beach my daughters had gotten hungry and I walked over to the restaurant to order food for them. If I was actually in the beach for more than 5 minutes it’s way too much time. At the restaurant I ordered the lobster bisque again , which wasn’t as the day before! Spent another $40 Right after the babies ate , we all packed up to leave. Apparently we left behind the trash box of beers with the trash picked up!!! And left it accidentally by the area we where at which was next to the garbage can, as I start loading the car with the kids and all the belongings that same attendant walked straight up to me at the parking lot about 50-70 feet away from the beach and throws at me the box of trash and said to never return !!!!!!!! At no point was I completely finished picking up and my Cousin was walking back to the beach to pick up other things that we had left behind at the moment that attendant had done that to me. I am an active human being who volunteers to pick up trash at Beaches/ Parks. I travel to The Florida Keys every weekend and stay 1 to 2 weeks per year in Key Largo! I will find...

We have been here many times over the years. They did a complete remodel and the place looks awesome. The food is some of the best in the area, but the service and procing are not good. The food and atmosphere are so incredible, we gave it multiple tries this past winter and are resolved that you must sit by the bar. On one occasion, we visited and the place was busy, but not in the weeds. We were seated and there were multiple tables that were empty - being held for reservations. It took almost an hour for us to get our our drinks from the time we sat down. When the drinks we immediately placed our order. After we placed our order, the food took a little while to be delivered and we asked the expo to send our waiter over so that we could order another round of drinks. He did and never checked on us, asked if we wanted another round of drinks, nothing. He never even came by the table in the hour from when we placed our dinner order to when we were ready to leave. We needed some ketchup for the fries so we asked another young lady that passed our table - it never came. After sitting there for 15 minutes after our meal, I had to leave the table to track down the waiter to get our bill. Upon reviewing the bill they had overcharged us for one of the entrees, but we just wanted to leave at that point. 4 people - One couple shared a meal, no appetizers and only one round of drinks. $250 with tip and had to eat our meal with empty drink glasses. The receipt had a spot to leave a private review. We sent them a private review and never heard a thing back. Obviously, the place is completely mismanaged. The Square Grouper serves food for much less and has much better service and we all know the wait staff lives off the tips that are based on the cost of the meal. No excuse on 88's part. BTW - The hostess did a great job and was the only customer service person we interacted with that was above par during this particular visit. If you do give it a try for the food and atmosphere, would recommend sitting by the bar and dealing with the bartenders - then you are your...

Update 5 days later: We were invited back by management to rectify the problems we experienced. We stopped on our way back north for lunch and everything was wonderful. The food was outstanding and we were treated like royalty. Loved the coconut shrimp and the calamari starters. The Key Lime seafood platter was great, everything tasted super fresh. The Florida lobster tail was also delicious. The Key Lime pie was very good, just the right amount of sugar but we felt it could use a bit more tartness (lime) flavor.

Previous review from 5 days earlier: Really wanted to have a great romantic evening so booked a 5:30 table to make sure we’d be seated with a cocktail and ready for a gorgeous sunset. As they say, “the best laid plans...”

We pulled in at 5:30 to a disaster in the making. Total chaos at the hostess station (no hostess to be found) and people lining up out into the parking lot. When the young woman finally returned, I told her we have a reservation and asked if we still need to queue with the roughly 20 people waiting. She said yes and “sorry, we’re very busy”. Long story short, a more seasoned woman joined her and the line finally started moving and we were told that we’re checked in but no tables, feel free to walk around. Well, we watched the sunset from the dock and were finally seated at 6:10. Then nobody came to our table for another 20 minutes. A sweet and apologetic woman finally came over and I ordered a Cloudy Bay Sauvigon Blanc, $10, and the crab dip, and our 2 mains. You’d think after all of these problems that we’d be offered a drink on the house but instead I got a ridiculously stingy pour, maybe 3 ounces.

Side note, the singer/songwriter performing was very good, not too loud and enjoyable with dinner.

The good news, the dip was tasty and our fish was good. We were excited to have the Key Lime pie for dessert and our waiter (who we’d never seen) told us “sorry, we ran out”. Disappointing end to a (mostly) disappointing evening. Sorry guys but...