Alonzo's Oyster Bar — Restaurant in Key West

We decided to go to a late lunch at Alonzo’s Oyster Bar for my birthday in lieu of our evening reservation upstairs at A&B Lobster House. We had perused the menu online, and we felt it offered a good selection of seafood, and my favorite, lobster tail. Unfortunately, the experience was anything but festive.

We thought the restaurant was air conditioned, and although it might offer a little respite, with all of the doors open (and they leave them that way), it was miserably hot and humid. Most of the patrons were dressed for the pool and the heat. We were not, and would have been more comfortable if we had known.

Our waitress, Debra, arrived and I asked how she was doing, general chit chat. Our daughter is a bartender, and I spent several years in my youth waiting tables, so I respect the efforts of servers. Unfortunately, our server spent the majority of her time telling us her woes as an “older” waitress. I guess our sympathy left the door open for her to dump her angst over her treatment from the many visitors who flock to Key West. She talked mainly about her tips, or lack thereof, and gave specifics as to race, age, groups, tab amounts, and even said she told one couple they could keep their change. The couple told her it was for her tip, and she gave it back to them letting them know it was inadequate.

My husband ordered the fried coconut grouper, (their signature dish), after he was told a grilled option was not available. It came with crispy potato cake, and a vegetable medley. I ordered lobster tail which was served with corn mashed potatoes and a vegetable medley. We also ordered a bottle of champagne. Although my lobster tail was good, I was not impressed with the sides, nor was my husband fond of the grouper. He said the quality was like that of a low end fish camp. Debra did not pour refills from our bottle. We did it.

We told Debra it was my birthday, and asked did they do anything to celebrate. She said no, never, and frankly I was surprised. We had a tab of over $200, and they couldn’t offer a piece of cake and a song? We had elected to come to Alonzo’s instead of A&B Lobster House upstairs that evening, and that was our mistake. We realized too late that we were given a subpar experience on their lower level, and we should have kept our reservation upstairs or gone somewhere else. We travel often on our birthdays, and even chain restaurants try to do something to help guests celebrate.

Overall, this restaurant was the worst we experienced in Key West. We loved Bistro 245, and the Seaside Cafe at the Mansion, a couple of the many options available in Key West. Needless to say, this was a huge disappointment, and with tip we did not get a...

My experience overall was forgettable, however it started positive. The hostesses were super friendly and seated me quickly. My server who was a young man very nice and very helpful with some basic menu questions. They only had Budweiser Ex as a non-alcoholic option but not a big deal. I ordered the Pacific Komotto oysters, they came out pretty quick, were super tender, sweet and a nice starter. The Entree order came quickly ( this was a red flag). The real downfall was the $64 mixed seafood Entree (shown in pic) plate that I ordered. It was half of a warm water lobster tail that was over cooked and tough. The snapper was cooked to death, crumbly tasteless and the five 20/25 ct shrimp were cooked ok. What really destroyed this plate was what was underneath and over top of the Seafood. Cooked to death the green beans. And mashed potatoes underneath that definitely didn’t taste as if they were even real and had sat in a chafing dish for who knows how long the seafood on top was smothered under some kind of broken butter sauce with maybe some kind of balsamic reduction drizzle over top. Regardless, it presented awful and the sauce did the seafood no favors. Basically destroyed all the fish. For dessert I had the obligatory Keylime pie. They had 3 choices of dessert and one was 86’d The Key lime was nothing special, and was likely brought in from the outside would be my guess. The food here is nothing to brag about. It’s a tourist Seafood house on the pier that gets high prices mainly because of their location. I would recommend it mostly if at all on the grounds that the service was quick. The server was very nice, thoughtful and made just enough table visits timely. The atmosphere is what you would expect in this part of the island. The oysters were the only thing worth talking about. there are plenty of other choices in the area. Seeing as I was north of over 100 before tip, I would definitely look around before coming...

Not a person to leave a review, we made a reservation for a party of eight people and the hostess set up a table left us hanging at the table never brought over the high chairs and then shows back up and tell us the table is complete. It was a table for five and they shoved 6 chairs and 2 high chairs at it. We slid a table over from the side that was empty and the hostess then comes back and says she had a reservations for that table even though it was empty for 15 min. The waitress walks over and says you can’t have that table this is my only section (2 tables?) , instead of trying to make things work for their customers they were just rude and nasty. Not even a manger walked over to discuss the issue, Business 101 when there’s an issue a manager should always come to the table to see how they can make the situation better. You want customers to spend money, make them comfortable. Experience was thrown out the window the min we sat down. Would not recommend this Resturant to anyone visiting Key West:

Per person spending is easily $50-$100 based on the price of there dinner dishes.

Attitude Check: For the hostess is seriously needed!

One more thing: Men’s Bathroom was DISGUSTING, smelled and looked like they haven’t been cleaned in weeks. My wife came back from taking my kids into the women’s bathroom and was skeeved out had our kids wait to use the Bathroom room again until we left. Guessing the women’s bathroom was just...