Bourbon Street Pub — Restaurant in Key West

I want to start this by saying this isn't a review of the hotel itself, only of the total rip-off "VIP" tickets they sold for the "great view of the parade". I also want to say that the bartender who was working there on the deck was great.

I've purchased dozens of VIP tickets to events during FF over the past 20 years. All of them have been great experiences (including two others I did this year), with two exceptions. The worst was a few years ago, and this one was a very close second.

What we received for $400:

A deck with all of the chairs removed, standing-room only.

If you wanted to actually be able to see the parade, you needed to be one of the first 20 in the door (we were there an hour early, but not in the first 20), rush to the rail, and stand there without losing your spot for 5 hours.

There were some sandwiches and finger foods, but you couldn't eat them when the event opened (even though they were all out and ready), nor could you eat if you didn't want to lose your place at the rail. Unfortunately we left before we could eat, since we didn't feel like standing for another half hour just to get a sandwich.

An open bar (this was the only positive).

IF you were one of the first 20, you got a great view of power lines and a Bud Light banner. You couldn't have actually gotten much of a view of the floats, and certainly no good pictures.

One reserved table with two chairs (possibly the owner?), which an incredibly rude person sitting there. He literally had a hissy fit when someone (gasp!) put a cigarette out in the ashtray. Keep in mind it was the only ashtray within 10 feet, and the person couldn't leave his post at the rail lest he lose it. I guess he was supposed to throw the cigarette on the wood floor.

If this was $25/person, it would have been a rip-off. For $200/person, it was downright criminal. My wife and I each got a drink, waited a half hour, and then left. Thankfully we found really comfortable seating with a table, good food, and a VERY nice manager and an amazing view of the parade by going a few blocks down to Point Break Cafe, which is definitely where we will...

Paid for 2 VIP tickets for the parade at over $200 a piece plus them adding a “donation” to it on their own. Thinking we would have a good time and get the services we paid for which was to be able to watch the parade from their balcony but could not because there was NO ROOM for us and we were some of the first up their. We had a good spot but we happened to be next to the announcer who was so rude and nasty to me and basically forced us to move. I had not even touched him when he turned around and saw me behind him and in a very nasty, rude way told me not to bump him and then repeatedly told us that we should go stand behind the speakers. However, when we finally did get enough of his bad attitude we moved and a couple of guys went to stand behind him and he didn’t seem to mind them at all. Next issue is the “gourmet buffet”. What a joke! It was cheese, pineapple, grapes, and some tiny empty bowl where looks like meatballs were in it but they “ran out”. So no buffet. The “open bar” they advertised was an iced beer cooler with $5 beers on it! Then, the bathroom situation was terrible! ONE bathroom and it was poorly taken care of and smelled terrible and that was after waiting a long time to get into it. We ended up leaving and going outside to watch the parade on the street so we could actually see it! HORRIBLE TIME AND A...

Avoid this place at all cost! I have been attacked and discriminated just because I am a woman! Definitely DO NOT go there if you are a woman even if you belong to the LGBTQ community you won’t be welcome!

Me and my friends just arrived at the place when someone came to kick me out as it was a men only event (this is a LGBTQ bar people like me non binary should be allowed in). I was not happy but still I was leaving. While walking towards the door, this young intoxicated person, started yelling at me calling me with awful words and telling me that they don’t want “tits” in the bar. He was shouting in my face, my friends were trying to calm him down with no success. This young person even though we were ignoring him, attacked my friend by scratching his face and he attacked me by pulling my hair and hit me against the wall! He discriminated the fact that I didn’t have an American accent! I called the police! They did nothing about it!! Apparently in Florida you can’t press charges without going to jail. I had to let it go even though my head and my arm are now hurting very much! Nobody in the place took my side ! At the end we left and he was still allowed to remain inside . I never seen such a hate for women!

The worst night of my life! Being discriminated by my...