Butterfly Café — Restaurant in Marathon

It started off well. The ambiance of the place was fantastic. We were taking photos and laughing and enjoying each others company. We were a party of 10 that called in a reservation.

This is where it all goes down hill. The server Brenda came over and asked the table if we would like "regular flat or sparkling water". The table agrees to flat. After serving us the water she took a few alcoholic beverage orders. As she returns she loudly asks "who is covering the bill". In taken back form we just starred. She then again loudy asks "How is the bill being separated?" We tell her we haven't thought that far ahead yet and she says she can't proceed until she knows. Apparently the water needs to go on the correct bill. We looked dumbfounded. After opening up five bottles at $8.00 a bottle she says regular water is tap, flat is in a glass bottle and sparkling is just that. With gratuity included at 18% that felt like an automatic upsell right off the bat. By the way there is no costs listed in the menu for beverages. We got through that encounter then split the party 4-2-4.

From this point she has to be reminded to give refills and loudly from across the room yells/asks "Does anyone need a refill of tap water?" This again is a $$$ restaurant with an elegant setting. ( Her loud gruff voice will be a theme going forward )

Fast forward to the food. My order was the Chicken Alfredo Penne and was very good. My girlfriend's order was the $53 Cowboy Bone-in Ribeye ordered as medium. Came out Well Done to almost burnt. The two parties of four each also had issues. The grouper was an amazing cut of fish... too bad it was severely overcooked. Another person ordered a burger that was overcooked and cold. A total of four meals were sent back.

At this point the manager was requested. When someone who claimed to be the manager came out it went even further down the customer service scale. After listening to our observations she made a few exuses and asked what we thought she should do. We were just over the whole experience and asked for the four meals sent back to not be returned to the table, be taken off the bill and bring the checks so we could leave. The "manager" then said "Maybe that's for the best and that we might not want to ever come back"

Don't worry....WE WILL NEVER CONSIDER THIS PLACE AS AN OPTION AGAIN...!!!!

PS- The bathrooms were a mess and the restaurant had only been open an hour and a half... but don't worry about the mess. The restaurant "manager" said they weren't responsible for it. That falls to the hotel side to...

The place is beautiful and service is great. That’s about it, I don’t know how others say in the reviews the food was great? The scallops weren’t properly cooked (no sear just steamed), the risotto was under cooked. The fish dip was store bought quality at best. The chowder definitely came from a can. The shrimp cocktail was boiled in just water, it had no flavor and they were very rubbery as if they were boiled while they were still frozen. The dessert left a lot to be desired, my daughter and I have made brownies in the microwave that tasted better than the no stress chocolate cake. It seems this is very common in the keys as breakfast is the only good meal you can find in the area. The place is very over priced for the quality of food but I guess they have to pay for the location somehow. Maybe just go there for a drink and enjoy the view. This is definitely not a fine dining restaurant as our family has dined at many fine restaurants as carbone, cote in New York, sexy fish and many more. This was far from fine dinning. We would recomen they keep it simple and work on their food without trying so hard to be something they clearly...

We asked to make a reservation and the hostess said she was full, but took our number and said she would call us around 8:30 when it emptied out. We never received a call so we went back at 8:30 when the restaurant was almost completely empty. The hostess immediately had a bad attitude and told us we were too late. We repeated the exact directions she gave us and told her we never received her call. She left and came back and told us she could seat us, led us to a table and threw the menus down and left. She came back to fill our water and did not speak to us or look at us. We were extremely disappointed with her service and it impacted our entire stay at Tranquility Bay. Unfortunately that was also the first night of our honeymoon as well. I understand you are understaffed because of covid, but we would have gone somewhere else if you said you were completely full. But you did not say that, and when we returned we were met with rudeness and immaturity, and candidly a mediocre but expensive meal. The waitress was fantastic and super nice and that was the only reason I am giving you 1 star. Will not be back. Hire a new hostess...