Lazy Days South — Restaurant in Marathon

Our service tonight was absolutely horrific. It was the worst I have ever had. Our server was either Dave or David. We waited quite some time to be greeted. We then waited a substantial amount of time to order our food. During this time, a server went up to a table next to us that they realized was never greeted. Immediately after they sat another table. Why are they continuing to seat tables when the tables they already have are being forgotten about and not greeted?

We waiting at least an hour for our food. During this time, our server never stopped by. Our drinks were empty and no refills were offered. When food finally came out, two entrees didn’t arrive. Our server came by and said one would be right out, and we said what about the other one? And it was at this point we realized he completely forgot that entree and probably never rang it in. So while we ate it took probably another 20-30 minutes for him to get his food.

Five of the people at our table ordered off of the specials menu, which comes with a soup or a salad. The soups and salads never arrived. When we mentioned this to David, he said he was busy and that “most people don’t want the salads so I assumed you just didn’t want them.” We paid for them, why wouldn’t we want them? He completely brushed us off and didn’t care at all.

My entree (the pasta primavera) has two options for sauce: marinara or garlic and oil. I didn’t realize this, and David did not offer between the options. He just assumed I wanted garlic and oil, which is not what I wanted. So when I got my food I just asked him for a side of marinara to add to my pasta. We had to ask him three times, with a long time between each ask, for him to finally bring it. At this point I was disappointed in the dish and didn’t even want it anymore, so I sent it back. We were very frustrated at this point.

After this entire experience, we decided to get a manager. We never complain, we never send food or drinks back, but this experience was crazy, especially when the price point is 30+ for most entrees. After explaining the situation to her, she said she’d give us a discount. She brought the check out all as one after we asked for split checks, so we had to ask her to split them. Then she didn’t know who had what (I guess the server doesn’t keep track of that at this place?) so we had to go through the check and tell her who ordered what. On mine and my husband’s check, the original total was about $110. She took a total of $30 off. Keep in mind I sent my entree back and didn’t eat it which was priced around $24/25. So after all of our issues and expressing our terrible experience, we basically get $5 off?

We had a long way to go home so we said whatever and paid the bill. But then my husband realized that the price he was charged for his entree (hog snapper Rockefeller) was $45.99, but on the menu the price is $32.99. So we were charged $13 extra for his dish. We went back and got the manager again. I said this is absurd, I’m not paying this bill after all this. So she said okay and reversed the payment. I asked for my card back and she said no, she is going to rering and charge us the actual price. After all this, I said no, this is absolutely crazy and we walked out.

I will NEVER be back. David was HORRIBLE. The manager was HORRIBLE. This restaurant is HORRIBLY run and desperately needs new staff and new management. Avoid this place...

I guess the title of this review pretty much is self-explanatory for location and food. I have included an image of the sunset to validate point 1. It cannot get better than this. The menu is extensive, the food ok, nothing extraordinary, not bad either. The view makes up for it. Service is at best average. The experience felt rushed, something you would find in your average strip mall chain restaurant. The staff was remarkably busy and there was no time for a more personal, caring, quality exchange. Again, the view also compensates for the experience. But most likely, for a significant segment of you reading this review, not maintaining social guidelines, and allowing the restaurant to be pre-pandemic crowded can be a problem. We chose the restaurant because it had a large open air dining area and we assumed (wrongly) that social distancing guidelines would be followed. The people sitting on the table behind me were not more than 3 to 4 feet apart. The bar crowd was shoulder to shoulder. When we arrived, the place was not as crowded but as time passed, the number of people and their proximity to us became unsettling. We took our dessert home. Yes, we could have walked away and gone somewhere else. But unfortunately, the dining choices in Marathon are few and reservations are a must if you want to dine before 8.30 pm. So, I take responsibility for our decision to stay. However, my harsh rating for not doing the right thing has to do with the absolute absence of sustainable practices. Even though most restaurants in Marathon are still in the age of plastic utensils and cups, at least some are trying with paper straws, no straws, paper cups and recyclable to go containers. Lazy Days, which is “literally on the water”, seems to dole out plastic like candy. We asked to hold off on the plastic straws. Instead, waters and cocktails all arrived with them. We were sitting right by the veranda suspended on the water. It is easy to see how quickly the straws can end up in some unfortunate bird or sea creature’s mouth. When we asked for a to go container, to our surprise, a huge Styrofoam container circa 1980’s was provided. Yes, you are most likely rolling your eyes like are you for real? Yes, I am! Good restaurants understand their responsibility towards more environmentally sound choices like reduce, reuse, and recycle. Otherwise, our once blue planet will become the landfill planet. Good restaurants also understand that more and more people care about their choices. That we will choose to spend our money in establishments that are doing the right thing. They know we have choices and doing good for the environment is also good for business. There are two reasons why I wrote this review: 1- Hopefully, Lazy Days Management reads it and sparks a “thought” that could lead to change 2- Hopefully, when you read it you decide to support establishments that are trying to be kinder to the environment and...

This is a long review so buckle-up My wife and I had the best dinner here tonight. The atmosphere was excellent being on a roofed outdoor patio that gave exceptional ocean views that lead to incredible sunsets.

As for the food, it was equally phenomenal, from appetizer, drinks and main course. The appetizer we shared was a huge calamari plate with a side dish of home made marinara sauce. The best calamari we've had in the 3 other fine restaurants we visited were we sampled calamari. I wish I could tell you about Lazy Days deserts but we were so filled we had to deny ourselves that little pleasure, though I'm sure Lazy Days desert would rise to the occasion of excellence should we had tried them. But I digress.

First a word about our waiter. He took care of us with a fine gentle courtesy and menu knowledge that made us feel comfortable and relaxed and he added immensely to the overall value of our dining experience. His name was Alex. His experience with helping people showed and is, no doubt, one reason why Lazy Days South is among the most popular, full featured restaurants in the Florida Keys!

My entree was the broiled seafood plater consisting of a half of a huge lobster tail, crab cake, 3 huge, perfectly cooked sea scallops, 4 huge flayed shrimp and a large, perfectly blackened piece of Mahi Mahi with a cup of home made minestrone soup that was super delicious and a side dish of buttery cubes of parsley potatoes that was scrumptious. I realize my description sounds over the top but believe me it's the truth. This meal was fantastic.

My wife had the Lion Fish plater, baked potato and salad which she also loved. Also note that bread was served along with of loaf Lazy Days famous banana bread.

On a side note while waiting for dinner to be served I took some beautiful pictures of the early evening sun and sunset over Knights Key situated across a patch of ocean from where we were seated.

Short story long, we had the best dinner we had here during our monthly vacation stay on Marathon Key and Lazy Days South is heavily...