Porky's Bayside Restaurant and Marina — Restaurant in Marathon

I wish I could write a better review. First time visitors, were in the Keys May 10 -15. We went to Porky's with no real expectations beyond a good meal and pleasant service. The restaurant was fairly quiet when we walked in, there were only a handful of other patrons and we were promptly lead towards a table by a very nice gentleman working the door. On the way to our table one of the waitresses came up to speak with the gentleman and she cut us off, walking right in front of us as if we weren't even there (literally causing us to stop short in our tracks) while she spoke at him. He addressed her quickly and continued us to the table (I had to walk around her as she did not move). Not the best first impression, but the gentleman was very nice and we carried on expecting better. The restaurant looked clean, the atmosphere was decent, and we got to see a manatee from our table which was very cool, but that's where the good ends. The waitress we were graced with finally came for our drink order and was less than pleasant bordering on rude from the moment she had to address us. We finally got our drinks about 10 minutes after we ordered them. The wait was excessive for a mostly empty place with other servers present. We ordered our food when the drinks came and got our food about 20 minutes after that. Be warned, the clam strip "Fresh Seafood Basket" they advertise on the menu is absolutely not fresh. These were grocery store style frozen clams (think Sea Watch brand), the only thing fresh about these crumb sized, pre-formed, machine breaded waste droppings was that they were freshly thawed and promptly overcooked (to the point that they were rock hard). We are from New England - clams and lobster are our native foods and sorry (not sorry) these tourists actually know the difference. We left about 3/4 of our food on our plates and pushed them to the edge of our table indicating we were done. None of it was very good. Our waitress never once checked in on how we were doing or if we needed anything. Almost half an hour later my husband finally asked another waitress for our check and she said she'd inquire (she was nice). Our waitress finally showed up and put the check on our table. Pretty much left us with the feeling of being sorry we bothered her. I dropped cash for food we barely touched and included a tip she truly did not earn, and left. Lesson learned, tourist trap noted. We'll be back to the Keys soon, unfortunately we will not be...

Almost everything was phenomenal. I got a pulled pork basket, and my girlfriend got the Philly (don't ask why hahaha). The pork came out hot and very delicious. Super flavorful, and the tiniest hint of spice, which was really nice. The presentation of the food was a little better than I expected, with the use of actual garnish for the plates. Our server was amazing, full of energy, and honestly quite funny. Her name was Addy, and she is honestly worth the recommendation as a server. She made sure drinks were full always and even got our food out pretty quickly, especially for the keys.

The atmosphere is very cool, with a really good view of a boat dock, and where they launch jet ski rentals, so if jet skis are your thing, you're literally right next door! The parking lot is kind of small, but we arrived before they got really busy, so it wasn't much of an issue. If parking close is a necessity for you due to a wheelchair or some sort of mobility issue, I would arrive before, or just after peak times, to secure a spot in the lot out front. I wasn't sure if there was extra parking as we didn't need to look for it.

If I were to make a complaint, as small as it would be - it's the Mac and cheese. Mac and cheese should be a staple of good BBQ, right alongside the beans, but mine was served cold, and was rather bland. I fixed it up with a couple chunks of pork from my plate, but that was a small bit of disappointment in what was overall an amazing experience. I'm not sure if they microwave the Mac and cheese or what, but personally, I would go with a different side. The fries and chips are good!

Also, don't leave without trying the deep fried key lime pie. The consistency and texture isn't quite what you'll expect, but it is one of the most rich and delicious Key Lime Pies I've ever had. They serve it with whipped cream and a little bit of cherry syrup drizzle, which really complimented the almost ice cream like consistency of the key lime. Please do yourself a favor and pick up a slice.

I'd love to include photos, but we devoured our food before...

We ate lunch here because we heard great things about their key lime pie.

Our server was polite and friendly, but didn’t seem to know much about the food. When asked for recommendations, she seemed to guess more than anything. We were steered away from the gator bites and towards the hush puppies, but they weren’t a hit with half the members of our party.

As for the drinks, the margarita was great, the habanero margarita, and the coconut mojito. My mojito was delicious. The margarita got rave reviews, and the habanero margarita was good, but without much spice. For a second drink I got the caipirinha, and it was fabulous.

For lunch, we got the kids pizza, the fish & chips, a Caesar salad, and the barbecue sampler. The brisket tasted like it was not fresh and had been reheated, the “spicy” pulled pork was not spicy at all, the cobia fish and chips were okay, but a bit soggy. The salad was a bit soggy, as if it had been sitting in dressing for a while, and it was silty and brown in many spots. The kids pizza was mostly dough and cheese, and was undercooked. My starving kid ate less than half.

I’m not sure why all of our food tasted old or left over when there are so many rave reviews. Slow day? Slow week?

As for the pie, the main reason we came. They have the “famous” deep fried version, as well as a regular slice of key lime pie. One member of our party hated the deep fried one, saying it tasted like the fries. The rest of us could take it or leave it, but the fried outside overpowered the lime taste of the pie inside. For us, the real winner was the regular slice of pie, though I felt like the raspberry sauce they used was a bit medicinal in flavor.

Not bad, not good, just mediocre…which was a bit...