The Oyster Society — Restaurant in Marco Island

To the Owner: AMAZING spot! My daughter and I ALWAYS make it a sure stop whenever we go to Marco. The food was top notch as usual, and so was the amazing service by Mia, our waitress. I am giving it 5 STARS for very good reasons.....HOWEVER, the Manager Ramona comes across as very unfair and manipulative. She was doctoring/controlling the Hostess (Chloe? -blonde), and another young girl who looked like a 2nd Hostess, so much so, that at some point we believed there were actually 3 hostesses at the station. Ramona stayed there for the entire time we were trying to be seated. Ramona must have assumed she was being slick, but we both noticed how she leaned extremely close to the hostess (placing her head against the hostess) with a soft smile to make it look like she was being sweet (unprofessional), just to be able to "WHISPER UNDER HER BREATH" the "PLAY-BY-PLAY" instructions of what Chloe needed to tell us, which was that we needed to wait for 1 hour. This is after we had just called and were told the wait time was not more than 30 minutes for a party of 2 (as we were literally walking from the JW Marriott a couple of blocks away). So we tried making a reservation thru Open Table right away and we were able to secure a reservation with just a 15-minute wait. When we returned to the hostess desk to show our Open Table reservation, Ramona again acted very sneaky and "almost" silently manipulated the situation by instructing Chloe to cancel the Open Table reservation we had made and proceed to seat us within 30 minutes of our arrival, based on the walk-in appointment. Ramona kept staring at our table and sustaining her look at us constantly in an almost defying, cynical and intimidating manner, as if she was having fun playing mind games with customers. I could not believe she would go to such lengths just to feel powerful. Seasoned consumers cannot be fooled. This is not about the wait time, but rather the sketchy behavior Ramona displayed in detriment of the customers. I am giving this place 5 (FIVE) stars because they are VERY GOOD at what they do. I cannot say enough good things about Mia our waitress, or any of the other servers outside, as you could easily tell they were all aiming to please. Sadly, Ramona is a bad exception and provides a disservice to the establishment. I am writing this review because as an owner of a serious business, I would like to know about these things, and I would only be able to pick them up if I heard it first hand from a reputable customer. This is a FIRST-CLASS establishment (such as Da Vinci and Marco Prime). This one is my all-time fave though, and I wouldn't like anyone else to experience what my daughter and I went through on Saturday (5/22/21). The owner deserves to know! FIVE STARS ON...

While staying in Marco Island, I did some research on happy hour deals. Many places offer happy hour, but it seems like the happy hour at The Oyster Society is one of the best. So, we went to check it out. One of the hostess was a bit rude when we entered…but that didn’t stop us from getting some happy hour drinks and food!

We got Mai Tai 1944, Charles Lafitte Rose Prestige, Sazerac, Baked Oyster Trio, Sea Salt & Herb Fried Calamari, and Ahi Poke. They were all great, we LOVED them all!

We were there before our actual dinner reservation. So, once it was time for our reserved time, we were taken to our table. We received complimentary breads, which were so tasty! Naturally, it disappeared so fast, and we still wanted more! Our server, Rochelle saw that, and she brought us another set of complimentary bread right away. Thanks!

My hubby had another drink to go with dinner, Kentucky Blushes. It somehow reminded me of Coca Cola? Not sure why… Anyways, it was refreshing with a nice sweetness from the ginger beer.

The soup of the day sounded REALLY good. It was called the Boardwalk Bisque, made with lobster, crab, and shrimp. 3 of us ordered it, and our server Rochelle brought an extra spoon without us asking for it, so that the person who didn’t order the bisque can also taste it!

For main, most of us went with the special menu of the day. We got Branzino, Mediterranean Albacore Tuna, and Wild Day Boat Alaskan Halibut. They were all amazing, high quality and delicious!

Since everything we had here were so amazing, we just couldn’t pass on the desserts… We ordered One Toasted Coconut “Adults Only” and Key West Key Lime Pie. They were creative, fancy and pretty darn tasty!

We had a great dinner here. Since this was our last meal in Marco Island during this trip, I am so happy we came here last. It made it extra special to have the best meal in Marco to be our last meal in Marco (until next time!). Our server, Rochelle was fantastic. She was friendly, polite, took great care of us. I liked how she never reach over the table, but instead, always walking around the table to bring the dishes, or pick up empty dishes when we were done. Water glass always filled, excellent service! I would love to go back for more...

Wasn’t sure how I was going to review this place but I already want more and I just left 30 minutes ago.

Let’s rip off the bandaid and start with the negative first. I ordered the cioppino because not only am I a huge seafood fan but because I saw octopus was included and it is one of my all time favorite foods. When it arrived not a single trace of octopus was found in the mix. On top of that the fish I received was what appears to be leftover scraps. It was either shredded or shriveled in a ball with skin still on it. Almost hard to tell it was fish. It looked absolutely amazing as u can see by the picture, but I feel like the chef should have known that wasn’t quality since it looked like they were running out of stuff and instead recommend I order something else. If I was told that instead of being served that there would 100% be a 5 star. Another minor issue was the presentation of the grouper. Big plate, minimal garnish, and one small piece of fish. After tasting it we realized it was partially worth it because it was great but the empty plate felt like you were getting ripped off and not getting any food for $39.

Now to the best part, the positive aspects of this place. When I let our waiter Jeffery (who’s super great at his job) know what’s going on with the Cioppino, he asks me what I would like as a replacement and he gets it to me in no time. I replaced it with the New Orleans hot pot which was crazy good, i even made a joke to Jeffery about how it’s better than my seafood boils. I was surprised it was only a starter too because it was pretty big. I just wish the andouille sausage was cut 1-2 inches like a proper boil, the bacon bit sized pieces felt like a tease since you couldn’t find them in the broth. The cornbread was also freshly baked, the shrimp in our cocktail were giant, and the miso green salad had some of the tastiest dressing ever. Lastly the oyster selection was phenomenal, fresh as can be.

Overall experience was pretty good, I’d definitely recommend just sticking with starters and oysters though. More bang for your buck and seemed to be better quality. Hope to be back soon to check out more...