Casey Key Fish House — Restaurant in Venice

Lots of little things added up to a generally disappointing experience. We are a couple and arrived before the dinner rush, were promptly seated outside on the little dock in the back, happy that we didn't get seated inside, which had a vague smell of septic or sewer. At first we were very happy with the afternoon sun warming us after a cool morning. They don't provide a list of specials at the table, meaning that you have to get up and stand in the way of other diners while looking at it, which is awkward and unnecessary.

We ordered drinks. My date had the Long Island Iced Tea, which was at a premium price point of $14. Seemed like a very light pour. We wondered if we were given an Arnold Palmer by mistake.

The specials were all in the $30 to $40 range, and at that price point you'd expect an entree with some attention to detail. My date had the snapper with capers, tomatoes and artichoke, with a sides of rice, carrots and some sort of strange cabbage medley that had a funky taste to it, quite off-putting. The presentation looked a bit of a mess on the plate. The fish itself was tasty, and the carrots were good. The rice was, well, rice.

I had the mahi sandwich, a nice large piece of fish. It was blackened and seasoned well, but someone didn't filet it with much precision as there was a scaly piece on one end which I had to discreetly spit into my napkin. The fries were good.

What really started to set me off was at the end when we asked for our check. Our server was very nice and I do not fault her for anything. I wanted to though, as it took her forever to come back to our table to get the credit card, even after she apologized once for taking so long to bring the check in the first place. But then my date got up to use the restroom and we discovered that not only was our server responsible for several large tables, she was also responsible for mixing drinks behind the bar. So the time between asking for the check, getting it, having her come back and take the credit card, then come back with the amount charged, was at least 25 minutes.

That happens - but we had a minor annoyance as this may be the first and only tiki bar fish house type of place on the water in a high-end Florida coastal town that doesn't take AMEX (our server apparently has gotten an earful from other customers as she apologized for the inconvenience even though I didn't actually complain, as I decided it is what it is. I knew we were never coming back and i just wanted to get out of there.)

Another minor but cumulatively annoying thing is the large-print notice on the bill that requests that tips be made in cash. I ordinarily wouldn't have a big issue with that if it was the only thing this place does to try to save a nickel and dime here and there by making it as annoying as possible for a diner to just take out their credit card and pay the bill without being badgered to jump through hoops to do it their way.

The separate tiki bar across the waterside parking lot does have a nice casual vibe and it's very popular. I'd like to think they don't water down the drinks over there.

Lastly, and I realize this is just petty on my part at this point but I feel like I owe it to them: try not to park in the lot across the street as there's no way to get into your car without tracking a bunch of sand into it. So I get to be reminded of this disappointing experience every time I get into the car and look at my floor mats until I'm able to get to a car wash to vacuum it out.

No bueno, and...

Sat down shortly after lunch rush. We chartered a boat and happened to land at this restaurant. We are not from the area but I asked our captain if they had other options aside from seafood and they said yes.

Jen was our server. I ordered a strawberry margarita and she asked if I wanted salt with it? My reply was sugar please. She they proceeded to say…Have to be difficult, don’t we? I blew off the comment thinking maybe she has very dry humor.

Shortly after, I asked about non-seafood or shellfish items and she proceeded to me “Well we only have one fryer and one grill” so not much. A salad. I have an allergy so I am always extremely cautious. I was a little nervous about the dressing but she confirmed it would not be an issue, which I appreciated. I asked about their soup, menu listed two options, and she said they only had clam chowder. At some point, my team was trying to make suggestions, and she yelled as she was walking away “It’s a fish house, what do you expect?” My team felt bad and started making suggestion on what she could have offered, like cooking on another pan, and I am pretty confident she over heard our dissatisfaction with her because I saw her look at our table. I am also not certain they add 20% gratuity to checks either, but she was sure to point it out to us when we were leaving that it was already added. Maybe she knew we weren’t happy? We were a group of 7, so maybe they do add it on but either way we spent about $350 in the restaurant and felt like it was just unnecessarily unenjoyable and uncomfortable. I think you may want to consider alternatives for families that dine at your establishment with allergies. It is not that persons fault and they generally do not intend to inconvenience anyone.

We were a hotel team, on an employee outing. We know service. Good or bad, it happens. I think the one thing that got me is when another server brought and plate to Jen, told her a woman never touched it, and it was reserved to another guest. Maybe I missed something there but that was just not something I had witnessed in my time in the hospitality industry. I think it is important for a manager to know these things because it is an easy fix and probably not an actual reflection of the establishment but this experience was...

I was sooo excited to try out the quaint little Casey Key fishery while I was in the area (actually the first time we went, we came from a Venice football game)

My first experience, the waitress (sorry never caught her name) seemed put out by everything. Just was not good service at all. We had a couple of teenage boys that ran out of soda and it took forever to get refilled. (Only one issue) but she was running around, and super busy.

Second time we went, we got a different waitress and she TOO seemed annoyed! I asked if she had limes and she was like limes? And I said yes ma'am, for my water. I literally felt like I was putting her out by asking for limes. I had planned on a steak because I heard y'all had a fantastic one, but after feeling like we were an inconvenience to her, I decided to continue my fast and just eat when I got home.

NOW I find out that a teammate of mine was charged an EXTRA $5 On her bill! Our assumption is that she added an extra $5 to her tip!

I had hoped my team would have caught her name but I guess we didn't.

Very disappointed. I don't know if these ladies are over worked and underpaid or what. But because of our two experiences, I decided not to buy a gift card there for the winner of our drawing that day. I'm sorry, but this was two strikes. We are not rude or mean people, but we did not care for how we were treated. And I did make a comment to the waitress that I was sorry if my request was an...