Boater's Grill - Key Biscayne

The fish (chunks) was excellent, paella was very good and the wines priced very reasonably... We'll be back...

This was the worst dining experience I have ever had. My wife and I spent a nice afternoon riding our bikes on Key Biscayne and wanted to get a couple of drinks and dinner at Boater 's Grill after the ride. Our server was rude to us from the time we sat down. She treated us like she didn 't want us there. She took our orders for drinks and food without saying a word but looking very annoyed. When our appetizers came she dropped our plates on the table and walked off without saying a word. I made a comment to my wife that she didn 't seem to like us but we weren 't extremely bothered by it because we didn 't want it to ruin a good day. When our meals came she again dropped the plates on the table and walked away. When I looked down there was a long hair lying across my food. I got her attention and she looked at the hair and said We don 't have anyone that works here that has blonde hair, and looked at my wife (who does have blonde hair). She took my food and came back a few minutes later and started to tell us that the cook says that they don 't have anyone in the kitchen that has blonde hair...At this point I was extremely upset because it was obvious that she was accusing me of putting a hair in My Own Food!! I cut her off with I don 't give a $h-t She started yelling at me. YOU CAN’T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT! I couldn 't believe it. The manager came over after speaking with her and started to say that the waitress said that we had put the hair in our food and we were being rude to her. I told him to bring us our check, which thankfully did not include my meal, and left. This was the first time I have not tipped a server, having been a server myself in the past, and the last time I will eat at Boater 's Grill. Do yourself a favor and Do Not Dine Here!!

I had the pleasure of visiting this beautiful place and I was very pleased with the excellent service and attention of Mr. Pita. His attention to the customers is excellent and he has a great personality and charisma. The food is good but the attention to the customer is better. Mr. Pita it was a pleasure that you served us. Only thing left to say is until next time.

I knew I was in trouble when I called to see how busy they were and was hung up on twice! The guy that answered the phone did not speak English and instead of putting someone else on to answer my questions he hung up on me! I called back again and said hello and was hung up on again! I tried a third time asking to speak to a manager and woman apologized and told us to come over. When we got there, the place was fairly busy with boaters. I walked up to the register which I assumed the host to be and was ignored, most likely by the same man that couldn't speak English. A number of wait staffed sailed by, none of them offering assistance. Finally, I flagged one down and was told to take any table. The waitress was not friendly at all, one of those that is too much in a hurry to explain anything or take a complete order. We ordered drinks and a few appetizers incl. fried calamari, conch fritters and shrimp ceviche. The ceviche came out first and was so small I had to ask the waitress if that was the correct size. It was. It came in a plastic cup you'd put salsa in to go. The shrimp were just a bit bigger than bay shrimp!!! Being a local that has sampled excellent ceviche all over the city, this was not acceptable. We'd much rather pay more for larger and nicer portion of shrimp. The ceviche was $4.25. We tried it, the shrimp were really too small to taste like anything but they certainly weren't fresh or local and did not pop. We left most of the small dish there. The calamari was rubbery and tasted fishy and came with limp, barely warm fries. The third dish of conch fritters was the worst. The smallest fritters I've ever seen, I'm not exaggerating when I say they were the size of marbles!!!! They were so overcooked, they were tough and again came with the fries that had been sitting for a while. The waitress did not apologize and wanted to send the manager over who never came. We left 10 min. later only paying for the drinks. WORST FOOD/SERVICE. EVER!

The concierge at the Ritz Carlton recommended Boater 's Grill for a ;casual ; dinner. When we got there, it just looked like a run down shack. The service was pretty bad, which was ironic because we were the only ones there. Apparently it was where the locals went for fresh fish, but there was no one around. When the food came it was alright... priced about what it should have been, but the experience was a let down... especially since it came with high marks. Will I go back? No way.