Brian R.
Yelp
Why is one of the most beautiful physical plants, for a restaurant, with STUNNING views, struggling to get to a four star rating? Located in the Cheeca Lodge Hotel, one of the oldest, and now one of the grandest resorts in the Keys, period, Atlantic's Edge falls victim to the owners' understanding of what a resort should be. A place is only as good as the people in it. Five star look. Three star hospitality, at best. Four star food, at six star prices.
Breakfast/brunch is the best time to take in the view, other than a pre-sunset dining experience. I've been coming here for 20+ years. The dining room is a bit like a roller coaster. With the right chef, and a tighter staff? It can really rock. At the moment? It's more of a psychic: A medium.
Hospitality: They have tried to address the ago-old problem of the Keys. It's hard enough to find someone who will show up to work: on time; sober. To fix this problem, they bring in a ton of H1-B visa workers, mostly from the Caribbean. Some of them are really wonderful. They "get" hospitality, and do it with warmth, and human connection. The majority, though, are doing the job that they're told to do, but without any heart, soul, or desire to be there doing it. Many seem a little afraid of the people that they're serving, and speaking out of turn. If you choose to engage them, and they realize that it's okay, they open up, quite a bit. The problem is that that level of "friendly" should be 100% of the time, every day. You're "on" in the five-star hotel game, every time you hit the building. This, sadly, Cheeca charges for, but doesn't deliver.
At a cheaper hotel? That wouldn't be noticed. At a resort that aspires to the category of hotel that this should be? Very noticeable.
My egg white frittatas took about 15 minutes to order, and another 20 to show up. The waiter asked me for bread choice? I said English muffin. Out came whole grain toast. The dropper had no idea what to do about the mistake. He was going to take the whole thing BACK, which would have seen it stone cold, on arrival. I suggested that he should ask for a muffin, instead, and let the waiter know. The muffin showed up, as I was done. The waiter had no idea, and didn't really know what to do/say about it either.
Bad write of the ticket? Bad read in the kitchen? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Service, at competence, is a problem with most Keys restaurants, the Square Grouper, and Ziggie and Mad Dog's, obvious standout exceptions to the Keys Rule, that proves that it can be done here. When the Lodge took over Pierre's, a couple of years ago? It was once the other top destination restaurant in Islamorada, and the Keys, they crashed it, within months, with the same thing. Imported workers who aren't screened for hospitality, and don't have the chops, in terms of their interactions with other people, to do a five-star job.
At the five-star prices? It's kind of insulting, unless...
People will always come to a beautiful place like this. Ownership's message to you is EXPECT LESS. You'll get used to it, while we charge you as if you were at Torrey Pines, or another hotel that delivers the over-the-top hospitality, that a place like Cheeca Lodge, and its restaurants, should be more than capable of rising to, at the nightly room rates/ food/bar charges.