Brian R.
Yelp
How the mighty fall. Pierre's was THE best food, most elegant, had top service, with a killer view of the sunsets.
The building is still beautiful. The sunsets entertain. The cuisine and culture have been devastated by its new owners.
When Cheeca Lodge bought it, my hope was that they understood that this was the culinary crown jewel of the Keys. If you have never eaten here before, it's about the same as the B+ restaurants in the area, only with 5-star prices.
If you've eaten here before, the drop in food quality and service, is all too apparent.
This is now, sadly, a hermit crab restaurant.
Gone is the last top drawer chef and staff. Same with the so many of the long-working top grade bartenders, servers and managers.
In? A lot of H2B workers, including management, who seem to be well intentioned, but lack the skill sets to work at a restaurant of this caliber.
Their chilled seafood tower used to have beautifully poached lobster and shrimp. Today, the shellfish is as hard as you find at the volume places like Islamorada Fish Company. The oysters had an off smell that I've never experienced before. I passed.
My "boneless" lamb tenderloin had a very sharp bone that was left in the meat, and was tough as shoe leather. Inedible. Plate imbalanced with sweets and fats, and no contrasts. Embarrassing, for this level of cuisine price point. They sous vide the meat, but they took this one out well before it was ready. Tough and rawish is no way to serve food, Chef.
The escargot dish was good tasting, but tepid. The sauce plated was not supposed to be cold. It dings the otherwise top dish, of the night.
The new chef, who came across from Cheeca Lodge, has removed some of Pierre's classics, including the French onion soup, which was a regular fave, and was selling well, until they dropped it, a month ago. Mistake? Yep. The regulars are a lifeblood of this place, and Cheeca. That does not make friends or keep people coming back.
The bar has gone from awesome to embarrassing. The H2B gal there can barely make basic drinks. So green that the Grinch would be envious. She left the syrup out of one drink, making it SAVORY. Ugh. She worked over at their beach shack the prior week.
Still great parking and oh that sand with those views. That's the stars. Go eat at Chef Michaels, across the road. At least they keep the bar high for their cuisine.
I don't see this getting much better, Cheeca makes bsnk charging top dollar for memories, from tourists who don't know.