Pilot House Restaurant Review

Our First Stop in the Florida Keys

On our trip to the Florida Keys, we stopped at Pilot House Restaurant in Key Largo for lunch. I found the restaurant on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. We have not been eating in restaurants, except on rare occasions, since Covid started, so we were excited to explore places from the show again.

When I checked the restaurant’s website to see the menu, I found information about a glass floor in the bar, where you can see the sea life below. It looked like it would be an excellent spot for our first stop in the Keys.

When we arrived, the hostess greeted us warmly. The restaurant is only offering outdoor seating for the time being. When the hostess looked to see where to seat us, I asked about sitting in the glass floor area. Unfortunately, the glass floor was destroyed by Hurricane Irma four years ago. There is only a tiny portion of the floor left in the bar. She escorted us to a table and then gave us the choice of the table in the bar area or one that was more private. We picked the table farther away from other customers. We had planned to eat a late lunch, hoping to avoid a crowd. With only a few other customers in the restaurant, we were happy to see that our plan had worked.

Things Went South Quickly

We had a lovely view across the marina. I enjoyed watching the pelicans and laughing gulls flying around, landing on a pole in front of us and the roof of the restaurant. We were off to a great start until our server arrived. With no greeting at all, he asked us what appetizers we wanted. We let him know we needed a few minutes to decide.

When he returned, we ordered drinks, a conch fritters appetizer, and a Pilot House Harvey Fish Sandwich to share. After many years of throwing too much food away on vacation, we have learned that sharing food is a good idea. The server’s facial expression showed that he disapproved of us sharing the sandwich. The rest of our meal showed he was not interested in serving us at all.

The drinks took a long time to come out, not arriving until we had almost finished with the appetizer. When our server finally brought our drinks, Chris’s beer was warm. The server was much more interested in the table of five that had come in after us and left our drinks sitting on the bar while he took care of them.

The Food

We were excited to taste conch as it is one of the signature dishes in the Keys. The fritters tasted alright, but the conch was chewy and rubbery. I was not thrilled but, having never eaten conch before, thought maybe that was the texture of conch. I later learned that this was not the case.

When the server brought the shared sandwich to us, he failed to provide us with an extra plate. He did figure out that we needed one before we had to ask for it. The Pilot House Harvey Fish Sandwich was the menu item featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. We ordered the fish blackened. The sandwich, served with American cheese and tomato with tartar sauce on toasted whole wheat bread, came with French fries and a pickle. I thought the sandwich was delicious. The fish was blackened nicely, not too spicy, and tender inside. I enjoyed the creaminess and flavor of the tartar sauce paired with the cheese, but Chris did not like their choice of American cheese for a fish sandwich.

We did not see our server again until we had finished eating, but we noticed how attentive he was to the table of five. It was hard not to notice, as they were seated next to us. When he finally returned to our table, he asked how everything was. I refrained from commenting that it wouldn’t matter at this point anyway and instead asked for the check. I was disappointed that an apathetic server dampened the merriment we felt at the start of the meal.

Cost for a cocktail, a beer, an appetizer, and a sandwich $43.27.