I really am disappointed to have to write this review as Strip House was a favorite Key West restaurant of mine. But after the last two times, I will never being going back again. On a previous visit I ordered the scallops which made me sick for the following two days. Because this had been my one and only bad experience here and because the rest of the experience was great I wrote it off to one bad meal. But after our dinner there this weekend I can see that it was not an isolated instance.
Located at 1435 Simonton Street inside the Reach Resort which is a Waldorf Astoria property, you would think that the hotel dining experience had to be superior. But Strip under-delivered in just about every way possible.
My husband and I and two friends had 7:00PM reservations on a Saturday night. After we were seated in the nearly empty restaurant a woman came over and took our drink order. As she never introduced herself, we had no idea if she was our waitress or a runner. As it turned out she was our waitress although not a very dedicated one. After our drinks were brought over she took our orders. Not sure if they had specials or not as she never mentioned them. But usually a restaurant of this caliber would have specials available. Then a runner brought a basket of warm bread.
Shortly after we placed our order the power went out over part of the island. Not the restaurant’s fault. Our waitress came over and said that we would have to wait and see if we would be dining with them that evening as it would not be possible for the kitchen to function if the power did not come back on. Unfortunately, it did come back on after about 30 minutes and we proceeded with the dinner. In the 30 minutes that the electricity was off our waitress did not stop by our table once to check on us or to refill our drinks which were all empty. And the runner never came back with more bread either.
To start the other couple ordered a wedge salad and my husband had ordered the tuna appetizer and a wedge salad as well. Not sure why the salads could not be brought out while the power was out, but oh well. The server brought out my husband’s salad and tuna appetizer once; it would have been nice if she staggered the serving as is proper. The tuna was decent and of a good portion with a nice presentation. But the salads were inedible. The smell was off and the dressing tasted rancid. We waited for about 20 minutes with these salads in front of us and still we had not seen our waitress so we commandeered another table’s waiter and asked him to take the salads away as they were bad. When our waitress finally did return about 10 minutes later she was unaware that we had sent our salads back.
All four of us ordered steak for our entrees. The guys ordered the ribeye and the girls ordered the filet. While the steaks were edible, they were underwhelming and tasteless. I expect a lot more from a steak house steak! I ate about half of my filet and had the remainder wrapped up for my dog. I have to admit that he did like the steak, but that was pretty price puppy food! The sides that we ordered which included mushrooms, macaroni and cheese, and potatoes Romanoff were tasty.
My husband and I order coffee after the meal, and while we waited the staff brought out a gigantic piece of chocolate cake for us to share. I think it was an apology for the salad fiasco, and while none of us are big chocolate cake fans, we did appreciate that gesture. The coffee was really good and for me the highlight of the entire meal.
When the bill was brought out, almost $300 with the salads removed, we felt that the entire night was an expensive mistake. Strip House does have a sexy interior decor and a great water view, although the windows were dirty and we watched a couple of termites crawling along the glass all evening. Perhaps that is why the lighting was so dim. In fact, it was so dark in there that the photos I took of my food did not come out.
To see what is happening on Key West during your visit, check out our Key West Events Calendar to see other upcoming special events. For more information about the fun side of Key West… things to do and see in our island city, go to our Key West Web Site.
And before deciding where you are going to eat while visiting Key West, be sure to read my other restaurant reviews too; check out our restaurant review section of this blog as well as our previous restaurant reviews.
Feel free to Email Me if you have any questions about Key West!!
