Tony's Seafood
597 Second Street
Cedar Key, Florida 32625
First off, Cedar Key, Florida (as noted on the city limits sign) is the #1 producer of farm raised clams in the United States. This may be true, but dinner on Sunday night at Tony's Seafood on Second Street was not evidence of that fact.
How exactly does a seafood restaurant who regards itself as the only restaurant in town that uses exclusively local seafood - and charges a premium for that fact - run out of clams by 7:00 PM? How does this same local seafood bastion run out of oysters at the same time? How does this same restaurant take an hour to turn out a burger (ordered well and delivered to the table rare) and a bowl of clam chowder (good but pre made - just heat it up)?
How, you may ask, do all of these come to pass in one restaurant?
The answer: No Tony, just his stoned brother Eric.
Tony may be a whiz in the kitchen, but Eric just stares at the grill trying to figure out what to do next. Tony may be a great host, Eric yells at the nicely dressed woman who came into the kitchen to see why her order was taking hours to prepare. Tony may have earned a reputation that demands that folks call ahead for reservations, Eric allows 9 of 10 tables to be without food for over an hour.
Let me be honest, I hope for Eric's sake that he was stoned. If he were that slow and dim witted - and stone cold sober - he has real worries about being in the restaurant business. I am not sure what my favorite dining moment was at Tony's.... from our ring-side seats at the door to the kitchen, we got to see it all in living color! Hmmm... was it Eric staring at the grill and demanding that the waitresses stop bringing him tickets... was it the scene where Eric and his prep chef looked into the freezer, hoping that some frozen miracle would just pop out... was it the waitress suggesting the "Cab-roh-nay Savanne"....
If Diane or I had actually ordered one of the $25 entrees, and the service was... well... as it was... I would have given Eric a little Scarface introduction to my "little friend"....
Holy shit. The only thing I have ever seen that could compare - other than Nancy Paranha cussing me out - was the lady at Cedar Key's other high end destination, the Blue Desert Cafe... where every meal (and I shit you not) is prepared serially... that is to say that person A gets their order cooked to perfection.... and the the chef STARTS on the next meal.... the end result is that no one gets to eat together... ever.
Who are these people? More importantly, how in the hell do they not only stay in business... but have a waiting list for reservations.... |
3 responses:
The Only one(s) "stoned" that night is David and his guests. For such a savy cularary crew as this, funny they could'nt figure out the real cast of characters. "Tony", the Restaurant's namesake (not owner) was last in Cedar Key in October of 05. A Restaurant that stays packed with a small kitchen will occassionally run out of it's FRESH seafood. If it were FROZEN running out would'nt be a problem.
This Culinary four Stoogies grumble with price, complain the premuim seafood is not available and bitch the cheapest thing on the menu is'nt cooked right. There is no four top table with a bird eye guests view of the kitchen.
Your review is the only Comedy here. What a joke! Many of us in the Restaurant business work long hard hours to please diners and make a living. Countless customers
dine at Tony's and rave about the food and service. Maybe you could get your facts stright if you tried to stay sober before you go out to dine.
Which is all very interesting...but....
Wow, guess you took a hit off of whatever Eric had...
Never said anything about a four top...
Okay, this place just pissed us off becuase it had great potential and the guy (Eric) was just a tool.
How do you run out of FRESH seafood? You don't know how to manage a kitchen.
And by "slaving long hard hours trying to please ungrateful customers" means yelling at them...then...hey...go for it....
He yelled at the lady. No excuse. None.
In case you want to know a little something I learned from my days in the restaurant business: The customer is always right - even when they are wrong.
This is a lesson lost on dear, stoned Eric....
My loyal "anonymous" commentor told me today about your "Comedy of Errors" critique of my Restaurant. I'm Eric who you proclaim stoned in your story.
I did some research
and I found this.
According to our guest check tickets;
Clams and oysters were ordered, cooked served and paid for by patrons during that evening. Maybe
there was a mis-communication with your server Gina, Mr.Tatom. The server wrote "sm. clam" on your ticket but scratched it out.
The lady Mr. Daniel refers to as a
customer was not a customer. She is a perfume out of the trunk of her car saleslady who entered the kitchen in hot pursuit of a server who she claimed owed her money. She
speaks bad english and I had to raise my voice to get her to get out of my kitchen. She never dined
with us, ever!. Sorry that you and your guest had to be in ear shot of all that. She had no business barging into the kitchen looking for money.
The burgers ordered were not cooked by myself. The other cook who came in to help in the rush did'nt pay close enough attention to your ticket. However, I take responsibility and I apologize.
Yes, I might bark at a server who is rushing the kitchen by hurring taking orders too fast. Customers need time to dine and the kitchen needs time to cook. Sorry if that offended you.
Lastly, about my stair, maybe you were confused as I tend to read my
tickets attached by magnets to the hood and I will look at them sometimes longer as I decide my priorities in cooking.
All this said, yes maybe this is a comedy of errors. Things like this just don't happen, but I do apologize that you did'nt enjoy your evening at Tony's. I hope you'll give us another chance next time.
Eric Chef/Owner
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