Angler & Ale

Reviews

• KD

  Karl D

  2 days ago
  3.0
  The staff seemed like it was their first day there, or just serving in general. All of them. Lot's of confusion. Didn't know the menu, brought us the wrong wine (ordered a white, got a red). Our server left our table in the middle of taking our order to bring ice cream to a different table. Our drinks were empty so asked if we could place another drink order. She said "Okay" then walked away to fill water glasses somewhere else. As we were getting up to leave, empty plates still stacked everywhere, they tried to bring us another sandwich obviously intended for another table. Once we got our food it was okay. Not great considering the cost. Asked for cole slaw that was supposed to be included on our sandwich, server insisted it wasn't part of it until we pointed it out on the menu. She had to check with her manager, then offered Tartar sauce because they were out of slaw. Then her manager "found some downstairs" and brought it up. Sorry, not eating basement coleslaw. When they were bussing the table next to us a plate of fries and ketchup fell on the deck. I get accidents happen but it was still there 20 min later when we left. Ketchup all over the place. We're not stuffy eaters and can roll with just about anything but this was just disconnected staff that were not working together at all. They were doing their best, but seriously disfunctional, and lacking experience. Maybe it was a bad day? All we could do was laugh after a while. With prices like that and in that location we expected better. If there were more options on Duck Key this place probably wouldn't survive. Bummer because it's a really cool spot! I would suggest if you go just get a drink and watch the boats come and go.
• MM

  Manuel Moya

  Mar 28, 2026
  1.0
  ⭐ (1/5) — Absolute Disaster. Do NOT Waste Your Time or Money. I don't even know where to begin with how catastrophically bad our experience at Angler & Ale was. This place should be shut down and investigated by every health and hospitality authority in the Florida Keys. Let's start with the drinks — or should I say, the drinks we NEVER received. We sat at our table for over an HOUR waiting for beverages. Not food. DRINKS. Water. Basic human hydration. The servers walked past us repeatedly like we were invisible. When we finally flagged someone down, we were met with a blank stare and a half-hearted "I'll check on that" — which apparently meant "I'll forget about you for another 30 minutes." I've waited less time at the DMV. Then came the food — which, after 2+ HOURS, I genuinely thought wasn't coming at all. I had mentally accepted my fate and started considering whether I could survive on the bread basket crumbs I found on the table. When the plates finally arrived, I wish they hadn't. The food was an insult to the beautiful waters surrounding this restaurant. How you can serve subpar seafood while literally sitting on the ocean is a culinary crime. The service was not just slow — it was nonexistent. The staff seemed confused, understaffed, unbothered, and completely unprepared to handle any volume of customers. Nobody apologized. Nobody offered a discount. Nobody acknowledged that we had been sitting there for the better part of an entire afternoon losing the will to live. Save your money. Save your sanity. Drive an extra 20 minutes in any direction and eat literally anywhere else in the Keys. You could catch your own fish off a dock, cook it on a hotel iron, and still have a better dining experience than Angler & Ale. This place is a monument to mediocrity wrapped in a waterfront view. The view is free. The trauma is not.
• PH

  Peter Hammer

  Mar 28, 2026
  1.0
  We visited Angler & Ale on this past Wednesday night (3/25). Our waitress was exceptionally friendly, knowledgeable, and professional throughout. Unfortunately, like other diners were experiencing, our appetizers arrived 90 minutes after we entered the restaurant, our dinners began to appear on the table at 2 hours after entering. The plates of food had clearly been quickly plated, some were dryer than others clearly indicating they had waited under the warmer for other parts of our order. The waitress brought us desserts and comp'd them with her apologies (she was wonderful and handled a very awkward situation as well as she was able). The manager stood near guests at the bar the entire evening without helping in the kitchen where he was clearly needed. As we left, he approached us, told us the chef did not do a good job and he was looking for a new one. Despite a nice pier-side setting, the Angler & Ale failed nearly completely. Diners outside complained they were sprayed by boat handlers cleaning their boats after a day of fishing. We paid our outsized check, despite dessert comps, and left. We'll never return and will advise the hotel of this event upon checkout.
• JN

  Jessica Neuber

  Mar 25, 2026
  1.0
  We arrived at 6:00pm during peak dinner hour and requested an outdoor table. We were told by our hostess, Jasmine, that the wait would be 15–20 minutes, which we were totally fine with. We grabbed a drink at the bar and enjoyed the beautiful marina view while we waited. When we got buzzed, we headed back to the hostess stand, only to be told by Jasmine that we “weren’t fast enough” and our table had been given away. So we had to wait another 25 minutes. This time, we stood right in front of the hostess stand to make sure we didn’t “miss” it again. Unfortunately, Jasmine was extremely rude and didn’t seem to care that we had three children who had already been waiting over 30 minutes. Once we were finally seated, we were ready to order right away since we had been waiting so long. However, it took an hour and 45 minutes for our food to arrive. The food was very disappointing. My daughter and I both ordered steak medium, and both came out well-done and charred. It was so overcooked my mom ended up throwing hers to the tarpon. The mashed potatoes were cold, and the carrots were hard and undercooked. The only positives were the drinks and our server, Chyna, who was amazing. She was kind, attentive, and clearly felt terrible about our experience. I truly feel bad for the servers—they work hard but seem to get very little support from the hostess and kitchen staff. Overall, a frustrating experience with poor service at the front and in the kitchen, despite a great location and hardworking server.
• HK

  Harold King

  Mar 24, 2026
  4.0
  Such a cool location on the water. We were able to walk from our rented condo. Our waitress was too chatty to all of her tables which in my opinion slowed service. From the time we sat down to the time we received our drinks from the bar was a good 20 minutes. The four of us had one drink each. All of us would have had at least 2 drinks had the first one come sooner. Two people got the yellow tail special at market price ($64.00 each-I guess we should have asked the price). Both of the servings were partially burnt on the bottom; not good. Two of us got the shrimp with rice. Both were not hot and one of us had it sent back because of it. At least the manager came out and apologized. We also got desserts which might have been the highlight had we not spent over two hours. With tip the bill was 300.00 for the 4 of us. Even though it was close in proximity, we will now hit the road for other options.