I have mixed feelings in posting this negative review, but i feel it is necessary.
We are in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, and I felt welcomed coming into the place. I was with two dogs, and places were just open for 4 p.m., which I guessed was happy hour. We passed on a few places, and wanted to get into others that were closed. A greeter met us outside Jack Flats, and welcomed us in with both dogs. She said to sit at the first table - which we did, and to put the dogs on the window side of the table, which we did.
Now, my attitude about this is if you don't want us to come with dogs, don't welcome us in. So while the initial invitation was great (as well as the person who I believed to be the owner pouring water for the dogs), the experience from then on went downhill.
When a family with several kids (at least three) went skipping out the font, right past the dogs, one of the dogs barked. A person behind the bar identifying herself as the manager walked over and said that the dogs can't bark, or we would have to leave. I was ready to leave but me an my companion stayed. My reaction was: sure, the dogs do need to behave. But the kids skipping past the dogs need to behave too, and they were the cause for this.
Then, another waitress (not ours) kept on glaring over at us, talking to the manger each time she passed. It seemed clear they were talking about us, and making us uncomfortable. They still could have asked us to leave, and we would have - but now, we started to dig our heels in. We mentioned that they asked us to come in, the person greeting people welcomed us, and the waiter was providing good service - even though she seemed to start explaining to us where the dogs should be each time they moved around. She also seemed to be told that the dogs needed to be contained, making us feel all the more uncomfortable.
On the way out, my companion seemed to voice her own frustration with the way we were treated, and the fact that they welcomed us in. The woman that came to us went to her and told her she was the manger, that she "loved" dogs, but we needed to control them inside the restaurant while kids need not be contained in the same way. She defended herself by saying there was nothing she could do about the kids causing the dogs to get excited and barking, but the dogs needed to behave - not the kids. I don't know where the second snarly waitress was, who was the person most responsible for making us feel uncomfortable. She did not address the issue of whether she told our waitress to do something about the dogs.
I will again say: the person welcoming us in was very nice to us. Our waitress was excellent. But if you don't want dogs, don't invite us in. If you invite us in during a pandemic, treat us nicely, and don't make us feel uncomfortable. The manager and the snarly waitress did just that, and I ask the owner to deal with them. Aside from our positive experience with our waitress and the greeter, this is not a place that really makes people invited in feel welcome.
As for the food - average, greasy bar food that happens to be in a pretty location in the midst of a pandemic down in Key West. Other places, after we ate there, looked much better. I can recommend an ice cream place we ate at afterwords that treated us much better. read more