I have been coming to Sun Surf Sand for over 10 years through many menu changes and different phases of this restaurant. It used to be a place I regularly recommended to family, friends, and travelers visiting Fort Lauderdale. After this most recent visit, which happened to be my birthday, I can confidently say that we will never return, and I will no longer recommend this restaurant to anyone.
Our party was at the restaurant for over 2.5 hours. Nearly every stage of the evening showed disorganization, poor communication, and a complete breakdown of hospitality.
Our server, Amauris, was rude, impatient, and unprofessional throughout the night. Examples of this behavior include:
* When our group was deciding on sushi rolls, he became visibly irritated that we were taking a moment to choose. He slammed the sushi menu closed, moved to the next person, and told us he would come back. His tone made several of us uncomfortable, and because of that interaction we chose not to order additional rolls.
* When handed a cup back to refill, he responded with unnecessary attitude and said, "Since you gave me your cup back, it is going to take longer to get your drink."
* My significant other has a peanut intolerance, not a severe allergy. Instead of offering guidance or checking options, he implied that almost nothing on the menu was safe for her. This made her feel singled out and uncomfortable.
The food service continued the pattern of problems:
* All appetizers and entrées arrived at once, which overcrowded the table.
* Two entrées came nearly an hour later while the rest of us had already finished eating.
* One meal never came out at all. At the end, we were handed a boxed version, which clearly seemed thrown together after being forgotten.
In addition, we handed the hostess a birthday cake when we arrived. After waiting about 20 minutes for dessert plates, we finally asked about the cake and were told, "What cake?" The cake had been misplaced somewhere in the restaurant. It was eventually found, but the situation showed the same lack of attention and care that we experienced all night.
The issues continued when it was time to pay. We asked at the beginning of the meal to split the bill between our two parties and we were told that it would not be a problem. When the check arrived, everything was combined. We did not argue and we calculated the split ourselves. When we politely reminded the server that we had mentioned it earlier, his frustration increased. When we handed him a card to pay, he refused to run the card and told us he was not dealing with it anymore. He said we needed to speak to his manager.
At that point, we had already attempted multiple times to pay and were being prevented from doing so. When we stood up because we did not know how else to proceed, two men who had never interacted with us all night approached aggressively and demanded payment without knowing anything about what had taken place. One of them became hostile and threatening, including threats to call the police, instead of first understanding that we had been trying to pay and had twice been denied the chance to do so. Eventually, the other gentleman processed the card.
As someone who owns multiple restaurants, I understand what proper hospitality looks like. Respect, communication, and consistency are the foundation of any service business. What we experienced here was the complete opposite. The experience was especially upsetting because it was my birthday dinner.
Order #: 314
Table #: 401
Visit time: around 10 PM, back bar room
Server: Amauris
Total visit time: over 2.5 hours
I strongly request that someone from ownership reach out privately regarding this experience. After more than a decade of being a customer and having many positive memories here, this will be a birthday and a dinner I will remember for the wrong reasons. read more