Backwaters on Sand Key

Reviews 4

TE

Terry Shanholtzer

Can Backwaters redeem themselves in my opinion? Do you think this will show up on their website? We have been going to Backwaters for years now and have had many pleasant experiences. Tonight was not one of them. I have been recommending Backwaters to my charter clients, BUT I may have to stop because not so long ago things began to change. Tonight was the worst experience so far. What are the odds this will get posted? Tonight I ordered a medium-well Filet and got a very dry, very well-done filet, though not quite a piece of charcoal. Normally, this would not be such a big deal, but the waitress did not bother to check on our meal for at least fifteen minutes. Now, I ask you is this not the first thing the waitress should do just in case there is a problem and just in case you dont want to sit and wait and watch the other members of your party eating there meal? By the time she returned my wife was done, (cant blame her for not wanting to wait and eat cold fish) with her meal the waitress showed up to ask. Well, I had stalled as long as I could and had eaten a portion of my steak, dry, cold, meat. I did so because I had decided to make the best of a bad situation. The waitress was apologetic and twisted my arm to take a piece of cake, which I finally accepted and which came to the table many, many minutes later. Whats the point of this? Then I asked for another drink to have with the cake since my one glass was already consumed. Of course she agreed but by the time I finally got the drink I had already choked down as much cake as I was going to consume. I wasnt going to wait another ten minutes. And, I got charged for the drink There was another incident a few months ago, but suffice it to say, "Backwaters has become NOT too receptive to correction or criticism." I am just about "fed-up" with Backwaters and I will NOT be recommending it to my clients anymore. I will give it another chance because I truly liked the place and if you get Brea for a waitress you will get good service. There is also a male waiter who is good. There are probably many satisfied customers at Backwater, we were for a long time, but as far as I am concerned, they are losing two "Bon Appetites" from me, putting them below a "C."

DA

David DeCoursy

Its pretty good for lunch. Rip off for dinner. Lunch Sirloin, Tuna Sandwich, and Backwater Burger are the best items on the menu. Servers are great. Management and ownership awful. Ive been here on Sand Key for 20 years. Ate there about 3 times a week for lunch (would never do dinner). They lost my business 2 months ago permanently, arrogant owner sent a rude email. If you eat there go with the above...but they keep raising the prices so the Lunch sirloin may be a ripoff like everything else there by the time you read this. Its a shame, nice ambience otherwise. Alsofor breakfast they own Maggie Maes a few down...better to either grab at Shortys (C-Store but FAR more gourmet, that guy is expensive but uses premium ingredients - Boars head and fancy cheeses- and cooks in front of you - you see the CLEANLINESS, else CLEAR SKY is the best best for breakfast around if you dont mind hopping over to Clearwater Beach. For Dinner go to Columbia if you dont want to leave the island, else Bobbys Bistro on Clearwater Beach is a local favorite and awesome. EDIT/RESPONSE - This is a fair review and others have since stated similar on other boards. Management has gone down hill. He claims I tried to deceive?!!? RIght, the servers actually agreed with me on my final visit that broke the camels back. The manager wouldnt honor a coupon they sent me that said $5 off ANY ENTREE. I had a teak Sirloin Lunch Entree and he said didnt qualify. I could get over it. But then I emailed the owner expressing my annoyance and he wrote back to me "Sorry, well remove you from our mailing list.". Wow. That says his attitude towards customer service. Also they need to do something about the trash. Depending on wind and where you are seated it reeks of trash. Place has been going down hill as noted earlier and by many others.

AN

Anonymous User

My family and I visited Clearwater Beach last week. We found Backwaters on google. When we got there they had us sit inside because they told us there wasnt any room outside (although we requested outside). When we sat we saw there were plenty of tables outside and waited for the waitress to come back to ask to move (we were extremely hot and there was a nice breeze outside). She didnt come back for at least 15 mins so we moved ourselves. Right as we did so there she was with a look on her face. We told her why we moved and she insisted it was fine however she was extremely rude and short with us the rest of the time. We would ask a question and she would barely give a grunt for an answer. She came to our table once to get drink orders, which of course we consumed right away with it being so hot, and she never came back to refill until we asked for more when she came to get our food order. After bringing our food she never came back to the table. My brother had to go find her for more water. At one point she was talking to another male worker and was rubbing his back when my grandma asked for more water and she completely blew her off even though we all knew she heard her. At that point we asked for the check, finished up, and put the money in the pocket. She was Johnny on the spot for that let me tell you. Well naturally we didnt leave a good tip. She followed us out and proceeded to ask why we didnt leave a tip (which we did but not much). My grandma explained why and she just said ok took of her apron and walked in. To top it off as we were walking down the street to the bus stop she drove past and yelled A**holes to us!! Ive never had such bad service, which was unfortunate because the food was really good.

A

A Private User

My boyfriend and I found backwaters after doing Internet searches for good seafood in Clearwater. We finally found it and were surprised it is in a shopping center with very tight parking. We walk in and have no idea if we go sit or wait and finally some waitress yells at us to take a seat anywhere. We walk out on the deck which is the only place with any people. There are maybe 10 tables with guests. After about 10 minutes of being passes by and ignored by our waiter, he finally takes our drink order. After 10 long minutes we finally get Our drinks, which is n when our waiter sloshes beer on my bf and the waiter just walks away. We sit another 10 minutes waiting on him to come back and take our order when we have been more than ready for quite some time. I got the crabby Englishman which is like a gravy biscuit made with crab cakes and English muffins, not at all what I was expecting! And my boyfriend got the buffalo grouper nuggets that were good. The food should have been amazing to make up for the horrible service. Our waiter made faces every time he turned away from a customer he was rude and cussing and always make smart remarks. To add to that the awful stomach cramps and sickness that hit both of us about 5 hours later. We wont be back!!!! I have never had such horrible service at any restaurant.