Bumby’s

Excellent restaurant in Islamorada. New and worthy of the 5+ stars.
We had my 50^th celebration this weekend at Bumbys — we are from the Ft lauderale area and lots of us are foodies. I called based on the Unilocal reviews here and felt so lucky we did. I made a reservation for my family of 26 (multi generational group with ages 1 year to 77 years) — and was greeted by Megan who handled every thing and every detail was perfect, EVERY person felt the same way. The food was served to 26 people perfectly. They almost made it seem easy. The service 5 stars, The food 5 stars, the ambiance 5 stars. Highlights –we had an open menu as well as chef suggestion menu — which was printed for us. Our tables set intimately in a horseshoe and the room was subtly elegantly decorated making the environment even more cozy and intimate, Megan went ABOVE & beyond. Now to get to the food. The appetizers were pre selected by Megan and spot on. We ordered seconds because all of the them were that good. There was dozens and dozens of fresh oysters, we had Bumbys fancy Pimento cheese spread — that deserved a 10 — it was served with a warm large beignets & the most tasteful enhancements such as Prosciutto Di Parma, Fruit Compote & Olive Tapenade. We had jumbo shrimp and the best crabcakes EVER served with a Mango Ponzu. Dinner was so varied, many people had the filet mignon cooked to perfection, others a porterhouse pork chop cooked with collards, a few people had their gumbo– traditional and cooked just with the right amount of kick, Approx 15 «different» fish orders. Some prepared blackened others grilled with a meyer lemon aiolo and even a few with jumbo lump crab and bacon in a brandy peppercorn sauce. The buttered poached Lobster was served on a fennel cucumber salad with strawberries in a truffle meyer lemon vinaigrette and sweet corn cream, DELISHNESS — everones sides were perfectly paired with their entries and salad were fresh and crisp. The wine choices were perfect and Marco accommodated so many different palates and the servers served us all with a happy personality. Our night was smooth & wonderful & affordable — its a MUST GO — honestly if we could give an extra star for the perfect service we would. We will go back over and over when we are down there.

Excellent! Get the bread bowl and anything Hemingway! Loved everything about it – the taste, the ambiance, the entire experience. Absolutely our favorite in the keys, from Largo to Key West and we’ve tried them all. We’ll be back, every. Time. We’re here.

My now, «Go to» restaurant in Islamorada! Atmosphere, service, menu selection, pricing, quality, and presentation are all top shelf. This chef and owner have got it right. Most restaurants in the Keys will cater to the tourist trade with little concern for the product they present or for encouraging repeat business. At ‘Bumbys’, there is an obvious caring for what is being presented to their dining clients. The exec chef and his talented crew are a credit to their craft.

Wow I really feel bad giving Bumby’s A 4 star rating although I absolutely cannot give them 5 stars. The foods served at bumby’s was absolutely some of the best gourmet food I have ever experienced. Every item was superbly prepared and very unique and tasted as though it was prepared by a Michelin chef. The layout of the restaurant is very comfortable and nicely designed. The problem I have with the restaurant is the level of service they provide to the customers. It took nearly 20 minutes for me to receive my iced tea. And that was only after asking three times about it. Our waiter Marco was in way over his head there were 15 guys all ordering and he was the only person there to help and to serve. Obviously he was unable to keep up with any of the demanding tasks of a crowd like this. But I also looked around at the multiple other tables and I believe they were receiving the same level of service as we were the bread was not brought to the table for at least a half hour so even though every item that we ordered was absolutely delicious prepared to perfection and presented in a gourmet fashion because they may not understand the importance of good service to their customers I feel this restaurant may experience troubles in the future in such a competitive market. I hope they are able to understand service in the restaurant industry is imperative. People shouldn’t have to get up and get their own ice for their iced tea. My favorite restaurants are generally the ones that you have a wait person and then they have multiple assistance helping to service the tables

Another fabulous meal here at Bumby’s. The oyster selection was amazing. We had some specials that were truly James Beard award worthy! The Chef came out to speak with us and is truly remarkable. This place is a gem! If you want creative, fine dining at its best, then come here.

Never go again. Uncomfortable décor, overpriced, badly overpriced, not Keys food. Went to Lazy Days instead!

came here tonight for the first time. Started with the heirloom salad, very refreshing and tasty. The scallop app was really good. would order again. The gumbo dinner was tasty. Not spicy. Service was good, friendly staff. We will be back.

We’ve been coming to the Keys for the past 4 years and eating out most of our stays. Bumby’s is our best dining experience by far. Attractive interior and knowledgeable and attentive staff. The food was excellent. All of us felt that our meal was the best. Perfectly cooked scallops and risotto, seafood Newburgh and beautifully dressed salads. Their name should reflect that it is a full service restaurant. It was great! Jan T. Watertown NY

Great service by Diana (Diane), thank you! Oysters were excellent with lots of choices. We had 3 rounds along with an crusted oyster sandwich. The Fish Chowder tomato baste soup was best tasting I think I ever had. We happen to be there for Happy Hour and selection for a Happy Hour was great. Highly recommend! Colleen from Bucks County PA

Good food good service good time.
Fine selection of oysters
Will be sure to stop again next time in the keys.
Thanks for good experience and appreciate the attention to detail. Diane was a wonderful server
Cheers

We were seated upstairs which did not seem to be finished. It had a loud mechanical noise and smelled of fish. We decided to sit downstairs at the bar. The fish was salty and overpriced for the portions. Would not go back. Hopefully they will taste the food and make corrections as this is a new place. Good luck.

If you like salty & tasteless food, this is the place for you. Did I forget to mention that it was the most expensive hogfish I ever eat?$ 34 for a slice of a thin filet of a probably illegal size hogfish!!!
What about the ceviche: hard cooked shrimp and lots of peppers, disgusting!
Run as fast as you can.

We were a party of 4.
Started off with a ceviche. delicious. We ordered a Yellowtail hemingway, Wahoo almondine, risotto and a Seafood Newberg. The best was the wahoo, firm flakey fish and the Newberg in a bread bowl was to die. Highly recommended if and when you’re down here.

Four of us dined here after a local event and I have to say that this meal was absolutely fantastic!
We chose to start with an asparagus salad and it was the highlight of our entire meal because it was perfectly cooked with poached eggs, bacon… it was unique and absolute delicious. Think carbonara, but without the pasta.
Well, the asparagus salad was the highlight until we got our main courses! At our table we represented the pork belly, fried chicken, scallops, ahi carpaccio…
One comment I will make here is that the carpaccio isn’t a true carpaccio… It’s a seared ahi served with warm won ton chips. Don’t get me wrong it’s fabulous. Years ago when I had this dish at my restaurant, we served it with a kecap drizzle which really seem to make the dish so I felt like this dish needed just a little bit of a sauce or final element to be a finished plate, but it didn’t stop us from eating every last bite!
The pork belly was very creative! It was presented as a pork belly sandwich with the pork stacked between two beignets. It was scrumptious.
The service was very good — we wanted for nothing as drinks were flowing and everything was fabulous: a great evening with great friends!

Very pricey, and not that much food. Service was very good. Didn’t even have peel and eat shrimp on a Wednesday what kind of raw bar runs out of shrimp.

Came down for the weekend and heard about this restaurant opening in December of 2015.
We wanted to eat a nice dinner and found two reviews on Unilocal.Bumby was the nick name of Ernest Hemingway’s son. The experience of dining at this restaurant was as pleasing as reading one of Hemmingway’s books. We were greeted by a lovely hostess who sat us at a round table adorned with a white table cloth.
Our waiter suggested the Artisan Asian salad and Oysters Rocefeller. We were amazed with the pairings of unique flavors their head chef created in both appetizers. After tasting this, we were excited to see what the next chapter would bring. I had ordered the Seafood Newberg and my wife ordered the Crab cakes. Like a well written book it was a fairy tale ending delicious and satisfying. I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for an experience while dining. It will not disappoint you.

We returned New Years Eve at 6;00pm and brought our own fish. Had the Mahi prepared Bumby’s style for appetizer, excellent! Also brought tuna for main course, had prepared Cajun seared, Hemingway, and Nola. All 3 were excellent. My son said the Crème Brulee was the best he has had. We have been to the Keys and eaten several excellent meals at Lazy Days due to the ways they prepare your catch, Bumby’s definitely rivals their preparations.

Disclaimer: our reservations were for 8:30pm — we attempted ordering 2 of the 3 «fish of the day» only to find they were out of both. They offered a substitute and that’s what we chose, after our server had to visit the kitchen twice. Once we got our food, it was 5 stars for flavor! My low review is actually for the ambience. Noise level was through the roof! For a meal (family of 5) to be $ 225, the noise level was too high. This is due to the set up of the building I believe. It was not enjoyable in the least. Our server had to scream at us so we could hear her. We basically sat in silence and left with headaches. Food: 5 Stars! Ambience: 1 Star
Won’t return!

Wow. We made a good choice tonight! Browsing for restaurants and came across this new place. No one seemed to have an opinion but we were told it has only been open a few weeks! Beautifully decorated, loved the sea green couches and orange table napkins. The food was amazing and the service A++. Special thank you to Romona, our server! If you’re looking for a beach bar this is not the place. This place is elegant and classy!