The Divas recently stayed at the beautiful Ocean Key Resort in Key West Florida for 7 days, 6 nights. On the trip with myself were my daughter(26) and my best friend (age withheld to protect the not-so-innocent). El kiddo and I drove down, about a 7.5 hr trip that we did break up into 2 days to check out Key Largo and the BFF flew in the day after we got there from Jersey (Key West Airport was a saga for another post!).
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| photo by Ocean Key Resort |
I chose this hotel primarily due to location, it is right next to Mallory Square at the end of Duval Street and it has ocean front rooms. Had to splurge as it was my milestone birthday - the big 5-0! So we went for it with a one bedroom ocean front suite. Since we drove down, we had to valet park as that is the only parking option at Ocean Key. After check-in, you are offered a rum punch to sip on while being escorted to your room. That was a mighty fine punch, I will say. LOL.
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| Lobby |
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| My travel companions in the lobby |
I will break this review out into sub sections: Location, Staff, Room, Food, Amenities and Final Thoughts.
Location: Rating: 9 out of 10
Ocean Key is situated right at the end of Duval Street on the west side of Key West. Mallory Square and the daily sunset festival is right next door. The Conch Tour Train and Ghosts & Gravestones Tours are right around the corner. Easy walk to some bars, restaurants, Starbucks and there is even a CVS right close by. The Gulf of Mexico is on display on one side of the hotel, so nice ocean views. Besides the evening sunset activities, the hotel is not really in the thick of things so this causes it to be reasonably quiet at night but a bit removed from the nightlife so could be a little hike to some of the more hopping bars and clubs at night.
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| View of Mallory Square |
Staff: Rating: 9 out of 10
This is where Ocean Key truly shines. From the moment we pulled up to the second we drove off, the staff was amazing, with one exception. The valet staff knew us and our room number on site; they always chatted and greeted us by name. Alex (valet) was wonderful. The room service staff was always pleasant and welcoming. When passing staff in the hallway, every single one called out a greeting and asked about our stay. My favorite thing to do every morning was sit out on our balcony and watch the day come in. Staff and security always spoke to me when they saw me out there and held good conversation without being intrusive. I even had to call the front desk on day 1 due to a naked drunk guy sprawled by the pool. Security came immediately and was very apologetic to me. (More on this story in the overall Florida Keys trip blog post).The concierge jumped in a few times when other staff was busy and helped us out. Truly enjoyed the staff more than anything else at this resort. The single exception was one front desk employee who I can honestly say if "Have Zero Effs to Give" was a person - he was the personification of that sentiment. He really could not be bothered to help us each time I saw him. I was not able to catch his name and I am sorry for that as he needed to be reported.
Room: Rating: 7 out of 10
Now we get to the true meat of this review - the One Bedroom Ocean Front Suite. Now I often spoil myself when on vacation as I feel I work hard and if I am not going to do it, who will? So when looking at room categories I usually like to do Ocean Front over Ocean View as with an Ocean View, if you have even the tiniest sliver of water in the peripheral, they slap Ocean View on it. While Ocean Front is just that - direct ocean view, supposedly pretty much unobstructed. At least that is what it has been at every other hotel I have stayed at in that category. Ocean Key does not have a Pool View category but they should. While our room did technically have the direct ocean view, it was back drop to the pool and cabanas that obstructed part of that. We were on the second floor and could literally have ordered drinks from the pool bar staff and had them handed to us on our balcony with zero effort. It was very much a Pool View room charged at an Ocean Front price. That pool got very crowded and rowdy and even though the signs said it was only open from sunrise to sunset, folks were in it til late at night.
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| Oceanfront view |
As for the suite itself, it was decorated in a very breezy, island vibe and a good size at around 600 sq ft. The suite included an ipad that you use to order room service, order ice delivery, ask for tray to be removed, play music, contact guest services etc. This came in very handy throuhgout our stay. The living area had a queen sofa sleeper (which desperately needed a new mattress as our 3rd in the room can attest to), a couple of side chairs and a small dining table with 2 chairs. The miss for us in this room was the fridge/mini bar under the TV (I forgot to get a pic but it was small). There was plenty of room to put in a bit bigger fridge, a microwave and maybe an extended bar top next to the TV stand. The fridge reminded me of the smallest dorm room fridges from my college days and did not get all that cold.
The balcony was large and had 2 very comfortable, padded chairs and a small table. It would have been nice to have a lounger out there, as there was rooom for it, but that was not a deal breaker. This ended up being my favorite spot to sit and we also had the added bonus of being able to chill out there to watch the sunset and listen to the music from Mallory Square, which we could see from our balcony, without being in all the crowds. We even watched a fire spinner one night from our balcony, twirling fire batons to entertain those in Mallory Square.
The bedroom has a very plush king size bed, a desk and 2 small closets. Here was another potential issue. One of the closets had a small, very, very small set of 4 drawers in it and the safe. These and the 3 drawers in the living room were the only space to put clothes if you wanted to unpack, mind you this room is slated to hold 4 adults. It was sad but we just lived out of suitcases for the week, besides a few things we hung up in the closet and made it work. There was also a door to walk out onto the balcony from the bedroom. The bathroom was gorgeous, all done in Dorado Stone with a whirl pool tub and a separate walk in shower. For over $900/night (including resort fee and valet), I did not feel we got the value for the price. The staff and location saved this hotel from a 4 out of 10 rating due to price vs value.
Food: Rating - 8 out of 10
We indulged in room service several times and made a point to have breakfast, lunch and dinner as breakfast and dinner were made at the onsite restaurant, Hot Tin Roof while lunch was from the Sunset Pier. I will say that for the most part, some of the best food we had on this trip was from room service. The Island Waffle which is supposed to come with spiced rum and banana compote was surprisingly delivered with an apple compote the 1st time, was far superior to when we did get the bananas the 2nd time we ordered. I really liked the whole grain toast which tasted fresh and home made. Topped with some of the blackberry preserves and I was in heaven. The breakfast potatoes were very hit or miss. Ordered them 3 times and all 3 times they came in a different level of doneness. Even within a single order, some potatoes were still undercooked and others were nice and soft inside. Very strange, you should be able to cook breakfast potatoes correctly, especially when charging $4 for a side of them. Same goes for the bacon. First day it was cooked just right but the next 2 orders were mostly almost burnt, which left us digging through for salvageable pieces.
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| Breakfast Order |
Dinner was also good. We tried the Filet and the Crispy Mojo Chicken. The filet was tender but lacked seasoning and was nothing really special. But the Crispy Mojo Chicken was really enjoyable. It came with a chili corn cake and Mexican slaw. For appetizers, we tried several times to get the mushroom bruschetta but were told they were sold out. We finally found out on the last day that even though it showed up on room service menu, it had been taken off the menu over a year ago! Umm time to update that menu, especially since it was an electronic menu, no excuse. So we went with the Crispy Brussel Sprouts, which were fine. Nothing exceptional but ok. Dessert was where we found a gem. Our order included the S'mores Cheesecake (which was very rich and good) but the Limoncello Creme Brûlée was a star! This was my 2nd favorite bite of the trip and goes onto my top 10 foods of all time list.
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| Limoncello Creme Brûlée |
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| Crispy Mojo Chicken |
Lunch is where we never got disappointed, I recommend ordering 2 servings of the Yucca Fries. They come with queso, chorizo, pickled jalapeños and pico de gallo and are just divine! The chicken quesadillas were also very good and filling.
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| Yucca Fries |
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| Chicken Quesadilla |
Amenities: Rating - 6 out of 10
This was a very laid back and chill trip so we did not do too much. The daily resort fee of $46 was a bit much, I really wish since it was mandatory that hotels just included it in the price up front. I do not need to know you are milking me extra money for basic amenities: wi-fi, fitness center, beach towels, infused water in lobby, comp newspaper, etc. Just roll it in and be done with it.
As mentioned earlier, valet is the only way to park at this resort at a cost of $35+ tax/day. Tip: Call down about 10-15 minutes before needing your car in order to have a shot of it being available especially if you have a reservation etc. The hotel is at the dead end of Duval Street where it runs into the pier so you have to basically make a u-turn in the often crowded street to pull up to valet. This was a pain at times, especially once when we came back and the road was completely clogged by a delivery truck and cars and bicycles etc. Not to mention other cars parked at valet waiting to be moved. We had to circle the block and wait it out until we could make the U-turn and pull up.
I also looked into renting a golf cart as the roads in Old Towne Key West area are pretty narrow and sometimes difficult to navigate and a golf cart would be easier but it was $180/day plus the hotel would charge us $35+tax/day for parking! Umm no thanks.
The pool was actually pretty small for a hotel with around 100 rooms and no beach access. Several days it was standing room only in the pool. The first day I watched a drunk guy strip off naked and sprawl on a cabana bed. While security quickly dealt with it, the guy ended up pressing a pillow into his naked crotch to cover up while being lectured and noone came and stripped the cabana bed sheets or pillows before guests used them.
A big miss here was that the bar closed around 10pm. Would have been nice to have an onsite later night drink option. Not saying they had to be open til 2am but midnight would have been much appreciated.
Final Thoughts: Rating - 7.8 out of 10
The hotel itself has a great vibe and lovely walkways and courtyards. The room decor was themed perfectly and master bed was very comfy. Staff was top notch and location is hard to beat. The food was a bit inconsistent and the view was not what we thought we were paying for. Valet was a pain and resort fee was high. Overall, would I go back? I believe so. I would try a different category room and would need to get a better price. I am not completely sold on the property. I would probably give Pier House across the street a chance before returning to Ocean Key but it is not completely struck off my list.
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