WHY IS WASN'T PERFECT

There were some minor snafus and one major one but this is definitely a go to Sunday brunch buffet and I enjoyed the whole experience.

A major problem was that the kitchen was a very long flight downstairs and they didn't have side stands in the restaurant itself which means that every time a customer wanted a cup of coffee, tea or a refill of a soda the server had to make a long trek to the kitchen and back. I am all for NOT having side stands in the restaurant proper as they are generally eye sores with dirty dishes piled up and everything is disarray. There really wasn't any place to hide them in this very open setting.

I think this may have been one of the reasons I had a hard time getting refills on my coffee and at one point I had to do something I really didn't like--hold my coffee cup in the air until I finally got someones attention.

The servers all seemed to work as a team but divided, to an extent, on duties. As an example our initial server had 4 tables she was responsible for to explain the buffet set up, fill the water glasses and get the first round of drinks. Unfortunately our server had a party of 10 and neglected to see if her other tables needed anything, consequently when she went to get their beverages she didn't know I needed/wanted more coffee and had to make a separate trip.

Another set of servers rolled carts around serving champagne, mimosas, Bloody Mary's and all other alcoholic drinks.

Still another set of servers were responsible for taking the family style orders and delivering them to the table. It took awhile for me to catch the eye of one of these servers but eventually he came over and took our order and then, I think, he either forgot us and our order or didn't remember where the order went! After 30 minutes of waiting--not wasted as there was plenty of the buffet food to eat LOL--I called another server over and asked him to check on the order. He did bring it in a few minutes and I know it had been sitting under a heat lamp for quite awhile as it had that dried out look. Also I had ordered the lamb chops medium rare and they came well done.

Another negative was the fact that when dirty dishes were taken away the silverware was left on the table. At a buffet it is important that clean silverware should be constantly replacing the dirty. Do you really want to cut into meat after you had used the knief and fork to eat waffles with syrup or dessert with gravy on the fork and knife? Another silverware problem was that there weren't any teaspoons available at the dessert section which made it a little difficult to eat puddings, dessert sauces, etc. (Never stops me but some people don't know how to improvise! :O) And most of the servers sort of ignored the fact that you were eating something that required a spoon.

I think it is great that servers helped each other by clearing dirty dishes off tables, asking if anything was needed as they passed your table, etc. but too much was left to chance and the server assigned to our table wasn't that attentive.

Aside from the server problems, which I consider minor and more of the management's fault than the servers the BIG negative was the  lamb chops first not being served in a timely manner and then they not being cooked as requested.

It might seem like I am being picky but a restaurant of this caliber should not have any negatives!

I definitely recommend at least one trip to the Pier 66 Sunday brunch buffet if you are visiting or live in Fort Lauderdale. From what I understand many of the dishes are changed each Sunday so I may just have to go back and try them!

PS On a personal note--IF I had wanted to take a 'cigarette break' I would have had to go down 17 flights and outside the hotel. Since they provided a patio for the chefs I think it would have been a keen gesture to provide one for smokers but that didn't really take anything away from the brunch buffet itself.