Critic's Review
I haven't been to Shula's for dinner, but I had been there for breakfast before I moved to Fort Lauderdale as a tourist. I saw on their website that they have a breakfast buffet and I wanted to try it out. I rememeber having steak and eggs there, and while it was pretty expensive, it was very good.
When I arrived there were a few tables occupied outside; but no buffet. I thought that perhaps it was inside so I took a look. It appears that the inside isn't used for breakfast as it was completely deserted. Oh well, no buffet. There was no hostess either, so I didn't now if I should just sit down or what. Finally a server appeared and I got a seat with a nice oceanview.
The second disappointment was the menu itself (we have it here). First of all, there is no steak and eggs. This seems ridiculous to me; a steakhouse with no steak at all? Also, everything is ala carte. They don't have "2 eggs and sausage"; you have to either get a big sampler for $16 or you have to order each item separately, which would cost about the same. I ordered the sampler which is 2 eggs and 1 of just about everything; I got toast instead of pancakes. I asked for rye toast and the waiter didn't say a word; more about this later.
Coffee is $3 but they do give you a big pot so you don't have to worry about not having enough. Service is not snappy; after about 20 minutes the food shows up.
Its certainly not a hungry man meal but its enough for breakfast. It was at this time that I realized I didn't get rye bread but white bread. I no longer had the menu so I couldn't check, but I just assumed that he messed up. When I looked at the menu later I see that they don't offer rye bread. It would have been nice if the server filled me in rather than just choosing white bread on my behalf. Do you think this setup is worth $19? You make the call.
The food was as expected; nothing bad and nothing spectacular. The view certainly was nice and the weather was great as well. The server dropped off my check at about 10:50am while I was about half done eating. At 10:58 I slide my credit card into the holder and pushed the check to the end of the table so the CC was visible.
At 11:07 I asked a busser to tell the server that I was waiting for him to pick up my check. He smiled politely and cleared the table. At 11:15 my parking meter was about to expire and I dropped $21. on the table and headed out. Unattentive servers deserve to get stiffed on the tip.
In summary, Shula's gouges tourists as do most of the hotels on the beach. That's fine as spending an extra few bucks when you're on vacation is expected. But for a high price you should at least get good service. I didn't notice any sign of that here.
Note that most times in the morning or during the day you can find metered street parking on Bayshore drive. Bring quarters.
Photo Gallery
