We consider Old Key West our second home and have been spending 4-5 weeks a year there (not at one time!) since it opened. And 7 or 8 days out of 10, we've had lunch at Olivia's. We share your frustration with Olivia's as we have seen many, many changes over the years. most of which seem to have been driven by cost cutting. We were told the chicken you mentioned was being taken off the menu because of prep time, for example.
I mean, we remember the days when there was a soup and salad bar in the shape of a boat where the big 10 top table is now. The boat then made its way to the General Store and i think it's gone altogether now. Dave used to make the best soup on the planet and the menu was different from anyplace else to us--or so it seemed. The walls used to be covered by pictures of member's families, the plates used to be multicolored, there used to be napkin rings and we knew every waitress and waiter-Wanda, Claire, Tom, Carol, Lessie. Sharon and on and on.
We still go there a lot but there was a mass exodus of waitstaff a couple of years ago and this took a lot of fun out of it for us. Nothing stays the same and it's still a pretty restaurant with nice food and pleasant folks. We just find ourselves dining on memories a lot these days, looking a the same boring kids menus--remember the fish the kids used to color??
Sadly, change is inevitable but Olivia's is still nice....but don't get me started on the good old days at the Gurgling Suitcase and how THAT has degenerated!!
These menus were just posed on allearsnet.com
