7. Saltwater Cafe

Our waitress was Carrie and she was new and lovely and gracious. The food was TERRIBLE! My husband's grouper was "fishy-tasting and oily and DARK". My boulliabase, my all-time special occasion favorite, was like tomato water with HUGE carrot slices, pea pods, tough shriveled up small shrimp that still had the tails on despite it being served at BROILER temperature. How was I supposed to get those tails off in scalding liquid. Little tiny pieces of old tough fish. No clams were included, although they were included in the menu description. TWO mussels. Dreadful. Have these people never experienced a grand bouillabaise? I kept dumping salt and pepper into it, but it was awful. I think I have only sent food back three times in my life, but for $22.00, I was not going to eat a bowl of "tomato water" with mostly carrots and a few other vegetables. One of the owners came over and explained to me that you don't season broth with light seafood. What Seafood? I think that dish should have been named, "Can you SEE the Seafood?" My husband is a grouper lover but he was very quiet about his dish. He asked me to taste his crunchy grouper. It was heavy with oil and FISH taste and dark inside. What is up with that? Grouper is such a tasty light fish. We noticed that on the board they listed it as a Red Gulf Grouper, so maybe that is the difference? Nasty stuff or maybe too old? My husband didn't want to make "waves", so he ate most of his. So, I was offered to choose something else from the menu. I chose the Seafood combo - thinking there would be a nice chance to taste a few different things. Of course my husband was done with his dinner before mine appeared. My dish was supposed to be shrimp and scallops and a fish fillet with fried calamari on top. I must say the calamari was as light and sweet and tender as you would like. The three grilled small scallops, one the size of a nickel, were perfectly grilled and tasty. The fish fillet was thin piece of Mahi Mahi and had the same tasty grilled seasoning as the scallops. The Shrimp were ABSENT! NO SHRIMP! But worse than no shrimp, I ordered the meal with garlic mashed potatoes. The potatoes were in a little ball. It was like one of those ice cream scoops. No salt. No pepper. No butter. But there was this little gravy boat right next to the blob that I assumed was the "make it your own self" garlic mashed potatoes. I stuck my fork in the sauce four times to taste the white sauce. It had absolutely NO FLAVOR. Not a bad flavor. Not a garlic flavor. Not a salty flavor. It tasted like creamy white WATER! Then I saw another little gravy boat with some sort of red gravy. I wondered what that might have been provided for?! I couldn't see any place I would put that. I dipped my fork in to taste it. It tasted like burned tomato paste that had been diluted. It was just DREADFUL! Where are these people from? They brag about having over 250 items on their menu? And this guy does a TV SHOW? Hey, how about fixing up your own food! I could have rolled up my sleezes and shown them how to make a nice rich proper boulliabase that would have people lining up to get in. I have eaten this dish all around this country and other countries. This was watered down tomato broth with very little, and tough at that, seafood, for $22.00. Save your money. Go to a really classy place with amazing food, service and ambience right up on 576 Blackburn Point Road, Osprey. (Directly next to the former Flying Bridge). It is La Tosca. It has a backwater view and someone in THAT kitchen knows what they are doing and you will have such a peaceful classy experience! Such a pretty room. Be sure to try the Paparadelle with the homemade sausage and the lemon sorbet for dessert is lovely. When I mentioned to the waitress at Saltwater Cafe that I had had plenty, but the shrimp had never been delivered, she sort of scowled, not at me I don't think, but at how the kitchen had messed up again - and took my plate. Our check was not credited with the cost of the shrimp we didn't receive, and we were not offered the shrimp to take home - that we were PAYING FOR! Skip this awful place! If you watch Chef Rolf on TV, I would not suggest duplicating his recipes. I don't know if he is just getting by on his "European" foo-foo, or his European accent, but he should scale down his menu in his restaurant and make himself sit and eat each and every item before he charges such prices for such awful food!