marina cafe

i made reservations in january for a 14 february reservation at 1900 hours. when i got there i could tell that the restaurant was completely overwhelmed. i checked in with the hostess about 15 minutes early. and then i was completely forgotten. i've been to marina cafe at least 10 times and has never encountered this level of incompetence in the front in part of the restaurant. after 50 minutes of sitting at thebari walked over and asked is there any chance that we will get our 7 o'clock reservation before 10 o'clock? the bottom line is they double-booked every reservation to make sure that they maximized profit. i don't think i'll be going here anytime soon and i certainly don't think i am going to recommend it to anyone anytime soon. i don't think they care for their owners business philosophy

missed the mark. we have eaten at marina cafe probably 5 times over the last 15 years on vacation. this visit was more uneven. while the food was good, the service and overall experience have dropped a notch or two. after leaving cash for our pre - dinnerbarbill, we proceeded to the host station to be seated for or reservation. the bartender found us at the host station to inform us that a trainee had "incorrectly rung our bill at happy hour prices" and handed us a newbarbill for double the original amount. the host visited our table about 5 time during the meal, which was way too much. two in our party had the grouper special , which was billed as a more healthy option. it was a 4-5oz piece with few vegetables as a garnish for $31. the menu and decor seem the same as 15 years ago, and the prices are too high for the creativity and meal you get. it's a nice setting, especially around sunset. they need some updates, and need to focus on getting things right, not so much on maximizing your bill and bugging you during your meal

happy hour spot. i love the happy hour here. they did make some changes for hh but not enough to stop coming. overall very good, best view and good price. thurs night ladies night. wine under two bucks! service can be slow inbarduring hh but so are most places. see you next time marina !

don't go to happy hour at thebaron fridays. i have eaten in the restaurant and the food was excellent. i have also eaten thebarfood, which is also excellent, but any time i have gone on fridays i am always disappointed with the service at the bar. after my husband and i stood at thebarfor 10 minutes with no acknowledgment that we were even there, we found a seat at thebaron the end away from the bartenders (because there were no seats near them). the 2 waiters are way at the other end of thebarand never even look down to the other end. the one time one of them came our way and didn't even look up at anyone, i asked in a loud voice 3 times before they finally looked up and i asked if he would take our order. another time i went around to the other side and asked if they'd take our order, and he said he would come over there, but he never came over. another time he took my drink order but never came back with the drink. also, the prices are sky high after happy hour; my hubby ordered a double beam and coke and was charged $18.50 for it. many people got up and left because no one would wait on them. the one guy that was paying attention (the one who was bringing out the food), was the only one sympathetic to anyone there. why are there only 2 waiters during happy hour??? it's the same story every friday (i've been several times - don't know why i went back). never again!

dinner date. my husband and i went for a date night while on vacation. i made reservations three days ahead of when we were going. we arrived on time and had to wait about 10 minutes for our table. it was a thursday night and thebararea has $2 drinks, so while we waited, i ordered a glass of wine. we were seated in front of the large windows over looking the bay. we had to wait a few minutes for our waiter to greet us, but once he did, he did a fine job. he made appetizer and course suggestions. we had the scallops for an appetizer. scallops are my favorite, and i was extremely disappointed when he brought it out. there were only four very small, thin scallops. they were so small, i thought the chef had taken one large scallop and sliced it into fourths.
the complementary bread and garlic-infused dipping oil was very good. i liked having a choice of white/wheat.
our meals, however, were delicious. our waiter recommended the crab-topped grouper with a citrus buerre blanc sauce. it came with a cucumber-grape tomato salad. it was phenomenal! my husband ordered the rib-eye topped with crabmeat. it was also good. we decided not to have dessert.
if we go back next time, i will try a different appetizer, but get the grouper again!

great food, terrible service. the food here is wonderful, which is why i was so disappointed in the service. we called at 6:55 to see if there was a wait and were told we could be seated immediately. we were right there and pulled in, but at 7:02 were told there was a 25 minute wait. i don't mind waiting, but dont tell me there isn't a wait when there is.

things continued to go downhill with the manager. instead of being welcoming and friendly he hollered at us across thebarto tell us when our table was ready. this was after he had given two other couples at thebarwho had arrive after us half off on drinks "due to the long wait". oh, and they also got seated before us.

the manager visited each of the three tables around us to ask how the meal was and bring extra bread, but he skipped right over us.

one of my biggest pet peeves is being treated differently because we're a younger couple, and this was incredibly obvious to us tonight. we frequent destin and always love going to new places, but we will most certainly not be back.

this restaurant has a lot of potential, but the management stifles any flicker of hope.

finally tried the dining room. after going to the marinabarfor several years for half-price drinks and apps, we finally tried the dining room for the early bird special. it was great! excellent food (grouper and snapper) and tasty crab/shrimp spring rolls. our waitress "eddy" was superb. looking forward to our next trip.

great cocktail lounge. marina cafe has the bestbarspecials in destin. go in for some sushi and brick oven pizza. enjoy happy hour and ladies night....there's always something going on. the food is consistent and i know that i will always have a great time at this local landmark.

excellent choice for happy hour and dinner!. it was awesome! they have great happy hour specials in the bar/lounge area including ½ price sushi and ½ drinks (even goose martinis!). we ate dinner before 6, so the entrees were buy one/get one. my husband and i both had the yellow grouper dish…yummy! they do not have a dedicated kid's menu, but they do have pizza. my kids shared an order of the sliders that are on thebarmenu. they were also very good. the service here was excellent. our server was obviously a professional.