nick's boathouse

thumbs up. wound up at nick's tonight after trying and failing to go somewhere else. the reviews gave me pause in the parking lot..almost to the point of bailing. glad i didn't - this was a really good meal. i ate alone for dinner (in town on business), ordering the chowder and broiled seafood platter (with cheese grits and greens). not fully plussed with the chowder - too thick and missing character but still good. the broiled platter was fabulous. fresh, generous portions of scallops, shrimp, fish and a crab cake. all excellent. the 2 sides (cheese grits that were unique and terrific and greens that were smokey) were also good. my server (miranda) was cheerful and helpful without hovering.

a great unexpected meal and a definite local keeper.

good view bad food. i've waited some time to write this review thinking time would have dulled my experience. myself and 3 others dined here on 4/27/13 after hearing a mutual friend talk up this restaurant. like other reviewers we questioned our choice when we pulled up to a near empty parking lot. we hoped the parking lot was empty because it was early (before 6) and everyone seemed to be at the beach.
we asked to sit outside for the view because the restaurant sits on the bay. the view was the only good thing about this restaurant. we ordered cheese fries while we decided what we wanted as our main course. the fries came out in what can only be called white cheese sauce. there were a few bacon bits and green onions scattered about. the cheese sauce was edible or we may have just been that hungry! we ordered 3 meals and 1 appetizer as a meal. the fried grouper was crusted in i don't know what but the crust was incredibly hard. my girlfriend ordered fish tacos but could not eat them as tacos because they were so soggy the tortillas fell apart when picked up. we both choose cole slaw as our side and almost spit it out because it had soured. one of our friends ordered the crab claw appetizer. i kid you not, there were five claws on the plate. that was as surprising as the size of the crab claws were huge, huge with flour coating! the other friend ordered fried shrimp and fries which was sub par at best.
finally, the music or what they called music. there was a live band that reminded me of a backyard gathering. you know those with enough talent to entertain those that love them. this band tried hard to impress the diners which was far more than the restaurant did.

the view is the only reason to go here because the service is average. unfortunately, we had issues with our service similar to other reviewers: dishes we didn't order, sides we asked for but didn't get, wrong salad dressing, etc. maybe this is why it used to be the crab trap. too bad the service didn't improve.

great food!. i went to lunch here a few days ago. the view from the patio area was really nice and the food was excellent! i highly recommend the chicken deluna! their sweet potato fries were really good as well!

hope ???. i sure hope visitors to pensacola don't' think this is gulf coast seafood. my husband & i had dinner on the patio & we where very disappointed , i had the crab cakes they had almost no taste & the "new orleans" butter was just awful,the cheese grits look like they used a ice cream scoop to put them on the plate & where cold with a very sharp cheese taste ,because i don't care for green fried tomatoes i ask for the squash melody it was just as bad as the butter sauce both taste as if the had been burned. my husband had the pecan crusted grouper (we have live on the gulf coast for over 52 years we know grouper this was not grouper) had no flavor at all. as we where eating a very large dog ran up to our table, a man a few tables away called him back not a service dog , not sure what the rules are for pets on a patio serving food, but it was a little unnerving .
the owns have a very nice place & great location so i sure hope they find a chef that can rescue them before its to late.

terrible service and managers. me and my family visited the boathouse after his graduation on sunday and received horrible service their, first of all they served us old sour and stale cornbread, but the worse part was how the manager handled the situation, we didn't notice the bread being bad after everyone had tasted it and then we notice it a awful aroma. instead of good management offering a way to make up for this, "i hope mistake she came to the table as if she didn't want to be bothered and had the worse attitude i have ever seen a professional manager behave, she walked off and told our party we can leave as if everything was our fault, the situation did not have to escalate if it had been handled properly she added fuel to the fire, me and my family had visit this the boathouse many of times and never receive this type of treatment, the owner lost out on over 300.00 worth of business over this bad manager and her unprofessional attitude over being stubborn and cornbread, the owner of this establishment should let her go.

new menu. went last week; started new menu -- outstanding! great gumbo, oysters rockefeller outstanding and grouper n'orleans fabulous! also, terrific band called "shades."


-----11 may, 2012-----

great water views!. good food -- great place to eat before the wahoo's games! also had great music the night we were there.

best restaurant in pensacola. everything on the menu is excellent!!!

anyone thinking of eating at nick's boathouse don't do it. went there the saturday before mother's day. food was good and serves was ok. anyways a few days later we checked our bank statement and nick's boathouse charged us more then we were billed and more then the tip we added. when we called and asked nick's about it. the manager said the receipt looked good and my husband did leave a larger tip then what he actually left. knowing my husband didn't leave that large of a tip because the serves wasn't fantastic, he went in to verify the receipt. it wasn't my husbands signature. he should the manager his signature on his drivers listens and said it was a honest mistake. seriously? a honest mistake? we were refunded the part of the tip we did not leave. and that was that. i feel people should be aware because chances are it has happened more then ones.

we passed by earlier and were surprised to see nick's where the crab trap used to be. we decided to stop in and take a look around, since we always enjoyed the view from crab trap. it was more beautiful than ever. we decided to give it a try and eat overlooking the water. our server was helpful and the food was great. we ordered a southwest shrimp flatbread to start after being told that they were half price until the end of may. the ribeye and garlic grouper were tender and served in a very interesting like-fine-dining-but-half-the-price way. the view sold us but the food will have us back for more.

beautiful view on the patio. grouper was excellent. good service! we would come back again.

a dinner disaster. i ordered the shrimp&grits, one of the house specials. the cheese grits tasted like paste & the cajun sauce had no flavor or seasoning either. i had no choice but to send it back. the waitress actually asked me if she could bring me some old bay to season it myself! i was never approached by the management nor offered any discount, apology or on the house for the bad experience. needless to say, i will never recommend or return visit. absolutely appalling.

ate there tonight and was very impressed! my fiancé and i were at the wahoos baseball game when it started pouring!! i guess we had the same idea as others because we went to grab some food and they were packed! when we waited over 20 minutes for a table-- i was very irritated and hungry... but the hostess was very friendly and eager to assist us, when the server came to our table he was helpful and knowledgable, then when our server was busy-- another girl (who seemed to be a server) promptly refilled our drinks and asked if we needed anything. i wasn't as i impressed on my first visit, but the food has improved greatly since then and our experience last night was much better! we will definitely be back before, especially when we go to a game!


-----24 apr, 2012-----

i visited nick's boathouse for the first time this week and was very impressed! there were 4 of us on what you could call a "double date" and it was the perfect place! i had the shrimp and grits and my date had the bacon wrapped filet... we were both very satisfied! the couple we were with really liked their flatbread and pecan crusted grouper, too! the service was great and very friendly, the view is beautiful, and the live band really allowed us to enjoy ourselves! we will definitely be back with more friends!

this was probably our favorite find on our trip. we both had a fresh fish meal, mine grilled & hubby’s blackened & we both said this was our favorite. would def visit again!

outside seating was too cool, so we asked to be inside.
no prob, but you have to sit right next to the open door. which was just as cold.
we said, we would like to sit on the other side of the only table with people at it to get away from the breeze.

hostess said, no here.
you have to sit here by the door. 20 tables available but only there.
really !!!

second:
we have a online coupon from the restaurants web site for a discount.

hostess said, no
you need to have it printed on paper. really, it’s your website.

we didn’t even sit down and left.. same type of service we had the last time.

rude ! just plain rude........m