the grand marlin of pensacola beach

wonderful and delightful experience.. my husband and i decided to try the grand marlin, it was excellent. our food was hot and delicious; for an appetizer i had the calamari which included not only calamari but deep fried pickles and deep fried banana pepper rings, along with a delicious dill dipping sauce. my husband had the brussel sprouts with the bacon lardons; it was delicious as well. for our entrees i had the grouper piccata and my husband had the shrimp and grits. and if that wasn't enough we also had dessert: the praline basket with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, chocolate and caramel sauce, and fresh berries in a praline basket. it was to die for! our server jana did an excellent job. my husband and i would go back again.


-----11 may, 2015-----

calamari. in addition to the deep fried calamari there was also deep fried pickles deep fried banana peppers and a little bit of deep fried green peppers it came with a dill dipping sauce that was delicious .

beautiful and flavorful. this was a lovely dining experience. the sat outside, just on the water and watched sailboats, dolphins and fishermen go by.
the food was super fresh and delicious. the shrimp and grits had a warm, spicy, comfort food flair. i'm usually not a fan of grits, but this was more like polenta, which i love.the tomato and sausage had a great gumbo flair.
other dishes at the table included the local fresh grouper with salsa verde and mashed potatoes. yum! the salsa was a perfect accouterment, and the potatoes must have been half butter. the swordfish and asian slaw special had great flavor, but i'm not a swordfish fan so the others won for me.
don't miss the cocktails. my mojito was excellent and i'll be trying the white wine sangria with sage and cucumber next time i go!

awesome experience.... eating outside! the view was incredible overlooking the sound. food was good and we had a good waiter. exceptional bushwackers...

great food and people. i am a regular customer at the grand marlin. my husband and i love going there for lunch, brunch and dinner. i think the grand marlin is one of the best restraurants in the area. i have never had a bad meal there and the servers are always super nice. i will say that we always go at odd times so we don't have to wait. there can be a long wait depending on the time you go. i think this alone shows you how popular the place is. i read one review that said they had a better meal at flounders. i guess if you are a tourist and don't know the difference between frozen food and mass market food and the real deal then yes, i guess it wouldn't matter. but, since we have lived here for over 40 years and we fish the area, i can tell you the food at the grand marlin is top notch! not frozen pre-battered junk thrown in a deep fryer!

overpriced & overhyped. let's start at the beginning. first we asked for outdoor seating but the hostess stand is ran by three inexperienced young "cute" girls. they need for professional hostesses in a restaurant that has an upscale look.....anyways we were given indoor seating. they apologized for that. okay, strange start for a place we were told was so locally, highly revered. listening skills are always a problem among younger people and i'm 30. we sit down outside and the table we were seated at was far too windy. we politely asked for another table and they got us seated but the hostess (once again looked 17) wiped down the table....supposedly. it still had food remnants on it and smelled like fish. we got the calamari because it was highly reviewed here on urbanspoon....the menu does not explain it is calamari but it also has pickles and bell peppers as well. the menu does state is has banana peppers on it that's it. also, if you ask for ranch or marinara they don't have any for substitute. the lime aioli is far too sweet for my tastes and the fact that a restaurant doesn't have any ranch on hand makes me glad i didn't order a salad. the calamari ended up seeming like a rip off, too much other fried vegetables and not enough seafood for the $9.95 price. peg leg pete's offers same taste on the same dish for a basket of all calamari not fillers. now, to the entrees. my husband and i ordered the filet mignon & the ribeye. the steaks were phenomenal. tender, great cuts but no seasoning. this company would have steak lovers flying in the door if they actually seasoned them a bit. we put salt and pepper on them it helped. overall though i would rate steaks themselves a 5 star rating. sides were average.....all in all with my always 20% tip because our waitress did nothing wrong....we didn't dare get dessert at their prices due to poor appetizer and sides being boring...our bill was $94 and at that rate we shall not return again. the chef needs to find the nearest o'charley's chain restaurant and order a louisiana sirloin and take note. o'charley's meat isn't as good but the seasoning makes it amazing.

this place is amazing!!! saw it when we first got into town and saw how busy it was and knew we had to try it! after my dads wedding we all went there and ate, and i must say that we had the best experience ever! food was terrific and the management was even better! owners knew exactly what they were doing by opening this place up!! you have got to try it!

upscale dining on pensacola beach. this is one of the best restaurants on pensacola beach, but that being said, it would not stand up to some of the other better restaurants along the northern gulf coast. we started off with the oyster rockefeller which was different than any that i had ever had, but they were very tasty. i decided on the pan seared swordfish and my wife had the grilled sea scallops. the scallops were tasty, but slightly undercooked, which is better than being overcooked, but the sides were mediocre at best. the pan seared swordfish was over cooked and dry, but did have a good taste, that i later found out was due to the seasonings loaded with msg. this is the first seafood restaurant that i have encountered this issue, as i am allergic to msg and i paid the price for them not stating that they use msg on the menu. shame on you. we ate outside to enjoy the view, but had second thoughts, as it was extremely loud as the sound reverberates off the high ceiling and open design. this is a nice place, with high prices and so so food. if they get rid of the msg, i might try it again, but as long as they use msg in their spices, i won't be back. to be honest about the prices, i will let you judge for yourself. the meal with tip, including a mix drink and one glass of wine was $120. you be the judge if the prices are high or not.

service was unreal for p cola. i have been to the grand marlin several times and found the service hands down the best this town has to offer.
i used to go to the fish house but the food at the grand marlin and the fact that server tony remembered my entire tables first names gave me that comforatable feel good that the rest of pensacolas spots could not match.
a toast to pensacola...bout darn time!!!!

absolutely amazing!!!. if you live/visit the gulf breeze/pensacola area you must try the grand marlin. we shared a variety of appetizers and had 2 main entrees between 4 of us and literally everything we put in our mouth was fantastic!!!! we are planning a weekend trip just to eat there again!!! the wait staff is friendly and knowledgeable....definite must!!

expensive, but worth it! lobster fingers will melt in your mouth. ceviche is wonderful. any fish you get is top notch and the outdoor seating is the ultimate beach atmosphere. don't get the blue cheese nachos unless you really really really like blue cheese.

simply put,,,,,i love this place

excellence!. we had drinks on the patio overlooking the water. it was roomy with high ceilings and a great bar with plently of bartenders leaving little time to wait. we got there before 6:30pm and it was not crowded yet. huge olives in the martini's. good wine lists. we waited about 15 minutes for our table, which was perfect for us. patrick was our server when we were seated.

the restaurant was also roomy..high ceilings, not tables on top of each other.
the seafood at this restaurant is "right off the boat" fresh! we got calamari and for an appetizers....on the half shell and a few fried (they were flexible enough to make accomodations for our wants). the calamari came with a lime, habenero sauce that was so good i would have bought it by the gallon! the raw oysters were oh so fresh and tasted so good with crackers and their cocktails sauce with lots of horseradish in it. for our meal we have the redfish dish which had a lobster and shrimp cream sauce on the side. it was a bit spicy but we love spicy so we were fine with it. we also had a lettuce wedge with ranch. the ranch appeared homemade and was wonderful. we also had the che'f special which was a yellow fin tuna with ginger soy sauce on it. it was also wonderful. light, great flavor profile, excellent dish. our waiter, patrick, said the parmesan coated flounder was to die for too. i will get this next time as it looked really good.
for dessert we had a chocolate molton cake. it was good, very chocolately but not over bearing. it oozed just the right amount of chocolate. we also had the bread pudding which was the best dessert we have had in a long time. it was lying in a pool of creme brule sauce with fostered bananas on the side. omg!! sooooo good!

we can't wait to go back to this place. kudos to the chef and our server, patrick, for a job well done.

our meal with 1 entre, 1 dessert, 2 glasses of wine, 2 coffees, 1 salad was $72 + tip

new favorite. we dined at grand marlin tonight, an early mother's day, as we don't care to fight the crowds. beautiful view, attentive but not intrusive service and simply wonderful food. i love a good presentation, though i won't avoid a place if presentation is the only thing lacking. grand marlin's food is as gorgeous as it is tasty. we had an all-seafood night - bbq'd shrimp and oyster rockefeller for appetizers, and four different kinds of fish, all cooked to perfection. while many restaurants use accompaniments to fill a plate, the sides here were a perfect compliment to the main dishes. i have a feeling i'll be dreaming about the grouper piccata - i must figure out how to do that to capers!

i'd heard great things about the praline basket, so we ordered one and four spoons. it wasn't the typical heavy praline (which i love), but a light, delicate thing, filled with berries and a fabulous vanilla ice cream. truly a revelation, and a perfect end to the meal. the waiter says the bread pudding is even better, so i guess we'll have to go back for that!

more a factory than a restaurant. the grand marlin is nothing if not "grand." the word only applies to the size of this restaurant. it certainly doesn't apply to customer service at all and only tangentially to the food.

when i asked to be seated outside, i wasn't prepared for the 20 knot wind that blew across my table constantly. the server tried to be helpful, but said the place couldn't close the wind screen and he couldn't move my table or offer me another table. the manager was of little more help. just trying to keep the silverware on the table was a chore, even as the hot food rapidly cooled.

as to the food, nothing special here. the kitchen just seems to churn out the overpriced entrees with little regard to presentation or taste.

you may want to try any of the smaller, much more genuine, seafood restaurants that abound nearby. the grand marlin is a factory or at best a mess hall. but a fine seafood restaurant it isn't.

delightful vacation dining!. the grand marlon is an outstanding seafood restaurant, offering a variety of fresh fish caught daily. our meals were beautifully presented, the service was outstanding, and we definitely would return. we recommend the red snapper, prepared with caper brown butter, as well as the maryland style crab cakes.