The Waterfront Restaurant — Restaurant in Anna Maria island

Food is most certainly the key to a good restaurant experience, but other factors are equally important. A restaurant's wait staff not only adds to the experience but also shows a restaurant's heart. Like a complicated puzzle, when put together, they create a beautiful picture, and one does not work without the other. The location and ambiance, as do your companions, also set the tone of a dining experience.

Many factors must come together to elevate your dining experience, and on a Wednesday afternoon on Anna Maria Island on the Gulf Coast of Florida, those factors combined, and my wife, mother-in-law, and I had the lunch of a lifetime.

From the lively King Pao Calamari Curl plate smothered with three or more types of onions, banana peppers galore, and the shocker chunks of feta, we knew this was the right place to be. We were seated on the open-air porch on the first full day of spring with an incredibly kind and good-hearted waiter, Bob, who took care of us from start to finish, giving us delectable menu descriptions that had our full attention. The Cole Slaw sweetened with pineapple was another surprise, and the fried grouper sandwiches with an ever so delicate batter coating allowed the fish to shine through, and the house-made pickles were a fun flavor explosion, too.

Having worked in the food industry for a few years, one of my pet peeves has always been serving a non-ripe tomato or allowing the stems of something as trivial as banana peppers to be served. As you can see from the photos, that was far from the case.

Once lunch was over, I had a sneaky feeling that the desserts were homemade. While we were stuffed, even after splitting the grouper sandwich, I had to know, and they were.

After we regained our appetites, we immensely enjoyed the Strawberry Cheesecake with its incredible crust, accompanied by an equally perfect slice of Key Lime pie.

No plastic was harmed during our experience at The Waterfront, as they used heavier paper for straws, compostable take-home containers, and a paper bag to carry everything home. Kudos!!!!!!

I neglected to mention the drinks; everything was made from scratch in a place where you can let your imagination run wild, my wife had the smoky Margarita...yum!

In the words of the Terminator -...

CUSTOMER SERVICE is a LOST art. My family and I have been coming to Anna Maria for over 12 years. We had lunch at The Waterfront Restaurant, where we have dined every time we are in town. Meredith was our outdoor server. To begin, she did not read us the specials, which is typical to be shared. We ordered 4 Arnold Palmers: 3 with sweet tea, one with unsweetened tea. She brought them all unsweet versions. When she came around with refills, she came out with one pitcher, unsweet Arnold Palmers, and when we spoke up about how we had ordered 3 of them sweet, she continued pouring the refills and said, "Well, they are made with lemonade so they are already sweet enough." Then she walked away. An inappropriate response to say the least. We called her back minutes later asking for the correct drinks we ordered and she was cold in the interaction. She did not check on us during our meal and had very little interaction with us, all while she was chatting, laughing, and providing good service to the table of people she was serving next to us... This was greatly different than how she was treating my family--with no effort.

I brought it up to a manager and the lady had a poor response as well. I explained the situation to her privately. A bit later, she brought a new bill to our table with after she said she would remove the drinks. When she came over, she offered no apology, but instead gave an excuse for why the drink order was incorrect. She told us our waitress claimed to be confused because we all ordered the same drink. We told the manager that was not the case and we made it clear when we ordered as well as when we politely asked for our correct drinks further into our meal. It felt disrespectful to then propose an explanation for our waitress' behavior after I described we had multiple exchanges with our waitress about what was asked for with our drink order, that was ignored.

I think it is safe to say we do not look forward to returning due to the poor service that has been reoccurring the past few years, and we left quite disappointed in the way our waitress and that manager went about the situations. Food is okay but absolutely not worth it for...

We attempted to make a reservation online but the link never worked. We tried to call ahead and were unable to get a live person on the phone so we decided to chance it anyway. It was very crowded and the wait was 1.5hr but it was a beautiful evening and we spent our time walking the pier and the beach. The hostesses were super friendly. During our 15min wait for the server to take our drink order, the table next to us was complaining to the manager about the screaming children a few tables down. His words were “the atmosphere would be enjoyable if it wasn’t for the screaming kids”. Fortunately, the table left shortly after we were seated. The server (never gave us a name) was unfriendly and seemed as if we were inconveniencing her just by being there. I asked for a drink suggestion (they make their own juices and mixes) and she said the mai tai. Could only taste cheap rum, nothing special. My mother’s Bloody Mary was not good and she took a sip or two and set it to the side in hopes the server would notice. She never did. The calamari had good flavor but was cold along with our main entrees (wasabi tuna, shrimp and grits (best entree), grouper). When my mother mentioned the Bloody Mary having an “off” taste to it, the server didn’t apologize or offer an alternative, she just took the glass and walked away. She returned shortly with the check and said she removed the drink from the tab. That was not our intention, but appreciated. She never asked how the meal was or seemed to be interested in anything other than turning over the table. Nonetheless, we left a 20% tip, if the service is superb we always leave more. This was bare minimum at best. The restaurant is beautiful and has true potential. The menu prices were a little high but for a tourist area, we expected it. But along with that we expected the food and service to be worth it. The view is of the busy street and parking. If you’re lucky you’ll catch a glimpse of the ocean which will be drowned out by the sound of cars driving by, screaming children and the conversation of the table next to you. We loved Anna Maria, but will not be back to...