Cabanas Coastal & Beachside Grill — Restaurant in Clearwater

We stopped and picked up some meals after going on the pirate ship cruise with the kiddos. To make it more concise:

Blackened grouper sandwich: the grouper itself was great. Lacking a bit on the blackened seasoning with a plain bun, but the grouper was so good and tomato was ripe. The sandwich itself was a solid 4/5.

Kids cheese burger: My daughter absolutely loved it and rated it 5/5. She wanted me to have her last bite. I thought the flavors were good, a tad on the greasy side for me but not nearly as greasy as my Cuban which was a bit shocking to me.

Regular cheeseburger: my son said he did not like it that much. 2/5 but he would not elaborate as to why. I did not get a glimpse of his burger but usually he responds this way when his burger is cooked past medium (and I had specifically requested it to be cooked medium).

Cuban sandwich: The meats were good, but the whole sandwich was so greasy that I was getting queasy and my hand shined with the oils off the pressed bread. I was also lacking in pickles completely in the second half of my sandwich in the box. I ended up tossing out the black beans and yellow rice that came as a side. They used so much water to cook their yellow rice that it had an unpleasant mushy texture. The black beans were completely lacking in seasoning, and then raw red onions were sprinkled on top. All I can still taste is raw red onion. No garlic, no sauteed onion, cumin, oregano... At this point I am not even asking for cilantro or a lime wedge, but that would have been glorious. I strongly recommend to avoid this as a side if possible until they rework this recipe. I would rate this meal 2/5.

Other than the Cuban the other sandwiches/burgers came with a side of fries. They were not bad but a bit on the greasy, soggy side.

Overall, 2.6/5 so will round up the stars to 3. On the positive side of things the grouper was good and the sodas have...

We had dinner here on a Saturday. This restaurant is inside the Winter the Dolphin Hotel, which shares a parking garage with the Hampton Inn next door. We were not guests of either hotel, but we used the parking garage while we ate. The garage itself is part of the Hampton Inn and does not attach to Winter the Dolphin. You have to go to the ground floor and walk across the alley to get to Cabanas or Winter from the garage. Everything about the parking garage is TIGHT. Do not recommend bringing your lifted truck, suburban or any vehicle that large. There is 2 hours of free parking if you have the restaurant validate your ticket. We lost our ticket while taking sunset photos and the automated gate said the lost ticket fee was $180. Luckily there was a call button and an attendant quickly came down and opened the gate for us. The restaurant was deserted but we were somewhat early for dinner. They had live music. Typical beach bar menu with a few more refined options to make it seem like the place is upscale. The menu had tourist prices that were a significantly more than a place like Frenchy’s or Palm Pavilion. Also a giant disclaimer to let patrons know that in addition to the exorbitant prices, they also apply at 10% “dine in” fee to help them pay their staff a livable wage, but that this fee “is not a substitute gratuity”. They claim to be a “small family owned business”. They may be family owned but I’m sorry, 11 restaurant brands under a parent company is not small. This just ensures profits and owners compensation aren’t affected by the rising cost of wages. If these people are hurting for money, it’s because they’re losing customers over their grift. We don’t patronize places that exploit their workforce in addition to their paying customers. 2 stars for the...

2 reviews in 1... there is a sitdown, dine in restaurant in front of the hotel, and a beachside bar/restaurant in the back of the hotel. I ate it both and both are Recommended. Beachside - Surprisingly good food for a beachside, back of a hotel, bar/restaurant. Prices are a little on the high side for some things but that is expected with it being what it is and at the beach. Some things are actually very reasonable as well though. My recommendation is the Cuban sandwich with rice and beans which I have to say was really excellent and actually on par with the Columbia and pepos, two local Cuban restaurant icons, both of which I ate at during the same week. Also had chicken fingers and fries. Both were good but pretty standard. Both items were generous on the portions which was a welcome surprise as well. Had a couple of their drink special rum runners which at 24 oz for 8 is not that bad actually. The people were all nice and friendly. Try the cuban! Restaurant, dine in, in front of hotel- this ended up being excellent as well. Nothing very fancy just good food and good service. The menu is quite different from the beachside, and it is very very, very unfortunate that you cannot get the Cuban sandwich and they sit down restaurant. But, what they did have was other great stuff like the key lime shrimp skewers we had, with mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. Large portions and all really excellent. Also one of us had a hamburger which was large and very good. Not cheap but not terrible either and it is at the...