Flavour Kitchen And Wine Bar — Restaurant in Cocoa Beach

When my family booked a reservation at this restaurant, I made a fuss because I thought the name was so generic, so meaningless. Now I understand --- I think it is a bit! Read on, dear reader.

The website for this restaurant advertises something about "creative, world-class fine dining foods served with meticulous attention to detail" inspired by the New York food scene. Reading that on the website got me pretty interested in checking this place out --- I have lived in NYC, and the food might be my favorite part. I was willing to set aside my certainly ridiculous nomenclature critique and give this place a shot.

• Ambiance Walking into the restaurant and settling into the setting left me with mixed feelings --- mostly negative though. I wonder, have they thought about the acoustics in there, at all? Chatter echoed, the music was loud. My mom has a hearing aid and could not find any settings that worked well.

There is some artwork of different patent diagrams on the walls. I thought these were pretty cool and gave me hope the food would be good --- it communicated something like they prioritize inventiveness, the sweet spot between creativity and function. The rest of the decor leaves a lot to be desired, though (kitschy, etc.).

• The Service Mostly fine. We asked to move to a vacant table that was more in the corner due to my mom's difficulty hearing us talk. The server just said no, and did not make a motion to check if it was possible. It seems reasonable that the tables all could have been set for the night, but the server was pretty short with us on this topic. It came across as rude, but maybe she was just trying to save words because it is so hard to hear in there and she needed to save her voice. Other than that, we had no huge issues with service. I have seen some concerning reviews about the owner/chef being creepy with customers, though. Read those.

• The Food Was not inventive. It was not creative, and the only things that were arguably different from things I have seen/tasted were almost random deviations of menu items that might as well have been AI-generated. For example, adding green goddess dressing to a risotto...What? This was part of a special with a few huge shrimp on it that were cooked so firmly. My mom and I both ordered this dish, and we agreed that the only thing with any flavor was the (misplaced) green goddess dressing.

My fiancee got the whole snapper. She asked the waitress if it was easy to eat, and the waitress said that yes, the chef removed all the bones and it was super easy to eat. It had a lot of bones in it. It was very difficult to eat. And not worth the trouble.

My dad got the paella. A hint of saffron, otherwise nothing to this.

We also got the scallops and the smoked salmon nachos (which was apparently our server's favorite). The scallops were overcooked. The nachos were not good. We went to Surfinista earlier in the day --- go there for smoked salmon instead!!!

• The Bottom Line You'll notice the food all had a common through line --- not creative, not world-class, uninspired. So I get it now --- it is not a serious name after all! It is really the Flavour-less Kitchen!

I wrote this review because I have not encountered a place that misses so hard on pretty much every front, and it is priced as if it were knocking everything out of the park. I recommend going somewhere else. Try Cafe Margaeux in Cocoa Village if you're looking for something upscale --- it's not perfect but it at least has identity and...

Good food and sever, yet overall a very strange experience. I don’t really know how to rate this place because there was only one aspect about it that made it bad.

I’d like to start out by saying my sever was amazing! She was very sweet, attentive, and did a great job. My date and I ordered wine, a the cheese plate, and a flatbread to share which was all very good, however cook/chef on the other hand was inappropriate and made the dinner very weird.

Shortly after we sat down, the cook came out from the back (the kitchen is open and you can see the whole restaurant from it) and came over to my table. I was sitting on the booth side along the wall and the cook came and sat right next to me, touching thigh-to-thigh. He began to tell my table about the specials and made very strange eye contact with me the entire time. He was also wearing pajama bottoms and seemed like he was possibly under the influence of something. After he was finished telling us about the menu we let him know that we had already put our order in. The cook then decided that he was going to bring the bottle of wine over the the table instead of letting our server do it. After pouring a sample after opening (which I’m aware is standard) my date and I let the cook know that we actually already had a chance to try it. He seemed to immediately get a bit frustrated and said “We’ll I guess you won’t just let me do my “f*cking job” and then poured both glasses and left. This was thankfully our last visit from the cook but he did exhibit some other strange behavior throughout the night. A few other tables also received a visit from him (primarily tables with women) and it was visibly obvious that he was making people uncomfortable. My date kept apologizing on behalf of this cook because he was afraid I was going to get upset and not have a nice time.

Maybe if you want to try this place you’ll end up here on the night that cook isn’t around and have a nice meal, however I guess it’s a chance you’d...

One of the best meals of my life and, at age 52, I do not say that lightly. Pure enjoyment from beginning til end. Our server, MaryAnn, was amazing and had recommendations for both wine and food that were spot on. We started with the artichoke hearts salad and onion soup - both were delicious. The combination of grilled artichoke hearts, cheese, greens and the dressing was great. The onion soup is like a French onion soup with a roasted bone marrow on top. The broth of the onion soup was both rich and not too thick at once. For a main course we had the chicken (MaryAnn recommended it and she was right on), which was both crispy on the outside and juicy and tender inside. It is served on a perfect portion of mashed potatoes with a demi glaze that really complimented the chicken. The short rib entree was also excellent. With our entrees we had an order of the hush puppies. The name does not do them justice. I am from the south and pride myself on knowing a good hush puppy - these are in a league of their own. You have to try them and you can thank me later. For dessert we had the chocolate mousse and carrot cake fritters. The mousse was easily the best I've ever had. The carrot cake fritters were superb as I expected from a chef who can make the hush puppies mentioned above. As for wines, I tried quite a few. All were great. The wines have obviously been carefully curated with the same attention and thought as the menu. MaryAnn was my guide and had great suggestions. Two that really stood out to me were the Shiraz and the white ganache. Amazing! After we ate, I just had to thank the owner/chef Jason. He is super nice and I am so grateful that he is doing what he loves. His passion and attention for detail come through in every bite. Thank you so so much Jason and MaryAnn for an unforgettable meal! We'll be back. Oh, be sure to make a reservation. Flavour Kitchen and Wine Bar fills up and now...