Pompano Grill — Restaurant in Cocoa Beach

Pompano Grill is by far one of the best restaurants in Cocoa Beach, and one of the best in this whole area of Florida! It is worth quite the drive for - it’s that good! First off, you pretty much have to make reservations here as it is very small and will almost always be completely filled unless you’re one of the last tables of the evening. Be prepared it’s pretty noisy! The only times we’ve had it quieter were when we selected one of the last reservation times of the evening. Just something to know if you’re wanting to plan a romantic dinner that evening!

On to the food, this is one of those places where EVERYTHING on the menu is exceptional. We’ve visited here many times and tried pretty much everything and I can honestly say there has been nothing I’ve been disappointed with. They hit the nail on the head every time we visit! Their appetizers are amazing - the millionaire bacon is literally caramelized sweet & spicy bacon covered in gold flake. Literally the BEST bacon I’ve ever had and a must-try!! The bread is soft, warm, and comes with an awesome butter (the butter flavor changes every once in a while). The lobster (or crab) deviled eggs take deliver eggs to the next level - deviled eggs aren’t for everyone, but if you like them, you should DEFINITELY try them. And the deep-fried brie cheese…oh my LORD it is amazing! A massive chunk of fried brie cheese topped with their famous bacon, berries, pecans, jam, and more!! Another must-try!! Their escargot is incredible as well! I love escargot and this is some of the best escargot I’ve ever had before as well. Finally, the smoked fish dip tastes super smoky and so fresh - I love fish dip and Pompano Grill makes an amazing one. But if I had to choose 2 appetizers for your first visit, the deep-fried brie and millionaire bacon are a MUST!

On to other food, they have one of the best Caesar salads I’ve ever had, their steaks are always a favorite when we take guests here, truffle fries are always a home run, but the seafood is really some of their best options. They always have 2 special fish of the day prepared in very unique ways, and many times it’s a fish you’ve never heard of before or a preparation you never would’ve even thought was possible! Their creamy shrimp pasta is filling, amazing, and something I would literally have every day, and we’ve taken guests here before that say Pompano Grill’s scallops are the biggest and best they’ve ever had. Moral of the story: you can order pretty much anything and have a wonderful meal!

Finally, desserts are another category that is over-the-top at Pompano Grill. They have a dessert chef in-house who creates all the desserts fresh right then and there and they have had some AMAZING selections of the years. Make sure to save room for dessert because they are so good! I just can’t recommend this place enough. You’ll love...

I hope people don't just look at the star rating, and actually read this stuff.

If the star rating only concerned the actual taste of the food, they would be getting a 5 star, but that's not all everyone bases going to a restaurant on.

This place was small, not a problem, but the seats were uncomfortable.

The temperature inside the restaurant was hot, VERY hot.

I'm not sure how many people like to sweat while they eat a nice dinner out and are in their nice clothes, but they need to seriously do something about the temperature inside this restaurant. It was probably 78° to 80° inside. There were no air conditioning vents in the ceiling of their main dining room. They even had the back door to the restaurant propped open, and it is a very small restaurant; I'm sure that didn't help with the temperature inside, as it is the middle of June, in FLORIDA. I am a natural born Floridian, and I was sweating inside the restaurant.

Next, like I stated, if the food taste alone was the only significance to the rating, it would be a 5+++, but food taste isn't the only thing that matters. How about portion size? Check out the photos. The fork is there to show you relative size. I had not taken a bite of anything. My wife is a petite, gym enthusiast, and she said she had never seen portion sizes so small, especially when it comes to the cost. My $30 piece of grouper was absolutely tiny. My $9 bowl of mashed potatoes was about 3-4 tablespoons worth.

I have never, in my 40+ years of life, been to a restaurant where portion sizes were so small, and that's including my world travels. France served bigger portions, and they're known for their petite portions.

If we go there again, which we might actually do, then I will be ordering two $30 pieces of grouper, and I will know ahead of time that I need to actually do so.

One more thing. They don't have a liquor license and they're so-called "PG" margarita was absolutely one of the worst tasting drinks I've ever had. It tasted like a flavored water drink, and didn't even resemble a margarita, but that of a drink that sat around long enough for the ice to melt. I normally love wine-based margaritas, but I could not finish my drink and pawned it off on my wife so I could order a beer. If you want to know what a good wine based margarita tastes like, go to Taco City, perhaps the owners of Pompano Grill could learn something about how to make a good wine based margarita...

I expected great things from all I've heard over the years and yes, the food looks amazing.The millionaire bacon isn't what you expect. It was like fatty cured ham chunks, smoked/charred with a decent enough sweet flavor and dusted with edible gold dust (which hides the fat BTW) My Scallops ala Raviola tasted good until I cut into my 2nd scallop and it was still a little raw. So I filled up on my green beans and 3 ravioli. Also good, but not enough and I'm a light eater!! My husband had an off menu item Surf and Turf (which also looked amazing). The steak was tender and had good flavor, but it was drenched in the chimichurri sauce topping. I love that flavor, but a little goes a long way. You really couldn't tell the difference in the quality of steaks they rave about from an Outback one. Potaoes were good, but Best part of meal were the grilled green beans. My husband rarely likes restaurant beans, but these were so good he ate them all, except the few I stole. The Creme Brulee was good, but not great and our Cappuccino's were more foam than coffee, but what I had was good. The staff was attentive, so that's a plus!! As far as atmosphere, it's only because we had one of two window seats that it didnt it feel better than a old diner. I wasn't complaining about any of it though because we were celebrating- until I saw the bill. Yikes. Now, don't get me wrong I was expecting around $130 or so mind you-No drinks, but bacon app and dessert with coffee so I'm not clueless. But we walked out at $235 with a 15% tip later and none of it was worth that much. I mean who does this place think they are, Disney? Seriously, I've had better food, better atmosphere and drinks for less in Orlando. (And that's saying something, tourist trap that it is). This is why I hate trying new places. It's rare, you find a gem- But, I'll keep trying because they...