Jackacuda's Seafood & Sushi — Restaurant in Destin

**Rating: 0 stars- WORST PLACE AND EXPERIENCE IN DESTIN I had an extremely disappointing experience at this restaurant on Friday, May 24th, dinner time Memorial Day weekend. I called ahead to confirm if they were pet-friendly since I have a service dog. They assured me over the phone that my service dog was welcome. However, when we arrived, it was quite hot, and we requested to sit inside. The manager, said that my kind of dog were not welcome and they would make an exception and made us sit outside instead.

The server's attitude was terrible; she seemed like she hated her job and didn’t want to be there. Our group consisted of four people, all Brazilian, and naturally, we spoke to each other in Portuguese. I requested water for my dog, but it never arrived. And it was 89 degrees outside. One of my friends asked three times for a beer, and it only came when we were finishing our food. When he asked to cancel the order, the waitress returned five minutes later with a free beer.

To make matters worse, when we were closing the tab, the waitress insisted that the tip was mandatory - she presumed we were not going to pay her (?!?!). This caused an embarrassing situation, as it seemed like we didn’t want to pay for the service or that we didn't have the money. The manager, a white man, came over and asked about our experience. We explained our issues, specially about ordering a lot of times for a lot of items and not getting them and he loudly suggested that it might be a translation or communication issue, which was humiliating and racist and all tables around us started to look at us. When I pointed out the racism, he laughed and walked away.

The food was awful, the worst sushi I’ve ever had. The pictures they use on Google aren’t even of their place—they don’t have a deck, their outside sitting is not by the water like in the pictures. They falsely claim to be pet-friendly and violated the law by not allowing me to sit inside with my service dog. The service was terrible, and if you’re not American, they presume you don’t have money and treat you poorly.

We had planned to spend the whole night there with six more friends, but we decided to go elsewhere. I strongly advise against visiting this place. Bad food, terrible service, and a discriminatory attitude.

I was going to call the police since RACISM is crime but my husband thought it was better to just live and enjoy our weekend. But once more DONT GO IN THIS PLACE.

Do...

We came here with such high hopes and just felt like something just wasn't going right. The waitress Whitley (I believe was the name) was excellent and 100% on her game. The hot side/fry food sides timing was perfect. By the time I got my drink my boyfriend was finished with his fried shrimp and our appetizers. We ordered over $150 worth of food and the service and the apps and fried food were the only things that came on time as they should've been. Our waitress got over 20% and we never hated on her for anything because we knew it wasn't in her control. Plain and simple 2/4 of us are servers and know how detrimental a slow bar or slow kitchen can mess up your tip. 5 stars for Whitley but 1 star for the sushi side and bar. I never write bad reviews, but being a waitress myself having SUCH long wait times will mess up her earnings at the end of the night while cooks and bartenders aren't affected at all money wise. We even saw someone from a take out order come tell the sushi chefs "now I see why it takes so long for a Togo plate" it's honestly disheartening that our server had to ask if I was sure I wanted my second drink because of the wait time being so high. Plus I ordered 3 rolls of sushi and my mom got 2 rolls of sushi. .. they were plated together and the food runner nor chefs communicated the difference. This left us and the waitress confused because it is just odd to do. I will never take these things out on my waitress, but seeing that there was THIS many issues the managers need to push communication and consistency better. No reason to wait WELL over 15 Minutes for a drink and no reason to have such timing issues between all of these items. I wish I could give more stars, but the bar and sushi side cooks need to do better. If you choose to eat here please ask for Whitley, but I wish you better timing than we recieved. Timing is not normally a big issue in my head, but out of experience some guests will blame the server and I've been on the other side having to choose between a potential bad tip or telling my coworkers how they do their job effects my money, but not theirs. Sorry to leave this review, but this was...

If you are looking for a place that elevates their food and you dining experience, I recommend this spot. The most exceptional thing here is the experience in an upbeat environment and the staff. Our waiter was well informed about the menu, very attentive, and had a nice bit of humor to make ordering fun for the whole family. I’d give our waiter higher than a 10/10 if possible.

They have their very own signature cocktail, which I highly recommend. It has fresh pineapple, coconut juice and a mix with slush ice that is perfect and most refreshing.

I’d never even tased fried pickles, however, these were fantastic. We had them three more times in Destin, but these were the best and come with a tasty dip. The Marinated Pork Skewers were a bit overdone and dry, but still filling and tasty. I had the Hawaiian Poke Bowl and the fresh ahi tuna was excellent. It comes to the table with fresh avocado, slicked cucumber, loads of mango, arranged on top and roasted sesame seeds.

Being a family that likes brussel sprouts, this is a hit. Tossed with roasted almonds, a few cranberries, in a light parmesan/balsamic dressing – they are super good. I highly recommend them.

We had the Californian Sushi Roll and Crunchy Shrimp Roll. Their sushi i so good even the kids liked it; they really got into using chop sticks, which was a fun dexterity test. For Destin, it has exceptional parking. The interior décor is delightful with lots of unusual seafood themed items. Staff was happy to explain how some local artist contributed their stories and talents. The signage is large and near the road, so of all the places we went, Jackacudas was the...