Sharks Underwater Grill — Restaurant in Dr. Phillips

Let's get things straight. This is not a real restaurant. No own is the head chef here, it's not claimed on Yelp, and until recently it was the only sit-down restaurant in the entire park. It's one of your only options, so if you want to sit down and eat, you had little other choice than to come here.

That being said, it is absolutely amazing that if you make Magical Dining Menu reservations here, you get to experience the rest of Sea World for the rest of the day, for FREE. You can't beat that. You literally can't beat that. You should mark this down in the calendar for you and your family every year.

The atmosphere is incredible. Your windows are giant aquarium views of, you guessed it, sharks! And other beautiful fish. All the seats are pretty much aimed at the fish amphitheatre style. Super cool. And if you're into just sitting at the bar, the bar is also a little mini aquarium with sea critters inside. Super duper cool.

So we made reservations, showed up, did not pay for parking, and got escorted to our table. We looked at the MDM options and ordered.

Appetizers:

Burrata & Beets (Fresh burrata, broad bean & avocado hummus, roasted beets, aged balsamic). This is a mess. These things do not go together. It's all fine, but it's just weird.

Tempura Chicken Satay (Tahini yogurt sauce, daikon slaw). This is not tempura, or satay. The yogurt sauce is enough for one-half of one of your two chicken strips. But the slaw is nice.

Main Course:

Kobe Beef Sliders (Bacon & onion jam, vintage cheddar, herb mayo, hand-cut truffle buttered fries). This was actually pretty good. I love bacon and/or onion jams. The pretzel buns are nice and soft. And the fries were crisp and not greasy at all. This one was a winner.

Miso Roasted Atlantic Salmon (Miso ginger glaze, sesame, nori, daikon, jasmine rice). This was alright as well. It was definitely just teriyaki sauce they poured over the top of their overcooked salmon. I didn't see any daikon. And the rice was just normal rice with no seasoning. Nice try.

Dessert:

Key Lime Martini (Tangy, sweet, and creamy made with fresh Key lime juice, crumbled graham crackers, and topped with whipped cream). INDULGENT. I loved this. It was a giant dollop of Key lime cream in a martini glass. I've never seen anything like this. It was very sweet, so make sure you share this with someone. You shouldn't attempt to eat this by yourself.

Cabernet Chocolate Cake (Moist chocolate cake filled with a mascarpone buttercream and topped with a Cabernet ganache). Chocolate cake.

Overall, this was definitely the most negative review I've written in a very long time. And I feel bad about it, but I also don't feel bad about it, because it won't ever affect anyone in any way. No one will ever read this. That being said, if you are reading this, please mark this in your calendar to come here next year so you can ride the coaster that's about to open, the Ice Breaker I think...

Came here for Magical Dining on a Sunday. Got the earliest reservation time still available at 3:15pm. Planned on staying til park closed. Arrived and as another reviewer mentioned, the waiting outside the park to be escorted in was pretty annoying. There were people with the same time reservations who got there before us and I'm sure they were standing around outside for at least 30+ minutes. We personally waited 20 mins. Overall experience before getting to the actual restaurant could be improved.

Once at the restaurant, the atmosphere is pretty nice. Not as upscale as other magical dining restaurants as far as service but overall they were friendly. I got assigned normal table seating but they have booths facing the aquarium and those seemed pretty nice.

As far as food goes, quantity is on the lower side. Don't expect to be stuffed compared to a proper magical dining restaurant. Quality was still good in my opinion. The dishes came out nicely presented. We ordered Burrata & Beets and Tempura Chicken Satay for appetizers. The chicken tasted good but was more like a fancy chicken tender. I did not like the very tiny slaw portion. I did love the Burrata. Had never had something like that before and it was very flavorful. For entrees we had the Kobe Beef Sliders and Miso Roasted Atlantic Salmon. Although the sliders were good, I'm sure there's some marketing going on here as there's no way to tell if it's "Kobe" beef with such a small portion. The "truffle buttered" fries were also underwhelming as the truffle flavor wasn't really there and it just seemed to be glorified French fries with a bit of cheese dust on top. The salmon was flavorful but very small portion. The desserts were nice as well. Key lime martini was honestly too much for me as far as quantity. Didn't finish it and I usually always finish my food. I have a theory that the portions were small due to the fact you are in a theme park and I'm not entirely sure if they had boxes available for leftovers.

All in all leaving it with a 4-star experience. Stand-alone, this would not be worth the magical dining experience if you wanted to come just for the food. Unless you absolutely need to eat with a fish tank around you, there are much better options for $37 a person, service and quality. However, if you want a unique experience, and ability to explore the park for free afterwards. It can be a good value play. Enjoy...

NEW MENU IS DISGUSTING!! This actually pains me to write this review. I am a silver annual passholder. I have a daughter with autism, and her favorite place in the world is SeaWorld, and she loves going to the Sharks Bar and Grill to see the sharks and get her pasta, and for her mother to get her favorite chicken breast entrée. The food has always been slightly elevated to other options on site, and I don’t mind paying the price for the premium level of food, and the exquisite atmosphere of seeing the sharks up close.

I’ve been going to this restaurant for at least three years. I went in today 5/17 for the first time in four weeks, because we go to Seaworld monthly. The menu had been completely changed, and NOT for the better. Oh the prices, they were still sky high. Which I didn’t complain about before because I always got a good meal. There were other entree fish options for my vegan friends to have that are now gone, in leu of chicken sandwiches. When I went today, I was confronted with a B rate Applebee’s or Chili’s menu but for $30-50 prices. The chicken Cajun tacos I received for the SAME $32 price. What WAS fresh chicken breast with root vegetables like leeks, I received MINCED CHICKEN TACOS, obviously frozen, with the most bland Cisco-ordered salsa on top, which barely filled the tortilla. $37. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Applebee’s would be ashamed.

I know tariffs and maybe consumer trends have changed, people have less money, I’m sure there are bigger economic reasons that these things are happening. But I need to warn those who aren’t expecting to spend $150 on a Applebee’s or Chili’s level meal. I can’t in good conscience send people to a restaurant that I loved and went to every time I went to Seaworld, now that they’ve reverted to the most basic level food. It’s THAT bad. I feel angry and ashamed that they would do this to loyal customersI went there to have a higher scale meal, not for a greasy taco I could get anywhere else. Shame on you for changing the menu and expecting your loyal customers wouldn’t notice. PLEASE BE AWARE, this place isn’t what it used to be. Go to any other steakhouse or the pop-up food events are just as good if not better. SeaWorld, I hope you read this and really reconsider what you’ve done to your...