Next Door Beach Bistro — Restaurant in Flagler Beach

Sweet spot by the beach! Good vibes, friendly service (Beth was amazing!), and delicious food. They had a big oval booth table in the back that accommodated our group of 11. I do like these tables, and don’t like these tables. It was nice that we were all able to get seated together and talk together, but the people sitting in the middle had no way of getting out to the bathroom without having everyone get up, and the table was so huge that it wasn’t easy to talk to the person on the opposite end without shouting a bit, and i felt a little self conscious about it for disturbing other customers. Though on a Sunday afternoon, the place was quite loud and no one seemed to care much.

Cobb Salad with blackened chicken Wow! I never know if my chicken is gonna be good in a Cobb salad… But it was! The “blackened” seasoning was delicious. I had hoped for beef rather than chicken, but the price difference was just not justified in my head. I’m glad i stuck with the chicken, because it was really quite good. The rest of the salad didn’t look especially exciting, but it was crunchy fresh, with big wedges of tomatoes, thin slices of bacon, avocado and eggs, and blue cheese crumbles that were very good.

Angus burger The meat had great popping flavors. Hany really enjoyed the burger. It looked really good. And the fries that came with were gorgeous to look at, and delicious to munch on. Friends were jealous and regretting their choice…

Duck and Waffles His choice of duck and waffles was under-wowing. What a weird combination… a good attempt at fancying up chicken and waffles, i think, but a failure in execution. First, the duck was slow cooked, and not fried. But that was specifically noted on the menu. Don’t expect this to be anything like fried chicken. And the dish was glazed with syrup, with blueberry jam+blueberries on the bottom, which made it sweet, but too sweet. You want gravy in this dish and there is a reason why chicken and waffles come with gravy. The waffles were also quite dense and doughy. So a definite no for this dish.

Vegetarian Benedict I didn’t try this, but friend loved it despite it being vegetarian and him not being vegetarian. Not sure why he got it lol, but he said the flavors were really good.

Lobster Benedict This looked even better than the vegetarian Benedict, and friend was impressed.

Overall, definitely a place to come back to. Which is what our local friends were doing. lol. They did say they wish they had a rotating specials menu or something, because their menu is not extensive and they come back so often but can always only get what they always get. I, on the other hand, say if you have a good thing going, don’t rock the boat! A small menu is always a...

We started going here when it first opened and it was good. But the last 3 times have been slightly bad to worse. We got there early 5:25 yesterday, thinking getting there a little earlier we would get our food before the crowd. Got seated ordered drinks and 1 appetizer. That took a while. But ok. Waiting and waiting for dinner while the place is filling up and still no dinner. Waitress came by said it was coming up any minute, few minutes later manager said it will be up in a couple of minutes...time went on. Said it was because it was so busy tonight. But it wasn't busy when we ordered. Finally we got our food. My friend ordered shrimp with spaghetti squash. But got blackened chicken which was so over seasoned! Told her they would remake her dinner. She decided not to wait another hour and just kept it. They should have just brought her some shrimp! My husband ordered Thai mussels. Yuck. They tasted like they had been sitting around for a while and were cold. My husband isn't picky so for him to complain is very rare. So he sent it back and said he didn't want anything else. But the waitress kept insisting that he get something she felt bad about him not eating. So he said ok a burger thinking she wasn't charging him and insisting he have something. Meanwhile I had ordered the ceasar salad with the blackened chicken for my dinner and couldn't eat much of it because it had way too much seasoning so I gave him my food. By the time the burger came out everyone was finished eating and my husband didn't want it. Waitress asks if we want dessert. Everyone said no. She brings the check and the burger was on the bill. Said to me I took the mussles off the bill. Like she gave us something for free.I said, you should have.....he sent them back. After we paid the bill she came back and offered a free dessert for everyone to share. We passed The time before it was a long wait for dinner and the food wasn't cooked the way we ordered. So we sent back the lamb and took forever and still was not cooked properly. We really had high hopes for this restaurant but I think they need to rethink their mistakes and try to fix them. Just really hard finding good restaurants around here and thought we had found one. We're from South Florida and the competition is fierce. Can throw a stone and find a great restaurant. I hope Next door bistro gets...

When my friend’s Brother was visiting from Seattle, we wanted him to enjoy the Flagler Beach experience, which includes our favorite restaurant - Next Door.

So we arrived early to get an outside table with an ocean view. We talked him into sharing our two favorite meals - the roasted beet salad & the spaghetti squash main dish, and told him to pick the protein that appealed the most to him. He chose one of the specials: butternut squash ravioli with chicken. Our waiter understood that we were sharing & splitting the meals & cost three ways.

When he brought two very generous portions of the beet salad, I assumed he would be returning with at least a third empty bowl/plate for me. My friends weren’t so sure. So when he returned to check on something we asked. His response was that is how the kitchen splits dishes. We were a bit surprised he didn’t explain that when we ordered. It would have saved our asking. I will say the two portions of that course and the subsequent courses were more than enough food. It was the lack of communication from our waiter and his blaming the kitchen, who has no way of knowing what we requested - unless he tells them. Here is one opportunity to do better.

The great thing is the three of us “share well with others” and we left happy. Especially when a sudden downpour rained in & the owner leapt into action to bring the rain curtains down.

The only other thing I think Next Door could do better on - is its wine by the glass. I can’t comment on any of the bottles of wine they offer, because I never dared to order any of them. But their glasses are at best lackluster. There are some that I could not finish. I know - me!

My suggestion sit down with Keith or Julie of Uncork’d for great, innovative suggestions for wines that are reasonable and “glass worthy”. I have learned so much about wine from them. Next Door’s bartenders make fantastic cocktails, but they could broaden their base with better wines.

And before you ask - we wrapped up the Flagler Beach experience at Uncork’d.

So bottom line - Next Door is an amazing experience. But if more than two of you want to split/share be sure your waiter understands & will at least provide an empty bowl or plate.

I know I...