Grills Riverside Seafood Deck & Tiki Bar — Restaurant in Florida

Grills Riverside 6075 N. US Hwy. 1, Melbourne, FL 32940

3 Stars (local chain restaurant review)

According to their website, Grills Riverside in Melbourne opened in 2010 and was the second in the three-location chain (there is one in Port Canaveral, the first which opened in 1997 and another in Orlando). This location is accessible by car or boat. I figure that if they have been in business for 13 years in this spot and over 25 in general they must be doing something right. However, I forced myself to be ephectic as I didn't want to jump to any conclusions.

After 7 years and over 500 reviews, if a person pays attention, you will begin seeing the same ingredients over and over again from the same vendors. I strongly suggest you watch closely if you haven't been to this point. It becomes a battle of execution. Great chefs can make crap taste great, average cooks can be hit or miss and lazy slop slingers can make a bad situation worse.

Thankfully, Grills Riverside falls in the middle. These ingredients are bottom-of-the-barrel quality. However, on this day and at this time, my items were a hit, not a miss. My dining companions feel I'm being too generous with the three stars, but for what I ordered it is accurate.

Sasha is our server today and she did an outstanding job. She was pleasant, knowledgeable and on point for the entire meal. I put in an order for the Hurricane Burger with Cheese, Fish tacos, a Shrimp Cuban and some sesame-seared tuna. Kicking back and taking in the view, I snapped a few pictures of the place and awaited Sasha's return.

Before long Sasha was seen approaching with our order; after taking some pics of the food, I got to work. First up was the Hurricane Cheeseburger. While the burger was cooked to order, the cheese must have been put on as an afterthought, as it certainly wasn't melted on the grill. The bun was average.

The Fish tacos looked far better than they presented on the palate. They weren't bad, just bland. The salsa was obviously not fresh and tasted like it was straight off the Sysco truck.

Moving on to the Shrimp Cuban. I found this to be spicy but delicious with perfect execution. This was really spot-on and tasty. The bread was grilled to a perfect golden brown, and the shrimp, while bottom shelf quality was tender and tasty.

The last item up for review was the Sesame seared tuna. I was surprised at the freshness of the tuna as most of my experience with this dish has been at Thai clip joints where the freshness of the fish is suspect, to say the least.

The Big Boy says, “As usual, great views equate to average food. Nothing to write home about, nothing to...

So, Been Going to this Restaurant Since It Opened. Been in Brevard County Over 42 Years, Full Time, Permanent for Over 42 Years. Seeing Restaurants Who Cannot USE Covid As an Excuse Any Longer, or Any Other Excuse, When Their Food Goes Up But Their Quality Goes Down? No Excuse. Grills Last Night On the River US1 Melbourne Was Such a Huge Disappointment. There Were 6 Of Us, 3 Couples & The Server Was Great Although, He Could've Sold More Drinks, At least 1 or 2 But, He Got The Orders Correct, it Wasn't His fault the Food Was OFF. The Manhatten "Chowder" Was the Worst I've Ever Had, Drink Sadly Same & the "Turtle Cheescake" At The End, Well, it Was the END. First of All Never Anywhere Had a Sliver, I Mean, It Couldn't Even Be Called That Much, But, It Tasted Like it Had Been Eaten Already, Maybe Melted & Re-Refrigerated? I Have No Idea, But It Was Horrible, Like the Chowder that Wasn't Chowder & Like the Drink That Was Ridiculously Bad For Even a Bloody Mary Without the Spice. Seriously. We Asked Why Again Was the Restaurant So Bare? He Said, Well There's a Lot of Games On & The Weather. When We Got there, No Storm, We Live Around the Corner, No Water Even Standing Anywhere. As for the Games, Over the Years We've been there When "Games" Were On. It's Sad That Also at the END, They Added Now an Additional Surcharge if You Pay By C/Card & They Took the "Free Yogurt" Away a Long time Ago, So All in All, It's Great for Breakfast on the Water, Anytime You Can Get Breakfast, But the Rest? WOW, Just Not Worth It & For a Restaurant We've "ALWAYS" Looked Forward to Going to, This Is Just Sad. We Already Lost Niki's In Suntree, Now Grills Or Most Restaurants With At LEAST Great BARS Will Always Stay Open, Because They Make More $ on Those. Also Being on the Water Will Always Draw People, But, If the Food Continues to Be Like it Was Last Night? NO Way It'll Be For Anything Except A Few Drinks & A Breakfast, Once in a While. Again, So...

Really enjoyed the food and service here. There was a 30 min wait but we were able to snag an outdoor seat in about 10 mins. A new server was being trained and the other server was patient and kind with the new girl. That was nice to see.

We ordered the Bacon Wrapped Grilled Shrimp as our appetizer. Wonderful. The bacon was crispy and not rubbery like some I've had. The bbq sauce was sweet with a little heat, very good flavor. Would definitely get again.

I ordered the grilled fish of the day, came with 2 sides. I got the seared tuna with sides of potatoes and pasta. The potato side was exceptionally good. They chunks of red potato with a creamy sauce. The sauce was well flavored. Could have eaten more of them. 😋 The pasta was linguini with Alfredo. Pasta was cooked well and Alfredo was good too. Tuna was good. The marinade wasn't my favorite but wasn't bad by any means. It was cooked just right (with a pink center) and tender. It also came with a toasted slice of bread. Tasted if garlic and butter, not sure what made it red, but it was yummy.

For drinks I ordered the Waterberry Daiquiri. It's strawberry 🍓 watermelon 🍉 flavored. It was super tasty. The blend was fine and had no large chunks of ice and was easy to drink. Even my S.O. liked it and he doesn't like watermelon or strawberries 😆. He said it tasted like fruit punch.

He got the Shrimp Cuban with the sauce on the side bc it said it was spicy. I think we both could have had the sauce on it and been fine. That's coming from someone who doesn't care for spicy food.

I'm also happy they had Chipotle Tabasco. It's my favorite tobasco by far and I hardly ever see it at...