Palm Valley Outdoors Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Florida

I had to stop into this place to take in some live music, the view it has to offer from its location and a routine Caesar salad check!

I entered the restaurant and asked for a spot near where the music would begin, but since it was just myself dining I asked to be put in the best spot for just one. The very cordial and kind-faced man asked if the bar would be ok. I assured him I don't drink alcohol but I'm solid in that and the bar should suit me ok so long as I can take it all in from my spot. He walked me to the back corner of the bar and it was a comfortable little nook for me.

I ordered a Caesar salad and the bartender offered to make me a mocktail at no charge. At first I went with a water but later I took him up on the virgin drink offer.

I like to order Caesar salads most anywhere I go to experience the quality of greens used. This place passed the test! Caesar dressing evenly coated all the crispy, crunchy leafy greens and the whole salad and the Parmesan plentiful. Even got some good crouton action happening, throughout. A+ on the salad, good to the last little bit.

The live music began and the bar began to get busier. People arriving, forming lines at the very nicely outfitted bar with perhaps a marble or Formica countertop. People were ordering beers by the fives and tens, asking for them to be put on ice in buckets. Rounds of shots being ordered, Shocktops, glasses of wine. The party was getting started for sure! I was content to ask for my virgin mojito and the bartend fancied it up with some strawberries for me.

It was a good little corner of the bar I staked out but as I was mostly intending to enjoy the live music offering, the decibel level of voices all around me was too much to hear the music well-enough. I noticed when the live music started the bartenders turned down the speakers at the bar that had been playing random background country music. If only the live musician's sound could have been patched through to the speakers at the bar, it would have been perfect.

I ordered a gator tail appetizer to enjoy and finally decided to move to the opposite corner of the bar away from the lines of people who were inadvertently blocking my view of the guitar-playing. I had zeroed-in an emptied spot for about 20 mins before finally deciding to move and happily transplanted myself with the bartend's assistance to a seat as directly adjacent from the live music as far as bar seating would allow. I was a happy camper and enjoyed the rest of my experience with a much more clear ability to hear and see the entertainment.

Thanks, Palm Valley! You've got a good thing goin' out there and some great views, to boot! Keep on keepin' on. Until next time when I come to sit for a good...

Under new management* our first time at PVO, when we arrived we found out it was newly acquired by a family! Music to our ears…Family Owned! On the water! And out door seating for days!!! Yes!!! Yes!!! And Yesssss!

We ordered the fish dip as an appetizer…absolutely delicious! Affordable too! It was just enough for 3 people, so if you have 4 or more get two.

For dinner we had the fish tacos, catch of the day, and seafood salad.

Fish tacos were a bit tough, keep that in mind for later as I go through this review. The catch of the day (fried) was a large piece of fish, with zucchini and squash as the seasonal vegetable and Parmesan grits. Seafood salad had ‘a lot’ of shrimp and a huge helping of lump crabmeat.

All three were very flavorful, but back to the tacos. My wife let me know they were tough, so I tried them and agreed but thought the taste was so good that there was no need to complain.

The night went on and Peter (son/manager) came by the table to greet us, asked us how dinner was and if there was anything they could do better.

I told him it was delicious, but the fish in the tacos was tough. He immediately apologized and said “I’ll take care of that for you!” Ugh WOW!

We insisted it was ok, that we just wanted him to know. But when the bill came sure enough he took care of it!

This is why I love family owned! Seeing a manager come by the table now a days is almost non existent! To top it off he’s the son, again WOW!

A few suggestions; no see-ums were deadly, as they often are by the water. Measures to eliminate that are a must! Our server was cute as a button but seemed new, servers need to be attentive and work together as a team when you have this many tables in a restaurant!

Open kitchen is an amazing touch, the kitchen crew was on top of getting the food out, I suggest putting a camera on them and televising it to the patrons, give that “Hell’s Kitchen open concept feel” to St. John’s and bring some excitement to your establishment!

Chefs garb would be nice too, given how awesome that kitchen is, it would be really cool to see it move as a unit.

Spend some money on your bartenders and open it to both sides, might be asking too much, the glass should open up and an outdoor bar will come alive.

Music makes everything happier. They may have had music playing but we never noticed, some intercostal jams are a must!

Disclaimer; food pictured was our leftovers. Sorry forgot to take...

Lots of seating, friendly service, and good food at a reasonable price.

I usually have low expectations for the bar and grills on the inter coastal. With the exception of the Palm Valley Fish Camp most of the restaurants on the inter coastal feel like fried fish baskets and french fries.

When you walk in the door you can see the enormous amount of seating both indoor and outdoor. It's not the classiest place in PVB, but then again it's PVB not even the aqua grill is that classy. Though it was a bit chilly the inside was very spacious and quiet. The outside had lots of fans so the bugs weren't a problem. Saturday and Sunday has live music which was nice but a bit loud for us since we wanted to have a nice conversation.

The service was warm and friendly and the waitress didn't turn her nose up at the 9 of us ordering waters without any alcohol. Dress code was just like any bar and grill should be in Florida... there is none (at least none I have hit).

I was impressed by the large number of different types of catch of the day fish. The menu had enough variety that everyone was able to find something without flipping a coin. The bar menu oddly was larger than the food menu though which I found kind of funny, but hey it is a "bar & grill" (the bar comes first. The food was served in the right amount of time. The kids were able to play out side in their large play area while we waited. Everyone was very pleased with their meals of fish, lamb burger, or cheese burgers. The cheese burgers were especially good though with a nice char broiled taste. I would recommend going one temperature cooler than normal as I thought my son's hamburger was medium well instead of medium... but it was still tasty.

All and all this was a very tasty meal and a good choice if you can't get into the Palm Valley Fish Camp or don't want to...