The Grand Marlin — Restaurant in Florida

We decided to check out The Grand Marlin While traveling through the Panama City beach area. It had good reviews, a good menu and waterfront dining. It was also located a short distance from St Andrews State Park where we were staying.

We made reservations for 6:30 on a Friday night and decided to arrive early for a cocktail at the bar beforehand. We were warmly greeted upon arrival and directed to two bars one of which was outside upstairs which we chose. The restaurant is in a great location situated on the water with sunset facing views. The ground floor has an oyster bar and large main bar along with main dining room that seats about 200. There’s an upstairs covered outdoor dining area with a 20 seat bar. The upstairs bar is circular and seats about 20 people. There’s nice views of the water and the open air atmosphere is nice. We were looking forward to a night out at a nice restaurant sitting at the bar and having a nice dinner.

However, after sitting down at the upstairs bar It was obvious that the only bartender was busy and visibly flustered working both the bar and the well. After waiting for about 10 minutes and asking the guy next to us if we could see his menus she finally acknowledged us and rapidly spewed out the happy hour drinks when asked. It’s like she did have time for us and certainly did not make us feel welcome. We decided however to order an old fashioned and a Manhattan up both with Basil Hayden. She hastily made the drinks and placed them in front of us. That’s when I realized she had shaken the Manhattan diluting the Basil Hayden. Also no cherry. At $16 for the drink and a Call brand I guess I was expecting a bit more than this treatment and a crappy cocktail. When I asked for a cherry it was missing from a cocktail she threw the cherry in the drink splashing the drink onto the bar and my arm. Totally unprofessional. I think she realized what she did and she apologized. At that point, we realize there was absolutely no way that we would sit at the bar and eat dinner after being treated in this way. We ultimately got the bill and she had comped us one drink. I tipped her six dollars on a $16 tab.

We let the hostess upstairs know that we would like a table by the railing, where we could see the water and she was able to accommodate us. Turns out Dillion was our waiter. I have to say he did a fabulous job for the rest of the evening. He was attentive knowledgeable, but not overbearing and never rushed us at any point in time.

The tables upstairs are spaced nicely. It’s easy to have a conversation. Table and stemware were good, however no tablecloth. Also, no bread offered as part of the meal.

We started by splitting the crispy lobster fingers appetizer. It came with 3 fingers which are basically small lobster tails that have been deep fried. The vanilla bean honey mustard sauce gave it them a nice flavor. We probably could’ve ordered another plate put a $24 for three small pieces. We didn’t think the value was there.

For Dinner my wife ordered the scallops from the fresh seafood section on the menu. On the recommendation of the waiter I decided to try the grouper piccata. When the food came out we were surprised by the lack of presentation, especially for the prices we were paying. For $44 there were four scallops. They were also not warm and undercooked and had to be sent back. In the meantime the grouper piccata was excellent and I finished my meal before the scallops came back from the kitchen. The sides of mashed potatoes, spinach, and green beans also were cooked very well and came out warm.

In summary we were disappointed especially based on the reviews that we had read. The upstairs bar bartender started the evening off bad but Dylan fix that from a service perspective. For the price point the food was over priced but good and the presentation absolutely terrible. All told for two drinks an appetizer and two entrées we spent about $160 with tip.

We would probably come back but only for cocktails...

I went with family for Sunday brunch. More than half of our party of seven raved about how good it was from past experiences so I was looking forward to the hype. Well my experience didn't go so well. Ordered the steak n' eggs something I typically wouldn't make at home or order from restaurants just to get out of my comfort zone. Our food came and it looks good so I dive into the fingerling potatoes first which are pretty dang delicious but do have an oddly familiar taste that hadn't experienced in a long time. So now it's time to dive into the steak but had to share a steak knife since the server didn't bring enough for the table. The steak was actually delicious, marinated and cooked perfectly for my taste. So after cutting up the no complaint steak and sharing a piece or two I scoop up some scrambled eggs with my fork. The menu item description listed scrambled eggs so that's what I stuck with thinking they would be fancied up scrambled and the menu item was $24. Nope, the eggs were as plain as eggs could be, no salt or pepper, no cheese, no onions, no nothing to flavor up the eggs. Just plain scrambled eggs, like you get at any bargain breakfast buffet or chain restaurant. Nothing fancy or fresh fresh for a menu item that's 3 times the national minimum wage. Very disappointing. Continuing on I make my way through potatoes and get a few bites of what appears to be bits of potatoes a little extra crispy maybe from being in the bottom of the pan which I begin to hesitate on because it is quite a bit salty and chewy like bacon. But the menu item description said nothing about bacon. I don't eat pork for personal reasons. Especially sliced pig stomach. So I just chalk it up as crispy potatoes but I can't get the idea of it being bacon out of my head. So time moves on our party finishes eating and commence to conversation. We are asked by the server if we want dessert and we all pass, then a few to go boxes are brought but our empty dishes still remain. Some more time passes and the check is brought even though there are still empty plates on the table. For me that's a straight no tip but fortunately for the sub-par server I'm not paying. On the way home I'm encouraged to not think about the possibility of having eaten pork, but I'm certain it was and that the potatoes were cooked with pig fat which was the oddly familiar taste. I tried to not think about it the rest of the day and didn't touch any of the leftovers since it was leftover diner night. Although I'm still not 100% positive it was swine I had some awful dreams that night and woke up with the feeling of bacon in my stomach. Beyond that the service was mildly average and over staffed, didn't have our reservation correct but at least the view was decent. I've had just as good breakfasts from IHOP or Dennys and wouldn't recommend this place unless you like to...

Table for 5 for Mother's Day / Birthday We arrived at the restaurant and immediately noticed the massive parking lot — plenty of spaces and no charge. After entering, we made our way to the host podium. Our reservation was for six, and we were seated promptly and provided with menus. The space itself was beautiful, with a striking, elegant nautical theme. The views from our booth were a highlight, overlooking the docked boats and water. We were celebrating Mother’s Day and Wifey’s birthday — a double whammy. The menu has a wide range of specialty drinks and cocktails. Wifey ordered a mimosa to start us off. . My youngest wanted a lemonade, but they didn’t have any. I think she and her boyfriend both settled for water. My oldest ordered a sweet tea and loved it — super sweet, just how she likes it. I asked for a cafe mocha but was informed they did not have specialty coffees, so I opted for an apple juice and a black coffee. When it came time to order our food, the St. Andrews Skillet was popular with our group. Wifey ordered the skillet with poached eggs; my oldest and our other guest ordered it with scrambled eggs. I ordered the Bananas Foster French Toast with a side of bacon. My youngest created her own entrée by combining a few sides — she ordered grits with cheese added, along with a side of bacon and sausage. Overall, our server was very nice, he seemed a little confused by any customization we wanted to make to our orders and somewhat discouraged any changes to what was printed. The food arrived very quickly. I immediately started digging into my French toast and loved it — it seemed to be the highlight of the table. I started hearing grumbling around the table. The consensus on the Skillet was that, while visually appealing, it was dry, lacked seasoning, and the fingerling potatoes overwhelmed the dish. They also needed to be cut into smaller pieces. Wifey mentioned she couldn’t even taste any cheese and graded the skillet a D. My youngest daughter said her cheese grits tasted as though they had been sitting out for a while and were not creamy at all. To celebrate Wifey’s birthday, the restaurant provided a complimentary dessert: a crunchy cup filled with vanilla bean ice cream, candied pecans, and fresh fruit. It was outstanding — honestly, the best thing we had all day. Personally, I’d give the overall experience a 3.5. While I loved my Bananas Foster French toast and the complimentary birthday dessert, when averaging everyone’s feedback, the food as a whole was below average. That said, the service was attentive, and the nautical-themed atmosphere and beautiful scenery were definite highlights. Rating: 3.5/5 Instagram:...