Tradewinds Restaurant — Restaurant in Florida

It’s unfortunate I’m writing this review as 1-star when this was a 5-star place several years ago.

I’ll start from the outside and work my way in. You advertise open to the public along the outside roadway but all you have now is outdoor seating, mediocre food and at least two bartenders who have no clue what they are doing.

For those who are unaware, Tradewinds is owned and operated by a separate company rather than Bahama Bay. We used to come visit when there was music, karaoke, indoor/outdoor seating, quality bartenders and a whole lot of family fun. We recently tried to stop in for lunch only to find the inside was locked and no longer open to guests, the only option is the back patio.

On our most recent visit this past week, we discovered there are no longer any indoor bathrooms, only pool bathrooms with no AC….in July…in Florida…

The bar has a very limited selection of beer/wine/spirits. It seems like the selection is whatever came in on promotion that month. We were quite confused when we asked the bartender for a Surfside and was asked “what goes in that?”…..

Food was mediocre and lukewarm. Miss the days of when Lisa and Colby were working. I would be embarrassed to invite the public as if it has something good to offer. What was once a thriving pool bar & grill is now in desperate need of some help and leadership before it’s driven...

So after a 14 hour drive, we got into our room which are very nice we decided to grab a quick bite to eat and call it a night. Stopped in here right on resort and ate never once did they say hey we're card only we don't do cash except for tips. After we tried to pay for food we were told there cashless. No where did we see cards only no cash. Its on the menu in very bottom in middle in small print. We finally argued with manager because we don't do cards we don't even have one we're cash only. The manager took it and agreed they need to change and make it more noticeable and tell people there card only before they set down and finish there food. Word of advice food is OK it's good after a long day and to fill you up but not worth 75 dollars for 3 meals 2 beers a souvenir cup and a Pepsi. Go to ARBYS 5 mins down the road. Also after adding my bill up it was 69.18 the waitress added 10 dollars onto my bill for her tip after I tipped her 15 dollars so she got 25 dollar tip just because she ripped me off on my bill. WATCH YOUR BILL WHEN IT COMES SHE...

Beautiful pool and lakeside lounge setting (credit to the developer), but one of the poorest managed operations I've seen/experiend in decades. Understaffed (good people, perhaps need more training), long wait times for getting seated, drinks and food (45 mins for chicken fingers/fries), even on a relatively low traffic evening, and overall sub-medicore food.

The sense one gets is that it's not being managed by an owner, someone with 'skin in the game', who lives by servicing customers and making a profit (run more like a state government agency, non-profit or library). Turns out it's run by Vacasa (the vacation-rental company), which has a terrible reputation in all things management, and supposedly this is one of the few restaurants they've been entrusted to run.

The Gran Bahama board would be wise to help themselves and perhaps rent the space to an experienced restaurant operator who would care about customer experience and have "skin...