The Whale — Restaurant in Fort Myers Beach

Honestly I was incredibly disappointed. First time and had our dinner and drinks at the bar upstairs. Bartender was fabulous, food was perfect, and the bartender mentioned that the yummy sauce that I'd noted was something they had for sale. I was thrilled about that so on our way out I stopped down by the hostess desk and was going to ask about it. She was about to seat someone and left so my husband and I waited. And waited. No worries, it's beach time. I saw the bottles of sauce on the shelf, pulled two because I wanted to gift a friend one of them, and waited some more. The place was getting busy and I realized that we had wanted to walk on the beach, the place is only a few blocks away, and walking around carting two bottles while trying to gather shells probably wasn't wise. We decided to just come back for another good meal before leaving FL and pick them up at that time. I put them back on the shelf and off we went across the street to the beach. A young man called out to us from across the street and I recognized him as an employee of the Whale. I crossed the street and he asked about the sauce. I indicated to him that we'd come back to get it another day and it became clear he actually was sent out to catch us, believing that we'd taken the bottles with us! I held my bag open and told him I wasn't a thief and was stunned. My husband and I are 60 and 59 respectively. We have never been accused of theft in our lives. I thought about it as we walked and then returned to complain about the treatment. We'd spent $80 on our meal and left a $20 tip for our bartender. The food was wonderful. The drink she recommended was wonderful. We will never return because of how the experience ended. The woman at the desk that I complained to was supremely disinterested which indicated to me she was likely the person who sent the young man out to chase us, and embarrass us in the middle of the street. No apology, no explanation that there was a raft of geriatric thieves roaming the Whale, no indication that the way we'd been treated was inappropriate. At all. We have a place within walking distance and this one experience crossed a nearby restaurant off our list....

So I will say I’m on vacation and I expected to have a different experience once me and my friends came here the Hostess asked where we would like to sit she offered their upstairs and down stairs we chose upstairs she didn’t lead us up we walked and then the bar tells us their closed so I tell them about how the hostess doesn’t know that and he ( the bartender ) said something rude didn’t acknowledge it we sit then a table sat after us got their food first then we had to ask for refills and the food was good but for the amount of food we got for the price was a little bit Ridiculous two tacos for $15 who does that... not impressed very disappointed the website is nothing like the actual place it’s unfortunate we had to have dinner here and be let down . ALSO AT THE VERY END OF MY LAST TACO OF TWO HALF WAY THRU A FLY lands on my food and they hand me the bill doesn’t seem like service is very serious about the people who traveled to come to this restaurant very much compared to the locals who were screaming and yelling and drunk inside of this place is it a bar or...

During the past 6 days in Fort Myers, I've been searching for the one dish that says 'you are in Florida.' Luckily, I have relatives who live here and with their guidance, we've checked out many local restaurants for that one plate of food. Many came close and the decision, up until now wasn't easy. Today the stars must have been aligned because after a glorious day at the beach, we managed to get a parking spot here at The Whale (a place I've been wanting to go to for the previous 5 days.) Our server, Britney, told us about the specials and when she described this one dish, grouper, with yellow rice, plantains, green beans, julienned vegetables, avocado and a pineapple butter, the entire table knew this was my dish. Another nod to the establishment: ten years ago we came here and I had a tuna dish that I still remember to this day. I also remember the place was called Beached Whale back then but regardless, when I come to Fort Myers, I know The Whale will answer the call of what Florida...