Wahoo Willie's — Restaurant in Fort Myers Beach

So, here's the long and short of it.

I'm a chef or cook or however you want to call it depending on how nitpicky you want to get. Either way, it's been what I've done in some capacity for the better part of two decades.

I was recommended this place, and at first glance seemed promising for what seemed like a fairly normal touristy lunch spot with some basic fan fare, good vibes, and live music (the best part).

Ordered the Po Boy (Shrimp) with an Arnold Palmer and my mother the Blackened Ahi Tuna (which comes on a bed of black soba noodles, with voodoo sauce and wasabi cream sauce)

Not sure the cook has ever had a Po Boy before, nor should this be difficult to make but it's generally hard to mess up. Super salty shrimp, stale bread, wilted lettuce, and very very very and I don't even add hyperbole very bad remoulade. I don't think it's made in-house but it was definitely passed its prime and somehow also incredibly salty. Contender for the worst Po Boy/sandwich I've had in a very long time.

Now this being said, the blackened ahi tuna with black soba noodles was a complete and utter abomination. They honestly should feel bad for themselves to even have let it up off the line. Clumpy, clotted noodles, stale and hard edamame beans, slimy greying ahi with a mushy texture, and zero flavor perhaps enhanced (unfortunately for the worse by a subpar voodoo sauce)

I've lived and cooked in New Orleans, and I specialize in Japanese and Creole cuisine so what we ordered is in my wheelhouse.

It really only disappoints me because the cook feels comfortable plating and serving this with no regard for how it's presented, or tastes. I don't appreciate laziness in the kitchen, and if you're unable to fulfill the order and hey even if you're having an off day and you mess it up, I'd rather you tell me (or the server) and recommend me something else.

I'd highly recommend to the owner reevaluate their cooks and perhaps attend a training course on how to make presentable, and edible food.

I was hoping for a nice birthday lunch, sadly it's now 8 hours later and I still can't forget this completely unforgettable meal.

Also, Arnold Palmers aren't difficult. I'm not sure what it was I received.

Solid 0/5 for the food. Service was fine, friendly, and fairly attentive. The vibes were good, and the music (live singer) was nice.

Reminds me of Bay St. Louis as it's equally kitschy and geared toward tourists.

Maybe we ordered the only two things on the menu that suck, I won't be back to find out which is a shame. Fun spot I'd imagine to day drink,...

Pros: they had live music at lunchtime that was pleasant and easy to listen to. The open air seating with overhead cover was great. Nice light breeze, but out of the light showers we are experiencing today. Not overly crowded and seemed to be plenty of staff moving about. Food delivery was surprisingly quick once we placed our order.

So-so: our drink order was taken quickly but we didn’t know the local brews were canned and they didn’t bring glasses. I definitely don’t like to drink an IPA from the can so I waited to catch our server to ask for a glass. We didn’t see him for a good wait, so I finally I flagged down a random server and they brought us one glass, even though two of us had ordered beers. I guess I needed to be more specific! We got the second glass after our server finally looked at our table. If he had been the only server on the floor I’d have had more understanding of the lack of attention, but he wasn’t. He seemed to have three tables. When he did finally pass close enough to our table to flag down he said he’d get back to us. 🤷🏻‍♀️

The food: mixed reviews. I ordered the blackened fish sandwich, which was triple tip, white and flaky. The fish itself was very mild, so the blackening seasoning and garlic aioli really jazzed it up. I paid the up charge for the Caesar side. It was fine. I did like the sandwich. The Brioche roll stood up to the fillings, although after a few bites I removed the top and ate it as an open faced with knife and fork. This, for me, was exactly the way to eat it! My husband ordered the fish and chips, which was a huge disappointment. The batter crust was too heavy, not crispy, and a bit doughy. He ended up taking off all the crust and just eating the haddock, which had a nice flavor. The French fries were very skinny, tasty, but also not any sort of crisp. Sort of like fast food fries after they’ve sat around a while.

In the end, we would go back, but would definitely not recommend the fish and chips. I also learned to ask when ordering if the beer is draft or canned, since it...

Our server / bartender was very busy but took care of us well. The food was okay. We had the flatbread with eggs, bacon and cheese. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it a 6. The Crust was so tough you could not cut it with a knife. One shot of vodka and a shot of bloody Mary mix with a full cup of ice shouldn't qualify as a $10 bloody Mary, but, that's what you get and pay when you order a bloody Mary. There's only a couple places in town that are open for breakfast, so unfortunately, wahoo Willie's has you over a barrel if you don't want to wait until after 11:00 a.m. to eat something. It was much better service this time than last time we went there. The last time, the bartender had a cocky attitude and rude mouth towards the other customers and my corned beef sandwich came out, literally, burnt and the corned beef was so tough you couldn't even bite it. Wahoo Willy's had two opportunities to stop that from being served to a customer. First the cook should have never sent it out that way and second the server / cocky bartender should not have even served it. The ladies restroom is outside the restaurant and down the sidewalk about half a block. There's only two stalls! There were three ladies in front of me and three more came in while we were all waiting. There really wasn't room for all of us in that tiny bathroom . There is a huge gap in the door in the handicap stall and you can see everything going on in there -no privacy! On the upside, we met another nice couple there and became friends while they were waiting for nervous Nellie's to open up for lunch. We should have taken their queue and waited for Nervous...