Coastal Del Mar - Seafood Grill — Restaurant in Lady Lake

This is probably the hardest, and longest, review I have written in the past year or two because my bride and I were looking to having a great meal with some good friends from Wisconsin and it turned out to be very disappointing. Let me preface my review with the fact that the staff responded with sincere apologies.

Our group of 6 had 7:15 PM reservations and we were promptly seated when we arrived at 7:10. Parking was very difficult around the square as a very good band was playing so plan accordingly.

Our server, Ashlyn, provided us time to get settled by bringing waters for everyone. As we looked through the wonderful menu, I decided I would order the Shrimp and scallop fettuccine. That is until I discovered 3 others from my group decided on the same entree. I just needed to have variety at our table.

Ashlynn returned and asked about starters. We ordered 3 clam chowders and a beer and she left. It was a bit odd that she did not take our dinner order but perhaps someone in our group asked for more time. We were sitting 3 and 3 in a bench / chair table with me being squeezed in the farthest bench seat location limiting my ability to hear much … which is typical anywhere so no points off for that.

We waited quite a bit in the busy yet finer dining atmosphere before receiving our chowder and beer. Now to order our meals. Asking to hear the specials again as Ashlynn is a very fast talker, I ordered the special: Red Snapper with lemon/basil risotto for $36. My bride ordered the Scallops Risotto. It was described as having spinach, tomatoes and shaved Parmesan. Three orders of Shrimp and Scallop Fettuccine was ordered as well along with a fish entree.

When our meals came, they looked great. I tasted a small piece of my fish and it tasted good. My bride asked me to taste her risotto and it was vastly undercooked and flavorless. I tried mine and it was the same. The rest of our party enjoyed their meals and were mostly content.

Ashlynn apologized for our meal and took them away stating it would be corrected in a minute or two. Unless they had risotto ready to go, I knew that was not happening. Our friends were trying to eat slow but they were nearly finished when our plates were returned. My fish was now swimming in a bowl of watery, yellow green sauce with orzo(?) buried within. The same with my bride's dish. Ashlynn returned to make sure our meals were now okay. We told her no and she said she would be right back. My bride had pushed her plate aside but I suggested she could at least eat the scallops as I ate my fish. We were so hungry and we needed to eat.

The manager came over and immediately saw our plate and stated they should not have been served like that. She apologized and we were told our plates would be removed from our bill. Nothing was said about comping our meal which included the chowder my bride and I ate, just the entrees.

Soon after, Michael, the culinary manager came over and apologized as well as stating that he did not see our plates go out and that they should not have been served. He also stated they were out of risotto and he provided us with a $25 gift card and a request to ask for him when we come back and he will personally prepare our dish.

Lastly, Ashlynn provided our group 3 desserts for free. My bride did not want any of the sweet desserts after having eaten very little but I ordered the key lime pie. It was extremely sweet but I still had no problem finishing it.

When the bills came, ours was for $19.05, the cost of the two chowders we had. It really felt like a slap in the face to be charged as we had watched our friends eat and we were heavily disappointed in our experience. We decided to use the gift card to pay our bill and left. Our friends said their meal was okay, not great, but maybe that was due to our overall experience.

Coastal del Mar is a favorite for two of our friends but the other two said they will not return when they come back to The Villages next year. Major...

Three of us went to Coastal Del Mar for late afternoon drinks and early dinner. We sat on the patio by the bar. We sat for about 10 minutes before our server 'Junior' cam to the table. Junior was very nice but we would soon find out that he was not a great server. We asked about the happy hour and what drinks were on HH. He told us it was wine and well drinks only. My wife and sister in law ask what flavor vodka's they had. We got a funny look and then he said 'we just have plain vodka, no flavors'. I ordered a Tito's martini which tasted pretty bad, turns out he put in a HH (well) martini. My sister in laws drink was so bad, she almost spit it on the floor. It took about 20 minutes before we could get juniors attention (before he ever came back outside) to get a new drink. This time she just order a white wine. When that did not come out after 10 minutes (I started a stopwatch on my phone) we got the manager, Elkin Natera. We told him about how bad everything was. After talking to Junior he came back to let us know that Junior's head was not in the right place today and he was sending him home. My sister in law was upset, she did not want him fired. The manager assured us he was not, just being sent home today. Well, now that the general manager was involved, it DID NOT get any better. Service was still awful and super slow. Tables around us had a young lady server and she was on top of it. Customers would sit at one of her tables and they had ice water and hot rolls with butter in about a minute. Took us about 10 minutes for water and 20 minutes for rolls. The manager told us he was going to give a a dessert on him for our troubles. Junior came to the tables and said "do you want your ticket?". Did not ask, never asked how the food was, did we want anything else. We were never asked if we wanted a second drink. The manager gave me his card and said "when you come back, ask to be in my VIP section so you get better service. After we left and walked around for a while, we walked past the restaurant while going to the car. We saw Junior was still working. This tells me that Elkin was feeding us a line of bull.... and did not care about us at all. We left very disgusted with the whole place and situation. Elkin had the opportunity to correct the situation on the spot, he did not. Something tells me there is no VIP section and we will most likely never find out because we will most likely never go back. Hopefully Coastal Del Mar will have a new general manager soon so the place can be better. I would highly recommend this place if you LOVE slow...

Highly recommend this restaurant 10/10. A customer of mine, referred me here after I mentioned that majority of Spanish Springs restaurants and surrounding area are not that delicious and their response was for me to try this place.

I was first greeted by Melissa. What a gem she is. Every business needs a Melissa. I heard her conversing, with other staff and you could tell her energy was great and she spoke in a manner of respect for everyone and making sure each server was getting the same amount tables.

I came by myself and sat at the bar. Wesley was great. I ordered a chicken Ceaser wrap. OMG it was delicious. Very few restaurants make a chicken Ceaser wrap the way I love it and man they got me with that “Can’t eat, Can’t sleep…. World Series, kind of love” for this wrap. So much so, I went back the next day and had it for lunch. I mean the chicken is incredibly flavorful and hot, the dressing is delicious, not too much but not dry either, and then the wrap yum they press it so everything is nice and hot. I also appreciate that they don’t add other stuff to it like tomatoes. I ended my meal with an espresso shot. It’s certainly worth it. Delicious and it was smooth. I only drink espresso and this is by far better than most coffee places. I loved the cute sugar cups with it.

On my second visit, for the life of me, I can’t remember my server. She was amazing and kind. I brought my toddler with me this time. She didn’t care for the kid’s burger but she’s 2 so that could be why. I order the chicken Ceaser wrap again and it was just as great the day before.

I also noticed the managers were well dressed and attentive to staff, customers, and even cleaning tables off.

When I left, even though Melissa was busy with a manager, she made sure to stop and look up at me and ask me how everything was and that she hopes we return. That kind of stuff like that makes people feel seen and appreciated.

Overall, I will be back time and time again. Their lunch prices are very well priced. I plan to take my family here for dinner. I am looking forward to trying some calamari and lobster. I will update my review when I try these items. Definitely try this place and make a...