Caddy's John's Pass — Restaurant in Madeira Beach

Great service with a view. We stopped for dinner at Caddy's John's Pass. It is on the bay board walk so you have a view of the water and boats passing by. A host will seat you or you can walk up anytime to the bar. We sat at the bar.

Their menu has what I find to be typical bar/grill kind of food. A little of this and a little of that. We started with a couple appetizer's, fish dip and ahi tuna. Our main meal consisted of coconut shrimp with sweet potato fries and a corn beef Ruben sandwich with their kettle chips. I say Ruben like that because they offer a grouper Ruben as well.

The appetizers were what you'd expect. The fish dip was tasty. Initially I thought it might be a salmon dip because of the color and initial taste but a second bite cleared that up. This was a good dip but having had smoked fish dip similar to this at other places it left me thinking about it instead. Portion size was good. The ahi tuna was on good as well. Seared and slightly cool in the center. It was a descent portion size with Wasabi and yum yum sauce on the plate.

Our main course came out fairly quickly. My Ruben a good size sandwich, was tasty and hot. The kettle chips were warm to hot and nicely seasoned. I added some malt vinegar to them and this was a great combo if you like that flavor profile. My wife's coconut shrimp were good as were the sweet potato fries. Portion size was a bit small for the money with only 7 or 8 pieces of shrimp and more fries. Would have been nice to see more shrimp.

With so much seafood in the area I had expected for her shrimp to be fresh and baddered on site. This is not the case as I watched some service staff carry in 3 boxes of frozen coconut shrimp.

Service. There were 8 or so folks at the bar with two bartenders. They did a great job of taking care of everyone, including a bar tender from another establishment who I thought was a chatty Kathy and trying top hard to make friends with the staff. They have a nice drink selection and pour a nice drink.

After speaking with my wife about her thoughts, this was just and average to OK place. Nothing against the staff at all, they were great but just sorta expected more for the money we spent. Over 120 with tip for two people. Oh, I almost forgot. They have live entertainment as well. Their music kept the crowd entertained but was a bit loud...

Decided to head out of town a little further than normal we live in new port richey and love trying new places especially on the water- Decided to give caddy’s a shot- Let’s start with the food- we ordered crab cakes as an appetizer not only were they the smallest crab cakes I’ve ever been served anywhere but they were also the WORST!! First bite I had more crunch then a potato chip and they were cold- my husband had one bite and said these are awful I bravely took a bite number 2 and same thing shell and just not good- A server passing by must have overheard us and asked if everything was ok we explained and she very apologetically took them away and took them off our bill- For main entrees I ordered the blackened grouper sand which and my husband had the carnitas tacos- average at best and my sand which was 25$ which I understand grouper is expensive but for that price an up charge for fries and no coleslaw or anything was a little disappointing- I ordered a Bloody Mary to drink, and it came with 2 small olives and that’s it- again disappointing most on the water restaurants have good bloody. Mary’s and hook them Up with nice olives and celery- We had key lime pie for dessert - it was for me at least the best part of the meal but my husband didn’t care for it- now we are not picky eaters and the is the first 3 star review I think I have ever left- I’m giving 3 stars even though the food and drinks were less then satisfactory along with the price for my mid level sandwich because the staff was extremely friendly both our waiter Collin and the young lady who took the crab cakes off the bill- Nice atmosphere though to be able to sit directly on water- but I honestly wouldn’t somewhere else when we head to John’s pass again- I also appreciated the fact that they give military discount of 15% so Kudos for that as well- Maybe it was an off day in the kitchen not sure but definitely don’t waste your money on...

We had a very mixed experience here. First off, the positives; our server Natalie was amazing and on top of everything, despite looking like she was spread kind of thin, she kept our drinks full and never left us waiting on anything. Ya'll need to clone her, she rocked it!

We were also all extremely happy with the quality of the food and drinks! Everything was cooked perfectly and delicious, especially the boneless wings; they were so tender and juicy and the tropical bbq and mild sauces were really tasty!

Now to the overwhelmingly negative part: the atmosphere left a lot to be desired. The music inside this place was so incredibly loud that you couldn't hear the person sitting next to you, let alone the person across from you or further down the table. And just when we thought it was being taken care of, they were just switching over to live music, which was just as loud. Was the music good? Absolutely! But that said, it would have been nice to be able to talk and enjoy our meals together instead of having to yell and mime things to each other. Despite how good the food and service was, this was the most notable thing about our visit and left a bad taste.

Additionally, all of the seating is outside. I could see how this would be really great at certain times of the year, it was REALLY hot in this place! Even with the fans and slight occasional breeze, were were all sweating like we were running in a marathon through the Everglades. This still could have been a minor footnote on this visit if it wasn't so painfully loud in the restaurant the entire time we were there.

The food and service were great, but would we eat here again? Even at a cooler time of year, if it's always this loud, I would have to say no.. Maybe one of the many other locations if the food is just as good in each one, and if things were toned down enough that we can actually...