Poppy's Crazy Lobster Destin — Restaurant in Miramar Beach

This place is a joke, first off, don't trust maps to get you there, they have it located in a San Destin Bay Club convention center but it's at the Bay Club Warf, we had to call 3 times to get directions to find them because they couldn't concisely tell us where they are, on the second call we became frustrated and they hung up on us, so the third call was to cancel our res for the 7 of us, oh then everything changed, we booked in open table and all of a sudden they could patronizingly guide us through the Warf to them. So we finally get there, starving, sweaty, and ready for drinks to take the edge off and a good meal, by the time we were seated we were laughing and looking forward to the lobster. So our waiter takes our drink order, he comes back with 3 out of 7 drinks then has a question about one, so he goes back to the bar, walks back to us asks my brother again about his drink so my brothers like forget it just give me a beer, the waiter apologizes that it's his first day on the job! He has no help with him, and they gave him a 7 top to manage by himself! we are still waiting on 2 sodas and another drink, in the mean time we realized we were seated next to a "lobster tank" we had no clue till it registered with my husband, he was like omg what is that disgusting thing? Is THAT the lobster tank?! It was so densely filled with dark green algae you couldn't see any lobsters in it. About that time another drink comes we were waiting for and I kid you not, there was a full on dead fly in the drink! Ewwww! Never got the 2 sodas, so at that point we called it quits and asked for the bill. The manager emerges from the back and she has an attitude, acting like fine, ill comp you something, were like lady, we don't want anything for free, we want to pay our bill and leave, we didn't call you out here, we just said give us the bill we are leaving. So we paid, my husband tipped the poor waiter $20 and told him to find a better job, poor guy! We booked through open table where reviews are everything on that app, so when they check you in as arrived and dining it verifies you were really there and it's not the completion leaving bad reviews, however you cannot leave your review till they close out the dining session so even now, 12 hours later it shows us as "still dining" lol they are soooo shady, won't close out the dine because they don't want us to review them!!! I'm totally serious about all of this! So by the time we get out of there my blood sugar is so low, I'm going down and stuck at least 1/2 mile from our car in the Warf area, thankfully Acme Oyster took us in and fed us but everyone by now is pissy and grumpy, it really ruined our whole night, this was the only night while we are in Destin that the grandparents agreed to watch the grandkids while we all go out, so yea, we're still pretty pissed. Do not even attempt this place! I mean if you want to go see for yourself because like a train wreck, some people have to come look see, go for it, but don't bring anyone you like there with you and...

My wife and I had an absolutely great experience coming here to eat dinner. We came on a Friday night (5/19/18), so it wasn't quite peak season yet. We were seated immediately at an outside table where we could listen to the live music there.

The seating and the atmosphere, with the live music, was great. I love going to restaurants that have live music, and the band they had was doing a really good job of picking songs we both knew!

My wife ordered the steamed shrimp plate, and I ordered the fried shrimp plate.

As to the amounts of food, both of our plates had really large portions of food. I'm a pretty big guy, and my plate was definitely large enough for me. (We were both stuffed when we left.) The shrimp was cooked perfectly on both plates.

With my wife's steamed shrimp plate, the amount of cajun spices was exactly where it needed to be to have a little kick without being overwhelming at all. (My wife let me have the corn off her plate since she knows I like it!)

On my fried shrimp plate, the shrimp was also cooked perfectly, and the hushpuppies were really good. The fries were good as well — crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. I just needed to add a little salt, and the plate was just what it needed to be.

Our server was brand new. It was her first night working outside of training. She did an absolutely excellent job for the two of us. We ordered sweet tea to drink, and she kept our drinks filled the whole time we were there. She was sweet and attentive to us the whole evening.

Here's a few quick details to help you with this restaurant:

1. The restaurant is in Baytown Wharf, so when you come in, the attendant at the gate will give you a pass to be able to park.

2. When we came in, the public parking right by the Wharf was full, so we paid the $6 for valet parking. You don't have to get the valet at all since they have parking a block or two up the street. But it was really nice to have them park for us and bring the car right back. They use a text-messaging site to handle all that.

3. We got seated right away, but we didn't go during peak season. I would imagine that during peak times, you would probably want to make a reservation through OpenTable.

4. Just to give you an idea on price, each of our plates were about $25 a piece. With sweet teas, tax and a good tip, it was $72 for the two of us.

5. If you've never been here, there's a whole set of shops and other activities for kids, so after eating, you can definitely spend some time walking around. They have a really nice walkway out to the bay if...

Mediocre food, high priced and poorly presented with inattentive and uncaring staff. We've been here a few times over the years. Decided to give it another try after a mediocre experience last year. Unfortunately it got worse. We sat outside. SLOW service - Seems like the "waiter" was serving his time doing community service without supervision. 🤣 No greeting, no introduction, NO personality. (There were only two other tables the whole time we were there too) Got overcharged $4 for REFILLS of voodoo drinks. Drinks were watered down, as they sat at the bar too long with ice melting. After 20min or more the bartender finally brought out our refills as the "waiter" on staff was not only clueless, but MIA. (No spoon for soups ordered) Lobster bisque was luke-warm and soup portions have gotten a lot smaller. Ordered steak and Lobster (No steak knife). After 15min of receiving food, not from the "waiter" of course, he came by and I asked for one. ("They were supposed to put it on the plate" was the response. Seems like the "parolee" wasn't responsible for anything.) No salt/pepper/hot sauce caddie, had to go inside and get it myself. Presentation? $35 and $45 plates stuffed on an oblong metal serving "tray" with potatoes everywhere. The meals were both looking like a heap of food with each listing on top of each other.🧐 We had a restaurant.com voucher for 1/2 off in which seemed like a hassle for them to process. ("wait while I go and get the paperwork for this") He returned with a manager (from "sister site" Hammerheads) as they filled out this paperwork, like we were applying for a loan or something. Even though there was a voucher number, I had to sign a piece of paper attesting that I received this discount in which made you feel as if you won something for free. (other restaurants that use this just deduct the value using the voucher code, no hassle.) The "parolee" ended up being a manager too as he signed our paperwork as so.🤣🤣 Food and drinks were just OK, but, made it a lot worse by the waiting and miscues from the person who was just there physically from time to time. Bottom line is this was a really bad experience again and not even worth paying the "discounted" price from having this voucher. Even though a BAD experience, we tipped 15% (on the discounted price.) He is LUCKY I gave that. NOT DESERVED AT ALL. I would have tipped 20% on the full amount without the voucher as I do everywhere else we go that provides...