Ocean Breeze Tiki Bar and Grill — Restaurant in New Smyrna Beach

Ok I’m going to break this review down to be completely fair about it.

Atmosphere: 4 stars. Directly across from the beach; can’t beat the views not to mention the breeze. Now is this family friendly? LOL not in the least. We made the mistake of bringing a young child to dinner with us. The table directly behind us was on their 6th round of tequila shots and starting to use profanity that I prayed our toddler wouldn’t hear and repeat. Now, if I was 10 years younger and looking for a fun spot to get rowdy with friends, this would be the perfect place. So if you’re looking for a beach bar, tropical cocktails, and the freedom to get buck wild, look no further. If you want to have a relaxing dinner by the water with your family, then I would pass on this one.

Food: negative 3 stars. The food was absolutely abominable. I’m talking, you couldn’t even pay me any amount of money to eat that food again. Let me explain: 1) I ordered a fried shrimp appetizer and somehow the shrimp weren’t fully cooked? I’m not trying to get food poisoning on the start of our vacation. 2) My salad had a mystery liquid on the bottom of the bowl, and no it wasn’t dressing, the dressing was a different color and on the side. The “Pineapple” on my salad was straight out of a fruit cup (like the kind you might get on a lunch tray in elementary school that’s full of sugar and preservatives). I made the mistake of hoping it would be fresh, so that was a let down. However maybe that was the mystery liquid on the bottom of the salad? The liquid half of the elementary school fruit cup? Not sure, it will forever remain a mystery. Ugh… and the piece of fish on the salad was so tough it wasn’t edible. Have you ever had tough fish? I have, but only when it’s not fresh and seriously over cooked which is exactly what I wasn’t expecting at a restaurant with prime access to fresh fish. 4) Smoked fish dip that tasted like it was made from tuna out of can. Probably the most edible of everything we ordered but flavorless and not exciting. 5) The toddlers chicken fingers were so tough, my child took one bite and refused to eat more. All in all, my entire family left hungry because the food was so miserable we didn’t eat it.

Service: 5 stars. Our waitress was attentive, polite and apologetic when I explained that the shrimp was undercooked. No complaints here.

Price: 3 stars? This is tough because I said I wouldn’t even eat the food if someone paid me, so to pay for this food, there is no amount of money that I feel would make it worthwhile. Now the drinks on the other hand, that was fairly priced.

Other: 2 stars. So they actually did have a booster seat, impressive enough. However it was broken and there was no way to safely attach it to the high top chair. I basically left one hand on my child during our entire dining experience in the event he decided to make any sudden movements that might bring him crashing to the ground.

So in conclusion: Drink here? Absolutely. Party here? Heck yea. Bring your family here? Absolutely not. Eat here? Maybe in a Zombie apocalypse if every grocery store and alternative restaurant no longer existed, and this was my last option to...

This is a long review but for a good reason. Please avoid this place.

My Husband and I went to Ocean Breeze for the first time last night. We were excited to try the Falafel along with the amazing meals we had read about in the reviews. It was terrible. I have never had an experience at a restaurant were all but one of the components were inedible.

Out of an $80 meal, the only food we were able to eat were the bottled beer my husband got, the potato wedges and Gator Bites. The wedges were great and the Gator Bites were pretty good but didn't actually taste like Gator.

I ordered the "Captain We've got a Runner" (a Rum Runner) and honestly with the amount of alcohol in that drink, I feel like they lost money on me. The pours were so strong that it burned when drank. I am NOT a lightweight with alcohol by any means so that was a surprise. Funny enough, that was the cheapest thing we got. I felt like calling "Bar Rescue" the tv show in 😒.

My husband ordered the Firecracker Shrimp Tacos which were served tail on. Why would a shrimp taco be served tail on? He was glad he checked before taking a bite. The firecracker sauce was basically just spicy ketchup and the shrimp were overcooked and chewy. It was mentioned in the menu that the tacos had blue cheese in them and boy did they.... About 1/4 blue cheese in each taco.

Their Falafels were embarrassing for anyone who likes or cooks middle eastern or Mediterranean food. They were silver dollar sized, very hard, flattened, nearly burnt hockey pucks of what tasted like unseasoned stuffing. I don't understand how such a traditionally heavily seasoned dish could be literally tasteless. The Tzatziki sauce was actually just sour cream with some paprika on top, or at least tasted that way.

I ordered the Poke Bowl for dinner and while the presentation was nice, there was no seasoning whatsoever, not even poke sauce (which is clearly named and advertised in menu by popular brand). There were however, two very large soy sauce packets dropped INTO the top of the poke bowl. In the rice. Not on the side. Weird. I was irritated enough at the lack of flavor of the $16 dish when I realized the Ahi tuna wasn't seared at all, but raw. This is no problem other than false advertising to me, I do enjoy raw fish so that's alright. What wasn't okay was that is wasn't cold as if it had been refrigerated and it wasn't hot as if they had tried to sear it. It was slightly warmer than room temp. If you know anything about food safety and seafood, that's a pretty big concern. I had two-three bites and couldn't stomach to try more.

This meal was about $80 and we could only eat the appetizers. My husband got ill last night and this morning from the food but I am okay. The view is nice and the staff is wonderful but the food and cocktails are definitely a no go. Never again. Speaking of the staff, they look overwhelmed and I think one of the waiters was crying when he walked by. They all look very unhappy. I hope things get better for them.

Thanks for reading this. Please save yourself time, money and dignity by going to Breakers instead, which ironically you get a good view of from...

I went there today for dinner, for the first time since they opened downstairs bar, while they continue rebuilding upstairs. I was happy to see that they still have Monday Manday, and glad to support them. However they have now added a bogus 3% service charge. This is rediculous and should be illegal. I guess I can understand adding a 3% charge for credit card use, as they began doing last year, but to add a general service charge, is deceiving and feels a bit sleazy. I asked bartender/server what it was for, and he said " I don't know, I just sling beers". Quite an ignorant response. I discussed with others near me, and most were surprised and the concensus was that we would just deduct from the tip.

Update :

Disappointing!! Well, tried it again on April 13, 3024. Burger and fries took about 45 min to come out. Finally came out cold and dry and appeared to have been sitting around for a while as cheese was dry on top of burger, bun was not warm, and potato wedges were cut in very small size and only about six of them, and cold as well. Half of my plate was empty. I didn't say anything because Mondays are crazy busy, but this just shows lack of service and proper portions and even the server alnowledge something was wrong, whom I know well, but was too busy to address. Glad it was Manday Monday, as I never would have paid $16 for that garbage. Also they still have the unexplained surcharge fee. It was about $1.00. Disappointing as I really like the view here. Maybe when they get the upstairs tiki bars completed and properly staffed things will get on track.

Update: Mar 2025 Upstairs is open again. Food came out promptly, prepared properly, and tasted good. The only issue is that the bathrooms are one person only. Thar is crazy. Also, you have to walk completely around the long bar to get to the bathroom, as they have useless "employee only" space, not allowing customers to...