The Shack Riverfront Restaurant & Outback Tiki Bar! — Restaurant in Palm Bay

The Shack Riverfront Restaurant and Tiki Bar, 4845 Dixie Hwy. NE Palm Bay, FL., 32905

2 Stars

Today, I was headed to The Shack Riverfront Restaurant and Tiki Bar so I knew I was guaranteed at least one thing – a fantastic view while I dined. Urban legend has it that this restaurant has been here for at least 30 years and was bought and sold multiple times by the same owner. A quick search online proved this to be false.

My server for the meal went by the name of Jaime and I have to say that after a 12-minute wait with only three active tables, I came to a despondent realization. Some servers can flawlessly handle 13 tables and alas, some cannot. While Jamie was firmly in the latter category, his unflinching honesty about the Melt was something to which all servers should aspire. Based on his description of the Melt, I ordered it along with some Coconut Shrimp, sat back and enjoyed the view.

As Jaime returned and began to place my order in front of me I thought that I should have taken more pictures of the view as that was spectacular and the food, at least the Seafood Melt looked like something one might find in a handkerchief tossed aside by The Blob. Before I get into the seafood or the melt part of this we have to start at the beginning. As with any breaded item, the key here is good bread. You could put some fish you caught 10 minutes before you serve it and stuff it between two pieces of stale bread and you will ruin what should be an amazingly fresh seafood sandwich. Sadly, the cook was either suffering from aprosexia and unable to focus, or simply had sub-par ingredients with which to work, regardless, the bread was so stale it had to be at least a week past the freshness date. The melt part consisted of a soup of overwrought seafood apparently not fit to see the light of day, while the “melt” consisted of a few slices of Kraft American Prepared Cheese Product (or the Sysco equivalent) tossed haphazardly over the top and melted under the rays of a microwave oven, which may or may not account for the soupiness. I have failed you, loyal follower as I just could not work up the courage to sample this monstrosity of culinary aberration.

Turning to the Coconut Shrimp I noticed it looked as it should, so took a bite. This was acceptable. The shrimp was cooked properly, not overcooked to the point of rubber and not undercooked to the point of being Amaebi, but to the point of succulent deliciousness. It had just the right amount of coating and coconut flavor while I found the dipping sauce to be delightful on the palate making this dish the only reason The Shack Riverfront Restaurant and Tiki Bar did not get a swill alert. As I was paying, Jaime asked me how everything was. I showed him the Melt and he said, “OMG. That looks disgusting.” He quickly went to the manager and as I was leaving I heard him tell Jaime to take it off my bill. If I allowed that to happen, it might appear to influence my review and I refuse to be compromised in this regard.

The Big Boy says, “Good view in this case seems to mean horrid food in Brevard County. Go for drinks and the view, but by all means, eat...

When my husband and I arrived we were amazed at the transformation and how awesome it is now with the tiki bar. We haven’t been there in forever. We were so excited to sit on the water and listen to live music and eat good food! Well, it was all downhill from there. We love lobster bisque and order it every time we see it on a menu. It was a glob. Bottom of the pot it seemed. So gross but I was starving. I’m usually quite liberal with salad dressing but the Cesar salad was dripping in dressing and was starting to turn my stomach. Next I ordered the appetizer seafood melt as my meal. Figured it would be a gooey, cheesy, garlicky baked seafood delight. The seafood tasted off and below the cheese was like a can of cream soup dumped out without adding milk. And the chips were stale. Inedible. At this point I was pretty annoyed. My husband ordered the Cajun ribeye pasta, which we knew had a kick. It was so spicy, just for the sake of being spicy, yet flavorless and was also very sweet, which was disgusting and the ribeye was in big chunks accompanied by big chunks of fat. They denied there was anything sweet but we both agreed that it tasted like scoops of sugar were added. Again, the 4th inedible course. So weird! And that was the chef special! A chef made it and approved it! Sheesh. I would have given 1 start if the manager hadn’t taken good care of us at the end. Our server Tiffany was awesome as well. With stomachs turned, we thought sitting at high top in the bar area, listening to music would lift our spirits. My husband tried to get a drink at the bar and was told we have to wait for a server. The table of 3 next to us tried the same after waiting for a server and ended up walking out. My husband’s draft beer was over $8.00. Everything there is pretty expensive, and I know the view is included, but at least have great food. I want to give it another try (way) down the road so hopefully someone pays attention to this review and makes some...

The service was good the atmosphere was good the Food needs improvement. The french fries were cold like they were sitting there for a while they were not fresh. The waiters did bring me some more than they were good. I ordered a reuben's sandwich. It hardly had any thousand island dressing. And there was probably a half a teaspoon of sour kurout The sour kourt in the 1000 island dressing is what makes the sandwich. I had to ask for extra 1000 island dressing. I didn't bother to ask for more sour krout I also asked a friend of mine to come. Join our table. When I told her where I was going? She told me that the food went downhill So I'm gonna give it a chance. But the last time I was here. I never got my food and everybody else did 45 minutes later. Still no food so this has been two times. So I don't think I will be returning. My friend ordered kalmari. And they serve that with a tie chilly sauce. And she stated that the calamari was really small. She's never seen it the small. I don't know anything about it, so I can't judge that. But she was not pleased. The only reason why you're getting a 2 star was because of the waitress in the atmosphere. Otherwise that the food needs improvement. Maybe I might come back and give it another chance. I will say i'm not a hundred percent sure I live here seasonally. And I thought the prices were kind of high twenty dollars for a sandwich as a bit much. I had a sandwich and one drink. It came to thirty six dollars I think that's a little pricey for my taste But I do understand because all the prices have gone up everywhere. But I don't like paying $20 for a sandwich. Especially a sandwich that was no good. So this is my opinion I hope things improve. And I wanna wish the owner of good luck. And I hope you do succeed thank...