Acqua Cafe — Restaurant in Palm Beach

What a DISASTER !!! I would give NO stars if this was an option !! We went with a few friends to celebrate my birthday. Everything was terrible. The waiter was inexperienced, but at least tried. Nobody knew what wine they had - all we wanted was a bottle of California Chardonay. I chose one from the menu. The waiter offered us a taste. We didn't like it. Then the waiter announces that the sampled Chardonay wasn't the one requested !! So why didn't he say so. The manager was friendly, but didn't know what wine they had. Finally they offered us a bottle of more expensive wine, at the same price. Great. However we ordered a second bottle - after a while the waiter said they had no more, nor did they have any of the original wine offered !! I gave up and said to forget it - we drank water. They tried to pacify us by providing, on the house, fried calamari, which was rock hard. The accompanying tomato sauce was good.

Next disaster. The manager, trying to appease us, offered us all a glass of champagne. The waiter arrived with 6 glasses on a tray. After placing 2 or 3 glasses on the table, the waiter dropped the tray behind my mother, completely dousing the back of her blouse with champagne and smashing all remaining glasses on the floor. Needless to say, she wasn't a happy camper. The manager didn't even offer to pay for dry cleaning.

On to the food. The soup was good. Then it went downhill. We were given 2 different menu's. One had Chilean Sea Bass, the others had Halibut. The waiter couldn't tell us why. Three of us ordered Halibut, medium. We received Chilean Sea Bass - all UNDERCOOKED - and priced higher than the Halibut we ordered. One was so raw, it was sent back, the other two didn't waste their time to send back to re cook. Pretty average taste. One salmon was ordered. The menu showed Atlantic WILD salmon. As everyone knows, only farm raised salmon comes from the Atlantic. The waiter had no idea and the manager gave us some convoluted explanation. Anyway, the salmon was ordered medium, but came mushy, almost raw and tasteless. We love sushi, but this was barely cooked and a tasteless mush. Another guest ordered a hamburger, medium. It came very well done and tasted of pure salt. After a few bites she gave up. Only one guest was happy - she enjoyed the grilled octopus.

We obviously won't be back, which is too bad. The restaurant has a great upbeat look and a small, but interesting menu. If the waiters are better trained and a new chef hired who knows how to cook, maybe the restaurant can be "saved".

Bottom line - there are numerous great restaurants within half a mile of this restaurant - go the any one of them them and...

We came here early on a Saturday night around 5pm right when they open and there was plenty of seating inside, by the bar, or outside by their patio. We decided to sit outside on the patio and it was nice having the greenery surround the side enclosing the patio space having a barrier between the parking spaces. The acrylic chairs were also very comfortable and overall I enjoyed the design of the space. They also do take reservations by phone if you plan on coming during a busy dinner hour.

We started off ordering a San Daniele pizza for the table to share as a starter and the pizza was so good! It was a thin but fluffy crust with mozzarella, prosciutto and arugula. Absolutely delicious and would definitely order more pizzas to try next time!

For my second starter, I ordered the insalata acquarella that had mixed baby greens, cherry tomatoes, shaved fennel, thinly sliced watermelon radish, and a Dijon lemon dressing. It was a great portion so I shared a portion with my future father-in-law.

My future mother-in-law ordered the carciofi alla griglia which is the grilled artichoke with a garlic lemon aoli which she absolutely loved. She said it was very flavorful and the artichoke was perfectly cooked.

My fiancé ordered the polpo mediterraneo for his starter which is the pan seared octopus on a bed of chickpea purée and chorizo. The octopus had a great char and I enjoyed the bite of texture and the purée was creamy with a bit of meaty kick from the chorizo.

For my entree, I ordered the tagliatelle bolognese and it was so good I cleaned my plate. It had the right amount of meaty sauce to tagliatelle noodles ratio and it was so flavorful. I would recommend this as a pasta dish.

My fiancé got the fish kabobs that had a mix of chargrilled brazino, shrimp, swordfish, and scallops. The presentation hanging was so grand. He finished it all.

They have a good wine list with wines from Napa and Italy. They also have a cocktail list named after the names of the buildings / condos on this street. We live at the cove so we had to order the cove gin and tonic drink!

The service was great! They were very attentive to our table and also let us try samples of the wine before deciding if that is what we wanted to order which is very nice.

There's plenty of parking spaces available out front of the restaurant and also very walkable from many of the nearby buildings. We enjoyed our dinner and would definitely come back...

Being my birthday and truly passionate about food, I was excited to try this fairly new restaurant. It was such a tragic let down. It started with the iced tea, over brewed and bitter. Then on to the appetizers. The fried green tomatoes were all breading with a paper thin slice of tomato in there, somewhere, i think. The octopus was rubbery and not tender as it should be. My lamb chops were over cooked and under cooked. Which tells me they sat under a heat lamp. The lamb meatballs were the same. The mushroom risotto was very under whelming, with extra emphasis on the truffle flavor, i guess to try and hide the poor execution. Brussel sprouts, my favorite vegetable on earth, I can eat them hot or cold, raw or cooked. Surely they would not disappoint. They did not come with the shallots or panceta lardons as listed and fell flat. My last ginger ale of the night had a seed frozen into the ice, there was no fruit in my ginger ale to produce a seed. The table that was sat before us and directly behind us did not receive their food till we were done and you could hear them say it was not worth the wait. To top off the night, they packaged my girlfriend's leftover risotto, which she stated, "there is no way I'm paying this much and not eating the rest of the food at some point, even if it isn't very good", they sent her home with a half eaten burger. That's gross, not to mention in the midst of a pandemic! As a food enthusiasts and someone who has worked in kitchens for more then half my life. This was one of the worst food...