Water Oak — Restaurant in Safety Harbor

Service was lovely and a majority of dishes albeit expensive (we knew it was pricey, not a dig but, I explain below) were very delicious.

Short rib fries, Shrimp with tomato and capers were amazing, blackened fish was not “blackened” as some may think, just a dusting of spice and no real hard sear on them so lost points their. The blackening issue is also noted in other reviews, I’m assuming the demographic can’t handle the spice or salt of a true blackened and many send backs to the kitchen prompted the very reserved blackened style but, I could be wrong.

A few things I would like to add and tell why I am giving 2 stars… First was that being on the west coast of Florida near Cedar Key I thought “Cedar Key Clams w/ Andouille” would be a good appetizer to enjoy while on vacation visiting my parents. Unfortunately the single clam in the first photo are the variety of clams we received, clearly not the local “Cedar Key” clams in the second photo. The 3rd photo shows more of these cryovacced cooked clams usually from Vietnam, the difference is very evident with the black markings on the side of the shells and their thinness compared to a real Cedar Key Clam which I have eaten many times. We were not made aware of any substitution and would have actually declined the $17 appetizer if the server informed us. I am happy to pay premiums for FRESH local seafood but, not imported precooked clams like this. (I am very familiar with this product as I have operated restaurants for 20+ years, if the chef or manager replies here otherwise just do some research yourself.)

My second gripe is this restaurant comes from the same owners of another in Dunedin “Hog Island Fish Camp”. Hog Island has a great local reputation so I wasn’t expecting this...

I first noticed on the menu “2.99% discount for cash payments” while deciding what to eat and remembered to be on the look out on the check.

I included my receipt so you can see how deceiving they make it look. This is the business trying to pass on an ADDITIONAL 3% fee for credit card processing to the consumer not any sort of “discount” as labeled on the menu.

Take note that unless the business clearly states the surcharge openly in the establishment and also noted on the menu they cannot pass this fee onto you the consumer.

I included my dispute letter from the bank, $6.94 is not much but, on a large scale it adds up fast, especially for a business like a restaurant in these hard times with cost of goods, labor and rent rising rapidly. So, I completely understand this move from the business, just very disappointing that it was not handled properly by Water Oak Grill and fully transparent.

If you have been charged this fee you can dispute the difference of your actual total with your banks and most likely be refunded with very little resistance.

Due to these mishaps during our visit I am not sure I care to patronize any of their area restaurants on my yearly returns to my parent’s.

Make your own judgement but, any biz who goes out of their way to deceive guests/customers/clients is probably doing more things to cut costs and expenses then we probably know about, not a good sign for a “fresh, local” seafood restaurant.

I see the management responding to good reviews and not negative ones, we will see what happens here.

We as customers ask you to be better to the world who keeps your doors open, it is the hospitality business and remember the silent guest is probably your biggest nightmare and will write amazing reviews...

You get five starts only for the food….. My daughter and fiancé were in town for a long weekend visit and wanted to treat us to lunch. They choose the restaurant and upon entering I felt as if we were judged. I did not dress up due to I was baking at home with my granddaughter. They (my daughter and fiancé were still recouping from their celebration from last night. My husband and I had the shrimp and grits and it were delicious. My granddaughter had the grilled shrimp kid’s menu and she loved it. My daughter had the shrimp and scallops and my soon to be soon Inlaw had the seafood trio, with appetizers of seared tuna, lobster bisque. Our meals were outstanding. My complaint… our server Oliva, I worked in the service industry well over 20 years so from one ex server now in the medical field… never judge a book by its cover. Your tip reflects just that! You approached our table a few seconds after receiving our meal. Not once did you bother to check on drinks and yes I would’ve liked more tea, I ended up drinking my granddaughter’s sprite. The manager pre cleaned our appetizer plates. You waited until you finished chatting with a co worker I assume then you went outside, never once approaching us until we stacked our plates on the table then you ask if we want dessert? Truly disappointed, my service at Johnny’s Italian restaurant was by far 100% better than Olivia’s. You need to care about what you do in order to have your guest enjoy the atmosphere and the food. We may give you a second chance I don’t know, even Gigglewaters has better servers. We will see! A local who...

Water Oak Grill has some hits and misses, but overall a great cozy place to eat. I would return. Menu is great, and inside on each table has a miniature lamp. Now, not sure how to explain it, but it made the table feel cozy and welcoming with the soft light that shines on the table , NOT in your eyes. Since the restaurant is very dark inside, if the the lamp was not on the table, you might be looking at a dark plate of food. Anyways, I had the blackened hogfish which was good but not to what I would call blackened. I even asked for extra seasoning and there was little on the fish much less any blackened char, or kind of slightly burnt blackened taste to the fish.( think of just sprinkling seasoned salt on a sautéed fish and that is what the dish looked like ) However, it was topped with a light sauce which enhanced the flavor and made the dish tasty to some degree. The shrimp lobster bisque was very good and I would call myself an expert on that subject since I will order that at ANY restaurant to try it, very good bisque. It would have been nice to have bread that would come with all meals ( they do not serve bread with olive oil herb dip or anything like that, only what is on the menu ), and the grit cake was like of bland even though they said it had parmesan flavor, it was fried, and different so not too bad, but after eating 50% of the grit cake, I lost interest, so 4 stars across the board they get with all of my thoughts. Make reservations, it looked like to me they had a big line of people at 630 pm that did...