Fish Out of Water — Restaurant in Santa Rosa Beach

This restaurant seems to have it all! Very nice decor...space and above all the beach front view! However, they fall short on the service and food...when we arrived we were told there would be a 30 minute wait which was not a big deal since other restaurants had over a 2 hour wait! We were seated and our server came over within minutes. I could tell from his demeanor that he was going to be lackluster and unfortunately I was correct. Alex, never went over the menu letting us know the catch of the day or any recommendations he might have had with us like he did other patrons. Once we placed our order I was still looking over the menu and decided that I wanted to order a salad, but every time Alex would be near he would zoom past our table making it impossible for me to order it. Mr. Hauck, the asst manager checked on us more than Alex did.

Everyone ordered the Gulf shrimp, either fried or grilled. Let me just say these were not fresh caught shrimp. I’m from a coastal city and I know what shrimp from the ocean taste like and these weren’t from the ocean! I ordered the mac n cheese and I would suggest you NOT order that if you want real mac! This side dish came straight out of a box...seriously the worst mac n cheese I have ever had! The steamed veggies were sub-par as well.

Towards the end of our meal, Mr. Hauck was bringing out orders and stopped by our table again and asked “how was everything.” I explained to him that I was unsatisfied with the service...Alex never checked on us and during one of his zoom-bys I was able to get us refills. Mr. Hauck asked what he could do to remedy the problem and I simply asked for our check. He left and came back with a discounted ticket for our table. I let him know that I appreciated his efforts!

I probably should have said something about the food as well, but I did not because we ate it! But definitely did not eat it all!

And, for Alex...

Ate here on April 1. Got off to a bad start when, after waiting for 50 minutes to be seated with our 4 kids in the lobby, the hostess told us our spot was cancelled (which I am not sure I believe since they use OpenTable to send a text notice when you put your name in - it would have required me to respond to the text with a cancellation notice and I showed them my phone proving that didn’t happen). Thankfully we were seated about 15 minutes later after asking they please put us back in our rightful place in the order of waiting parties. They seated us inside despite our original request to eat outside but we were not willing to wait any longer for a table. Our order was taken promptly and our appetizer came quickly (meatball stuffed hush puppies which were good). However, we were not given any appetizer plates to share the appetizer, which I have never seen at a restaurant of this quality. Didn’t see the waitress again until long after we decided to do our best dividing up the meatballs to share amongst the kids one at a time all eating off the same plate. It then took more than an hour for the entrees to be served, but even those were delivered individually over the course of about 10 minutes when my wife’s entree finally arrived. It took another 15 minutes before the waitress came for our one and only drink refill. My kids did not like the burgers from the kid menu (felt like the meat was burnt) and the fries arrived cold. My wife was not a fan of the quinoa salad but found the shrimp tacos to be good. I was happy with my blackened grouper. I saw the manager of the restaurant, who stood near our table for a good portion of the night, take what seemed to be an endless litany of complaints from unhappy patrons for much of our time there. No idea if it’s like this often, but they REALLY struggled on this night. I hope others have a better experience than we did. Don’t think we will...

Avoid Fish Out of Water – Worst Dining Experience in WaterColor!

Our family has had an amazing time in WaterColor until tonight. Our dinner at Fish Out of Water was an absolute disaster from start to finish.

First, they don’t take reservations, so we put our name on the list and waited an hour for a table. Not ideal, but we were willing to be patient. We were seated on the patio at 7:15 PM and were promptly served drinks by Jennifer, our server. Unfortunately, that was the last thing that happened in a timely manner.

We ordered appetizers, including something as simple as shrimp cocktail, and waited a full hour before anything arrived. By the 1.5-hour mark half our party had to leave because we had young kids who couldn’t sit there endlessly waiting for food.

By the time our entrées arrived, we had been waiting for an unbelievable 2 hours and 20 minutes. Jennifer was dismissive, completely uninterested in how long everything was taking, and had zero sense of urgency. When I finally spoke to the manager, he at least acknowledged the issue and asked what he could do. I told him we just wanted our food, and shortly after, it arrived. Too little, too late.

Jennifer’s attitude continued through the end of the meal. When I asked for the bill, I was shocked to see that not only was nothing comped, but she had also added a 20% gratuity. I refused to accept that and asked for the manager again. He agreed to remove 20% of the total bill but still left the forced 20% gratuity.

For $225, the food was average at best, the service was atrocious, and the experience was miserable. Jennifer should not be in the service industry, and this restaurant is absolutely not worth your time or money.

Do yourself a favor and...