Blue Water Bay — Restaurant in Starke

Summary: Good chef, middling service, terrible wine list.

I've eaten here twice.

My first visit, I asked for recommendations - my waitress recommended Flounder, which I ordered - which got weird after she started giving me a pitch about how Blue Water Bay's flounder isn't tortured and is humanely butchered and I'm lucky to be eating there because there are flounder scandals going around where other restaurants are trying to pass non-flounder off as actual flounder. The flounder was good - not mouth-watering, or rave-worthy, but good.

I took the recommended wine pairing as well - I'm particular about my wines and the wine list was a disappointment. This is my big grievance. I expect restaurants to charge ~50-100% markup over grocery store prices for a bottle of wine. What I don't expect is to go to a restaurant billeted as the fine-dining establishment of the area, and pay $35 for a bottle of swill that - should I choose to ever buy it - costs $4 at the store. I'm not saying that cheap wine is poor quality - but both the quality and price of what I had for dinner were egregiously bad. The particular wine I was recommended (and partook of) - I googled it because it was unfamiliar and not particularly tasty...which is how I discovered mid-meal that I was paying $35 for a bottle of Hitchcock Grocery's bottom shelf $4 wine.

Food: B+ Service: C Wine List: F

With the memory of that foul wine in my mouth, before my next visit I called ahead to inquire whether Blue Water Bay offered cork service. If they're not going to offer decent wine, charge me a service fee and let me bring my own bottle - as I write this I'm staring at a fantastic Amarone that is begging to be eaten with a quality meal that I don't want to cook myself. And...no cork service.

I went anyway - simply to change things up from the limited offerings in the area - when I arrived (7:30 PM) I inquired after the wait time for my party (party of 5) since the dining room was full, the hostess told me "I'm sorry, we don't have any tables open, and I don't know how long the wait is...and the kitchen closes at 9, so I'm not sure you can eat here tonight. You're welcome to look in the bar though?" I did peek in the bar - there weren't any tables there that could even accommodate 5 people. We ended up going elsewhere for dinner.

Blue Water Bay: If you read this, here's my suggestions:

-Educate your waitstaff on how to guesstimate wait times. -I don't expect to find a sommelier at a restaurant in a small town like Melrose, but at LEAST get a one-time consultation with a sommelier to revamp your wine list - quality and price are both horrible. -No one cares whether fish are butchered humanely or not. -If you're going to display desserts in an open case for everyone to see, either refresh them from time to time so that they don't look old and dried out, or use lard/styrofoam/etc dessert display techniques.

I'm sure I'll be back - simply for being starved of choices - but if this is my sole local fine dining experience, I'd like a TOUCH of finery.

edit Changing from a two-star to a one-star; the owner e-mailed me a response to this review and told me that he personally chooses the wines, which are awesome, and I need...

This place was great. It's in the little town of Melrose. On State road 26. The decor was really nice. Though the bench seats could be replaced. My friend was a little talkative to say the least but the waitress was patient with her and gave her everything she asked for. Even the management helped with her. The food was absolutely delicious and you got your money's worth. The seafood was so yummy! My friend got fried Green tomatoes and I got calamari for appetizers. She absolutely loved the green tomatoes though I thought they were cut of just a little thick for my taste. The calamari was so good. My friend had had it before and didn't like it and she really liked this. Calamari it was almost a meal in itself. I have to say I didn't care for the dip that they had. It was supposed to be marinara sauce. Probably homemade. The waitress kept saying it was a little sweet. But I kind of got a Tang from it. Not sure if it was my taste buds or the marinara itself. We both ordered salads. She got a house salad and I got a seven-layer salad. Her house was average size. She absolutely loved the blue cheese that she got.Nice big chunks of blue cheese. I didn't try it but it look good. Now the seven layers salad was so big it wouldn't even fit on the plate it was sat on. The ranch dressing that went with it was delicious thick rich and oh so yummy. I didn't even try to eat all of it because it was so big and I really wanted my etouffee that I had ordered. The etouffee was delicious. Big chunks of seafood and other vegetables. I didn't know it came with peppers or I would have asked them to remove them. It was made to order. It came with rice that had vegetables in it. I had asked them to put it on the side because I just don't eat rice. My roommate is yet to try it. It actually look pretty good. The bowls are so big I can barely make a dent in mine. But it was so enjoyable. That would have been a meal for at least two people. My friend ordered the seafood platter which had shrimp scallops egg rolls fish hush puppies and it was supposed to come with fries but they let her get baked potato instead. Didn't know it was supposed to be for two people or looking at that platter four people. It was absolutely huge. She got coleslaw on the side as well as fried oysters. The coleslaw looked really good had fruit and it as well as cabbage. The oysters were fried perfectly. The only thing I really didn't like was the desserts. I'm decided to try it cuz it was cheesecake and that's my absolute favorite dessert. I got a peach and she got blueberry. Peach had a light peach glaze with a couple pieces of peach on it and the cheesecake itself tasted like pumpkin. It did not work for me at all. My friends blueberry was perfectly to her taste. And when I took a bite it tasted like blueberry all the way through. I did not get any sense of the cheesecake on either of them. We paid a pretty penny but for the most part it was absolutely worth it. From the art on the walls to most of the food itself. You did get your...

Dear Blue Water Bay Management, My party and I dined at your restaurant last night, Saturday February 15, 2025 time 5pm , for the seafood buffet. Unfortunately, we were extremely disappointed with the quality of the food, especially considering the $50 per person price point. We believe that at this price, the quality and preparation of the food should be significantly higher. We are providing specific feedback on several dishes in the hopes that you will address these issues: • Scallops: The smoke flavor was so overpowering that the scallops were inedible. This resulted in a significant waste of food. • Peel and Eat Shrimp: The shrimp were overcooked, making them difficult to peel and lacking in flavor. • Oysters: The oysters appeared unappetizing, looking like a "bowl of slime." We did not attempt to eat them due to their appearance. • Artichokes and Mushrooms: These tasted as if they were taken directly from a can without any seasoning or preparation. The canned flavor was very prominent. • Gator Sausage: The spices and heat were so overwhelming that the gator sausage was unpleasant to eat. • Snow Crab Claws: The crab claws were overcooked, making the meat difficult to extract and lacking in flavor. • Sushi: The sushi tasted strongly of vinegar and had a bitter aftertaste. Additionally, we had concerns about the freshness of the fish. We would strongly recommend ensuring that the sushi is prepared by someone with experience and using fresh ingredients. • BBQ: The BBQ was overpowered by the sauce. • Fried Items (Fries, Frog Legs, Fried Shrimp): While these items were acceptable, the breading was excessively salty and could benefit from a more balanced seasoning. • Dessert: The dessert selection was limited to coconut macaroons, brownies, and cookies. For a buffet of this caliber and price, we expected a wider variety and more appealing options. We understand that running a restaurant is challenging, but at $50 per person, we believe the quality of the food should reflect the price. We hope you will take our feedback seriously and make the necessary improvements to meet the expectations of your patrons. We would be happy to discuss this further with you at your...