Reel Fish Coastal Kitchen and Bar — Restaurant in Winter Park

First I want to say that the ambience is pretty here (several unique rooms), the presentation of food is nice and we'll thought out, they have a nice bar area, prices are reasonable, and yes, the seafood is fresh.

I visited this place the week they opened three or four years ago. Even at the time their launch seemed well done. What bothered me though was the food was not that flavorful. I felt like they hadn't got their recipes / style down yet. So I said I'll try them again later when they "get their act together."

Well a couple of years went by and here we are and thankfully for them they survived the pandemic. I tried it for a late lunch today. It's even more beautiful today than the week they opened. And they certainly have a regular clientele because it is not a tourist spot and it was 40% full by 5pm. I've driven by and seen it pretty crowded recently. Again, great presentation, great items on the menu, great service, comfortable, clean... but the food was still... meh 😕 Just like when I first tried them, I know I've had better versions at other places of everything I ordered. The crab cakes, while meaty and fresh, just weren't very flavorful and we're actually a bit burnt and mushy instead of crispy on the outside all around. These are the most bland crab cakes I've ever had in my life. There is a little deli by the beach in Hilton Head that blows these crab cakes out of the water. If there was a competition between the two, the creator of these sad mushy burnt crab cakes would have dishonored themselves greatly. They're embarrassing. The gumbo looked beautiful, and everything put into it was fresh and the right consistency, and yet, this was the weakest tasting gumbo I've ever had. The sauce / flavor was just too salty and far from what you'd expect if you've ever had good gumbo. I swear tasted like gumbo from a can with fresh ingredients thrown in... In fact the well known New Orleans restaurant in town makes a much better bowl... and it's cheaper 🤦 Ironically the side Caesar salad was the best thing they made; perhaps I should have just gotten that with a piece of fresh blackened fish over top.

I feel like they have the right ideas and plan but they need a new chef or a fresh perspective to their food. I really want to like this place because it's so close, so nice looking, so convenient... whoever did the design and planning for this place did a fantastic job. But whoever's coming up with the recipes has really dropped the ball. They need to rework their recipes. I don't understand some of the good reviews about this being some of the best seafood they've ever had... I can think of a handful of other places right off the top of my head that I've eaten at that are better than this. These recipes look great and seem well planned, but the taste is just not there, I'm sorry. There is no soul in this food. I honestly believe people are eating here for the comfort and look and feel and that perhaps they haven't eaten much...

Not bad food, but was somewhat disappointed in the service.

We went to try out the 3for30 prefixe menu (June Orlando area restaurant special event) and asked to be seated outside. I ordered from the special menu, my wife did not. Our starters were quite good. PEI mussels for me, green tomatoes for my wife. My boil was decent, sausage had a kick, crab, shrimp, scallops all quite good.

My wife's pecan crusted rainbow trout was a little oily, like it was cooked in not-quite-hot-enough oil, but not overtly offensive. The potatoes in both our meals were either a little underdone, or just a little mealy, and badly in need of salt. But nothing really worth a complaint to a manager. There is a salt/pepper/hot sauce bucket at each table, so maybe they prefer you to season to suit your own tastes.

That being said, our service was less than stellar. It was a Wednesday, so maybe they were doing some training. But our server spent his time adjusting the parasols, inside somewhere, or walking in and out of the door farthest from us so we couldn't really flag him down. We felt like an afterthought. Once we finished our mains, we made it clear we wanted to leave and asked for my dessert to go. The server said the chef doesn't like doing dessert to go, and he would bring us a box so we could put it in ourselves. I'm not sure if this was the server being weird, or if the pastry chef was actually that pretentious about dessert being on premise only, but the neighboring tables ordered theirs to go without any complaints from their servers.

About 15 minutes later, a cake was set in front of me by the pastry chef (I guess? He was only delivering desserts to everyone from what I saw.) And we proceeded to stare at it for another 10 minutes before our server remembered to bring a box. Then he told us it would take a little while for the manager to add the promo credit for the 3for30 meal. By the time we signed the check and left, it had been 38 minutes since we first asked for dessert to go and a bill.

The coconut cake appears to be essentially a coconut version of strawberry shortcake. Coconut and whipped cream on sponge cake. Good, but not anything particularly above and beyond. I kind of wish I had tried the key lime, since that is one of my favorites. But given the choice between a favorite, or something new, I generally tend to try the new option.

I wouldn't be averse to giving a second try to this restaurant in the future, but there are a lot of other restaurants in this same area and with the same price point that I would likely try before going back...

So we came here for the Bite 30 event. This place has been talked about as if it was one of the best seafood restaurants around. So I had to come check it out. Three courses. Let's go.

For starters, I had the Fried Green Tomatoes (Topped with Goat Cheese, in a Roasted Red-Pepper Vinaigrette) and the Blue Crab Cake (Pan-Seared, Southern Seasoned with Remoulade and Pineapple Salsa). The tomatoes were pretty nice. There was a nice bite to the tomatoes, and the breading was light and crispy, but the vinaigrette was pretty much useless. Enjoy the goat cheese; it provided a nice tang that you don't usually get with fried green tomatoes.

The crab cake was pretty great, actually. There was an excellent crab-to-filling ratio, and the pineapple salsa added that sweet/acid that broke through the richness of the cake. So nice. I recommend this dish.

For the mains, I got the Pecan-Crusted Rainbow Trout (with Southern Green Beans and Parsley New Potatoes) and the Fisherman's Bake (Cast-Iron Skillet-Baked Florida Shrimp, Fresh Atlantic Cod, Scallops, Diced Potatoes, in out All-Day Shrimp Gumbo Sauce, Pot Pie-Style Crust, served w/Collard Greens).

The trout was really nice. I wish the fillet was a little more substantial, but it was cooked nicely, and the crust was delicious. I love pecans. The green beans and the potatoes were fine. The fisherman's bake was an item that was only on the Bite 30 menu. It's not on their normal menu, so I had to try it. It was pretty good. I was afraid it was going to be all potatoes, but no, there was a good amount of seafood in there, the crust was perfect, and the flavors were very nice and subtle. The sauce didn't overpower the nice taste of the fresh seafood.

Finally, for dessert, I got the Florida Key Lime Pie (Pecan & Graham Cracker Crust) and the Peach, White Chocolate Bread Pudding (w/Vanilla Ice Cream). The bread pudding was exactly what you're envisioning. The Key lime pie, on the other hand, was the best thing I had all nice. The filling was very nice and not too limey. The crust was the best pie crust I've ever had. The added-in pecans really brought a flavor to it that I've never experienced before. Wow. I want it again.

Overall, this place was very nice. I'm glad I came for the Bite 30 menu. That brought the bang for the buck a little closer to where...