Food is most certainly the key to a good restaurant experience, but other factors are equally important. A restaurant's wait staff not only adds to the experience but also shows a restaurant's heart. Like a complicated puzzle, when put together, they create a beautiful picture, and one does not work without the other. The location and ambiance, as do your companions, also set the tone of a dining experience.
Many factors must come together to elevate your dining experience, and on a Wednesday afternoon on Anna Maria Island on the Gulf Coast of Florida, those factors combined, and my wife, mother-in-law, and I had the lunch of a lifetime.
From the lively King Pao Calamari Curl plate smothered with three or more types of onions, banana peppers galore, and the shocker chunks of feta, we knew this was the right place to be. We were seated on the open-air porch on the first full day of spring with an incredibly kind and good-hearted waiter, Bob, who took care of us from start to finish, giving us delectable menu descriptions that had our full attention. The Cole Slaw sweetened with pineapple was another surprise, and the fried grouper sandwiches with an ever so delicate batter coating allowed the fish to shine through, and the house-made pickles were a fun flavor explosion, too.
Having worked in the food industry for a few years, one of my pet peeves has always been serving a non-ripe tomato or allowing the stems of something as trivial as banana peppers to be served. As you can see from the photos, that was far from the case.
Once lunch was over, I had a sneaky feeling that the desserts were homemade. While we were stuffed, even after splitting the grouper sandwich, I had to know, and they were.
After we regained our appetites, we immensely enjoyed the Strawberry Cheesecake with its incredible crust, accompanied by an equally perfect slice of Key Lime pie.
No plastic was harmed during our experience at The Waterfront, as they used heavier paper for straws, compostable take-home containers, and a paper bag to carry everything home. Kudos!!!!!!
I neglected to mention the drinks; everything was made from scratch in a place where you can let your imagination run wild, my wife had the smoky Margarita...yum!
In the words of the Terminator - "I'll be back."