My husband and I visited the Marina Cafe on 9/24 for our special anniversary dinner, at the recommendation of the nice folks on the TA forums! We arrived at 5:30 to take advantage of the early bird special (or whatever it is formally called), again at the recommendation from the forums. My entree ended up being free!
I made our dinner reservation online prior to leaving TN several days earlier. When we arrived at the cafe, they had no record of it. I told them I made it online and was met with a flippant, "oh, they never check the online reservations during this time of year." It ended up being no real problem since there weren't many people in the restaurant, but it unnerved me nonetheless. I am the "lucky" person who usually shows up somewhere when there's a convention and everything's booked solid or otherwise unusually crowded. Thankfully, my luck was better this time! From this I learned not to trust online dinner reservations, and if you're making them at the Marina Cafe, you might want to think twice about it as well.
We were promptly seated and brought fresh bread, water, and menus. Since I'm not a seafood eater, I usually order the obligatory chicken dish. I was surprised to see that there was only one on the menu; a garlic crusted half chicken with pine nuts in some dark sauce on the plate, and asparagus on top. I substituted the asparagus for the zucchini, squash, and carrot medley. The vegetables and chicken were good, but not outstanding, as neither had much flavor. I also had a strawberry daiquiri which tasted exactly like a strawberry Italian ice. I couldn't detect any alcohol in it whatsoever (odd for a $10 daiquiri!), but it still tasted good.
My husband isn't a seafood connoisseur, but since he enjoys it upon occasion, he ordered the redfish with some vegetables. He cleaned his plate, but later told me that that meal was not something he would be craving to eat again. For dessert, we ordered the white and dark chocolate mousse. This was light, creamy, and fabulous. Very decadent!
The atmosphere was quite interesting. The dining room itself was simply beautiful! Very classy, but not "stuffy" as many fine restaurants can be. We loved facing the tall windows looking out over the marina, and watching the boats drift past. The temperature of the room was just right, and that matters to me as most restaurants tend to be much too cold, IMHO. I give the decor a definite A+!
The part of the atmosphere which was most intriguing, and actually a source of amusement for us, was the music. At one point near the beginning of our evening, my husband and I looked at each other and said, "my goodness, I feel sad all of a sudden!". We determined that the cause was the mournful music, and from that point on, we found ourselves noticing every song that came on. Most were instrumental, so we gave them descriptive titles for the imagery they evoked: "Seagull's Last Flight", "Soundtrack from a Lifetime TV Movie", "Song of a Dying Ballerina", and "Witch Sacrifice in the Night" were a few of the selections I recall. There was one happy sounding number, and the only song I actually recognized was "Life in a Northern Town", the old 80's tune. We both thought some light jazz might've been a bit more pleasing.
Our server, Ben, was perfect. Absolutely incredible! He was formal without being cold, friendly without being intrusive, and very efficient. We enjoyed being under his care and made sure to tip him well as it was well-deserved. If every waiter there is held to the same standards, then their service would be the best in Destin!
If you're a seafood lover, you may really enjoy this restaurant as they did offer several other interesting-sounding selections. As for us, we had a memorable experience at the Marina Cafe, but because our meals were more "average" than "outstanding", it wouldn't be worth the price for us to go back.
