The Cove

Ugh. I will never eat here again.  Not only were we not seated after waiting, the wait staff ignored everyone in favor of an eight person table.  When we finally were able to order, we had to wait forever for the food to be served - after other people who came in after us.  And the food was cold, bland, and unappetizing.  I'm sorry I paid and left a tip. I won't even mention the decor.  If you were ninety-five, you might find it "hip."

This is one of those places at the beach that creates the "beach atmosphere" with the live music, outdoor seating, and extensive menu highlighting seafood.

Then you get that seafood you order, and it's not what you expected.  We had a party of 6 and 4 of us ordered some of the "most popular" choices on the menu.  Nobody came away happy with a good seafood meal.  Not to mention one person got sick (ralphed) after only a few bites of her meal.

The only plus side to this restaurant was our waitress.  She was very attentive and did deduct the cost of the meal that caused the person in our party to get sick.  

Needless to say we will not be returning.

If you like Eddie's Sunrise Diner (and many folks do ... read my review of Eddie's) you will also likely enjoy The Cove.

We only have eaten breakfast here although The Cove is better known for its dinners and night club entertainment. The interior is cavernous with two or more large dining rooms, a bar and dance floor. An outside front deck and bar is available but the heavy A1A traffic noise was just too much after a just completed peaceful 10K road race.

I have a definite feeling that The Cove is very popular with retirees and snow birds who desire a well done steak and post dinner fling on the dance floor on "Tiki Night" or whatever the theme of the week.

The breakfast menu is very limited and consists of fare more likely to be found in a small diner in rural Iowa; Examples: a slice of avocado could not be ordered, blue berry pancakes were discontinued due to lack of interest and common toppings such as sliced bananas or pecans are not available. I expect (confirmed by the patronage I observed downing their bacon and eggs over easy) that The Cove does not draw a wide cross section of beachside Florida residents with more eclectic breakfast tastes.

My cheddar cheese omelette was well prepared, the biscuit with sausage gravy tasty, however the home fries were of too uniform cubed potatoes and overly salted. My partner's pancake (sans blue berries, bananas, pecans and powdered sugar) was too dry to be consumed without a copious amount of 30-weight (Ewww, no way to eat a pancake).

I view The Cove as a maximum three star breakfast spot on a good day, but reduced their rating to two stars due to the salty and uniform home fries and general lack of ambience for a beach side restaurant.