Days Inn Bahia Cabana Beach Resort

Fried fish tacos are huge!
Solid southern seafood on the menu.

No beer on tap.  Bottle/Can only.-bummer.  

Great outdoor bar atmosphere right on the water.

Good music and a very laid back crowd.  We were not there 5 minutes and looking at the menu when the friends I was with asked if the blackened dolphin was "real dolphin" and the people at the table behind us asked us if we wanted to have a taste and then handed us a huge chunk of dolphin (oh yeah, the fish, not the mammal!!)  That is laid back; apparently, if you catch something while you are there or out, you can bring it back to the restaurant and ask them to prepare it - is that cool or what?!?!?  
The service was great and very, very fast.  The food was standard bar fare, with seafood thrown in, but everything was hot, the drinks were cold and the place had a really cool vibe.  As a warning, it is South Beach pricey, but for the time we had, it was definitely worth the extra scratch!!
It was kind of funny, because our friends had eaten there in the morning and commented on the fact that they thought that it was a biker bar!!  Far from it - there were not a whole lot of bikers in the house tonight!  They also commented on the morning food as "Southern-style, stick to your ribs, high cholesterol goodness"!!  
Definitely worth the visit!!

Remember to tip your waitresses well - they deserve it!!

PS - to top off the whole experience, there was some lunk in a boat that had come to drink and was annoyed by the noise of the customers at the restaurant and decided to sit in his boat and honk the horn (CLASSIC!!).  The "bouncers" quickly retired to the dock, had a short chat with the lad, helped his wife onto the boat and then threw his lines off with a hardy HO-HO!!  Great show, great show!!

I knew the Bahia Cabana was going to be entertaining as I was walking into the bathroom before I planted it at the bar.  What was it heading to the bathroom that made me think this?  A picture of Jimmy Buffett from 2005 playing at the Bahia Cabana.  Game on.  If it's Buffett-approved how can it be anything less than authentic-beachy?  

Anyways, it's what you (hopefully) think of when thinking of a Florida beach bar.  What drew me to this bar was its proximity to the Bahia Mar Marina in which you face while sitting in the restaurant/bar-area.  I'm a huge John D MacDonald/Travis McGee fan so I wanted a place to sit and have a cocktail and stare out at where the Busted Flush would've been tied up.  On a side note, it's pretty disappointing that the Travis McGee monument is now inside of a little guest services office....but that's neither here-nor-there.

The first couple times I went to Bahia Cabana I just had drinks.  I'm not huge on beer but I had a Corona and a tequila sunrise.  The tequila sunrise was excellent and not weak as most touristy places make them.  The bartenders are friendly-yet-feisty and know what they're doing.  I have now eaten here twice and the food has always been excellent.  The hamburgers are HUGE and the chicken wings are flocking-good! What's unique about the bar is that it's round and you either have a view of the marina or the Blues Brothers (I think) sitting next to the jacuzzi as some of the rooms are right outside of the bar.  The restaurant is a good size and you can sit in from the sun or at a picnic-style table right on the water where the boats are tied up.  

I think this bar is all what you make it.  If you like adventure stories and Florida mysteries this bar would be what you're looking for.  If you are looking for a laid back place to tell BS stories and dream of owning one of the yachts in the marina, this bar is for you.  If you are looking for the loud and obnoxious club/crooked hat with sticker on top scene, you should probably keep venturing down the A1A to that scene.  

I will definitely keep regular'ing the Bahia Cabana.