H2O Cafe

We were there on a beautiful Sunday morning for brunch.  Beautiful setting out front on the Patio, people watching up and down the strand, with the beach just beyond.  For was tasty, but then almost  all breakfast food is!

If you are looking for a great outdoor patio to soak up South Florida's beautiful rays of sunshine while eating and people watching, this is the place.  Short walk from many of the nearby hotels and condos!

We went here this past Saturday night (1/26) and had an enjoyable time.  We actually hadn't planned on walking this far down past las olas but the other restaurants had outdoor musicians whose music was so loud it was overbearing.  H2o had outdoor speakers with soft music that created a relaxing environment.  We had our dog with us and they even offered to bring her water.  We both had the spaghetti bolognese and it wasn't bad.  They seemed to be a bit short handed with the wait staff, but the manager was helping them out so service was expedient.  Can't give it five stars because the food wasn't cheap, neither were the drinks.  Would have been nice if they had a drink special at that time of day (7pm), but it was a good dining experience.

I started going to this restaurant because they had very good, upscale-ish food for a decent price, not to mention a gorgeous view of the ocean. But the quality has gone downhill over the past year.

First off, they revised the recipe for their incredible balsamic vinaigrette, one of the best salad dressings I've ever had, and it's not nearly as good as it used to be.

But that's minor compared to this, my friends: WARMED-OVER CHICKEN posing as a freshly-prepared entree.

The menu offers what seems like a terrific deal--and it truly used to be--a half free range roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and veggies with a sweet citrus glaze for about $15.  I had it three or four times and it was always terrific.  

UNTIL I was served warmed over chicken.  Not just sitting-under-a-hot-lamp-for-too-long chicken, which is bad enough.  I mean, day-old cooked--and-then-refrigerated--and-THEN-reheated chicken. Ugh.  The texture was disgusting. I suffered through about half of it, because I was starving, but finally I complained to the waiter, who didn't even respond, let alone take the meal off the check, or offer me something else! (The wait staff is very iffy here; I've had some very good service, but mostly neglectful and apathetic service like this.)  

I don't mean to harp on this, but HELLO! You can get a freshly prepared piece of chicken at a Ruby Tuesday, or even a fast food place!  Disgraceful.

So...I decided to give the place another chance. Maybe the chef was having a personal crisis, maybe some horrible but rare thing had happened that led to me being served that chicken. So I ordered the same thing, hoping it was restored to its original glory.  Nope.  Half the chicken pieces tasted pretty fresh, but the other two were mealy, warmed-over chicken from the fridge.

On the bright side, people seem to rave about H2O's lobster and pasta dishes. Just don't order the reasonably priced item, because they don't seem to care about quality for people who spend less than $20 on their entree.

Never again.