St. Johns River Steak & Seafood in Sanford, FL

I ate at St. Johns River Steak & Seafood located in the Sanford Marina. This location has been host to several different restaurants, none of which seem to survive very long. This includes two which have been featured on this blog before: Limoncellos and Efes Turkish Restaurant. Downtown Sanford has been booming lately and the marina is being redeveloped, so hopefully this bodes well for the survival of St. Johns River Steak & Seafood.

I ordered the Key West Combo. This dish included jerk mahi and shrimp in a honey mustard sauce, along with conch fritters, rice, and broccoli. The mahi and shrimp were very good, although I've had much better conch fritters elsewhere.

There was a birthday at our table so the restaurant brought out a huge slice of chocolate-peanut butter cake. For a surprise slice of cake, there were no complaints!

Deland Fish House in Deland, FL

I ventured out to Deland for dinner on a recent evening and found myself at a restaurant called the Deland Fish House. This seafood restaurant was located on International Speedway Blvd, not far from Downtown Deland and Stetson University.

They had a combo dinner where you got to pick a type of fish and shellfish that sounded good to me. I chose the blackened mahi mahi for my fish and a crab cake for the shellfish. The dinner came with two sides and I chose the fried okra and cheese grits. Hush puppies were also included. The blackened mahi mahi was very tasty. The seasoning was nice and spicy. The crab cake was also tasty. There was a lot of crab in this very large crab cake, which is always a good thing. The fried okra was average and the cheese grits were very plain tasting. The seafood was definitely better than the side items, as it should be at a seafood restaurant. Overall, I liked this place. The food was good for the most part. The prices were a little less than I was expecting and the portions were huge. I'd return!

Eau Gallie River Crab House in Melbourne, FL

I had lunch at the Eau Gallie River Crab House in Melbourne. Located in a repurposed Burger King building, this restaurant has a very nice view of the Eau Gallie River. They have plenty of outdoor seating overlooking the river, but it was very warm on the afternoon we choose to eat there, so our meal occurred in the air conditioning.

Although crabs may have been the thing to order here, I instead had the Blackened Mahi. Served with two sides, I choose the onion rings after seeing them be delivered to a nearby table and the steamed vegetables, which turned out to be broccoli. The fish had a nice spicy flavor and was nice and flaky. I don't know if it was meant to go with the fish or the onion rings, but I also liked the honey mustard dipping sauce that was served on the side.

I enjoyed the food here, but service was kind of lacking. There was one waiter for the entire restaurant. Although they were only about a quarter full, he definitely seemed overwhelmed. Taking drinks to be refilled and never returning them is never a good thing. Overall, food was good and hopefully the bad service was a fluke...

Fresh on the Fly in Lake Mary, FL

I ate dinner at a new seafood restaurant in Lake Mary called Fresh on the Fly. Their menu was somewhat limited with almost only sandwiches and salads. There was nothing that could be considered a seafood dinner, but I personally had no problems with the menu. The menu also shared that Fresh on the Fly only uses sustainable wild-caught fish, grass fed beef, and hormone free chicken.

I had the On the Fly Fish Tacos. The two tacos were filled with blackened mahi mahi, lettuce, pineapple salsa, and mango sour cream. These were very tasty tacos and only cost $5. Not bad, considering I've had similar tacos that weren't nearly as good at nearby restaurants for double the price.

One final thought about Fresh on the Fly. Their sign is really hard to read from Lake Mary Blvd. I had no problem seeing Fresh, but the rest of the sign is too small and jumbled to decipher from a distance. I probably would have eaten here sooner if I would have been able figure out what this place was from their sign.

Celebration Town Tavern

I was on the touristy section of 192 and decided to head to Celebration for dinner. On this visit to the planned, disnified community, I ate at the Celebration Town Tavern. They seemed to specialize in seafood, so I ordered the Blackened Pacific Mahi Sandwich. The fish had a nice spicy flavor to it, but I found it to be sort of boring for a sandwich. The sandwich needed something else going on, something more than the meat and bread. At the very least, the standard sandwich vegetables would have been nice. The sandwich came served with fries and baked beans. I liked the beans, but the fries were kind of soggy, as if they were sitting out for a bit too long. Overall, the food from Celebration Town Tavern was pretty average. Nothing horrible, but it's definitely not going to have me rushing back any time soon. A little on the expensive side too...

Return to the Chop Shop

I had eaten at the Chop Shop Restaurant in Deltona, FL once before just after they opened. The restaurant was up to par last time with decent service and good food. Tonight I returned to the Chop Shop to eat dinner for a second time and it seems the restaurant has developed some problems.

It initially took a while for the drinks to be brought to the table, and then took an even longer time for the waitress to come back to take our food order. I ordered their Jambalaya. Another person dining with me ordered something called the Seafood Trio, which included shrimp, scallops, and mahi-mahi. Someone else at the table ordered a mahi-mahi dinner. The waitress was asked if some substitutions could be made in the meal involving the side dishes. These involved replacing a baked potato for French fries and changing the vegetable side from zucchini to broccoli, both of which were on the menu as sides. The answer was a firm no. According to the waitress, the owners made it very clear that there are absolutely no substitutions on their new menu.

After an insane amount of time, the food finally came. Someone at the table noted the time after we had already waited a while. It took our food an hour to come from that point.

I had no complaints with my Jambalaya. It was actually really good coming from a restaurant that didn't specialize in Cajun food. There were nice big shrimp and a generous amount of sliced andouille sausage. It wasn't so spicy where it would leave you wanting a drink, but it wasn't bland either. There was a nice heaping portion on the plate, almost too much to eat.


My Jambalaya may have been good, but there was another issue at the table. Remember the Seafood Trio that was ordered and the whole no substitutions thing? It turned out that the Chop Shop was all out of scallops, so they substituted the scallops with a few extra shrimp. Instead of doing the right thing by telling the customer that the restaurant was out of a major component of the meal, they made this substitution without asking. It seems a bit hypocritical to me that customers don't have the right to ask for a substitution on a side item, but the restaurant can substitute a major component of the main dish without asking first. The person that ordered this Seafood Trio, which was actually an unannounced Seafood Duo for the night complained about this stating that scallops were the highlight of the meal, and the waitress was vaguely apologetic. She agreed that what happened was wrong, but she passed the blame on to the kitchen and said something should have been done about the situation. The manager/owner of the restaurant was requested, and the waitress announced that she was the manager. She did not offer to do anything about the situation...

I don't think I'll return to the Chop Shop anytime soon. My food may have been good, but the service was pretty bad...

Shell's Seafood...

I ate dinner at the Shell's Seafood restaurant in Winter Park, FL on Lee Road. I ordered a Mahi Mahi dinner. It came with a caesar salad...

The fish came after a long wait, and it was kind of disappointing. The mahi mahi itself was fine, but the side dishes left room for improvement. The rice was kind of undercooked and was a bit crunchy and the steamed vegetables weren't very cooked. The broccoli was a bit brown, and the carrots looked like they hadn't been cleaned.

Chop Shop Restaurant

I ate at the Chop Shop Restaurant in Deltona Florida today. It is new. It smelled like fresh paint which doesn't mix with food too well. The food was good though. I ate blackened mahi mahi. It came with two sides, and I choose corn and mashed potatoes. The corn wasn't on the cob, but it still tasted like corn.

Unless they get a better sign than what they have, I don't think they will stay in business very long. There were people eating there, but I think that's because they left fliers at peoples houses all over Deltona...