Tarpon Turtle Waterfront Grill

Tarpon is a family friendly restaurant. For appetizers we had the banging shrimp flat bread which was delicious and very shareable for 2 people. For dinner I had the Halibut fish n chips and my wife had the salmon. Both were ok. The price for the amount of salmon was a bit too much. The fish and chips were very good. For dessert we had the turtle cheesecake. It was not that good. To drink I had an Old Fashion and my wife had a jalapeno margarita. Both were over priced and not very good.

Such a lovely place to eat dinner! The restaurant was quite busy on a Thursday evening. We were lucky to find two seats at the bar. At first I was going to have a beer and when I inquired about one of the tap beers, the he bartender asked if I would like a sample. It was good but not quite what I was looking for. I ended up ordering the Jalapeno Margarita and my husband had a lemonade. The margarita was very different and very delicious with a delightful small bite to the taste. After about a 25 minute wait we were led to our table outside on the deck. The view was beautiful and we walked out on the pier for a picture with the buoy sign ala Key West. I had Tacos Del Mar which were delicious. I was only able to eat 2 of the 3 tacos so took one back to the hotel refrigerator where I sadly forgot it the next morning. My husband had the fish and chips which he enjoyed. We would definitely return to this restaurant if in the area.

THIS IS THE PLACE! The atmosphere here is amazing! The waterfront tables offer fantastic views of Lake Tarpon, and they have live music at certain times. I highly recommend anything seafood on the menu! The Crab Benedict was so good for brunch with a mimosa! Service was fast and friendly. This restaurant is perfect for a romantic date night or a celebration. I can't say enough amazing things about this place. They hit every mark!

So let me start by saying I don’t ever write negative reviews. I never send food back, I never complain, I always tip 25% even if the service isn’t great. Things happen- I get it. Tonight was possibly the worst experience I have ever had at a restaurant . We had a reservation for 7 people at 6pm & when we checked in the 5 people at the host stand told us “yea we have a line of reservations to get through”. We were sat probably 15 min later, which wasn’t bad at all considering it was a busy Saturday night. Once we were sat, we weren’t greeted for at least 20 minutes, server was busy (none of this was her fault)- we got our drink orders in and ordered 2 apps and 2 soups. 10 minutes later we put in our entree order. One soup came out 20 minutes after and it was ice cold, the other soup was warm. Both orders of fried pickles were good. Food took over an hour to come out & when we went to eat- both the burger and chicken sandwhich were cold, & 2 orders of the coconut shrimp were completely raw. Not even slightly cooked, grey and mushy. We sent the shrimp back because & decided not to have them re done, just because we didn’t want to end up waiting another 30-40 minutes for them to come back out. When the manager came over to ask how everything was we let him know about the shrimp being raw & his answer was “shrimp is hard to cook you don’t know when it’s done” which made me laugh & then told us that we came in at the “end of a rush” and that’s why everything that happened, happened. Again- I try to be the most understanding person in situations where places are underwater. The server was great and none of this was her fault, but the management needs to figure something out or they’ll end up closing / losing a ton of customers.

Tarpon Turtle Waterfront Grill was fabulous! Great atmosphere, and our waitress Victoria was outstanding! The food was fantastic! The cebiche was perfect, and the She Crab Soup was smooth and tasty! The Greek dressing was a winner as well, and the fish and chips were so great they glowed! Five Stars for great atmosphere, fabulous staff, and remarkable food! ~The Taurian Chef