Stuffed Foodies: Soaking up some Sun at Cafe Del Mar

Fort Lauderdale, FL

It's been a super cold winter so far for this Stuffed Foodie so it was high time for a vacation to the warm sunny days of Florida. Walking along the Las Olas Beach area, we passed by the "2-4-1" drink sign next to some huge margarita glasses and were sold. We waited a few minutes for the staff to set up a table just inside the entrance of the restaurant since they were so full (seemed like a bit of a fire code violation to me) but it was nice to be seated so quickly. Our server was polite and quickly told us a rather lengthy list of specials. Nothing descriptive and I had no idea what some of the dishes were, but the menu was extensive enough that it didn't really bother me.

She left us for a few minutes to look over the menu and I got to really take a look around the place. It was really loud, though I must admit the live music was amazing. The gentleman playing his guitar would even walk around the restaurant playing to interact with other customers! The restaurant had a very beachy bar feel to it, making me really feel like I was on vacation, but it was super loud and a little crowded.

Our server came back pretty quickly to take our drink orders and let us know that purchasing two entrees gets a free appetizer. Since there were 6 (plus a little tot of 2) of us, we went ahead and let her put in an order for calamari (knowing we would order at least 2 entrees :D) while we continued to look through the menu. We also ordered a round of giant margaritas. :) The calamari was nice and crispy with a nice layer of batter. The squid itself was rather thick, making it a little more difficult to eat and chew through. The flavor was nice and the cook was god though. It came with a tangy tomato sauce with red pepper flakes, giving the appetizer a little kick.

Here is my frozen strawberry margarita. Isn't it big? It was probably the equivalent of 2 maybe 2.5 drinks but really only had the alcohol of maybe 1. It was really tasty but really not worth the $20 + $1 for flavors if you are looking for the alcohol.

A few minutes later our appetizer came back and we ordered our food. I got the rigatoni pesto with chicken. I love me some pesto! The dish was ok - nothing special. The pesto was on the oily side and a little bit sparse but tasted pretty good. Pasta was supposed to be cooked al dente but I would say it was on the undercooked/harder side. The chicken was pretty rubbery and tasted like over-processed frozen chicken. Not so yummy.

One of my companions got the meaty rigatoni bolognese. Lots of ground meat, lots of sauce. It was a normal bolognese dish, again nothing special.

Our server was really on top of her game. She made sure to come back frequently, always made sure we had clean napkins, and really kept the table clear of dirty napkins and empty dishes so we had room to eat. Here are some pictures of the other dishes we got (Chicken Parm, Seafood pasta, Florida Grouper, and burger). These were decent too, but nothing to write home about. At least they look tasty, right?