At the Don CeSar, Need I Say More
St. Pete Beach, Florida USA
Dined in February & July 2016
By Sean Overpeck (CFE)
Driving around St. Pete Beach is a typical experience for any beach town you see in Florida wether it is on the Atlantic side or the Gulf. Some areas have large skyscraper hotels and condo’s, while others are smaller two to five story hotels, houses, and shops. St. Pete is closer to the smaller side unlike Clearwater, Ft. Myers, Sarasota, or Miami. At the southern end of St. Pete Beach before you reach historical Pass-A-Grille Beach is an out of place pink palace, the Lows Don CeSar Hotel. Like any hotel there are several restaurants and bars to choose from whether you're a guest at the hotel, or just stopping in. In the pool area next to the entrance to the beach is one of these bars that serves some beach comfort food called the Beachcomber Bar and Grill. Lets dive in and enjoy a few drinks and nacho’s shall we…
Scroll down to read the main review, accolades and wine tasting notes
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That I visited and reviewed on this site…
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From the restaurants home page:
Enjoy your favorite frozen drinks, mojitos and more, served poolside. The menu features fresh seafood, salads, burgers and plenty for the whole family to enjoy.
Main review:
My fiancé and I have been living in St. Petersburg for nearly a year and during this time have traveled around from the beach side to the bay checking out the restaurant scene. As I have mentioned in articles about other St. Pete restaurants, we are both impressed at the food scene and how it continues to grow. At the Don CeSar Hotel they have two restaurants and four bars. We have not been to either of the restaurants yet, but have enjoyed cocktails and food at two of those bars.
My fiancé really enjoys the beach, sitting out, getting some sun, reading some magazines, and of course on occasion enjoying the water, no matter how many sharks might be swimming around out there. For me, I’m not much of a beach person, but enjoy spending time with her. Every time I spend a good amount of time at a beach or a pool, no matter the amount of sunblock, I burn. In the year we have been in St. Pete, together we have visited the hotel beach two-three times. By herself or with other friends, she has been several more times. Two times that we were there, in February and July of 2016, we went out to the beach or stayed at a table by the pool, where an unadvertised bar/restaurant was available. Yes, you could see the bar from a distance, and order drinks to take out to the beach, or sit at one of the many tables near the pools, or even take to the pools. If you sit at the tables you will have a server cater to your needs. When our server presented some menus that went with the bar, then I saw that we were at the Beachcomber Grill. The food is prepared in one of the hotels main kitchens that handles the restaurants, then from there brought out to the pool area. If your on the beach itself, you can walk up to the pool bar, order your food in a to go container, and take it out to the beach.
If your on the beach, watch out for the seagulls. Some people are dumb enough to feed them, and then wonder why forty of them hang around waiting for more food, and poop over everything. By the pool side, the hotel has wires going from the main building to a fence line next to the beach entrance. These wires go straight, then turn diagonal, stopping the birds from swooping down like a dive bomber to steal your food if your by the pool or at one of the tables.
Our experience in February was sitting at the table, enjoying the person who played live music near us, and having a few lunch style treats from the menu. They had a good selection of choices from starters, salads, mains, and sides. For drinks my fiancé had the Don and Stormy which consisted of Chopin rye vodka, ginger beer, and lime. I enjoyed a local Tampa beer called the Jai
Alai, an Indian Pale Ale from the Cigar City Brewing Company.
When my fiancé and I go out, most of the time we share and split our meals. One so that we can taste a variety of what the menu has to offer, and of course to save money, versus taking a lot of stuff home. She ordered the hummus trio from the starters menu consisting of a chickpea and feta, a white bean with sun-dried tomatoes, and a black bean with roasted Jalapeno’s all served with some crispy pita chips.
I also enjoyed a dish from the starters menu, feeling a craving for some Mexican food not cooked in the Mexican way, or some loaded nachos with black beans, pepper-jack cheese, green onions, sour cream, tomatoes with an addition of some jerk seasoned shredded chicken. Having the Island flair to the nachos made it very enjoyable.
When we returned together in July and sat out at the beach, we ordered the poached shrimp cocktail, also from the starters menu. Other items of interest include a tuna tartare, and caprese skewers along with a few others. From the mains portion of the menu there were mainly sandwiches, wraps, and burgers, plus a fish taco entree. With the bill, no matter if you order from the beach or are served by a waiter at the tables near the pool, an 18% service charge is auto added to the bill, so read carefully before you pay a full additional gratuity unless of course you wish to.
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Dessert:
We did not see a dessert menu attached, but most likely, they could have provided a list that would have come from one of the restaurants if you wanted one.
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| A Memorial Day Tribute at the Don CeSar |
So, with the meal complete, and our culinary appetites fulfilled, lets see how the Beachcomber Bar and Grill rates overall shall we….
5 stars
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is Extraordinary
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4 Stars
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is Outstanding
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3 Stars
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Exceeded Expectations
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2 Stars
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is Above the Average
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1 Star
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is an Average Dining Experience
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No Star Rating
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The Restaurant is Basic, Poor, or Appalling
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Rating Breakdown And Analysis:
Professional Restaurant reviewers like the New York Times, or the San Francisco based Chowhound, and the sophisticated travelers sight Gayot base their reviews on single or multiple experiences, giving their opinion + a specific rating to that restaurant. These reviews and accolades tell the whole story and inform the diner of what to expect. Now social media from places like Facebook, the review and events page Yelp, the International Restaurant focused site called Zomato, and Trip Advisor have started to replace the traditional media readership. A large majority now look at these social ratings and write-ups judging the restaurant on them versus the use of review sites like this mine or the professional ones mentioned above. Social media is now the new make or brake to a Restaurant. Most times instead of being skeptical to a social review, people will see low ratings, and they will likely bypass and go elsewhere. Whether it is here on Wine, Dine, and Play, or the Elite Traveler’s Guide, the one thing I do is give an unbiased opinion, giving you the most information I can. The ratings given here are based on the overall experience, so use this review as another source of information to help make your decision.
From the tasting of the Chef’s specials to the lists of wines, prices, customer service, property, setup, flow, and cleanliness; these are just a few of the items I look at when giving a rating for a review. Sometimes I visit a place once-or many times-and I base it on the facts, versus a user on social media who writes a bad review because he had a bad day, or has a personnel dislike to an employee. I am one of many thousands of reviewers on this Earth, and my main job is to inform. I do this for fun as it is something I truly enjoy. I don’t not get paid or represent a special interest group. You may end up having a completely opposite experience then the ones I write about, but in the end it is all in the eye of the beholder. I’m just giving you more information then what you see or here on social media.
On Wine, Dine, and Play, I have an overall star rating scale of six levels with the lowest being a poor or appalling experience (zero stars), up to an extraordinary experience (five stars). This rating scale is formulated by braking down individual experiences such as wine, plate presentation, ambiance, wow factor, plus food quality and combines them on a separate scale of zero to ten, with ten being the best. In the next paragraph, I brake down how and why I come to the conclusion of the rating numbers listed in the overall review chart below.
We have been to Beachcomber two times, and shall return to the Don CeSar many more times in the future where most likely we will grab a snack from either here or one of the other restaurants or bars again.
The overall star rating from Wine, Dine, and Play that I give to the Beachcomber Bar and Grill is a three, meaning that it exceeded my expectations, and my expectations are set at a high standard compared to others. I came to this conclusion based on all the other factors listed above and how they rated.
Overall Star rating by Wine, Dine, & Play:
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2 of 5
Above Average
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Ambiance:
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1 of 10
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Quality of the Food:
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5 of 10
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Plate Presentation:
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4 of 10
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Customer Service:
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6 of 10
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Wow Factor:
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2 of 10
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Wine Selection:
(See the full list below)
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? of 10
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I rate ambiance on several factors from the most important being cleanliness of the dining room and restrooms, to organization and flow. I look at the atmosphere, character, the tones, artwork, and the design styles to see if they match the themes of the food. During the daylight hours natural lighting versus electric is also a strong enhancer of enjoying a meal, and of course the styles of furniture, or if it is inviting and comfortable.
Considering it was outdoor patio seating or beachside, there really is no ambiance to rate since this is a beachside grill and not a sit down dining experience. That does not take away from the overall rating, so they receive a one out of a possible ten points.
The quality rating bases the essential or distinctive characteristics that the food offers, or if I see that it is of a higher grade, superiority, or excellence. Also important is the taste. Did the chef pair or match distinctive ingredients together, and did he send my palette on an adventure?
The food had good flavor and for a beachside bar menu, the quality was higher than other beachside grill offerings. The hummus trio was very good, and the jerk chicken versus regular chicken for the nachos was a nice surprise, so i give them a five out of a possible ten points.
The plate presentation is based on the art of how the food is put together and displayed as it is brought out. Does it look unique, or have interesting garnishments, or built action style at the table? Does it make you look twice and go “wow”? All of these attributes help add to this rating.
The presentation was very basic giving a score of four out of a possible ten.
Customer service can make or break a restaurant. You can have the best quality of foods, and plate presentations that put Escoffier to shame, or the most beautiful ambiance, and fantastic wine or bar list. However if you have a service staff that is not attentive to the needs of the guest, or has an unclean uniform, smells like a cigarette after returning from a break, does not act professionally, or lacks knowledge on the menu, food, and restaurant, then you have a major problem. On the other hand a great server can bring a customer back over and over again even if the food is mediocre. People go to restaurants for the show. They think they are experts because they watched a reality tv show on the Food Network, but what needs to be understood is that as amazing as a kitchen staff and Chef’s may be, the front of house is just as great.
The server was attentive and very nice, making sure that we had everything we needed. the pool area was very busy and he had a lot going on, so bravo with a rating of six out of a possible ten points for service.
The “wow” factor as I like to call it is a quality or feature that is extremely impressive. It can be something that is seen or done that is funky, surprising, or pleasing. It is something that just makes me go “wow”. This rating is also the hardest to get high marks for. The wow factor is a combination of ambiance, quality, plate presentation, customer service, and wine or mixology that goes above and beyond what you would expect from a restaurant.
Being a basic beach grill type bar there really was no “wow” factor, and even for restaurants it is a hard score to go above four on, so I rate them with a two out of ten points.
The wine selection can vary from place to place, and I base the ratings not just on the quality of the wines offered but also the selections. Wine is grown everywhere around the world these days and the demand for it has increased ten fold. Distributors in every major city whether they work for a large named company like Empire or a small boutique company can provide any restaurant any wine if they want it. Some restaurants will choose to have brand name wines only and that to me will lower a rating faster than a plane nose diving. If they make an effort to have even a small selection with variety such as a wines from Napa California, Willamette Oregon, Bordeaux France, Stellenbosch South Africa, the Yarra Valley near Melbourne Australia, or the Piemonte in Italy, to name a few, then that rating will shoot up higher on my review list.
We did not have any wine, though there were some house selections available. If requested we could have possibly ordered from the restaurants wine menu’s but did not. When I contacted the hotel to request a wine list, I did not receive a reply back, so for now the wine review has no rating. This will change if I am contacted by the hotel, and an update amendment will be added.
Eating on a patio next to a beach with live music, good drinks and comfort food is always a pleasure. Yes, my fiancé and I enjoy finer restaurants and new innovations to the food scene, but still a nice bar and grill is a wonder escape from time to time. I would compare our experiences here at the Beachcomber to a few other places either I or my fiancé and I have been to in the past such as the Wipe Out Bar and Grill in San Fransisco back in 2013. Though my experience at wipeout was not a very good one, the atmosphere and food reminded me of the Beachcomber. Secondly though another not so good experience was the Dunes Restaurant just outside of Cape Town, South Africa. Another by the beach bar and grille that was falsely advertised. When I come to think about it, Beachcomber and Hurricane Seafood Grill in Pass-A-Grill, have been my two best experiences of beachside bar and grills, so job well done.
Other St. Pete Beach reviews on Wine, Dine, and Play:
Spinners Rooftop Bistro in St. Pete Beach, Florida
Hurricane Seafood Grill in Pass-A-Grill, Florida
La Cote Basque Winehouse, in Gulfport
Stella’s Restaurant, in Gulfport
Reviews coming soon:
Level 11 at the Grand Plaza Hotel
Castile Restaurant at the Hotel Zamora
Food Prices
(excluding, alcohol, taxes & gratuity)
$£€¥ - Under 50.00
$£€¥ x 2 - 51.00- 99.00
$£€¥ x 3 - Over 100.00
$£€¥ x 4 - Over 200.00
$£€¥ x 5 - Over 400.00
**Currencies chosen reflect the world’s major travelers and restaurant connoisseur’s**
My food bill:
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Currency:
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Price chart:
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$29.00
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United States Dollar (USD)
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$
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$40.00
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Australian Dollar (AUS)
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$
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£20.00
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Great Britain Pound Sterling (GBP)
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£
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$38.00
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Canadian Dollar (CAN)
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$
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¥189.00
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Chinese Yuan (CNY)
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¥¥¥
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€25.00
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European Union (EUR)
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€
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Alcohol Prices:
$90.00
***
Customary starting gratuity for restaurants in the United States begins at 15%
Of your total food bill and increases based on the level of service you received.
In Europe, Australia, Africa, and some Asian countries it is not
common to leave any gratuity as it is already included into
the check, but you may feel free to leave extra anyway. Alcohol gratuity
is calculated by a separate 10% or higher if you wish.
***
Review basics:
Wine selections by region:
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? of 10
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Corkage fee’s:
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The Restaurant does not list nay corkage fee’s however, most American restaurants charge $25.00 per bottle
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Restaurant style:
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Casual
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Reservations:
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Not Required
Walk-Ins:
Accepted
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Dress code:
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Casual
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Child policy:
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The Restaurants reviewed on this site may have a child’s menu or cater to them; however for full enjoyment of food and wine, it is recommended for children not to be in attendance, unless they have been trained in proper etiquette.
Hire a Babysitter.
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Cuisine style:
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Contemporary, Lounge, Seafood, American, Southern, Mediterranean, Beach food, & Vegetarian
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Experiences:
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Place for foodies, Lounge, Hot spot, Great bar, Great outdoor dining, Scenic views, Tourist grabber, and a Neighborhood gem.
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Payments:
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Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express
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Parking:
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Valet, or Street Parking
$25 Valet Charge
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Wifi
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The restaurants reviewed on this site may have Wi-Fi, but do not require you to go online, because the excitement of the food and wine alone will keep you too entertained instead of checking your social media and emails.
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Noise level:
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Medium to Loud
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Smoking:
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Nonsmoking restaurant
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Patio:
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Yes
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Restaurant address:
Loews Don CeSar Hotel
3400 Gulf Blvd
St. Petersburg, FL 33706
St Pete Beach
GPS Coordinates:
27.720541
-82.743002
Contact Information:
Maître d, Reservations:
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+1 727-360-1881
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Restaurant Website:
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Serving Hours:
Eastern Standard Time (GMT - 5:00)
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Daily: 11:00 am - 10:00 pm Mon-Sun |
Groupon:
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Social Media
&
Accolades:
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Reviewed by:
Sean Overpeck (CFE)
Picture below was taken in
About Sean:
I am based out of St. Petersburg, Florida working in the food service industry for the past twenty years, and am currently with the American Embassy as the Executive Chef in Basra, Iraq. Formally I have worked with groups contracting in Afghanistan, and Antarctica, also working in restaurants in and around Atlanta, Georgia prior to the wars. I have also owned a catering company and served proudly in the United States Army Food Service Program. The idea for Wine, Dine, and Play started in late 2012 after a trip to Jordan, when I was asked by friends to write down the experiences from a few Jordanian restaurants, plus the wine from the region that I tasted, and locations of interest such as Petra. Since that time, over 200 articles have been written on restaurants, including fifteen from the worlds top 100 lists of San Pellegrino and the Elite Travelers Guide. There are articles on exotic world locations such as Victoria Falls, and South African Safari’s; food recipes & Grand Food Dictionaries; country cuisines such as Afghan, and Peruvian; tasting tours of world cities like Dubai, Charleston, and Cape Town; and of course wine from vineyards in California, Oregon, the Carolina’s, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia, with much more to see and write about.
Who is John Galt?
“Culinary perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things,
But in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.”
-Angelique Arnauld (1591-1661)
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