Dancing Marlin Restaurant

Worst experience. Party of 3 Waited over an hour for our 7:30 reservation because “parties wouldn’t leave”. We were very understanding, but no one ever apologized. Customers that walked in behind us & were seated before us apologized to us as they were leaving at 8:45 and we were still waiting to be seated. Finally seated…1st Waitress came to table and never came back. Another waitress came to table and took forever to come back…she was busing tables and scraping plates instead of taking our order. Once our order was finally in, they brought our entrees at different times. One entree came immediately after we ordered. We ate and talked for a few minutes after we finished. The waitress came to our table and said the manager asked us to leave because they closed at 9:30. The manager never apologized for seating us over an hour after our reservation and now was telling us to leave and that they were closed. Extremely unprofessional restaurant and we were super understanding customers the entire time..did not complain at all. There are many choices to go and they did not care about their customers. Very poor experience. Will not be returning.

Well for years I thought this was a dance studio like Fred Astaire. Until one day I was searching the web for seafood restaurants near me and Dancing Marlin popped up. To my surprise, this IS a restaurant! I wanted fried green tomatoes and some other seafood (can’t remember now) In any case, I ordered the General Tso cauliflower and the tacos. Simply delicious. I’ve been back every week since my first visit about a month ago. I took my husband last week and he also enjoyed it. We’ve found a new go to restaurant in our community and it’s wonderful!

I agreed with Kenny J’s review. This place has potential. The wait staff were friendly and helpful. The food was ok. Nothing special. Nothing really stood out. The thing that surprised me were the cocktails on tap. You don’t do that to Bulleit Boubon. An Old Fashioned should never be served on tap. I like the atmosphere. Felt like a vacation spot. The website makes it look lively and fun so I was expecting a terrific drink menu. Bartender showing off their skills. Again, lot of potential. Suggestion for a dish. Doc Ford’s on Sanibel Island makes this shrimp dish that is perfect for tapas. Flavorful, not fried and served with bread for the delicious sauce it.

My wife and I walked into this place and got a table sat down Perused the menu and everything on the menu the night we were there was either pork which we don’t eat or fried which we don’t eat so not finding anything to eat We got up and left so I can’t speak to the quality of their food but it’s not a place for us

The best thing about this place is the service. Our waitress was very attentive and responsive to our needs . The ambience wasn’t bad either for the area. We came here after my sisters’ high school graduation. There’s 6 of us so we ordered a ton of food. We didn’t like most of it. A lot of the dishes we ordered — we were already familiar with, but it just felt like the chef couldn’t execute them properly. Like he’s not used to making these dishes at all. I’m leaving a detailed review because I believe this place has a lot potential. We ordered: 1. Fried Kale (w/o Parmesan cheese) — way too greasy and oily to be the healthy appetizer it was supposed to be — also the grease/oil overpowered the flavor — it tasted like nothing 2. General Tso Cauliflower — was delicious but for some reason it’s made with buttermilk, so it’s not an option for those of us that are vegan/plant based which was annoying considering how limiting the menu already is 3. Off the Hook (salmon tacos) — my dad hated these and he loves salmon. He scrapped off whatever green sauce was on them tacos, took them out of the tortilla and ate the salmon by itself. 4. Baja Tostadas (w/o the shrimp) — these were delicious !! Favorite thing I ate 5. Chopped Salad (w/ chicken & w/o chicken) — my littlest sister (12 years old) ate the one with chicken and she liked it, meanwhile my mom hated the one she ate without chicken. Felt like it was soggy and the ingredients were not fresh. 6. Beet Salad (w/o cheese) — extremely plain and not flavorful 7. Ahi nachos — I like this dish at every other place I’ve tried it besides here — it had a weird overwhelming taste of mayonnaise and I couldn’t finish it 8. Impossible burger — tasted delicious but it did NOT taste like an impossible burger, which really threw us off being a primarily vegan/plant based family 9. Impossible tacos — I didn’t get to try these my mom ate them so fast haha! She said they were super delicious 10. Crispy Brussels Sprouts — delicious! But the ends weren’t cut off so they were unnecessarily bitter and tough to chew In addition to this I ordered a sangria which I enjoyed and I think we also ordered a couple of hot teas and soft drinks. The total came out to around $180 and we were not satisfied. Really hope this place turns around eventually! We need a spot like this in the suburbs but we really NEED it to have better food

The small portions are nice, but they don’t blow me away with flavor. Also, I think they’re trying to make back money they lost during the initial COVID quarantine by raising prices a ton.

My experience with Dancing Marlin started a couple weeks before we even ate there. I was planning a birthday celebration, and had been turned down by 3 other big restaurants saying that they did not take any reservations of parties more than 6 on the weekends. My daughter suggested Dancing Marlin and she called to see if they would accommodate party of 14. They did not hesitate, said that the Kitchen Table was available for up to 16, and when she asked how to reserve it, she was told to just give a name and it was ours! No hassle, nothing! All I can say is I am so glad that I was turned down because this place was phenomenal. Now, I’ve seen this restaurant, as I live in the area, but I’ve never been, and I am kicking myself, as this birthday celebration was way more than I could have ever hoped for. The table was set for us when we got there at 6:00, on 7-24-21, and our server, Sean K. got to work. We had 2 children under 7 and 12 adults. He was attentive and patient as he explained our options on how to order, as most of the adults had not been there, and had suggestions on the menu items as well. He was there when we needed him, as if he had ESP, and treated the kids with such care! He suggested kiddie cocktails, and that made them feel like royalty. Sean made the meal seamless, and the food came out in a steady stream just like he said it would. I have been to many restaurants and I can say without question that Sean is one of the best servers I’ve had the pleasure to interact with. To say he should be recognized would be an understatement. Thank you, Sean for helping make my birthday a great one! Now to get to the actual food review. With 12 adults and 2 children, we had varied tastes and ordered all small plates. We had everything from poke to sliders to coconut shrimp, garlic shrimp, fried kale, salad, Mahi Mahi tacos, cauliflower, fig and pig, little bit of chicken fried, you name it, we ordered it! The French fries were amazing and the kids devoured all of them! I’m sure I’ve left some items out, but I will comment a little on the food that I actually ate. Coconut shrimp, lightly breaded, huge and perfectly cooked, fig n pig, such a blend of sweet, slightly spicy wrapped in bacon, yum! I also had the crab cakes which were so so good! I’m not much for spicy, and the dipping sauce for the coconut shrimp was just sweet enough to balance out the spice. Every person at our table not only got enough to eat, with almost nothing left on the table, but not one person had even one negative thing to say about anything that was ordered. We had brought individual cakes for dessert and ordered a scoop of ice cream to go along with. I have nothing but praise for Dancing Marlin. The staff, and the food absolutely, top notch. Thank you, Dancing Marlin, thank you, Sean for a perfect evening. This is not the last time I’ll be dining there!

We ordered take out on a Sunday. The DM cheeseburger was pretty good as were the Mac and cheese and fish tacos. The chopped salad was a joke. I think the cost was $16 and I’ve had far better salads at fast food places. They didn’t even include the dressing and there was almost no chicken. What a rip. The portions were all small and not worth the price. Hope your dine in is a better value.

First time ever visiting and our waitress was so helpful. The food was amazing the succotash was one of my favorite things. Everything came out fast and hot. The restaurant itself was beautiful and had great atmosphere. We will most definitely be back especially because our waitress informed us that the menu changes quite often.

Love the food and service is great. Easy to make a online reservation. Outdoor dining super cute and nice.