Fish Out of Water

Ok, so this is the in-​house restaurant for the upscale Watercolor Resort. We knew it would be expensive and fancy. We were surprised at how friendly the wait-​staff and hostesses were. The restaurant was pretty empty on a recent summer Monday evening, and we were a bit conscious of being one of only two parties that evening (at least at the start of the evening). They brought out an amuse bouche with some kind of smoked cream cheese… my daught did not want hers, and after tasting ours, no one else did either. Overall, the food was just ok… my fish was overdone, with nary any crab on the plate. As expected, it was quite expensive. But the views are spectacular, and service was quite excellent. You could definitely do worse.

Excellence at its best!
Well if you hadn’t fallen in love by now with the wonderful town of Watercolor, here’s a little push.
Fish out of Water is a delicious delight that will bring you back again and again to enjoy the finer things in life.
Where to begin?
The service is exceptional. All the way through. Every bit of the menu is explained and they even have a wine sommelier that will recommend incredible wines from all over the world.
The menu changes every so often, they work with a local farmer so that items are fresh. I like that.
Everything is delish. It’s really hard to say what is better than, because all the menu it is really life changing. Even the kids menu. I seriously was eating off of my daughters plate at one point.
A great dinning experience all the way through.
Exceptionally great food and great service.
A must if your in Seaside/​Watercolor, or just passing through.

Fish Out of Water was a good dining experience. I really want to give it 3.5 stars.
Jean was our waitress and took excellent care of us, even asking detailed questions about our food allergies.
Food was very good but under seasoned. Best part was dessert. Order anything with a mirror glaze or the chocolate soufflé and you will not be disappointed. The amuse bouche and truffles at the end of the meal were nice touches.
Ambience inside is okay, seems a little pretentious to have a plastic table mat cover instead of white table cloths. Better to eat on the Veranda (no h guys).
Would likely come again. Maybe if they were trying a little less hard. The food at Café 30A is better.

Phenomenal! The food, service, and atmosphere were all impeccable. I’m shocked at the 3.5 stars — this is a fantastic restaurant. My husband was in love with his Chicken Tika appetizer and my lentil soup was incredible.
We both got the tuna for dinner, but mine was actually tofu, as I’m a vegetarian. I was impressed that they even offered it, but when it came out I was blown away! It was hands down one of the best vegetarian meals I’ve ever had in my LIFE, and my husband (who is an avid carnivore) said it may have even been better than his!
We skipped dessert because we were so full, but I’m already regretting it as we drive home. We cannot wait to come back!

The wait staff and management ruined a good meal and lovely setting. We had a party of 15, we enjoyed our food but the wait staff never asked us for drink orders and it took at least 45 minutes to get our bill which includes a 20% service charge. The immature manager was the worst part of our experience.

Do NOT. I repeat DO NOT. May I be so bold, DO NOT frequent this restaurant. Horrible service and worse, horrible management. McDonalds treats their customers with much better service and higher quality food. Once again, DO NOT go to this restaurant. If u do, your a FOOL. After an hour awaiting our check, the manager was pathetically responsive. Truly a poor experience. In my vast global restaurant experiences throughout the world, this place ranks an F minus minus.

Typical Florida high end restaurant. What I mean is that the menu is ambitious and alluring but the food seems to just miss. Good but not great. Beautiful place with good service.

Good date night. Left the kids at home and my wife and I had a great time all the food was great.

Really nice cuisine located in the Water Color Inn, FOOW offers fine dining featuring fresh seafood and great wines (along with some spotty service) in an upscale space with great Gulf views.
I can see why it is only 3.5 stars on Unilocal.With high menu prices so, too, come expectations. It would be easy for others to give FOOW 4 stars if it wasn’t so stratospherically expensive. But as the only real fine dining experience in the area, FOOW is THE special occasion restaurant of choice in Santa Rosa Beach and Seaside.
FOOW also has a great breakfast/​brunch. With a huge buffet ($ 23) you won’t go home hungry. Quality items are abundant with some of the best bacon and (British) sausages I’ve had in some time. The crispy French toast mad from Challah bread was exceptionally good, too. Don’t forget your custom omelette.
With food of this quality, and with limited special occasion places nearby, we’ll be back — despite the prices.

Great food, great atmosphere! Upscale restaurant that is kid friendly! The pork belly and crab cakes appetizer was amazing. Lobster bisque was ok, not my favorite. I had the scallops and they melted in my mouth. You must get dessert!

We sat outside and had a beautiful view but that’s about as good as it gets. The service was AWFUL and the food was pretty good but extremely expensive for what we got.

We loved the breakfast and dinner here. Large portions and super friendly staff. It is a little pricey but worth it in my opinion. We brought our kids and it was fine here.

We ate here 5 times over a week. 3 times for breakfast and twice for dinner. The food by all accounts is excellent. The mixed seafood grill for dinner was impressive in that 5 different items were all prepared and cooked perfectly. The Italian seafood soup was so perfectly seasoned and prepared. The seafood in the soup was not over cooked and wonderful. My wife’s yellow fin had a touch of spice and she loved it. Breakfast and dinner had pro level service and I can assure you this is not the case in many Seaside restaurants.
So here is the over the top point. My family dined here and had Brian as a server. He is an active duty military guy working while he is waiting for his next deployment to Germany. My daughter left her iPhone on the table. When we left we went for a walk down the beach. About a quarter of a mile down we here someone calling our name. It was Brian and he ran all the way down there to give us the phone back. 5 stars is not enough for that kind of caring in ones job.
Fish out of water is working very hard for your business and the food and service are wonderful.

Caprese Salad was delicious made with home made mozzarella cheese. The entrees were average. The black grouper topped with shrimp and a coconut curry sauce. The sauce was delicious. Shrimp on small side for the price of the entrée. The NY stripe was good but the Yukon gold potatoes had no flavor. Banana Fosters dessert was by far the best dessert. Also had the chocolate mousse which was just OK.
The service was top notch. The wine list was superb. The after dinner drink selection the best I have seen in a long time.

Amazing views .grab a table on the outside deck! Wonderful food and service by Sean and Chuck! Thank you for a very memorable dining and wine-​ing experience!

Wow! Where to begin. Of all the places I have eaten down here, Paradis, Café 30A, La Crema, all wonderful, but nothing tops this. Amazing views with food so perfectly prepared and fresh, it literally astounds. The spring menu had Gulf Snapper on it, in citrus crust, cooked delicately and to perfection. Over fresh veggies that were crisp and full of life. It was in a broth, so tasted light and fresh with soy and some ginger. So delicious. The shrimp cocktail had a bit of cream underneath and their own sauce which was the best ever cocktail with wosteshire. Dessert we had the orange soufflé, fresh orange taste with a cream poured in the center and crunchy pieces of sugar on the outside. Not too sweet, and tasted light and fresh. The sunset views were breathtaking. Worth every penny and the service unlike anywhere else! My new favorite on 30A!

Reporting a disappointing dining experience. Been to Fish Out of Water other times when down at Seaside and it was overpriced but fine. Went last night and found it not only ridiculously overpriced, but I ordered an overpriced salad with fried oysters. What showed up was a salad but I couldn’t find the oysters. Finally I got the server’s attention (it was hard) and asked him where the oysters were. He pointed to two pieces of fried crust — each about ¼ inch long. I asked him if the chef had any more, as I’d never seen oysters this small before.
I literally could not fathom an actual oyster in this tiny piece of crust. He went away a long time while I waited for the verdict. Finally he returned saying that the chef said the oysters were super small. He didn’t offer any more oysters or any other way to make me happy. I said okay. But after he left, I examined the «oysters» and found that they were actually tiny PIECES of oyster, cut up and fried. They obviously had a major shortage of oysters at the restaurant and this was what the chef was passing off as fried oysters. I ended up asking the server to take the salad back and take it off my bill, which he did.
But that wasn’t all. My friend and I shared the Seafood Grille, a combination of seafood platter with lobster tail. This dish was $ 45. Each of us got a plate with the halfed dish. Each plate had part of a lobster tail, but when we tried to find the lobster in the tails, they were empty! My friend had no lobster at all and I had a little piece tucked inside the lobster tail. WHAT?!
This is a ridiculously expensive restaurant! Cheating guests like this is totally unacceptable! I will never go back. NEVER. I didn’t even say anything after the oyster fiasco and just paid the bill, vowing never to return.
I don’t know if they treated us this way because we were two women, but I always overtip servers and expect a good dining experience. And usually get one. Not this time. Maybe Fish Out of Water is living up to its name. It’s been out of water so long IT STINKS!

Great view and great food. Another nice restaurant at watercolor with quality service. Would like to come back for more meals. But thoroughly enjoyed my traditional breakfast and fresh orange juice!

One of the most beautiful places to eat in the area and the entrees are overall good. I recommend the Brie risotto in particular.

Best (refined) food and atmosphere in the area. Wow. The space is beautiful including a very nice deck where you can dine and watch the sunset if it’s not too hot or insect-​laden. As far as I’ve found, Fish Out of Water is the only truly fine dining restaurant in the Florida panhandle — the atmosphere and wine list are second to none and the food was very good as well. Focus on the seafood of course and don’t forget to order your soufflé before the end of the meal so they can have enough time to prepare it. On our initial visit it was hazelnut and very good — and really, how many restaurants even attempt a soufflé these days?
Unless you’re staying in the Water Color resort or the nearby town of Seaside (both fairly surreal planned communities — of which Seaside is nationally recognized and was the locale for ‘The Truman Show’) you’ll likely have a bit of a drive to Fish Out of Water. But trust me it will be worth it if you enjoy the finer points of dining out, this is about as good as it gets for Northwest Florida.