dan marino’s at baywalk
mattOn Friday night, we decided to head across the bay for a change and visit downtown St. Pete. We chose to have dinner at Dan Marino’s Fine Food & Spirits in BayWalk. We had visited Dan Marino’s a few times for food and drink before, but hadn’t been back in maybe a year. Previous visits had been positive, but not the kind of knock-out experiences where we are in a rush to return.
When we arrived Friday night, we were told that there was a 20 minute wait for a table. Being impatient, we walked over to the bar area, found an open high-top table, and sat down. Next, we watched two servers walk past us and not say hello or offer us a menu. After several minutes, one of these servers finally returned, took our drinks orders and offered us menus.
For starters, we ordered a spinach and three cheese dip with tortillas. For my main course, I went with a grilled steak salad and Traci picked a turkey burger. The spinach dip was tasty and my salad was solid (nice slices of steak). As for Traci’s burger, it was Asian themed and came with a dipping sauce she didn’t care for and an Asian salad on top of the burger that she wasn’t a fan of either. I had a few bites and thought the burger - once stripped of Asian accouterments - was pretty good.
As we began to eat, the guy at the table next to us returned his order of “Dan’s Meatloaf.” He said it tasted like “a pack of spices from the grocery store that hadn’t been mixed well.” Fortunately, our meal wasn’t that bad, but overall it was a mediocre experience. Service was lackluster and the meal was just average. By choosing to sit in the bar area instead of the dining area, I realize we didn’t get the full experience. But we’ve done this before and the service can be much better than it was. Still, our latest visit to Dan Marino’s was a reminder of why we tend to avoid eating at BayWalk. I still think Dan Marino’s, particularly the outside balcony area, is a good spot for drinks.
There are other Dan Marino’s restaurant locations in Las Vegas and Miami, with the Orlando location scheduled to reportedly re-open in “mid 2007.” The original Dan Marino’s locations in Coral Springs and Fort Lauderdale both apparently closed. The St. Pete location appears to do pretty good business, but one never knows. It’s unclear to me how involved (or uninvolved) the Hall of Fame quarterback and NutriSystem pitchman is in the restaurants that bear his name.
The Dan Marino’s St. Pete location also came in fairly average on its last health inspection report (see below).
As for BayWalk, the food selection on the second floor besides Marino’s includes: a location of TooJay’s Deli (a generally good lunch choice), Gratzzi’s (an Italian place that I’ve never heard much about), and Tokyo Sushi Cafe (went once and thought it was okay). There is also a new little Italian place downstairs with pizzas and salads (we stopped after dinner there Friday night for gelato) and a Johnny Rockets location is still next to it. One spot no longer there is Dish, a sort of make-you-own stir fry restaurant concept that I could never get into. They closed its BayWalk and Centro Ybor locations recently.
Bottom-line: Dan Marino’s at BayWalk is a good choice for drinks and appetizers, particularly if you can sit in the outside balcony area. As for dinner, there are better choices in downtown St. Pete.
Inspection Scorecard: Last Inspection: March 2007 violations - Critical (7), Non-Critical (0).
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March 13th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
yeah you hit the nail on the head about this joint. the food LOOKS ok, but its very average at best in the taste dept. yet, this is a great early evening drinking spot, either at the bar or outside (if you dont mind the cigarette smoke, which i do). ive had good bar service, but the turnover at these places must be phenomenal, so you never know how it will be. and you shouldnt expect much besides aggressive refills on your wine or beer. i did see the tennis player martina hingis here once, so that was memorable. she lives not far away.