ENTERTAINMENT

Review: Looking for seafood? Try Florida’s Fresh Grill

Lyn Dowling
for FLORIDA TODAY
The corvina at Florida’s Fresh Grill was perfectly prepared and gorgeously presented: a couple of planks of delicate, flaky fish, grilled and dressed with refreshing mango salsa, along with asparagus and herb-fragrant, citrus-tangy, Israeli (pearl) couscous.

You know those restaurants, mentioned here before, to which you say you’re going to go but never quite get there, and when you do, you’re sorry you didn’t insist?

Florida’s Fresh Grill is one of those restaurants. It should have appeared here long ago, with high recommendations.

Located in a strip center though it may be, Florida’s Fresh has a lovely ambiance, stylish but not trendy. This is low-key informality (no tablecloths here) full of dark wood and comfortable seating.

Our server was congenial, fast, attentive and knowledgeable, willing to make suggestions and professional enough to know when not to interrupt conversation. At no point did anything stay on the table past its time and beverages were refilled immediately.

Although Florida’s Fresh has Angus steaks (with fine presentation, by the way), the focus here is on seafood and seafood we had: grouper bites ($9) as an appetizer, with salmon ($19.90), corvina ($29.90) and swordfish ($22.90) as entrees.

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The grouper bites were battered, fried cubes of fresh grouper tossed in a bang-bang-like sauce over shredded red cabbage and greens, as delicious as it was pretty. It was no imitation sauce, though, with a welcome hint of spice and soy. Both dining companions agreed that they would have ordered it as an entrée.

The corvina was perfectly prepared and gorgeously presented: a couple of planks of delicate, flaky fish, grilled and dressed with refreshing mango salsa, along with asparagus and herb-fragrant, citrus-tangy, Israeli (pearl) couscous. Superb.

The salmon at Florida’s Fresh Grill was of a fine size and color, nicely crisp on the outside, topped with more tropical-style sauce and asparagus.

The salmon was of a fine size and color, nicely crisp on the outside, topped with more tropical-style sauce and asparagus. This is not the stuff of the semi-fast joint down the street, but mild, medium-firm Atlantic fish that will cure “I’m tired of salmon” any time.

The swordfish was thick, solid and steak-like; flavorful but not strong, and faultlessly grilled. It was topped with first-class lemon-caper sauce and accompanied by crisp haricots verts in lemon butter.

Dessert was shared, and sweet comfort it was: a massive wedge of carrot cake ($7) such as you would make at home, and moist and pineapple-nutty, frosted with the traditional cream cheese mixture. Atreyu’s Seasonal Indulgence ($7) was a dense, dark chocolate cake that wasn’t as sugary as it could have been, topped with whipped cream and crushed toffee drizzled with caramel though it was.

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What else? Oh, yes: Espresso arrived in a tall demitasse with a spoonful of rock sugar on the side, proving once again that beauty lives in simplicity; and the meal came with a loaf of hot bread lightly crusted with cheese, accompanied by herb compound butter.

Friends, Florida’s Fresh is no great experimenter; you won’t find things de- and reconstructed here, nor will you find the latest taste sensations or wild combinations the chef dreamed up. It is not innovative or clever. It is a restaurant where the basics are done right, with absolutely fresh meat and seafood prepared and served well in every sense of the word.

So the next time someone whines about “no good fish places around here,” send them to Cocoa Beach. And look for us. We’re determined to become regulars.

Florida’s Fresh Grill

★★★★

Address: 2039 N. Atlantic Ave., Cocoa Beach (in Banana River Square, near Publix)

Hours: 5-10 p.m. daily

Call: 321-613-5649

Online: www.floridasfreshgrill.com

WiFi: Yes

Other: Full bar and wine list; indoor and outdoor seating; burgers, salads and pastas also available

About our reviews

Restaurants are rated on a five-star system by FLORIDA TODAY’s reviewer. The reviews are the opinion of the reviewer and take into account quality of the restaurant’s food, ambiance and service. Ratings reflect the quality of what a diner can reasonably expect to find. To receive a rating of less than three stars, a restaurant must be tried twice and prove unimpressive on each visit. Each reviewer visit is unannounced and paid for by FLORIDA TODAY.

★★★★★ Excellent. A rare establishment to which you’d be proud to take the most discerning diner.

★★★★ Very good. Worth going out of your way for. Food, atmosphere and service are routinely top notch.

★★★ Good. A reasonably good place with food and service that satisfy.

★★ Fair. While there’s nothing special about this establishment, it will do in a pinch.

★ Not recommended. Don’t bother.

Want to talk food? Tweet @lyn_dowling or email 321food reviews@gmail.com.