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Last Update: Sep 27th, 2015
Margaritaville Interior

Margaritaville Restaurant

1111 N Ocean Ave
Hollywood FL, 33019
954 874-4471
Overall Rating
2.5
Food
Service
Ambiance
Value
Last Review
09/26/2015

Details

Hours: 6am-11pm
Attire: Casual
Parking: Valet only, $17, no Validation
CC: Yes
Alcohol: Full Bar
Outside Dining: No

Pros

Large, comfortable Restaurant
Pleasant View
Parrothead Music

Cons

Mediocre Food
Buffet is Ridiculously Expensive
Slow Service

Critic's Review

On a Saturday Morning, I decided to check out the new Margaritaville Resort in Hollywood Beach. The place is only half open, and they only offer Value parking at $17 for 4 hours, so I parked in the Garfield Garage on Connecticut Street, 4 blocks away. You can walk along the beach to get to the resort, so it's not too dangerous during the daylight hours. $1.50/hr, so it cost me $3. for a 2 hour tour.

They serve breakfast until 11am and I had no interest in getting a "Cheeseburger in Paradise", so at 10:30 I entered the restaurant, which is in the rear of the hotel. There is no entrance to the restaurant inside the hotel, you have to go out the rear door to get to the place.

Margaritaville Entrance

I was seated at a high top along the wall facing the pool; not a bad view.

Margaritaville Restaurant View of Pool

I was thinking about how much better the view was today with only a few hotel guests versus in the future when the pool is filled with Parrotheads.

A big thing at the resort is Music; the restaurant has a stage where live bands play at night. Think of this place as an Island themed Hard Rock Cafe.

Margaritaville Stage

Service was slow, granted they're just opened, but there was hardly anyone in the dining room. I got coffee without the cream, so I had to wait for another round trip to the kitchen before I could start on it.

Margaritaville Coffee

They have a very limited menu; they only have 1 omelet. I just went for the regular breakfast. As hotels go it isn't TOO bad, $11.99 for eggs, meat, potatoes and toast. $3 for coffee, of course. On the positive side, it was pretty good coffee.

Music is a lot of Jimmy Buffet, with some Mellencamp, Andy Grammer and Frankie Valli mixed in.

They have some interesting things in the dining room. There are 2 boat tables in the middle of the room; tables surrounded by a boat shell with fishing rods. I'm not sure if there are any VIP perks included or it's just a gimmicky thing.

Margaritaville Boat Table

The ceiling is also painted like a map, with the proximity of Hollywood Beach to Cuba emphasized. I'm not sure what the implication is, but the map is kind of interesting.

Margaritaville Restaurant Ceiling

The food came out in 8 minutes.

Margaritaville Restaurant Breakfast

Not as substantial as I hoped. The oil on the eggs reminded me of Waffle House, just 2 small sausage links; do they really charge $5 for 2 sausage links as a side? The "island Potatoes" were just some tomatoes and peppers and onions thrown on baked potatoes. I was hoping for more a inspiring recipe.

Margaritaville All American Breakfast

The potatoes were actually good; better than the O/B House potatoes. Everything else was fine.

As I was finishing up someone sat down at the next table and asked about the buffet. "Buffet?, what Buffet?". There is no buffet mentioned on the menu. In the rear of the room they have a buffet; I got up and took a look; basically a cruise ship buffet with bacon, and the same sausage and potatoes that I had. Geesh, I thought to myself, I would probably have rather have done that.

Margaritaville Breakfast Buffet

As I was cashing out, I asked my server about the buffet. "How much is the buffet, just for future reference?", I asked. $23.95. What! That's ridiculous. They have a breakfast package which offers a "free breakfast buffet" which is $10 more than the regular rate, so it seems that maybe the buffet is reserved for those folks. Not having it on the menu is very odd.

As I was walking back to the garage, I was wondering about all of the small businesses along the broadwalk. The contrast between the shiny new resort and the seedy, out of date Broadwalk is substantial. I wondered how many people from the resort would even bother to leave the property to spend money on the Broadwalk.

Hb broadwalk

Additionally, how many of the people staying at the "other" hotels; the people who usually patronize the businesses on the Broadwalk, are going to opt to go to Margartaville for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Why hang out on the Broadwalk at night when you can party with the Parrotheads to live music?

Conclusion

Margaritaville is a true oasis; a tulip on the tarmac, so to speak. While there are some other higher end properties going up, this reminds me a lot of Fort Lauderdale Beach. There's a Ritz Carlton and a W Hotel, but it's still largely a hangout for the tatooed party crowd. I don't think that Margaritaville is going to transform Hollywood Beach; not all by itself. Hollywood Beach is still what it is; there's just a nice, big resort in the middle now.

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