My husband and I dropped our boat off at ABC Marine Advanced Boating Center yesterday in Niceville, FL and decided to take the family out for a late lunch at 3:30pm. We were going to check out the Front Porch on Bayshore drive but they weren’t open at 3:30pm. We decided to keep on driving down Bayshore and discovered that Giuseppi’s Wharf Restaurant was open.
I have now eaten at Giuseppi’s three times in the last two weeks. Overall I’m pleased with all my experiences there. My first meal there I had the smoked tuna sandwich. It was very flavorful. But since I prefer a sweeter tuna salad, the smokey flavor was a bit overpowering. I noticed that they also serve the same smoked tuna salad as a dip for an appetizer. Somehow I think the smokey flavor would be more suited for this.
On my next visit with my husband and children, I tried the Fire Island shrimp appetizer, the calamari, the spinach-artichoke dip, and the tomato mozzarella salad. I, of course, shared most of this with David! Of the three appetizers we tried, my favorite was the Fire Island shimp. It consisted of lightly battered shrimp coated in a creamy and spicy sauce. It was delicious. Their take on calamari was different too. It was perfectly fried, no chewy rubber-bands! But instead of serving it with the typical marinara, they tossed the fried rings of calamari with banana pepper rings. It was a very tasty combination. The spicy, pickled flavor of the peppers really added a nice contrast to the calamari. As far as the spinach dip went, it was good, but nothing out of the ordinary. I have to say that the tomato mozzarella salad, their take on the classic caprese salad, was delicious. The flavors were perfectly balanced and so yummy. I bet it will be even better when tomatoes are in season locally.
Last night was my third visit to Giuseppi’s. I joined a group of ladies from my church for “ladies night out.” Since I had tried just about every appetizer, I thought I would hit one of their seafood entrees and a dessert since I hadn’t tried either yet. Their stuffed shrimp caught my eye–jumbo shrimp stuffed with crab stuffing, wrapped in bacon, and deep fried! It sounded like something straight from Paula Deen’s brilliant mind. I mean what’s not to like? Shrimp-Yum! Crab stuffing-Delicious! Bacon-Can it get any better? Deep fried- shoot me now and send me to heaven! I was so excited, and I was following up this heart-attack-on-a-plate with a little “death by chocolate.” I totally expected to be taken straight from the restaurant to the mortuary, but boy would I die happy!
So I can’t tell you how disappointed I was to taste the stuffed shrimp. The concept was top notch, but the execution was quite lacking. The problem was that the crab stuffing was more savory than sweet, so when it was wrapped in the bacon, it became too salty. In fact, I only ate 2 of the 6 shrimp I was served. I wish they had used some red bell pepper or something to enhance the sweetness of the crab meat, which would have complimented, instead of intensify, the saltiness of the bacon. The death by chocolate was also a let down. It was basically a brownie with chocolate ice cream and chocolate syrup. Though the creme brule and the ice cream sandwich that some of my companions were eating looked SO good! Wish I’d tried one of them.
Over all, I think Giuseppi’s is a good restaurant. It’s not anything spectacular, but I’d definitely go back. Just not any time soon!
Here is a copy of the menu, click for a full size image: , Soups & Salads, Wharf Plates, Combo Platters, Pasta, Sandwiches, Sandwich Add Ons, Desserts, Beverages, Wines, Martinis.
If you need directions or to make a reservation here is the info.
Giuseppi’s Wharf Restaurant
821 Bayshore Dr - Google Map it
Niceville, FL 32578
(850) 678-4229
Misspellings: Gesippis warf, Guseppis, Geusippis.Giseppis, Guiseppis
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April 7th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
These images are fantastic. I have never been to this restaurant and it’s in my own backyard. I guess I don’t have to drive to Destin to get food like this.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
This looks like a nice place for prospective business clients, thanks for giving me a good idea of the restaurant & food with these images, can’t wait for the full review.
April 8th, 2008 at 9:46 am
The Creme Brule is to die for and the oysters are really yummy.
You should go by Front Porch one day. I love their French Fries and Banana Pudding.
April 12th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
I really liked it! I like the new more modern look & I thought the service was great considering there were like 16 of us ladies and only 1 young guy to serve all of us! I had the fire island shrimp & the crab dip. I loved both of them.
April 16th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Nice review here. One thing I can say from the pictures is that they appear to take presentation seriously. Each of those dishes looks very enticing and inviting!
Good, fair critiques on the food too - keep it up!
CW Guy
Wine Reviews
April 21st, 2008 at 9:32 am
I too was impressed by the building itself, not so much the food. I have been there 4 times now since they re-opened (I used to go all the time before they closed down the original) and have had the New York strip, a burger (not on the dinner menu, but they’ll make one if you ask for it), fried shrimp, and the tuna appetizer. The presentation was great but the portions are ridiculously small. Still, they have a great view!
April 21st, 2008 at 9:33 am
What camera do you use, by the way? Those photos are really good!
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:13 am
My husband takes photos with a Canon PowerShot A560, 7.1 Megapixel camera. It was less than $200. The main problem with the camera is in low light conditions but other than that it works well.
He took about 70 pictures and posted 14 of the better ones.
June 12th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
We have been going to Guiseppi’s forever. We loved the food and salad bar when Allen Laird and his sister owned and operated it. We also loved the nautical decor. We went to Guiseppi’s on June 10, 2008 for our 46th anniversary. We were both very disappointed in our meals. We ordered traditional fried calamari for our appetizer and it was over done. Not much to the calamari, small and tasteless. Our entrees were not much better, the broiled sea scallops were tasteless. The fried sea food platter was over cooked. The breading was gritty cornmeal and really took away from the delicacy of the seafood. What a disappointment this was. I wish they would go back to the original recipes and stop trying to compete with Bonefish and other Destin eaterys. We liked Guiseppi’s for their own flare. We probably won’t go back anytime soon.