Shades at the Loop - The best creme brulee in Florida

[Cork On the Ocean]

The owner of Shades on the Loop was so concerned about a thread on another board that he contacted me and urged me to come back to Shades ..... so CorK did! This says a lot about a restaurant owner that he truly cares that patrons have a good experience and Joe does! Tonight Kat and I visited Shades. We were seated promptly, our waiter was right there for us and provided great service.

I had the wings (naked) - quite tasty and Kat had the Ceasar Salad which was great! We weren't real hungry but next time I can wait to try the Carmelized ? Pork. mmmm, sounds great. Kat's had an excellent Merlot and I had a good strong rum and cokes.

After dinner, we splurged for the Creme Brulee. IT WAS THE ABSOLUTELY BEST I've ever had- better than I had even in Paris. We were absolutely thrilled to meet Joe the proprietor who's a really nice guy. He's listened to us, addressed the issues of a new and busy restaurant with his staff and has made Shades on the Loop one of my new favorite places on 30A.

If you've tried Shades on the Loop before - try it again and it will only be better. Joe is a hands on owner who works on the premises a billion hours a week and truly cares. Thank you Joe for being you!

 

[Mango]

Yummy, I'll be going there when I get down to the beach. Creme brulee is one of favs.

 

[Teresa]

Wow and thanks Cork for this review. I've been there a few times and while I really enjoyed the atmosphere, the food experience was lacking in some ways. But will gladly give it another try!!!

 

[DD]

Sounds yummy!

 

[Jdarg]

Did...you...say...creme brulee??

I'm a custard-before-chocolate kinda girl.

 

[lindatat]

We had a great lunch at Shades when we visited. We would definitely go back.

Now to go off on a tangent (and what thread would be complete without a tangent) I had some to-die-for Creme Brulee cheesecake at Smiling Fish Cafe that same week. Now I have something to try for dessert at Shades next time!

 

[imasunbum]

The Oyster PoBoys are BAD (as in good) ;-)

 

[katie blue]

Mr B and I REALLY want to love Shades, as it's so close to us. We went last year with another couple shortly after they opened but hadn't been back since. Maybe things have improved? I hope so, definitely will give it another try. Good management can change anything.

Our experience (from last year, mind you, things may have changed) was that the decor was nice but "sterile" as our friends put it. (Hey, they were brand new, so of course it was.) We ordered the grouper, which was average at best. It was too fishy tasting, obviously not 100% fresh, but it was late on a Sunday night which may explain that. But the worst part was the too-cool-for-school waiter that night. There were hardly any customers in the place, but we couldn't get the waiters attention away from his co-workers, and when he did come around he never once made eye contact...we felt like we were bothering him to be there. So we never returned. I'll give it another try though, since Joe seems to really care about the customers. I'll assume that "waiter" is no longer employed there...

 

[TreeFrog]

There seems to have been a lot of turnover in wait staff. I find the service more attentive at the bar.

Cork - Glad to hear about Joe's hands-on attention. It seems to me that the food has improved in my recent visits, maybe his work bearing fruit. My last dinner was an iceberg wedge followed by the "oyster clump" or "oyster pile" or whatever they call the appetizer that's a big pile of their always good fried oysters. Both were just right.

 

[Teresa]

Mr B and I REALLY want to love Shades, as it's so close to us. We went last year with another couple shortly after they opened but hadn't been back since. Maybe things have improved? I hope so, definitely will give it another try. Good management can change anything.

Our experience (from last year, mind you, things may have changed) was that the decor was nice but "sterile" as our friends put it. (Hey, they were brand new, so of course it was.) We ordered the grouper, which was average at best. It was too fishy tasting, obviously not 100% fresh, but it was late on a Sunday night which may explain that. But the worst part was the too-cool-for-school waiter that night. There were hardly any customers in the place, but we couldn't get the waiters attention away from his co-workers, and when he did come around he never once made eye contact...we felt like we were bothering him to be there. So we never returned. I'll give it another try though, since Joe seems to really care about the customers. I'll assume that "waiter" is no longer employed there...

I also ordered the grouper (last year after they opened) and it was inedible.

I've seen that they have a lot of business at lunch and dinner - not too many restaurants down that way. I was never impressed with the original seaside shades restaurant, but of course they had plenty of tourist business. This is the problem with many of our restaurants - they are going to get the business whether they offer good food/service or not (everyone on vacation is looking for a place to sit, relax and let someone serve them food and drinks). But, if they can turn out really good food, then they will get the locals all year round in addition to tourists during the season.