It's been a few years since my last visit to the Cap's Place. I will be going back soon and I hope it is still
as I remember it: an original from the
moment you start looking for it. My family and I loved following the directions pinned on the trees to find
the place, and then, when we got there it was a nice big surprise having to get on the boat!    [31 Jul 2003 21:56:37]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Fish is delicious, but nothing like their Fl.heart of Palm salad!

     ­Sulay S-Garcia   

The way it used to be
I recently had a wonderful dinner at Cap's Place after a 20 year gap. I'm happy to report that the restaurant is just as good as when Cap was running the place.
The boat ride is a fun way to start but as soon as you get there things get even better.
The fish is prepared without compromise. (They've even ignored modern convention and refuse to call it Mahi Mahi and call it by its old Florida name, Dolphin. If you don't know there are both mammal and fish dolphins then maybe you need to go back to FISH 101.)
The ambiance is pure Old Florida. The dinner is generous and fairly priced. A definite destination for those who want to experience Florida the way it used to be.    [26 Mar 2006 17:39:22]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Yellow tail snapper, Any catch of the day. Anything else.

     ­UNI, Woodside, NY   

Cap's or Crap's the latter being more appropriate.
I honestly don't believe the two above review's after going to the same place July 28th 2007.
The short boat ride going to and from the restaurant was the only highlight of this adventure to an "Old Florida" establishment.

The place consists of two rickety, dirty, shacks; one being the bar with restrooms that you come to first, and the other about twice the size. In the dining room, the hostess has an I'd rather be somewhere else attitude. It's obvious the termites have been eating better than the customers.
When we found her, we were asked if we had reservations which we did not. We were then told to go to the bar and wait for about 45 minutes. This was around 8PM. Looking around we saw a number of empty tables and enough people to wait on them. We went to the bar and had one drink each, total 15.00 w/o tip. 30 minutes went by and we were called to our table.

Once seated, our waitress came over and asked if we wanted drinks and also brought fresh rolls, popover style which were very good. She handed us paper menus with food stains all over. One side was a wine list, and the other the food. The waitress recommended the crab cakes which you could have as an app. or dinner; I chose the app. My wife picked the red chowder. The crabcake was excellent. The soup however was another story; after dropping it on the table the waitress disappeared. Had to ask a busboy for a soup spoon and some crackers. He came back laughing with the spoon and said that they sometimes don't set the tables with all the silverware; tasting burned, thick, sweet and like tomato paste, my wife pushed it away. We also shared and order of fried calimari that came out cold, greasy, and undercooked. When we asked the waitress for crushed red pepper, she didn't know what that was, and asked us if they use it in the kitchen.
When asked for the main order, my wife picked filet mignon cooked medium and I picked fried shrimp with recommended homemade french fries. Both came with salad, choice of regular or hearts of palm.
As to the salads, the regular was neither good nor bad. The hearts of palm were slatherd in mayonnaise and sprinkled with paprika, tasting bland blah and boring.
When the entree's were brought out the waitress asked us how everything was even before we had a chance to try them. The filet came out bloody rare, not medium as ordered with a baked potato wrapped in aluminum foil that tasted of being boiled not baked and sliced green and yellow squash that was not tasted. The shrimp were another disaster; cold, greasy, and still containing the sand vein. The fries were no better. It was as if it had been made an hour ago and had been sitting under a heat lamp that long, which was no wonder because our waitress would disappear for long periods of time, later upon leaving to see he out back behind the kitchen smoking cigarettes.

All of that wonderful "Old Florida" experience for $101.00 with no tip.
And I almost forgot to mention sitting next to a table of loudmouth drunks.
To sum it up as UNI says "A definite destination for those who want to experience Florida the way it used to be".    [30 Jul 2007 14:12:13]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Rolls, crabcake

     ­Mark, Whitehouse Station NJ   p4702 at earthlink dot net