You live in SW Florida for the tropical life. Beautiful views everywhere, sun, clouds, and boat drinks! Hurricane Charley’s in Punta Gorda, Florida checks all of those boxes, and it’s on beautiful Charlotte Harbor.
We started off the evening with islandy cocktails like Pina Coladas (damn brain freezes!) and Bay Breezes. Not very strong, but that pina colada mix was fantastic! There was a bit of a wait, but when you’re enjoying cocktails overlooking the water, the wait seemed short.
If calamari is on the menu, we usually get it. It came out, hot and crisp with a wasabi aioli and Asian spicy glaze. We also got some sweet chili orange marmalade to go with it. Yes, it’s served with rings AND tentacles, which turns some people off. (I’ll take the tentacles all day!) Good clean frying oil, and a solid overall taste.
After apps, we switched over to “Cherry Cokes” which were on special. Coke, grenadine and cherry vodka. Had a bit of a medicinal flavor to it. One and done on those.
We ordered our entrees, which took a while to come out, but we enjoyed the live music which apparently is a regular occurrence. The 2 person band had the seniors up and dancing! Solid selection of classic tunes.
When the entrees arrived, they were fresh and hot. The Bourbon Bacon burger and fries looked good. Fries weren’t quite crisp, but were ok. The real draw of the burger was the brown sugar bacon. It was like absolute candy, with a significant layer of brown sugar.
The build your own Poke “Mel’s Bowl” from the sushi menu was deceptively sizable and fresh as can be. I figure, if you’re going to have fish, Florida restaurants on the water are a hell of a place to order it! The bowl had ahj and yellowfin tuna, avocado, cucumber, white rice, peppers, sweet tangy mayo, ponzu, sriracha, and tempura flakes. There was a ton of fish hiding under the tempura flakes, and it was a great surprise. I will absolutely order this again when I return. A very good value at $16.
RATING: 7.5 out of 10
A great evening of food, cocktails, live music, and a ridiculous view. Moe Train Recommended if you’re going out for a date night, or even just a happy hour by the water.
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