Aqua Grill

Excellent service, ambiance and food! Fried green tomatoes appetizer was amazing! Seafood platter was amazing!
Looking forward to coming back when we are in the area!

I hadn’t been there since they re-​opened. Really great job they did decorating and modernizing menu. Superb food. Great atmosphere. They’ve created a new favorite for me. Others in my group enjoyed the fish dishes. I don’t eat fish and had a great steak.

The new renovations for this place takes it up to «classy, sexy, and trendy». The prices and food are definitely on point as being reasonable for the quality and ambiance provided. This is a fabulous addition to the popular SawGrass Golfing community area. The outdoor seating is wonderful on warm evenings or midday as there is shade and screened in seating on the lanai. The winter evenings are warmed by heaters and a «cool» fire pit. Happy Hour Monday — Friday 4−6pm, and Sunday Brunch are worth checking out. Plenty of FREE parking.

I came here after the Toby Keith concert during the Players Championship. I was able to get a seat at the bar in the lounge area, since I was eating by myself. The noise level was loud in here, since there were several large groups. The waitresses were friendly and immediately served the glass of wine I ordered. I suggest one of the pinot grigios, which is light and slightly fruity. The special appetizer of the night was bone marrow tacos, so I ordered that. When the food was served, it was placed on the ice chest in front of where I was sitting. I asked one of the bartenders to serve it, but he didn’t understand what I was saying and kept moving. I finally got his attention and he apologized for not serving it earlier. There was a decent portion of marrow meat that I was able to put on the 4 tiny corn tacos served with the meal. The mango salsa was delicious, along with the verde sauce. While it was good food, the price of $ 18 didn’t seem to match the portion of food I was served. One of the gentleman sitting next to me also commented on the noise level, which had risen even further in the 30 minutes I was sitting there. While the hype of the re-​opening of the restaurant has passed around town, I feel that the prices are more suited for the rich clientele that is able to pay $ 20-​$ 40 for an entrée and $ 10-​$ 20 for appetizers.

I took my wife, daughter and mom out for mothers day. Nice new modern restaurant with absolutely great food. I moved to Jacksonville 23 years ago from NY and I can honestly say this was one of the best meals I’ve had in this area. Wait staff was great also… nothing negative to say at all.

I really, really wanted to like the Aqua Grill, especially since it is so stylish-​looking now, but, sadly I can’t. Snotty servers? Check. Oblivious staff? Check. Dirty Bar? Check.
On April 14, I asked a bar server about the availability of a vacant table that had not been cleared and was given a dismissive and, frankly, rude answer. She then tried to blame it on the fact the restaurant was extremely busy that night as she continued to walk away from me and past the dirty table (empty-​handed, by the way; I was a server in college and one of the things I was taught was to never leave empty-​handed when dirty dishes were on a table). Meanwhile, a bus boy walked past the dirty table twice, happy, non-​flustered, and calm, yet with no inclination to clean the dirty table so that a new customer could take its place. There were two girls at the front entry (unnecessary at 9 PM); if the bar staff was so busy, why didn’t anyone ask them to help?
Thankfully, a number of restaurants are opening in the new Sawgrass Village. I bet any of them would welcome your patronage since Aqua Grill doesn’t.

Our service was very good. I was in a party if 12, and the food came out closely enough together that we didn’t have to wait for others to be served.
Downside: my shrimp scampi was much drier and had little garlicky buttery flavor like I’m used to. Others said their food was good.
Major downside: the
website states menus are updated daily. The website before and after our dining shows the shrimp scampi as being $ 17. The menu in the restaurant says $ 24, which is what I was charged. When it was brought to an employee’s attention, she just said she would tell «them».
$ 24 was not in my budget, and I would have just had an appetizer, but didn’t want to make my friends uncomfortable.
If you dine at Aqua Grill, do not rely on their website for pricing, even though it’s updated every day.

We went here years ago and felt like the atmosphere was that of a nursing home. Well not anymore! Loved the new Aqua Grill. Kelly, our server, was excellent. The food was amazing!!! The new restaurant is something right out of a metropolitan city. Great vibe. Great décor. I am so glad I have it a second try.

My final night in Jacksonville Beach, and I met my Unilocal friends, Daisy D. and her hubby Kriss for dinner at Aqua Grill. The restaurant is located near the Sawgrass Marriott in a mixed-​use retail center, and backs up against A1A Scenic and Historic Coastal Byway. This is primarily a seafood restaurant, and that’s very evident as you walk through the front doors and see the big aquariums separating the bar area from the main restaurant. Aqua Grill has been open since 1988, and it’s known as one of the Beaches best seafood restaurants for much of that time.
The menu has some innovative seafood appetizers, and our party settled on a platter of Oysters Bienville and a smaller platter of freshly-​shucked Apalachicola oysters. I followed that with a crab and avocado salad, and the others went for a faux Caesar salad made with baby kale.
In addition to all of the great seafood on their menu, Aqua Grill has a lot of carnivore delights including a bone-​in veal chop, pork osso bucco, and beef shortribs. I spotted the wasabi pea-​crusted Ahi tuna, and pounced on that selection. The seared tuna was served over their version of a Chinatown vegetable lo-​mein, with kung pao soy wasabi aioli, a lobster spring roll, and thai chili sauce. YUM!
The food was excellent, and the restaurant was elegant without being pretentious. We enjoyed our food, and had a great time chatting.
Sad to say that this trip to Jacksonville was over, but I’ll be back soon!

I came here after work with colleagues. Since they work in the area they deal with a lot of the employees often, and many had mentioned how they had updated the place and to come see the new menu and décor.
I came along and was impressed with the way the place looked. We sat in the bar area and had lots of help, but I have to say it felt disjointed as we saw so many different staff members. I honestly couldn’t tell who out actual waiter/​waitress was as we had a few of them. They were very friendly, and helpful so I’m not complaining.
Food was good. Nothing exceptional or really surprising but I sure ate it all. My wife and I decided that we’d split two entrees. She had their burger and I ordered a pork cutlet sandwich. Both were well cooked and well seasoned. I loved the bacon on the pork sandwich (take that heart!) and the French fries are in there weird spiral type shapes which increases the surface ratio and allows for a really great crust to form.
Price was what I expected in Ponte Vedra, but not awful. Quality was solid and the service was good. A couple of people in out party didn’t get their drinks as fast as they would have liked, but it wasn’t complaint worthy.
Nice place, good food and great people to spend some time with, I’d go back.

Good for a casual dining environment with bright new esthetics. Sitting on the porch is nice t the fires. Food is average. Quite heavier than the menu portrays. Would not recommend it for a wow factor but consistent and wide menu would be a reason to go.

Love what they did with the new construction and menu. The hummus Greek app is amazing! Have a great time sitting at the bar and having a few beers and app.

We come in for dinner quite often and love it.
But the new brunch service is horrible. Waited over twenty minutes to place our order and only got our waitress after asking for her to be brought to the table. Then another twenty plus minute wait for our food and it was brought out cold.
The only way to get coffee refills was to continuously flag down our server.
We will not be back for brunch nor recommend it unless things drastically improve.

I’m really shocked to see all the negative reviews here, my friend and I had dinner here not long after the relaunch of this restaurant and it was a great experience. I was in town for a conference and stayed at the Marriott nearby, since I used to live in Jax my friend met me here for dinner. We didn’t have a reservation and the hostess couldn’t have been nicer about fitting us in and we sat at quite a nice table.
Our server was training a new staff member and we found the process to be non disruptive to our meal/​experience. For starters we ordered the Baby Kale Caesar and split it, they were kind enough to put it on two plates.
The Vidalia encrusted Flounder was excellent, very fresh tasting and the set up was delicious. We both enjoyed an Irish coffee after dinner and lingered without feeling rushed.
I’m sorry to see so many poor experiences here, and it makes me wonder what is going on. The manager stopped by our table twice during our meal to see how we were enjoying things and ask about the quality of new menu items.

Been in 4 times since the new location opened. Although the building is very impressive and beautiful, the place is lacking in the most important areas. Quality of food (especially for the price) and service/​friendliness are really lacking. I’m all about patterns and giving a place a chance– but after 4 or 5 times, I’m done. I wonder if management is aware of these shortcomings? The old Aqua had pretty good food and a very competent and super friendly staff. I wonder what happened?

This restaurant has been newly renovated and looks fantastic. The reason I am giving three stars is based on the service. The menu has a great selection. I had the cod which was very tasty. However, the server didn’t initially bring water before asking drink order. She forgot several items, didn’t offer sugar or cream for the coffee and tried to take check away before I actually put method of payment in. The food deserves a better rating but the service level isn’t up to par yet and it should be for fine dining.

I’m conflicted about leaving 4 or 5 stars. We used to eat almost every week at the old Aqua Grill. New one since reopening we have been five times. Never had a problem getting a resevation even at last minute but we like to eat early at 5pm. One time they said we had to be out in a hour. Yes we got through the meal, appetizers, entrees and dessert in an hour. Two times waitresses have forgotten things in our order but we have had excellent service experiences the other times. I’m obsessed with the Brussel sprouts and broccolini. Tuna is good too one of the best in Jax in my opinion, I always get it plain seared, rare in the middle with stir fry veggies delicious!

I actually read the Unilocal reviews before I went to Aqua Grill and decided to give it a try despite the reviews. I found the reviews to be accurate. When i entered the restaurant it had a strong fish/​seafood odor so I knew their seafood would be to ripe for me. I was disappointed because I love raw oysters & a good piece of fresh fish.
That left salad, chicken or beef. Not a fan of pork. I had a salad that was delicious & the short beef ribs which were ok. The service was great our waitress Anne was full of sunshine. They have a full bar but of coarse I had hot tea & honey. They have a great tea selection. It was a bit pricey for the quality of food & I think I’d opt to try another restaurant instead of returning to Aqua Grill again.

ANNOYED! Was excited to try the newly constructed Aqua Grill. My wife and I went to dinner at 5:30 on a Sat night. Was early enough so restaurant had only a few tables seated. Was met by 2 teenage hostesses that said sorry restaurant was full for evening and couldn’t accommodate except for patio (it was 40 degrees out). But place was basically empty! Hmm. So was turned away and doubt will give it another chance. Too many other good choices around. Management may want to talk to their first-​impression hostesses to encourage business and not annoy them with non-​sensible responses when trying to reestablish business.

Our family dined here on Christmas Eve and the food was forgettable. We all commented on how average to below average most of the entrees including the deserts were. I had the salmon and the accompanying sauce was just a green flavorless mess. No salt whatsoever.
As for deserts, only 1 out of 3 was serviceable. The custard in the Crème Brule basically lacked any sort of sweetness. I get that the trend is to have deserts that are not too sweet but this went overboard on that concept. Key Lime pie was good.
Sticking to Medure down the road or Eleven South in Jax Beach.
My advice: Get new executive/​sous chefs