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TradeWinds Restaurant
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Loud
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Caters:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
14 reviews for TradeWinds Restaurant
14 reviews in English
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Review from Andy J.
Orlando, FL
12/14/2011
I always stop here when in town on business. Unless you know where to look for this place you won't even know it is there. We found out about it from the locals. Make sure you make reservations. Small inside and very noisy environment.
You must try the Puttanesca - it is fantastic! -
Review from Meagan G.
Valparaiso, FL
11/12/2011
There's no view, it's difficult to find, they don't advertise, there wasn't even a sign on the building until a customer made one for them, and you STILL need a reservation to get in. The food is that great! The atmosphere is hole-in-the-wall cheerful and noisy. Great neighborhood restaurant. We always order too much food, because it's just too difficult to resist getting a variety of dishes.
My favorites: Mussels in White Wine for an appetizer (big bowl - enough to share), Tom's Grouper, Chicken Principessa, Seafood Mediterranea in red sauce (or white wine, or a mix of the two), and the big, wonderfully flavorful pizzas. Quality ingredients, freshly prepared. -
Review from Leigh H.
Fort Walton Beach, FL
11/5/2011 1 Check-in Here
Best Italian we have here. Not totally authentic, but good. You basically eat your meal eat a cute little house. It is a bit expensive for us but we go occasionally and if you like pizza theirs is superb. Excellent service, that is for sure. I have heard several stories and tales of bad experiences, but I can say that each time I have gone it has been great. I always look forward to special occasions when I can go back. And usually it has to be "gluten day", a day I grant myself on occasion! It's hard to find, and locally owned. My kinda place. If you typically like Olive Garden, they you should just go there because you aren't the kind of person who will like something that is well..... not a boring chain. This place has character and won't have buzzers or a cattle call.
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Review from Chris I.
Financial District, NY
12/30/2010 1 Check-in Here
Fine Italian dining and Niceville Florida are two thing I don't normally associate together. The owner of Trade Winds has made a good effort in bringing a welcomed alternative for a casual dinner to families that would otherwise have to choose to go to Ruby Tuesdays.
I've lived in Niceville for most my life, and this was my first time trying this place. Pulling into the unpaved parking lot and seeing the twinkling lights strung up over a screened in porch, you quickly get a feel for this place. Inside, the tables are somewhat crowded and from what I heard, it is always full. The night I went was no exception and having a reservation was a great idea.
The Menu: There was a very good selection of food to choose from. My mother had the chicken marsala and I had the chicken piccata. Both of which were flavorful and served with pasta. My critique of both dishes is the same: too soupy! The breaded chicken didn't have a chance of retaining any crisp as it was submerged in a thin sauce. Personally, I would have liked the dish a good bit drier. Another person in the party ordered a pizza. It had a good crunchy thin crust and the portion was big-thumbs up. A few others had the carbonara. Quick tip- it is possible to add chicken to get a little more protein in there. This dish was extremely rich and tasty. It differed from other carbonaras I've had as it was very creamy and again there was a lot of sauce.
Drink Menu: The wine selection was adequate. The beer selection gets a thumbs up for having a good number of drafts. I was very impressed that they carried one of my favorite beers- Tucher. I've had trouble finding this in NYC, so to stumble upon it in Niceville was a treat.
Service: The waitress fit the atmosphere of restaurant. It wasn't five-star service, but nothing much to complain about.
Overall: Get a handle on the excessive sauciness of some of the dishes and we've got a winner. I would definitely come back to try some of the other things on the menu. -
Review from Will Y.
McKinney, TX
8/1/2011
Best Italian food in Northwest Florida! This is real-deal Italian food, not the typical America-ized stuff you get from Olive Garden..Tom and the gang have such a wide range of classic Italian dishes. My favorite is the Mussels in White Wine w/ Linguini, and a close second is the Chicken Alfredo w/ Penne...unbelievable flavor and not over the top..tastes like something an Italian grandmother spent hours making. A good wine selection and a ton of import beers on draft make this a very well rounded restaurant choice. Well worth it!!
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Review from Kristin R.
Baltimore, MD
4/25/2008
Tradewinds is generally only open for dinner - but if you are planning a lunch of some sort with less than maybe 50 people they accomadate those.
I've eaten here for several of these lunches but never for dinner - I probably should. The food is delicious and well priced and the atmosphere is neat! Tradewinds does little advertising and sits back off the road because they can -- they're that good that people come to them. I would definitely reccomend this for a lunch party and definitely look forward to dinner. Try the ravioli.. mmmmm -
Review from Jon S.
Valparaiso, FL
4/24/2008 2 photos
A friend and I visited Tradewinds for the first time about three years ago in the early afternoon. They were closed, but the owner was there and she let us come in and have a few beers anyway. She was very friendly and we had a great chat. That night we returned and had one incredible meal.
The bread was warm with a nice crust and was delicious with olive oil and pepper. The Grouper Alforno is their best dish, and the owner will readily and proudly admit it. Most of their dishes are Italian, and the pasta is really good. I had steak fillet and shrimp last time I was there, and they were both flavorful and satisfyingly good. The service is prompt, friendly, and unobtrusive.
Make reservations! Chances are you will be turned away if you show up without one. This place is a local secret and impossible to get into without a reservation. They also roast their own coffee and you can buy the beans by the bag if you want to.Listed in: Top Restaurants, My Neighborhood
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Review from Buster C.
Niceville, FL
4/10/2011
I'm a local, a regular, and there's nothing on this menu that isn't outstanding (oops-that's a double negative in a positive review!). Concur that the location and ambiance is rustic, but I am constantly impressed with the staff and mostly the food. If you're in the mood for Italian, this place is worth it....IF you can get in!!! We adore Tom and Terry, too!
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Review from Kurt N.
Manhattan, NY
3/1/2009
I want to say I'm in love with Tradewinds, but that's going overboard.
I've been here twice and had two different pasta dishes. Both tasted great, but both came in a huge bowl and looked sorta like pasta soup. The first was a clam linguine that was swimming in a white wine and butter reduction. The second was a seafood medley that sat in a broth of cream and tomato sauce. Like I said, they both tasted great but in my opinion they weren't traditional. I lived in Rome for several months so I should know!
The second time I came back for Valentine's day with the little lady. For some reason I thought it was romantic the first time I was there, but going back made me realize otherwise. The place looks like a big shack, but it gets the job done.
Do make a reservation or else you'll end up waiting. I heard they don't advertise their name in the phone book. Guess they don't have to when you can't even walk in and get a table. -
Review from Whitney S.
Baton Rouge, LA
10/15/2011
We ate here 10/14/2011 after it was highly recommended by many foodies. I have never been so disappointed. The atmosphere could be nice if the cooks weren't slamming pans and yelling at each other the entire time. Unfortunately when a restaurant has an open kitchen noises that the chefs make will resonate throughout the entire restaurant. And when chefs are basically throwing temper-tantrums in the kitchen it will render one's restaurant experience jarring, and uncomfortable. However, knowing how good the food was supposed to be allowed me to overlook this while I was anxiously waiting for my food. The service was slow. 2 hours after getting seated we were finally eating. The service was horrible. There were 4 servers for 10-15 tables (at most, so having waited tables I see that as a very small number per server), and ours forgot we had appetizers and drink orders. But all of this was fine and our party waited patiently in expectation of a great meal. While we waited we noticed the cooks were drinking more and more beer in the kitchen and getting louder and louder. At one point one cook burned someone's dinner cussed about it and had to start over. When our food came it was like slop. I had crabcakes, which were ungodly awful (I have had better frozen crabcakes). To start they were stone cold. Almost burned on the outside and completely cold on the inside. Yum. Had they been cooked they still would have been awful b/c the seasoning that was used made the crab taste old. The pasta was awful as well. Another member in my party had the chicken piccata. Let's face it -that's a pretty hard dish to mess up. First, the chicken looked like it was boiled. It was not breaded or even sauteed -so gross. Second the sauce was like straight lemon (what happened to the butter) and was the consistency of water. Usually chicken piccata comes with an angel hair but this came with some corkscrew strange textured macaroni pasta (ew). The last member of our party had the mussels pasta. I thought this sounded amazing! However, the mussels were completely cold, and the white wine sauce was literally WHITE WINE poured over the mussels and the pasta. Um.. WHO cooked this? A 5 year old? I don't know if this was just a bizarre circumstance and the cooks were completely shitfaced, and thus messed up the food. Which if it is the case I will still not return b/c that shows a complete lack of professionalism. The owner sat there drinking beer and socializing with the staff all the while slop was being put out. On a good note we had TONS of food left over.. which would be a good thing if the food wasn't the worst thing I have ever eaten.
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Review from Robert P.
Niceville, FL
3/2/2011
My wife & I dined here a year or so ago, and we just can't bring ourselves to give them another try, much less 'recommend' (especially now that there are so many other great places in town - One20, Dockside, etc.).
I'm all for giving a place a chance regardless of their surroundings & inside -- but I can't do so in this case.
Yes, it's a dirt parking lot that is way too small, and there is no sign by the road (in fact, the only place you can see the actual name is a stained-glass window on the front of the building, which uses a font that is near illegible from the street).
Yes, the inside is extremely cramped, and they have tables set up about as close to each as possible and in every corner -- including the table that my wife & I got stuck at, which was in the back corner, where we were bathed in the light from the huge cooler that was less than 10 feet away from us (used to store the pre-made salads and other refrigerated items). Definitely not pleasant or romantic or even "nice".
Our server.....what can I say, she took forever to even make her initial introduction (we came close to reaching the 5-minute mark, which is the point I will usually just get up and leave), and she hardly visited us while we were there (we saw her give the same treatment to other tables).
The food? To be honest, I can't remember what we had or what it tasted like. Had it been even remotely good, I'd remember all of the details.
We spent over 2 hours here, and not because we were lingering over our food & drinks -- most of that time was spent waiting & waiting & waiting. At some point a manager/owner type person did come by to ask how we were -- I made a comment that I wasn't sure, since we weren't getting decent service. He was obviously not listening to me, as he said something like "that's great to hear" and walked off to the next table.
So, I'm not sure why this place gets such rave reviews.... -
Review from Sean S.
Fort Walton Beach, FL
1/23/2011
The Italian food there is incredible. The setting is interesting since it used to be a house from what I can tell. Unfortunately that doesn't leave room for many tables so seating is cramped. I'm giving it five stars because you just can't go wrong with the menu.
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Review from Dena S.
Gulf Breeze, FL
1/14/2009
Tradewinds food is fantastic. Defiitely heed the warning about making a reservation. You can get in sometimes without one if you go at 5pm, but otherwise you'd better call ahead. The Al Quatro Formaggio pizza is to die for!
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Review from J B.
Fort Walton Beach, FL
5/22/2008
Tradewinds is the local's secret restaurant around here. Italian food is the main cuisine here, but there are a few non-Italian dishes. The building is very interesting because it is a mobile home (although you can't really tell from the inside or out).
First, if you want to get a table, then you MUST call and get a reservation. I have once gotten in with no reservation, but I wouldn't suggest it. Save yourself the trouble and call.
What I like about the place:
- Atmosphere. It is small and cozy. Reminiscent of some hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurants when I lived in Italy.
- Beer selection. Awesome.
- Service was quick and pleasant. The staff and management were very nice and even suggested different dishes when I let it slip that I didn't like my meal.
What I didn't like about the place:
- Food. It wasn't that impressive. I have had three different dishes there, and I was underwhelmed (especially considering every one of my friends raves about it). It isn't authentic Italian (I should know because I lived in Italy), but it is passable and pleasant.
I will continue to go back because I like the people there, the beer selection, and my friends like it a lot. The food is better than decent, but not enough for me to get ecstatic over.
