So the journey continues to find the eatery with the perfect score, so this month our quest takes us to the quaint settlement of Mather Town where there is a spot named Margarita ville or “The Sand Bar” sitting right on the beach. Having lived here all of my life and heard about the Sand Bar, walked by it along the beach and driven passed it by boat one summer but never visited. So this was the perfect time to sit and eat for a first time experience. So before I took my journey to Mather Town, I googled the Sand bar to see what if anything was on the web about this establishment, its hours of operation and its menu. So up pops up the trip advisor link to the Sand bar, although I saw a 14 out of 100 I really didn’t pay much attention to that rating because all who have visited hotels, restaurants and the like don’t really rate their stay so I decided to look at the menu and skimmed over the pictures. As I viewed the pictures I became intrigued, because it looked like a good “hang out” spot, colorful and full of life. So I telephoned the Sand Bar, the person on the other end seemed very helpful and pleasant and also gave me an overview of the menu and their hours of operation seemed good enough, so the journey began.
As I pulled up to the Sand Bar, I saw an elevated covered deck at the rear of the building where a family (patrons) sat enjoying the view of the beach. As I walked inside the building name of the establishment was very fitting for the place. The Sand Bar, to my surprise had sand on the floor and I was pleasantly impressed because for me this was a much different experience that I had expected and waited to see what was next. It was an air conditioned area with a bar, two tables of eights and three pub tables of two and the bar area with about six bar stools. The walls were decorated with all sorts of funny writings, pictures and plaques. Music played lightly in the background that sounded like Barry Manelow, a nice touch. As I entered a friendly lady siting near the kitchen door greeted me and said, hello how may I help? I said do you have a menu? She said well there it is. So to my left there was a chalk board with the menu. So I decided to order conch fritters to start and proceeded to ask the same lady and , simultaneously another lady came in (who I assume is the owner or manager) who asks if she can help me , however as I was mid sentence with my initial greeter I continued to speak with her. (Iater found out that my initial greeter was the cook). The manager then to the cook, ”are you trying to take my job?”. This made me feel a bit awkward, as a result I then directed my order to the other lady (the manager) who was appropriately dressed for the sand bar with crocs and shorts. I placed my order consisting of: conch fritters, fried calamari and a ceasar salad with shrimp along with a glass of water with ice as it was about 90 degrees. It felt so native to me which was a good thing. You see this quaint spot is situated in a settlement of people who often go to the ocean to catch their food, and to my surprise there was a gentleman that walked pass the deck headed to the beach with a snorkel, fins and two spears in his hand ready to catch his meal for the day, and all though it isn’t lobster season he returned shortly with his catch of two large healthy looking lobsters which were thrilling to see.
I decided to sit on the outside deck to soak in the sea breeze and enjoy the view which was breath taking. Little did I know the experience would put me in an all out battle with a curly tail lizard who seemed to be telling me that I was invading on his space. You see when I walked outside to the deck there was a family there enjoying the sun, sand and the water was nice to see.. But on the other side of the deck where I sat there was food on the floor which was apparently being enjoyed by the lizard and who decided that I was invading his territory. And to my surprise he let me know it because when I tried to chase it away it didn’t move. So back to the meal, which by the way took one hour and 10 minutes for the appetizer to arrive and shortly thereafter the remainder of my order arrive. The Calamari was good as it tasted fresh, however, the dipping sauce was another thing, turned out it was spaghetti sauce instead of cocktail sauce. If there was any consolation the cook was outside tenderizing (beating) the conch, however the conch fritters appeared to be minus conch, but were very tasty. On to the main course, the shrimp caesar salad did not appear to be fresh but I was given a cocktail sauce with the salad.
As I looked at the family sitting next to me and other persons arriving to th establishment I tried to understand what was the luster behind this place, because it certainly wasn’t gourmet food and most definitely it wasn’t the service. What I did figure out, it was the location. It has been said that three critical components of a business is Location, location, location. But the one thing that left a lasting impression on me was the Lizard that wouldn’t move.
So now it is time to give a rating to the Sand Bar, on our scale of five. I gave them a one. While the view and location are exceptional, the customer service and food quality can use improvement. In any event I will be back to see how it goes.
