Restaurant Review – Half Cracked Tiki Shack at Sunseeker Resort

Have you checked out the Sunseeker Resort yet? We did and I have to say “Wow!”. We were across the harbor at Fisherman’s Village for a boat tour and afterwards decided to go to Sunseeker’s for dinner at one of their many restaurants. So you drive back into Punta Gorda and go north on Tamiami over the bridge. Our navigation system told us that we should be prepared to do a U-Turn to get into Sunseekers, but there was a left turn lane there (must be a recent addition), so we didn’t have to do a u-turn after all. To park, you should make an almost immediate left to get into the high rise parking lot. You can pick the valet parking lane, which costs $30 an hour or stay to the right for the self park area which is $3 an hour. We chose self park! Duh! $30… you go to be kidding!

This is a huge complex, so once we got into the building we asked for directions on where to go for the Half Cracked Tiki Shack. We found it and it was right outside of this food court with about 11 different eating concepts going on in this big common area. There was Asian, Sushi, Italian, Ice Cream and Gelato, Pastries, Pizza and Charcuterie and more. So everyone in your party can eat a different type of food and meetup back at a table in the common eating area. Or take whatever to go! We’re going to try eating in this area the next time we go.

So we ended up eating at the Half Cracked Tiki Shack. I ordered Calamari Fries. These are made from really big calamari. The calamari is cut into long strips and is at last a quarter inch thick. The breading did not stick to the calamari and was falling all over the place. And it was really greasy. The dipping sauce was good, but the breading falling off made it difficult to share. I started picking up the vessel in which the calamari came and shoveled it out onto my plate. We did eat all of it, so it must have been good! 🙂

Next up I had a bowl of Clam Chowder. I’ve had better. This was not very thick, kind of runny, and not much creaminess to the soup. There was a lot of bits and pieces on the bottom of the cup. Clams? I don’t think so. There were clams, but not this. To me, it tasted like baco bits. You know, the kind of bacon bits they put on a salad bar. So I wouldn’t recommend the chowder. Somebody else had a bowl of Gumbo and enjoyed it very much! My wife had a small dinner salad. It was good, but it was $12. Holy cow!

I ordered the Fish and Chips at $25. It came with cole slaw. The cup of cole slaw was as big (or small, depending on how you look at it!) as the little cup of tartar sauce that came with the dish! But that was OK because I didn’t like the flavor, so I didn’t eat much. The fish was flounder. Not cod, or halibut or grouper. Did not like the flounder. I think it could have been cooked a little more too. I usually eat all of my fish and chips, but I could not finish this. I asked for a to go box and took it with me, but I ended up throwing it out at a garbage can somewhere else in the building. My wife ordered a Pimento Blue Crab Dip appetizer as her entree that came with tortilla chips. The chips were nice, but the crab dip was interesting. Was that pimento cheese? I don’t know. It really didn’t seem like a hot, melted, cheesy kind of thing. It was $17. Wow! So that didn’t get eaten either. I did hear good things about the blackened Grouper and the pulled pork sandwich.

They had a wall full of smoothie drinks machines. The pina colada and mai tai were delicious! A band was setting up when we were leaving, so they have live music too. Also, outdoor seating! Very nice looking place and the workers were really nice too! All smiles and very helpful.

So would I go back? Sure thing! You’ve got to give a place, especially a new place, at least a couple tries before making your final decision. We are going to try the food court the next time and see what goes on there. Here’s a link to their restaurants. You can check out the menus there too.