Swamp House Grill, huh?

Yessiree, Bob. Morgan and I went out with a friend for her birthday tonight. She introduced us to the Swamp House Grill on the St. John's River in Debary.


We sat at a table just above where the red strip says "House." The picture is facing east, so we looked out over the river to the west just as the sun was setting. We sat all through twilight until it was pitch black. When the sun was still up, the view looked a lot like this:


Except this picture above was taken a few miles north of the Swamp House Grill and was also taken during winter, so please picture everything to be a more beautiful green. And nothing in the water. (No, we didn't see any gators.)

We had such a great experience that I just wanted to throw this out for anybody looking for a new restaurant. Here's how it went for us.

As I said, we got there just as the sun was starting to set. We got to pick where we sat since things weren't very busy. Again, like I said, we sat right by the edge and since the sun was still up, there was nothing between us and our view. As the sun set, a screen went down so we weren't eaten alive by bugs.

While we looked at our menus, country music played in the background. We were impressed at the volume (something we notice) because while it was loud enough that we didn't hear others' conversations, we didn't have to even raise our voices to hear each other. Perfect.

The waitress, Jennifer, was very gracious while we looked at our menus. We kept changing our minds, so we must have driven her a little nuts, but if we did, she didn't show it. We ordered crab cakes for an appetizer. (Hey, it was a birthday party.) Jennifer warned us that they only came two at a time, but we said that was okay. We mentioned it was our friend's birthday. Jennifer came back out with three crab cakes! And let me tell you, those were the best crab cakes I've had. Now, I'm no connoisseur, but they were just perfect to me.

The rest of our meal went just as well despite other difficulties from us. Jennifer catered to our every need and we just had a wonderful time.

So you Florida people, if you're looking for a new place to try out, consider taking a drive on 17-92 in Debary, turning onto Highbanks Rd. and heading down to the river.