Pompano Grill

Pompano Grill Pompano Grill is an intimate Coastal Steakhouse & Prime Seafood destination. We are a small family owned and operated restaurant! Reservations are suggested.
(379)

Owned by Jackie Sampson and led by Executive Chef Ricardo Molinari, we feature Mishima Reserve Wagyu, fresh coastal seafood, curated wines, and refined, welcoming hospitality. We pride ourselves on using the finest ingredients - our fish is fresh - never frozen! We offer a variety of dishes to satisfy any palate - Our specialty is our preparation of fresh locally caught fish, we also offer a varie

ty of chicken & veal dishes, as well as pasta and vegetarian dishes. We cook from the heart and serve all of our guests as if they are family! COVID POLICY
We care a lot about our guests and want you to feel safe and comfortable in our restaurant. As you know, no one is immune or 100% safe from COVID-19, and we are all making personal decisions on what level of risk we are willing to take as we try to live our normal lives. The unfortunate truth is restaurants around the country are being decimated by the pandemic and more than 1/3 will never reopen. Should you choose to dine with us, which we hope is the case, we want you to know we are creating the safest environment we can for both our employees and guests. We are open for business so that we can take care of those who serve you and cook for you. We are not making a profit right now with all of these operating limits, but that is not the goal right now, the goal is to keep our team employed and food on their tables. And regardless of how safe we're working to be - those who do not feel comfortable working here, or dining here, are not forced to come in. Here are the steps we are taking as we run this restaurant during a Global Pandemic

Every day, our staff follows all the CDC guidelines (and beyond) for social distancing, masks (upon request), hand sanitizer, and surface cleaning. We take this very seriously and have ongoing discussions and trainings with our staff

We appreciate your overwhelming support for our restaurant and know that we can make it through this together.

El Cheapo is back. Because apparently once wasn’t enough.Starting Tuesday, September 15th, Chef Ricardo is rolling out E...
08/31/2026

El Cheapo is back. Because apparently once wasn’t enough.

Starting Tuesday, September 15th, Chef Ricardo is rolling out El Cheapo: Fall From Grace — three courses for $39.

This time he went full-on fall comfort food: roasted pumpkin arancini, Wagyu meatballs with caramelized onions and Gruyère, Japanese pumpkin ravioli, citrus glazed salmon, sirloin steak, Dutch apple pie and cinnamon roll bread pudding.

Not exactly what you’d expect for $39. Which, of course, is the whole point.

As always, you pick one from each course. And one menu = one person. I know. Very controversial. But two people sharing a three-course $39 dinner wasn’t quite the questionable business decision we had in mind.

El Cheapo is available Tuesday–Thursday only. And don’t forget reservations. The last round taught us that waiting until Thursday afternoon and then asking why there aren’t any tables left does not, unfortunately, make a table appear.

Starts September 15th and ends… whenever Chef decides it’s run its course.

$39. Three courses. Come hungry.

Tales from the Owner — I’m Asking a FavorI don’t ask for this very often, but today I’m going to.If you’ve dined with us...
08/30/2026

Tales from the Owner — I’m Asking a Favor

I don’t ask for this very often, but today I’m going to.

If you’ve dined with us recently, would you take a minute and leave us a review on OpenTable or Google?

Not because I’m fishing for compliments. Not because I’m going to tell you what to say. Just an honest review of your experience with us.

We’re a tiny, independently owned restaurant. Chef Ricardo and our little crew work incredibly hard every single night, and those ratings actually matter to a business our size.

One review can move that number more than you’d think.

Chef Ricardo discovered that this morning.

He is NOT amused. 😂

So if you’ve eaten here, enjoyed your dinner, had great service, loved something Ricardo cooked—or even just wondered how the same three people seem to be everywhere at once—we’d really appreciate you taking a minute to share your experience on OpenTable or Google.

That’s it. No gimmick. No free dessert. No bribery.

Just me asking our customers for a little support.

And yes, asking for favors makes me slightly uncomfortable, so we probably won’t speak of this again. 😂

TALES FROM THE OWNER: SHE HAS A REPUTATION NOWOh, crème brûlée.So sexy. So sultry. So seemingly innocent.That silky vani...
08/29/2026

TALES FROM THE OWNER: SHE HAS A REPUTATION NOW

Oh, crème brûlée.

So sexy. So sultry. So seemingly innocent.

That silky vanilla bean custard… that perfectly torched top… the satisfying little crack of the spoon.

Who knew dessert could be so controversial?

Apparently ours isn’t just delicious.

It’s one-star worthy. ⭐🤣

I’ve always considered crème brûlée one of my more sophisticated desserts. Quiet. Classic. Elegant.

Turns out she’s messy as hell.

She’s caused controversy. She’s divided the internet. She’s inspired passionate opinions from people who have never even eaten her.

Frankly, I’m starting to think she enjoys the attention.

And there she sits every night… perfectly caramelized, completely unbothered, waiting for her next victim.

Come try the most controversial dessert in Cocoa Beach.

Just don’t say I didn’t warn you. 🤣

TALES FROM THE OWNER: WELL, THAT ESCALATED QUICKLYA little update on our now-famous crème brûlée situation…If you’ve bee...
08/29/2026

TALES FROM THE OWNER: WELL, THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY

A little update on our now-famous crème brûlée situation…

If you’ve been following along, the evening itself was apparently quite lovely.

The food? Raved about.
The service? Fantastic.
Everything was going swimmingly.

Then came dessert.

Crème brûlée was requested to go. We explained that we don’t package it to go. Then came the request to take our serving dish. We explained that our dishes, unfortunately, have to remain employed here.

There was some back and forth. We stood by the policy. Life went on.

Or so I thought.

Then came the review.

⭐ Food
⭐ Service
⭐ Ambiance
⭐ Value

One star. Across. The. Board.

I stared at it for a minute.

Not because someone left us a bad review. After 25 years, those happen.

But because somewhere between “the food was outstanding” and “the service was fantastic,” a crème brûlée apparently managed to take down food, service, ambiance AND value in one fell swoop.

That is an impressive amount of power for a custard.

So here’s my little restaurant-owner PSA for the day:

By all means, review restaurants. Tell people when the food wasn’t good. Tell them when the service missed the mark. Tell them when you genuinely had a disappointing experience.

But if everything was wonderful until you disagreed with one policy… maybe review the policy.

Because apparently “no” is now a legitimate food critique. Who knew?

Tales from the Owner: Don’t Judge a Book by Its CoverIf there’s one category where we consistently get our lowest scores...
08/28/2026

Tales from the Owner: Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover

If there’s one category where we consistently get our lowest scores, it’s ambiance.

And I get it.

We’re in a strip mall. Our building was built in the 1950s and, from the outside, it looks like… a strip mall built in the 1950s.

We’ve actually had people tell us:

“I was afraid to go in.”

“I almost turned around.”

“It’s terrible from the outside.”

Ouch. But okay.

I’m not going to pretend we have a grand entrance, beautiful landscaping, valet parking or an ocean view. We have a parking lot on N. Brevard Avenue.

We do our best with what we have. We clean it, paint it, pressure wash it, plant things and try to keep the outside looking as good as a very old building we don’t own is going to look.

But at some point, you have to decide where your energy goes.

Ours goes into the restaurant.

Into making food from scratch. Buying really good ingredients. Having a knowledgeable staff. Taking care of our guests. And making sure what happens inside those doors is a whole lot better than what you may have expected when you pulled into the parking lot.

Would I love a gorgeous building with incredible curb appeal? Of course.

But I’ll take someone saying, “I wasn’t sure about this place when we pulled up, but that was one of the best meals we’ve had,” any day.

So yes, we’ll probably continue to lose a few points for ambiance.

We can live with that. We know what we’re actually here to be judged on.

TALES FROM THE OWNER: THE CRÈME BRÛLÉE INCIDENTIf you’ve had my crème brûlée, you know. I’m not going to be modest about...
08/27/2026

TALES FROM THE OWNER: THE CRÈME BRÛLÉE INCIDENT

If you’ve had my crème brûlée, you know. I’m not going to be modest about it. It’s damn good. Made from scratch, baked in individual porcelain dishes and brûléed to order.

And apparently, we now need to discuss its travel arrangements.

A guest recently wanted their crème brûlée to go.

Austin politely explained that we don’t offer crème brûlée to go because, well, it’s baked directly in a porcelain dish.

“Can’t you just scrape it into a to-go box?”

Technically, yes.

We could also scrape your entire dinner into one container, give it a good shake and call it deconstructed. But we don’t do that either.

Crème brûlée has that beautiful caramelized sugar crust on top. Scrape the whole thing out of its dish and into a plastic box and what you have is no longer crème brûlée. You have a container of very expensive scrambled custard.

And for the record, we have three other fabulous desserts that we’d be more than happy to package to go for you. Dessert at home was never the problem.

So then came the next logical question:

“Can I just take the dish?”

No.

No, you cannot have my porcelain dish.

And I say “my” because I am perhaps unreasonably protective of those damn things. They belong to the restaurant. They stay at the restaurant. This really didn’t seem like something that would require further discussion.

Apparently, I was wrong.

There was rudeness. There was actual anger. And poor Austin — who provided the same excellent service he always does and had absolutely nothing to do with the construction, transportation limitations or ownership of the crème brûlée — got to take the brunt of it.

His reward?

A 5% tip.

I guess 5% is better than no tip.

Apparently, Austin was 95% responsible for the crème brûlée not being available to go.

So, just to clear up any future confusion: my crème brûlée is fabulous. It does not travel. We’re not scraping it into a plastic box. We have three other desserts that happily make the trip.

And no, you still can’t have the dish.

You really can’t make this stuff up.

Tales from the Owner: Apparently We Have RulesSomeone commented on one of my recent posts that they haven’t dined with u...
08/26/2026

Tales from the Owner: Apparently We Have Rules

Someone commented on one of my recent posts that they haven’t dined with us yet, but they’ve been reading Tales from the Owner so they can learn the “rules” before they come in.

I laughed out loud.

Rules? We have rules? Since when? 😂

I certainly don’t want anyone thinking they need to study up before coming to dinner. This isn’t that serious.

Most of what I write about is simply the reality of being a VERY small, independent restaurant.

We’re mainly reservation based because we have very few tables. When they’re reserved, they’re reserved.

We make our food from scratch. So when we sell out of something, we’re out. There isn’t a bag of Chef Ricardo’s Ballz sitting in the freezer waiting for an emergency.

He prefers his Ballz made fresh.

Meatballs, people. Stay focused.

We don’t want you moving the tables because there’s barely enough room for all of you as it is.

These aren’t rules. They’re just things I never thought I’d have to explain until I owned a restaurant.

And while we’re on the subject of reservations…

To the gentleman who offered Austin $100 on Saturday night to find him a table when we were completely booked — well played, sir. Well played.

Austin briefly considered building you one.

So please don’t read Tales from the Owner as your required pre-dining homework. I’m just telling you what goes on around here.

And judging by the last few years, I’m going to have plenty to tell you.

TALES FROM THE KITCHEN…Chef Ricardo has been having a little fun in the kitchen lately, and fortunately for all of us, w...
08/25/2026

TALES FROM THE KITCHEN…

Chef Ricardo has been having a little fun in the kitchen lately, and fortunately for all of us, we get to eat the results.

A few new additions have officially made their way onto the menu:

🥥 Coconut Curry Scallops — jumbo sea scallops, coconut rice, tropical salsa, coconut curry drizzle & pickled veggies.

🐷 Porterhouse Pork Chop — 16 oz Heritage pork chop with mashers & seasonal veggies. Simple, classic and exactly what a pork chop should be.

🦞 Lobster “Tail-a-Dor” — our PG spin on the old-school Lobster Thermidor. Lobster tail, mushrooms and a rich cream sauce. A little nod to the ’70s — because some things deserve a comeback.

🥩 Mishima Reserve American Wagyu Ribeye — the NY Strip has stepped aside and we’ve brought in a beautifully marbled Ribeye. Same exceptional Mishima Reserve American Wagyu, just a little more indulgent.

New dishes, same Pompano Grill philosophy: really good ingredients, Chef Ricardo’s touch, and absolutely no reason to leave hungry.

Tales from the Owner: Don’t Shoot the MessengerAhhh, another Friday night at the Pompano Grill…Another fully booked dini...
08/22/2026

Tales from the Owner: Don’t Shoot the Messenger

Ahhh, another Friday night at the Pompano Grill…

Another fully booked dining room, another handful of walk-ins, and another reminder that “I’m so sorry, we don’t have anything available” can apparently bring out some very strong emotions. 😂

Eye rolls. Huffing. Arguing. And occasionally just downright rude and nasty behavior.

Then there was the 5:00 PM phone call looking for a table for SIXTEEN at 7:00 PM.

On a Friday.

We have 40 seats. I have to admire the optimism.

Here’s the thing — we WANT to seat you! Chef wants to cook for you. I’m quite fond of taking your money.

But sometimes we simply don’t have the space — OR we’re short-staffed and know we can’t give you the attention and service you deserve. Saying “no” isn’t fun for us either.

And right now, we’re down TWO front-of-house staff members. So lately, it’s basically me and Austin out there doing our best to keep the wheels on the bus.

So my little weekend PSA: Make a reservation whenever you can. And if we can’t accommodate you, please don’t take it personally — and PLEASE don’t take it out on us.

We’re not trying to be difficult. We’re trying to do our jobs well.

A little kindness goes a long way.

And speaking of short-staffed…

NOW HIRING AT THE POMPANO GRILL!

Experienced servers — Austin and I would REALLY like to meet you. 😂

Address

110 N Brevard Avenue
Cocoa Beach, FL
32931

Opening Hours

Tuesday 5:30pm - 8:30pm
Wednesday 5:30pm - 8:30pm
Thursday 5:30pm - 8:30pm
Friday 5pm - 8:30pm
Saturday 5pm - 9pm

Telephone

+13217849005

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Pompano Grill posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category