It’s Shark Week, therefore I wanted to do something shark related and set my tourist self free. As a new Floridian I feel like I still qualify as a tourist. I love to do the tourist activities, go to the “touristy” side of town and eat at all the tourist style restaurants.
Given that real interactions with sharks were not likely I settled on swimming in the ocean as a fair tribute to this year’s shark week. My husband, who much prefers our pool, caved into my touristy ways and we hit up Cocoa Beach for the day.
At the end of a very long and fun filled day we started searching for a great place to eat that we could walk to from our spot on the beach.
Enter The Shark Pit
We were parked at the Ron Jon’s free beach parking lot so imagine my delight when the Shark Pit popped up in our search as being right next door. A shark related restaurant found on the day I wanted to celebrate shark week? It must be kismet!
The restaurant itself is located in a mini mall that also contains The Cocoa Beach Surf Company and the Four Points Hotel; The Shark Pit is inside the Surf Company on the ground floor.
Being in the surf shop meant that I immediately reverted to full blown tourist and bought several souvenirs. My husband just rolled his eyes at me and continued to try and herd me in the direction of the Shark Pit before I spent our life savings. He equates that task to herding cats.
The Shark Pit is very impressive. It boasts a 40 foot water fall, over head observation area and brick pizza oven. But the real attraction is that dividing the restaurant from the Surf Company is a literal shark pit.
REAL sharks during shark week? I almost died of excitement! The aquarium is a whooping 5,600 gallon tank that holds not only sharks but also exotic fish and eels. They hand feed the sharks Tuesdays at 2PM and Saturdays at 12PM, little does my husband know that the wheels are already turning to get him back there for one of these events.
Shark Pit Happy Hour
After the initial impression and amazement gave way to our hunger pains, my husband and I settled in to get our grub on. I was of course immediately grabbed by their drink of the day, the Strawberry Mango Lemon Magic.
This queued more eye rolling from my husband but because I am a rebel at heart; I ordered it anyway! And it was even more delicious than expected.
I love sweet fruity drinks and I bet if you opened a dictionary to “sweet fruity drink”, an image of this concoction will be next to the definition.
The Shark Pit has a Happy Hour from 3pm-7pm with drink specials and discounts.
The Food
The Shark Pit did not disappoint when the food arrived. We didn’t have to wait long for our appetizer and we were extremely pleased with the quality. When you make a purchase at the Surf Company your receipt comes with a coupon for a free appetizer from the Shark Pit when you buy two entrees.
We started with a plate of Chicken Nachos and were provided with more than enough salsa, sour cream and guacamole to satisfy. It’s one of my biggest pet peeves to order nachos only to discover that you only get salsa OR sour cream (not both?!) and it’s not enough to get through even half the plate!
My husband and I cleaned that plate of every crumb. It was delicious!
At this point it was time for a second drink (more eye rolling) but the first one was so good I just had to have one more. Our main dishes came out before we had finished the Nachos so we took a quick break to snap some photos of the dishes before finishing the Nachos off.
For my husband’s main dish he ordered the fish and chips.
My husband has an unnatural fetish for french fries and he adored the waffle fries that came with his meal. It was a very nice touch because we don’t usually see waffle fries at our typical eats.
The fish itself was the usual white fish but the batter was not the normal flour based coating. It was a breadcrumb batter which too was unusually delightful, but the real star was the tartar sauce. The tartar sauce had a unique dill flavor that complemented the fish perfectly. My husband usually doesn’t touch his tartar sauce and instead uses honey mustard, but he used that entire container; it was just that good!
I was almost jealous of his meal until I started eating mine.
I ordered the fried shrimp with salad (blah salad I know, but I had to counteract that extra drink somewhere!).
The Caesar salad was unfortunately still a salad so I can’t say I was inspired by it when looking at my hubby’s fries. Needless to say you should skip that salad and splurge on the fries! The shrimp was beyond good and totally made up for my poor side dish choice.
The usual bread crumb batter was swapped for a flour based one, a complete turn around from the fish!
The shrimp were big and succulent and again the Shark Pit did not skimp on the condiments, I had enough cocktail sauce left that I could have eaten another entire plate with it. Condiments are not just a side consideration, they are a way of life! The Shark Pit just “gets” me.
The Price Tag
Since I purchased something at the Surf Company we received a coupon for the Shark Pit for a free appetizer. What’s better than regular nachos? Free ones!
So for two entrees and two drinks the meal came to $45.00 including the waiters tip. We tip roughly 18% to bring the total to an even number. The service was excellent. Our waiter was attentive, gave good recommendations and kept our waters topped up at all times.
Post Gorging
After all that food we decided to walk some of it off and see what was around that area on the the main strip. Ron Jon Surf Shop is a very famous brand and the original shop is the one in cocoa.
The statue out front of Ron Jon turned out to be one of many so I snapped a few pictures. Who can resist art? Not me!
Buyers Remorse
As much as I loved both the dishes we ordered, I later discovered that the Shark Pit is incredibly well known for it’s pizzas. You think I would have gotten the hint from the whole brick oven thing?! Nope I was oblivious to their specialty.
My husband and I were so impressed with their food that we are planning a trip back in a couple weeks. I promise to get the Pizza and fill you all in on how good it is!
Hotel Packages Near The Shark Pit
The Hilton Cocoa Beach is nearby and right on the beach. But there is also the Ocean Landings Cocoa Beach. If you are planning to cruise and have a beach day before embarkation day, we totally recommend dinning at the Shark Pit. It is literally a 2 minute walk off the beach which is very helpful when you only have a day to enjoy all that Cocoa Beach has to offer.
Recommend
