Baleen Naples

We came to Bonita Springs for a little weekend get away and stumbled across Baleen by chance, so happy we did. Amazing view, delicious food, and service was top notch. Ask for Cosimo, not only will you get 5 star service, but the man makes the best cappuccino you’ve ever had! We will be back!!!

Five stars for the perfect atmosphere at sunset but the food itself was not my favorite. The best part for me was the tomato burrata — definitely recommend ordering this, it saved the meal for me! We also had the tuna appetizer, oysters, crab legs, and cookie jar dessert. My husband liked the tuna more than I did. The crab legs were tough (overcooked), and did not have a good flavor, which was super sad since they were so expensive. I had wildly better tasting snow crab legs at half the cost in South Carolina a few days later so that really drove this issue home. The cookie jar should have been labeled raspberry lovers rather than chocolate lovers, and the texture was spongy and weird… definitely avoid ordering this yucky dessert. Overall totally pricey for mostly low quality food. I’m still thankful we went because the atmosphere was perfection, but next time I’d just get drinks and the tomato burrata at the fire pits for sunset and go anywhere else for the main course. Or maybe just USS Nemo. (Can’t stop thinking about those won tacos!!) Absolutely stunning sunset though.

Always incredible breakfast food! The pastries are magnificent, as well as the omelets, potatoes and bacon. You can’t beat the scenery, even though the beat up cabinets on the other side of us were in terrible condition, fallen apart and rusted. Our waitress was no where to be seen for the last half of our dining experience, or else it would have been five stars. Despite the fire alarm going off and having to be late for our table, the excellent food wins out.

Nothing beats the beauty of dining on the beach. And I mean nothing! I guess unless you dine on helicopters or New York City skyline rooftops or perhaps by a waterfall. But nah, sand, water flowing and a stunning sunset slowly declining into that same ocean, while having a steak or Bronzino, that’s pretty tough to beat.
The restaurant as you may already visually comprehend is on the water side front of the Naples La Playa hotel. Both outdoor and indoor seating is available with elegant service on both fronts.
I loved the food and ambiance, décor is clean and elegant, and service is swift and proper. Standing on the pricey side, the menu offers choices across the board. Starting with classic appetizers like shrimp cocktail all the way to steaks and seafood. Most of the restaurant in Naples attempt to put a little French twist on their menu, but the classics always seem to come out.
As the sun sets, the restaurant begins to glow with high tiki style fire rods and a bonfire for couples to enjoy cocktails while staring at the beach. Although this isn’t uncommon for a number of restaurants in pelican bay or Naples itself, this place takes the cake in romance. Roses on two top tables, tiki rods, bonfire and even tables on a grassy region will make your dining experience unforgettable. But of course, like any immaculate restaurant, it comes with a heavy price tag. But it’s worth every penny.

My friends and I ate here to celebrate a 30^th birthday. They really rolled out the red carpet for us! Dwayne was our server and he was awesome! Very attentive, sweet, and accommodating. Two of us ordered from the prixe fix menu and one of us did not, however, he still brought an extra plate of the amuse bouche so we could all be eating something at the same time! Awesome. Later, the manager, Lucas, ended up stopping by because I had the wine menu open (again) and when I selected a wine that was sub-​par to the one we had prior, he offered to let us try it prior to purchasing the bottle. I thought that was really cool. We ended up not liking it as much as our first bottle and ordered another one just like the first. I discovered that Lucas was from Argentina and since I am taking a trip there next month he came and sat with us and poured us all a glass of wine and gave me some hints about what to see and what wineries not to miss in Argentina. That was priceless. The food was awesome, but the atmosphere was unbeatable. After dinner we enjoyed several cocktails by the beach bonfire. Our server Dwayne continued to pay attention to us even there! And Lucas also checked in on us. Great place all around, a must visit!

If you come here during prime time, expect lackluster service. Waiter is typically very brief in interactions. During our last visit, my wife was bumped on the back of her chair by hurrying waiters. Glass drinks were spilled/​shattered outside due to waiters bumping into one another in a hurry. Drinks are not filled in a timely manner. Servers disappear for several minutes and it is very difficult to get ask for something or order another drink. Assisting staff are un-​engaging and aloof. The list goes on and on, but basically boils down to poor service. I get the feeling that management has overextended the capacity of waiters to serve here. There are too many tables for not enough servers at peak times. Also, they have tables crammed and arranged to squeeze in as many people as possible for dinner. And there is a new $ 5 charge for parking just to eat here. Really, who does that?! This is a new policy and they have the nerve to mention «tip not included» on their signage. Well, here’s a tip… Lose the paid parking for paying customers. If this restaurant wants to better themselves, they need to focus on quality not quantity which they are obviously not doing. Food is good, but not great. My wife’s dish came out cold, but she ate it because we knew our server wouldn’t be back to check on us and not worth the wait. We took our dessert to go for similar reasons. We just wanted to leave! If it’s not a busy night, you might get better service, but don’t expect it. Some servers are better than others but there is only so much they can do when overburdened with other customers.
My wife and I also had a similar experience here with Sunday Brunch. Our server was nowhere to be found and only refilled our champagne one time after having to ask. This is simply unacceptable for a restaurant which costs so much. Yes, the view is nice, but it’s like sugar coating on a turd. Good service is a key ingredient to a good dining experience. It really is disappointing, because this place has the potential to be a truly great restaurant. Here’s a short list of pitfalls.
1) Poor service
2) Understaffed/​Mismanaged/​Unorganized
3) Charged $ 5 for parking (Seriously?!)
4) Food not up to par for price (comes out cold=unacceptable)
This will be our last visit unless there are some changes made.

I came here before and this year for my birthday. It is located inside the La Playa hotel. It costs $ 5 to valet while at dinner. Since it was my birthday, they brought me a rose in a vase. I got the jalapeño blood orange margarita, which was super spicy. I had the ginger Caesar without anchovies, which was just iceberg lettuce. I had the blackened tuna with rice and shiitake mushrooms. It was good but spicy. The waiter was attentive. The view is the best part of dinner as you are overlooking the beach and can watch the sunset if you time it correctly.

Beautiful Beach Setting
Five of us had lunch today at Baleen’s which we do several times every season. The first thing we noticed is the sign advising $ 5.00 parking fee not including tip. This is new — and not very welcoming!
Lunch was disappointing. I had the lobster BLT. Is was a hot dog roll filled with lobster salad with diced tomato in it. No bacon! I had to wait for our server to return several minutes later to request it. The side salad was a small, tired bowl of chopped lettuce. We asked for butter with our bread and never got it. At the prices they charge this is unacceptable.
The place is in need of an update. The tile floors in the entry have crumbling or missing grout.
We won’t be back.

I had the experience of dining at Baleen one week ago on a Saturday night. My father-​in-​law had raved about this place, as he had stayed at La Playa on several occasions and enjoyed the sunset. Unfortunately, our dining experience took a turn for the worse as soon as drinks were ordered. Immediately as we were sitting into our chairs the waiter arrived and in a quick tone asked what we would like to drink — he immediately realized we never received a drink menu. My husband asked what beers they had on tap, he quickly chirped off 5 or 6 and my husband ordered a Sam and my father-​in-​law a Stella. When the drinks were brought, the Stella was in a bottle — I know you are thinking, no big deal right? But it really wouldn’t have been a big deal if when the waiter was told that he’d prefer the Stella on tap (as he stated there was Stella on tap) the waiter had said «whoops I made a mistake, we don’t have it on tap». Instead, the waiter says «right» and comes back in no more than 10 seconds with the beer in a cup, that he clearly poured from the bottle into the glass — the glass was ²⁄₃ full so we KNEW he poured the bottle into the glass. At this point, we were disappointed with the dishonesty being displayed here, so we asked the guy to top off the beer as you could see it was clearly not even close to being full. He returned again in 10 seconds, the beer appeared flat and I am fairly certain he just poured water in as it then tasted disgusting. Each time we politely asked, and at every opportunity a simple apology would have worked, but this waiter proceeded to provide terrible service and demonstrate lack of character. I could have dropped the drink fiasco if we were served delicious food and the waiter was friendly after that, but he wasn’t. It was clear he had no people skills to reconcile the problem he started and therefore it was an evening of bland food and poor service. I had the lobster risotto, the others dining had the pork dish, chicken, and a vegetarian entrée. The lobster was so plain and bland, it was probably the worst meal I’ve had while visiting Naples. The dining experience is pretty, but there are definitely other venues that are just as beautiful. It didn’t help that we were seated by the exterior door and my mother-​in-​laws back got slammed each time someone entered onto the patio.
Overall it was a laughable experience dining at Baleen, the waiter was an absolute clown, the food was bland, and I much prefer the sunset at the Ritz. We won’t be going back. I’d recommend M Waterfront and Café Lurcat if you are looking for truly delicious food.

There today for lunch. Have mixed feelings as I do many times in pretty settings. Yes, it’s nice to be outside on the patio overlooking the ocean on the grounds of La Playa on a sunny day. And of course always a bonus, as it has been with the wait service. Very helpful if asked and professional. Normal time in between servings. The food is good, of course we all had tastier and better elsewhere in many places. And this is what disturbs me… to pay $ 70 (w/​tip) for an entrée apiece and two diet sodas! Seems crazy. The bread basket and side of whitefish is included. Crispy Grouper Sandwich -$ 23 (with a side of Fig jam for $ 2 that tasted better than the Grouper) and I did not find it «crispy». Would have liked that or «crunchy» as they advertise elsewhere on the menu. My Seafood Pasta-​$ 25 was good, had a bit of tang to it, not uncomfortable at all, but they should have left it as a Lobster cream sauce and not add the «Pernod» a hint of liqueur. Yes, in the whole scheme of things, we enjoyed the moment there but I think we’re paying too much for that view! BTW, parking is a $ 5 charge and not validated by the restaurant. Honestly don’t know how many stars to give, won’t matter much to you.
I understand a few blocks down the Ritz Carlton will validate their $ 25 parking fee (believe these prices?) if dining at the hotel. But I haven’t eaten there yet as I plan to. I’m sure the prices are steep as well… after all, you are looking at the ocean!

Eat on the patio! Excellent lunch and breakfast options including the light shrimp salad, burger, and egg white omelet.

Expensive but very good, worth the special dinner outing. The filet was cooked perfectly, and great flavor. The deserts a hit. Great key lime pie!

We ate dinner at Baleen tonight. I had the lobster risotto, lobster bisque, and rum mango bread pudding. WOW is all that I can say. Every bite delectable. Every server was impeccable and caring and to every detail. I will come back to Baleen’s over and over again. If I could offer one piece of guidance: the hostesses at the podium were a bit standoffish. I would not call them rude, however, they were not as helpful as I believe Baleen’s would want them to be.

Baleen is located in the LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort and it is a beautiful restaurant with amazing views of the Gulf. The couple we dined with frequents the restaurant quite often and were warmly greeted by name by the Valet, host, and a handful of other servers/​bartenders. They raved about the food and service so I was excited to try it out. Unfortunately, we must have dined on an off day as I wasn’t impressed by anything other than the beautiful restaurant and scenery. We waited in the bar for a table on the patio, ordered a bottle of wine and a drink while we waited. The bartender was helpful and brought a chiller out for our wine, Kim Crawford sauv blanc, at almost $ 60/​bottle. But I expected the prices to be steep given the location, I guess I order that one too often so I know what it’s actually worth marked up at a restaurant. We were seated on the patio about 20 minutes later and greeted by Chess. Although it was a busy Saturday afternoon, I was surprised at the lack of service we received. We arrived at the table with our unfinished bottle of wine and drinks and it seemed as though he was aggravated that we weren’t ordering more drinks. He then hovered around our table for the next 10 – 15 minutes wanting us to order. We were with family that we hadn’t seen in quite some time so the fact that he was interrupting conversation and rushing us was not appreciated. We eventually ordered, I chose the crab cake sandwich, boyfriend ordered the blackened ahi and the other couple seemed to stick with their regular choices: the burger and fries and the grilled salmon salad. Everyone was pleased with their meals and the presentation is exceptional. Unfortunately, my crab cake sandwich was rather bland and I had asked our server to put the sauce on the side, which he didn’t and it was way overdressed and rather hard to eat. I ate about half after removing the bread dressed in sauce and gave up. Oh well, maybe I just ordered the wrong thing. About half-​way through the meal, a table sat outside on the beach and it was a pretty cool day in Naples, maybe about 60 degrees or so and one of the servers left both doors to outside open so the covered patio was freezing and windy. When we asked Chess to close one of the doors, he almost laughed and said something along the lines of: «no, I don’t think so.» It was evident that we weren’t the only ones bothered so I was surprised, but eventually another server took care of it.
Again, maybe it was just an off day and we don’t live in Florida, yet, but our family does and I wouldn’t be opposed to giving it another try given their initial recommendation.

This place and the service was incredible. The grounds are just beautiful and the food was delicious. It was well worth the two hour drive that i took to check this place out! We sat outside as close as we can to the beach it was so nice to be rite next to all the torches and fire pits. Watching the sun set here is definitely a perfectly romantic experience. The hotel would be hard to find on your own but of course with gps anything is easy to find, it toolk us rite there. valet was $ 5 not bad. Again also very friendly. Oh, and super clean! ;) Always a big plus. Dress code is «resort casual «but i would say if you wanted to dress up you definitely can!

Baleen has one of the most beautiful settings on the beach in Naples. It offers an upscale, yet beachy atmosphere that we enjoyed very much. I did feel that for the price, the food was somewhat disappointing… here’s why.
* The blackened AHI tuna was over cooked and the pieces were very small. The flavor did make up for it somewhat.
* The lobster in the lobster salad sandwich was tough enough that my son sent it back and opted for the pulled pork sandwich.
* The grouper tacos were by far the best choice but were not served with any side (rice, beans, fries)…so they left my wife and father-​in-​law hungry for more.
The drinks were good but pricey as you would expect on the beach and service was average. Friendly but not completely on top of things.
Bottom line — I would go back to have drinks and enjoy the view but will probably not be dining there anytime soon.

Id round this up to 4.5.
I went here for Christmas lunch buffet. Baleen is inside la playa resort. Location is great, right on the beach.
The place was nicely decorated. Trees, ice sculpture of a nutcracker.
The service was excellent for a buffet. They kept refilling trays. Bringing new silverware and checkung for drink refills. Everything was hot and fresh. Some of the best buffet food you will ever have.
Raw bar with sushi, shrimp, crab and oysters. Salad station with iceberg wedge, caesar, tomato mozz and asparagus salad.
Omlette bar, carving station turkey, prime rib. Grouper, mahi and ribs, bacon, potatoes, stuffing etc.
As i said the quality of the food was great. Highlights were the braised ribs and mahi with pineapple salsa. The salads were great too.
The highlight of dessert was mini crème brûlée. The apple pie tasted store bought.
The view of the beach is great. Sit outside if you can. The only thing keeping from 5 is the price. 105 a person for just food, no alcohol is quite a lot even for a great buffet. Because i dont eat anything from raw bar its hard to justify the price.
For christmas lunch it was a great meal tho. Id come back for a normal meal.

I recommend this place! There are several reasons I really enjoyed it.
1). It was my Anniversary, and they did everything to help make it a special night. They said «Happy Anniversary» when we checked in, when we were seated and several more times. They gave my wife a rose, took a picture and gave it to us in somewhat of a frame that said Baleen on it.
2). I was expecting the prices to be much higher than they were. It’s very reasonably priced for a nice restaurant at a nice resort.
3). Quality of the food and presentation were really good. Liked everything we tried.
4). Lastly, we wanted to be seated outside on the beach. It had really nice outdoor seating.

We had dinner here yesterday with my husband. We used to live in Naples and it’s a second time we came to Baleen. I really fall in love with this place! Sunset were beautiful, and even after, beautiful sky full of stars and moon, that Baleen lights… it was so romantic. In general atmosphere of this place is so amazing. We had oysters for appetizer, fish and scallops, it was very yummy, beautiful presentation. We really enjoyed our time there. Service was great as well! We had Chris as a server, very attentive and nice person, next time we would definitely love to have him again. In general it’s such a beautiful experience, view, food, people. It’s just perfect! We love Baleen! :)

Of course you have a spectacular front row seat to view the sunset at the right time of day. Food was good and meets expectations of you do not expect the best culinary experience.
Service was good and had a wonderful time all in all.

Menu für 39,99 $ war super!
Dazu eine tolle Aussicht von der Terrasse auf den Sonnenuntergang.
Besonders gut war das Sirloin BBQ Fleisch mit Kartoffel– Püree und Spargel!!!

Good food, cordial staff, stunning view at the sunset. You should try to get a table outside, even if it can be a bit windy, the view is worth it.