Restaurant review: Tropical Breeze Cafe

Tropical Breeze Cafe
2 palms 
Where: 200 Willard St., Suite A, Cocoa Village
Hours: 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Sunday; lunch until 3 p.m.; dinner until 10 p.m.; appetizers all night
Call: 321-636-1471
Other: A long bar offers prime seating to watch football, and it’s a nice, casual place to hang out and have a beer or drink and one of many appetizers.

Tropical Breeze Cafe is still in Cocoa Village, but it’s moved to a big space formerly occupied by Hoppin’ John’s Market on the north side of westbound State Road 520. The space, with bright green walls and fun-kitschy beach decor, allows it to be two things at once: a full bar where you can play pool or sit and watch football on the big screen, and a family restaurant.

Some of its menu constitutes good beer fare (or hangover fare), like the fried mac and cheese bites. Sure, it’s not health food, but it’s tasty and offered with a side of ranch, if desired. It’s also a bargain, and I can see why parents with kids come here. But the food was uninspired during a couple recent visits.

There are a few salads, hot dogs and tons of sandwiches/wraps on the menu. The naming schemes are a little confusing. You would think the Hawaiian might involve pineapple or pork, but it’s chicken with bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions and honey mustard. You’d think the Capri might be Italian, but it has corned beef, pastrami, provolone, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo and mustard. Yet the Italian sausage, cheese and marinara sandwich is called the Jamaica.

Whatever. You have to love the oddball Bubba Bahama, a triple-decker peanut butter and jelly on Texas toast, or Castaway Ernie, with bananas, mayo and onions. We were told Tina’s Hammock is popular — a triple-decker with a choice of three meats plus bacon, romaine and mayo for $6.45.

We tried a variety of items. I liked those mac and cheese bites, and the fried mushrooms, though heavily breaded, were pretty good. The Palm Chef Salad, however, consisted of pale lettuce and unexciting slices of lunchmeat ham and turkey, egg, shredded cheese and bacon crumbles. I came in hungry but didn’t want to finish it.

Another day we tried sandwiches. I got Loretta’s Bamboa ($4), because this seemed like the kind of place to eat a fried bologna sandwich. The meat was thick and fried a little, and overwhelmed with mustard and mayonnaise. The yellow cheese kind of vanished in there somewhere. My husband’s Limbo ($5.25), really a Reuben, tasted OK but fell apart under the influence of all the dressing and, we think, melted cheese. We both got a side of the bland potato salad, the yellow kind, which had more egg flavor than anything else. Our dessert choice, banana pudding ($2), was the lightest thing we had, mostly because it was dominated by whipped cream. You also can get fried Oreos or fried Twinkies for $1.25.

Tropical Breeze and its 2 K’s Bar looks like a potentially fun, casual hangout, a place to have a few drinks. It’s open late nightly

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