Category Archives: Hollywood

Margaritaville Beach Resort, Hollywood

Located in the heart of Hollywood, Florida, Margaritaville Beach Resort Hollywood invites guests into the laid-back beach life of Jimmy Buffet.

Lobby Parrot graphic

Buffet’s loyal fans are known as parrotheads and colorful parrot images can be found throughout the Margaritaville resort. Lyrics from Jimmy Buffet’s hit songs adorn the hotel walls as totems of his gone fishing carpe manana beach lifestyle. Margaritavilles’s carefree vibe even extends to the wearable room key on your wrist.

Margaritaville’s spacious guest rooms are filled with natural light and offer wonderful views of the Atlantic Ocean, the Intracoastal or both. These rooms bring the beach vibe inside with bleached, sand-colored wood floors and sky-blue accent notes.

The Jimmy Buffet Suite at Margaritaville Beach Resort
The Jimmy Buffet Suite photo credit: Sherel Purcell

Where to Eat at Margaritaville Beach Resort

Guests can dine at JWB Prime Steak and Seafood – upscale dining in a casual setting or party at Jimmy Buffett’s famous Landshark Bar & Grill. They can breakfast at Margaritaville restaurant, or dine with their toes in the sand at 5 o’Clock Somewhere on the Intracoastal Waterway.

JWB at Margaritaville
JWB at Margaritaville

JWB, named for James William Buffet, is a great steak and seafood restaurant with superb service. Start with one of their inventive cocktails.  If you like Mojitos, try the popular Caribbean Amphibian, made with pineapple vodka or a Perfect Partner – Hendricks gin with cucumber-infused watermelon – a refreshing take on a martini.

For starters, try the signature jumbo lump crab cakes, accompanied by a coleslaw, spiced with cumin, curry and golden raisins. Or the pan-fried oysters, presented in the shell on a bed of creamed spinach.  Both pair well with a dry Sancerre.  The JWB surf and turf gives you a great taste of both sides of the menu:  an eight ounce filet and a broiled lobster tail.

For dessert, try the caramel macchiato, where a chocolate bar meets a cocktail in a glass.

Things to do at Margaritaville Beach Resort

Lone Palm pool at Margaritaville Beach Resort
Lone Palm pool photo credit: John Cameron

Swimmers have the choice of three pools: The Lone Palm Pool, the adults only rooftop pool and the Landshark Pool which features a kid-friendly waterslide and tiki-style cabanas. There’s also a FlowRider, where pro surfers offer neophytes a lesson.  Resort fees also include chaise lounges set up on the beach in front of the Margaritaville resort and presided over by lifeguards.

Waterway Adventures at Margaritaville Beach Resort
Waterway Adventures at Five O’ Clock Somewhere photo credit: John Cameron

Next door to Five O’Clock Somewhere, Waterway Adventures guides kayak tours of the secluded mangroves on the Intracoastal. Paddlers enter a peaceful world that has not changed much since Ponce De Leon. It’s so quiet one can hear the pop of pistol shrimp. Watch out for the small black jumping crabs that also pinch: the larger the crab, the bigger the pinch.

Anne Kolb Nature Center
Anne Kolb Nature Center photo credit: Sherel Purcell

At the Margaritaville Activities Desk, sign out a bicycle and cycle north along the Hollywood Boardwalk to Anne Kolb Nature Center West Lake Park, one of the largest parks in Florida. Tour the wetlands on raised boardwalks to see a variety of birds, like the white ibis, osprey and peregrine falcon. A tower accessed by stairs or elevator provides good views of the surrounding area and waterways. You can sometimes spot manatees from here too.

For guests who want the ultimate in relaxation, try the St. Somewhere Spa, with eleven treatment rooms, steam rooms, scrub room, and rainfall showers. The 50 minute Swedish massage is highly recommended.

Diplomat Beach Resort & Spa Hollywood

The Diplomat Beach Resort Hollywood is at the top of upscale resort destinations in South Florida. Situated on the beach between the Atlantic and the Intracoastal waterway in Hollywood, the Diplomat is a member of the Curio Collection, a select group of luxury hotels under the Hilton imprimatur.

By the Pool at The Diplomat Beach Resort & Spa
By the Pool at The Diplomat Beach Resort & Spa photo credit: John Cameron

The AAA Four Diamond  Diplomat features 8 different culinary destinations and 209,000 square feet for meetings and events, the largest hotel convention space in South Florida. The Diplomat was voted one of the top 10 resorts in Florida by Condé Nast Reader’s Choice, 2019.

Diplomat Fitness Center
Diplomat Fitness Center

The compact, fully equipped two level fitness center is adjacent to the spa which features floor to ceiling windows that overlook the Atlantic Ocean.  Try a Diplomat Spa + Wellness signature massage –  any massage from the menu at the Diplomat Spa is available for couples.

Diplomat Beach Resort & Spa Governor Suite
Diplomat Beach Resort & Spa Governor Suite

All 1000 rooms have a warm, contemporary palette with a nod to surfer culture – a pleasing blend of upscale with casual. Guests have a choice between rooms facing east with beautiful views of the sunrise over the Atlantic or facing west with a view of sunsets over the Intracoastal waterway. The corner suites have 180 degree views of both.

Diplomat Beach Resort pools
Diplomat Beach Resort pools photo credit: John Cameron

If the ocean is too rough or too cold, swim the Diplomat’s two beautiful pools, a shallow rectangular infinity pool with a unique glass-bottom window and a large, elongated kidney-shaped pool at beach level.

Where to Eat

Monkitail Sushi Bar at The Diplomat
Monkitail Sushi Bar photo credit: John Cameron

Whether you’re staying at the Diplomat or just come for a meal, you have great options for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Restaurants Point Royal from celebrity chef Geoffrey Zakarian and Monkitail from Chef & Restaurateur Michael Schulson complement the luxury steakhouse Diplomat Prime and beachfront patio cafe Playa.

There is also Counterpoint, an all day grab and go, featuring specialty coffees, sandwiches and pastries, open seven days a week, Candy & Cones for your sweet tooth and a secret, intimate karaoke bar, Nokku, where you can drink and sing your heart out until 2am.

Point Royal at The Diplomat Beach Resort
Point Royal at The Diplomat Beach Resort photo credit: John Cameron

Point Royal has an appetizing array of breakfast buffet choices and a custom omelet chef. Choose your ingredients and the chef will magically create one of the best omelets you have ever tasted. Tip: if you’re not that hungry, ask for a one or two egg omelet. Point Royal is also open for lunch and dinner.

Michael Schulson & Chef Taek Lee
Michael Schulson & Chef Taek Lee at Monkitail photo credit: The Diploma

Michael Schulson’s Monkitail has a beautiful Japanese themed sushi bar, main dining room and private speak-easy karaoke, all conceived by design team Rohe Creative.

Start your meal with a cocktail – the Monkitail – a great variation on a Manhattan with extra visual pizzaz – our waiter placed cinnamon and cloves on a barrel stave, torched it until it smoked, then captured the smoke in an overturned glass. Once the glass was filled with smoke, our waiter filled it with the cocktail. The smokiness remains for the entire drink and takes the ordinary Manhattan to another level. 

As it was our first visit, we chose the chef’s tasting menu – a perfect introduction to Monkitail’s take on the classic Izakaya.  Some favorites: the big eye tuna special roll, the lobster tail, neatly split in two, the Duck Scrapple Bao Bun – duck confit with maple teriyaki syrup wrapped in a home-made steamed bun covered in black sesame seeds. Ice cream sushi was the perfect finish to our meal.

When you want to celebrate a special  occasion head to Diplomat Prime, featuring both steak and seafood. Stone crabs, found only on Florida’s gulf coast, make a great appetizer. Two large claws, perfectly cracked, arrive at the table. Eating them is 100 percent satisfaction, zero effort. Tip: Florida stone crabs are only in season from October to May.

Diplomat Prime at The Diplomat Beach Resort
Diplomat Prime at The Diplomat Beach Resort photo credit: The Diplomat

We enjoyed a crisp wedge salad followed by the walnut crusted halibut and a buttery melt-in-your mouth salmon.  And since this is one of the best Miami steakhouses, we couldn’t leave without tasting the delicious Japanese certified A5 Kobe NY Strip. Attentive service and a great sommelier with spot on wine pairings made this dinner a memorable one.