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Disclosure: I was invited to stay over and dine as a guest of the hotel and restaurant. No monetary compensation has been received for this post. As always, all opinions are 100% my own.
Did you know that Boca Raton is a major hub for businesses and company headquarters? That means people are traveling in and out of the area quite often — and when people travel, they look for comfort and convenience when it comes to their accommodations.
The Boca Raton Marriott, located at Boca Center, is an ideal choice for those coming into town, no matter what their travel purpose. It’s also ideal for companies and organizations looking for event space — there are 12 meeting rooms and 13,000 square feet of total meeting space.
It also makes a fantastic location for wedding receptions, anniversary celebrations, Bat/Bar Mitzvahs and the like. The Grand Oasis Ballroom can fit up to 550 people, and there is even 1,600 square feet of event space outside on the terrace. The hotel is just minutes away from I-95, Town Center Mall, and Mizner Park, and only 2.5 miles from the beach. There are numerous world-class golf courses within 10 miles, and six great restaurants literally STEPS away.
BUT before you step outside of the Boca Raton Marriott looking for something to eat, your best bet is to give Cafe 5150 a try. The hotel’s signature restaurant offers breakfast, lunch and dinner and even caters to Marriott Gold and Platinum Rewards Members inside the exclusive M Lounge. Cafe 5150 serves new American cuisine in a very relaxed and inviting atmosphere. The restaurant is located in the lobby of the hotel, inviting guests to join them as they step through the door.
I was invited, along with my EPIC {Eating Partner In Crime} Jill of Fashionably French Fried, for a full Boca Raton Marriott experience. We arrived at the hotel and we were welcomed with champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries in our room. Not a bad way to start the evening! Sometimes it’s nice to take a random staycation on a Sunday night, even if it is only 10 minutes down the road.
The staff at Cafe 5150 made us feel like the true princesses that we are (our Dad’s don’t lie!), especially our waiter. He was excited to make us a special gin-based cocktail with my favorite ingredient, St. Germaine. His eagerness paid off — it was a delicious start. The first dish was an arugula and beet salad with candied pecans, mandarin oranges, crispy goat cheese and a lemon vinaigrette, poured tableside. That bright, citrusy vinaigrette really woke up the entire dish and made it come alive. I loved how the warm goat cheese oozed over the other ingredients. This is a great salad for those looking for something on the lighter side, but still want to feel some flavor.
Cafe 5150 has an amazing assortment of flatbreads — and when I say flatbread, I really do mean flat. The thin, crispy crust really lets the toppings shine. There are five varieties — a classic Margherita, BBQ chicken, garden, pancetta, and wild mushroom. It’s hard to make a BBQ chicken pizza vegetarian-friendly, so I did not get to try that one, but they did bring half of the pancetta pizza without pancetta. Sounds silly, but once you hear what else is on this thing, you’ll understand why I just had to have it. Caramelized onions, garlic cream, gruyere cheese and baby arugula. Yeah, I’m sure the pancetta puts it over-the-top for some, but for me, I was very happy with my pancetta-free version! The garden pizza is where it’s at for vegetarians, piled high with artichokes, tomatoes, peppers, parmesan and garlic cream — oh, and olives, but since Jill and I are both olive-haters, we got rid of those fast. I love me some veggies, so this pizza hit the spot for me. However, the wild mushroom had truffle. So it instantly won a spot in my heart. It was very similar to the pancetta, with caramelized onions and garlic cream, but instead of gruyere it was topped with ricotta. All of the flatbreads had their own unique flavors, and all were delicious. They’re not huge portions, and would make a great appetizer if you’re just looking to grab a quick bite at the bar.
When it came to choosing an entree, Jill and I had our heart set on trying the ‘smoked to order’ salmon with roasted red potatoes, seasonal vegetables and lemon cumin buerre blanc, but Chef had something different in mind for us — and what Chef wants to do, Chef gets to do! He brought us out one of the most delicious salmon dishes I’ve had in a very long time. Salmon can often become boring once you’ve had it the same way over and over, but this one was unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. The fish was perfectly cooked and encrusted in whole grain mustard that gave it such a beautiful crispy and extremely tasty crust. It was served over a bed of whole grains including farro and bulgur wheat, roasted asparagus and blistered cherry tomatoes. The creativity shown in this dish really gave us a taste of what the team at Cafe 5150 is capable of.
If that wasn’t enough of a treat, we got to taste another off-the-menu item — diced Yellowfin tuna tacos with wasabi aioli and seaweed salad. The tuna was fresh and flavorful and I loved the balance of textures from the cream aioli and crunchy wonton shell. The seaweed salad on top was just the right amount of umami flavor needed to round everything out.
As you may have guessed, no meal with Miss Fashionably French Fried is complete without an order of fries on the side. Lucky for us, Cafe 5150 has cajun skinny fries on their happy hour menu that they were more than happy to share with us. Skinny doesn’t mean diet-friendly here — let’s be real, they are french fries. What it refers to is the size of the fries, as in, they aren’t wedges or steak fries, they are skinny. I wish skinny fries could also make you skinny, but I guess that’d be asking too much. They’re served with a super delicious cajun dipping sauce that I wish I could slather on everything. It packed a punch and brought me back to my New Orleans trip a few years back where everything was cajun-ified and freaking amazing.
For dessert, we tried an assortment of pastries including pistachio macarons, chocolate covered strawberries, and a variety of cake bites — but we were urged by our server to also order the molten lava cake. As soon as you pierce your fork into the center of that mound of moist, tender chocolate cake, out oozes that silky smooth melted chocolate. It took just about all of our willpower not to dive right in… But who are we kidding? We don’t have willpower — that’s exactly what we did.
Cafe 5150 is located at 5150 Town Center Circle inside the Boca Raton Marriott.
