Waldo's Restaurant in Vero Beach, Florida, has more to offer than tasty food. If you like dining on the Atlantic Ocean in a restaurant that has a lot of character, charm, and interesting history, then you'll enjoy Waldo's Restaurant. This place not only offers lunch and dinner menus, but it also features an eclectic mish-mash collection of antiques, bells, ships wheels, cannons, and other interesting objects from all over the world.
Waldo Sexton arrived in Vero Beach in the 1920's and began building a private beach house a few years later. He hauled cypress logs from swamps around Blue Cypress Lake, about 26 miles away, and he built the house without any plans or drawings. So, it's not exactly a building with square corners and level floors, which only adds to the charm of this place. It wasn't long after the house was completed it was turned into a small resort. Over the years, other buildings were added and it soon became Driftwood Resort and includes Waldo's Restaurant. These buildings were added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
When driving on Ocean Drive, you'll see this sign and this is where you turn. Waldo's restaurant is behind the Driftwood Resort. Parking is available between the resort and restaurant but is limited.
Here's the front door for Waldo's
Come on in!
The next several pictures is just a small sample of the many interesting and unusual items from Waldo's "Menagerie of Monstrosities".
The next several pictures show the outdoor eating area around the swimming pool.
A few more things Waldo collected!
This shot is from Waldo's deck looking looking north towards the Ocean Grill Restaurant. A few steps down and you can stroll the beach after your meal. It's like frosting on the cake!
As you can see, there is plenty of interesting things to see at Waldo's and this blog shows only a small snippet of Waldo's crazy collection. There's a full bar inside the restaurant but seating inside is somewhat limited. Next time we come here, we're going to try to eat outside on the deck. Did I mention the food is great?
