I have lived in Croatia (central Dalmatia) for 17 years and the food has not changed. Croatian restaurants provide domestic food. Nothing exotic. Now i like domestic food. But my parents in law cook it just fine. Thats what domestic food is after all. Food that can be cooked at home. Now the thing is, touristic restaurants have a limited time to make a lot of profit. So are you getting value for money. Do you even know for instance, if the food is fresh or frozen. Probably not as the sauces mask it. Or they should.
And dont talk to me about the desert menu. Its crepes all day long in every restaurant. So how do you avoid cheep frozen food thats not simply served in a cute environment on the harbour front.
You need to go inland and find the ones that are open all year for realy good quality food. But dont expect fancy food.Its meat and fish all day long. But its how its cooked and the source of the food.
Look for an all year restaurant with food cooked under the Peka. Done correct its fantastic.
I ate food on the Riva in Trogir. It was all set out fancy but was basic. My wife and i only and it cost us over 600 kuna!!!!! The next day we drove out past rogoznica and on the road at a roundabout is a great restraunt. We ate more and better for 200 kuna.
Moral of the story, on the rivas in any town, stick to coffee. If you want good food, head inland to all year establishments.
But hey, thats just my observations in central Dalmatia and may not apply to all locations. Any establishment that may resemble anything i just said is purely coincidental:-))))))