I TOOK THE BONEFISH CHALLENGE

Imagine my excitement when I was chosen by Bonefish Grill to participate in a review. Although I have heard nothing but good things about this restaurant, I personally had never eaten there before. When I went to Bonefish Grill’s web page I saw that they had a location near the beach, so that made me even more excited to go.

THE CHALLENGE

I was given a $25 gift certificate to Bonefish Grill. I was then given a $25 American Express gift card to use at another restaurant. I was to eat at both restaurants and then cross compare my experiences.

Easy challenge? You would think. Although I am no food connoisseur, I know what I like. I know the difference between good food and service and bad food and service. So I was prepared for the challenge.

BONEFISH GRILL

My husband and I decided to go to Bonefish Grill on a weekday as soon as they opened. (This was done for two reasons: Number One, because it is much easier to go out to eat when you don’t have to worry about a babysitter for four children and Number Two the restaurant would be less crowded. Hence faster service.)

My first impression was a very positive one when I saw where the restaurant was located. It being near the beach was a plus for me. I also liked the fact that it offered outside seating that looked comfortable but was clean as well. When we stepped foot inside the restaurant, I was even more impressed. The atmosphere was very relaxed. It had a black and dark wood decor that I thought was very nice, and it offered several different seating sections depending on how isolated you wanted to be. Also, the hostess and wait staff’s uniforms were very nice, crisp and clean.

We were greeted and seated right away. A waitress gave us just the right amount of time to look over our menus and took our drink order while we perused the menu. (This is where I want to add that I was in seafood heaven. There were SO many options I didn’t even know where to start.) We started off with two very tasty beverages, a Lemon Drop and a Black Cherry Guava Mojito. This was my first time actually drinking a mojito with actual mint in the glass.

For an appetizer we started out with the Bacon Wrapped Atlantic Sea Scallops with mango salsa. I was kind of hesitant about mango being in salsa but when I say that these scallops melted in my mouth, I mean it. Our main course consisted of Bang Bang Tacos (mine) and Sirloin Steak topped with shrimp and this delicious creamy sauce (hubby’s). I also ordered a side of Au Gratin Potatoes. In the words of Rachael Ray “Yum-o.” I was VERY impressed with the flavors that were infused in each different dinner. Their vegetables were even steamed and seasoned to perfection. The service was awesome and the manager even came around to see how all of the guest that were dining in the restaurant for lunch was doing.

TOTAL BILL: $56
TOTAL OUT OF POCKET: $36 (Including the tip.)
WOULD I GO AGAIN: Absolutely!

CRABCAKE FACTORY

In order to compare another restaurant to Bonefish Grill, we decided that it would only be fair if the restaurant mainly specialized in seafood as well and was also near the beach. As most of you know, my husband and I got married almost three weeks ago so we decided to make the Crabcake Factory our honeymoon restaurant. To also keep the location fair, we chose this restaurant because it was close to the beach as well.

My first impression when I saw this restaurant was that it was very nice. The outside of it wasn’t to appealing to the eyes, but you can’t judge a book by it’s cover. (I am a firm believer in this because I have a few favorite restaurants that would scare most people away by just looking at the outside of them.) When we stepped inside the restaurant, the decor was pleasing to the eyes. We were greeted by a friendly hostess and seated promptly where we were given a menu and told that our waitress would be right with us. (This is where the dinner started going wrong.) Our waitress came over before we even got the chance to sit down comfortably and asked us what we would like to drink. We asked to review our menu for a few minutes and then we would be able to let her know.

Exactly one minute later she was back at our table asking if we were ready. (I am all for prompt service, but when a customer asks for a few minutes I think that it is only polite that a few minutes is actually given.) We told her that we would need a few more minutes in which she hovered around our table. We just finally told her two Long Island Iced Teas and two glasses of water. Now that our drink orders were in we started looking over the appetizers and decided to get a chessy seafood dip and crab claws. I have to say that the appetizers were VERY delicious. (So much so that we wished a little more was included in each appetizer.)

And this is where the review stops for Crabcake Factory. I don’t believe in negativity on my website. I will just leave it as this: I was VERY disappointed in our main course meal. The only thing good about the meals were the crabcakes that were on our plates. Other then that, I don’t have too much positive to say about it.

We let our waitress know that there were a few things wrong with our meal. One of them being that it was kind of dry and unseasoned. Her fix for this was to bring us a small container of melted butter and a small container of seasoning. This was not acceptable at all. Even after we tried to doctor our meals it still wasn’t tasty and we expressed our dissatisfaction again. Her basic response was “oh well here’s your ticket.” No, “let me speak to the manager.” We were really upset at the end of the meal.

TOTAL BILL: $87
TOTAL OUT OF POCKET: $67 (Including the tip.)
WOULD I GO AGAIN: Probably not.