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Review content:
Went there with a friend from work, wouldn't have gone there if I'd known it was an ""upper end dining place"", but really glad I did. My friend, who is from New England, and very very picky about her fish, wouldn't have gone if she'd known it was mostly fish food... but has now named it her favorite dining place in the area.
It's a sod to find if you're using a TomTom: we ended up on the wrong road. Look it up on Google maps beforehand instead.
I think we arrived at the perfect time, a little before sunset, so there was a 20 min wait for outside seats, 40 for inside, so book ahead if you can. The foyer's a little small, only seating maybe 10 people. You can order drinks while waiting, though.
I think because of the time, they were at capacity, so service was sometimes a little slow - not agonizingly, just a minute or two wait for a refill, etc occasionally.
There was live music outside: a good set, well known 60s-80s US blues I think, interspersed with a few words of banter amongst the players, quiet enough that you could still talk, though we picked a table a good distance away from the stage just in case.
As she said: ""they had us at the bread"". The butter had garlic and spices in.
Then there were stuffed mushrooms filled with crab, delicious, nom, and cheese, with a tangy sauce.
Then I had ""FISH ST.MICHAEL: fish of the day, pan saut?ed in lemon pepper flour and butter, deglazed with white wine, and topped with saut?ed crawfish tails in Cajun herbs & spices over herb butter garlic cream sauce"" - boneless tilapia (an American freshwater cichlid), softer and less textured than I'm used to in fish like cod and such, but a great mild taste. The white sauce went *deliciously* with the crawfish tails. I chose mashed potatoes as the side, which had herbs in, mild enough to go well with the fish. The ""dirty rice"" (I tried some of my friend's) was spicier, which is why I didn't have it, but it turned out to but not be spicy enough to overwhelm the fish - think I might have that if there's a ""next time"", as the potato was maybe just a tiny bit too mild. Because, you know, it's mashed potato.
Other than the cola (which was just diet coke: not a lot you can do with that to jazz it up), there wasn't a single ingredient that was even mediocre: even the mints with the check were delicious. I regret not having a drink worthy of the meal, now.
We were also really lucky in getting a sunset to *die* for, no mosquitoes, and just a little warm humidity (but plenty of fans).
Beware that mobile phones and free-roaming children are apparently discouraged inside: a couple of kids were roaming around outside just fine, though, and nobody told us off for checking our phones (oh my, how gauche!). Though some people had clearly dressed up for the place, I didn't feel uncomfortable in my shorts and sligtly-besplattered t-shirt.
Wouldn't go there every week, but really glad we found it: great place for anyone wanting to splash out a little and have a really nice dining experience.
Still, if I must find fault, then I have only one tiny, barely-significant grumble... I went there wanting to experience gumbo. There was no gumbo anywhere on the menu! :P
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