[Review] Bahama Breeze restaurant
Apr. 24th, 2005 10:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfsSo, Omaha, I, and another couple went out to this new restaurant down by the Southcenter Shopping Mall named "Bahama Breeze." Already, the name should be a warning: we live in Seattle, which is about as far from the Bahamas as you can get and still be in the Continental United States. We found our friends seated at a table near the bar, waiting for their names to be called for seating in the restaurant. The music in the bar was too loud for even casual conversation. I ordered a lime daiquiri, which might have had fresh limes and alcohol waved at it but was otherwise indistinguishable from a weak 7-11 Slurpee. My friend was underwhelmed by his Long Island iced tea. They were cheap with the liquor.
The construction doesn't feel right. It's all too new. I lived in the Florida Keys for a good chunk of my life and the restaurant felt very off from what I'm used to. For one thing, the place was insulated against the weather far too effectively. I know, it has to be, and it's faux, but it felt so faux.
We got our seats and ordered. The appetizer was a mound of onion rings which were delicious. Feeling hopeful, I ordered a "Jamaican-style burger"; Omaha had paella. The paella was delicious, Omaha said, but she couldn't eat much, but my burger was disappointing. When someone tells me they're giving it to me "Jamaican style," I expect pepper cheese and paprika and capsicum and onions and veggies. I got a boring cheeseburger, not even Outback quality beef, on an over-toasted bun. Our friends had the same experience: his beef kebabs were good, but her pasta pomodoro was overcooked and mushy. She sent it back uneaten.
The manager came to ask her about it. I complained about my burger as well. She apologized and offered alternatives, but we passed. I'd eaten most of my burger anyway. We ordered dessert and decaf coffee. We got tea instead; they use the decaf coffee maker for brewing the tea that they make iced tea with, our server explained, which put me off the whole idea. The key lime pie was excellent, the first thing I can say I enjoyed, but the other desserts were so-so. My friend complained that the banana supreme was poorly presented.
To the restaurant's credit, both the burger and the pomodoro were taken off the receipt, but between the food and the drinks even with those removed we spent way too much money there which totally blew our dining budget for the month. Not cheap, and not worth it for an unremarkably average restaurant.
The construction doesn't feel right. It's all too new. I lived in the Florida Keys for a good chunk of my life and the restaurant felt very off from what I'm used to. For one thing, the place was insulated against the weather far too effectively. I know, it has to be, and it's faux, but it felt so faux.
We got our seats and ordered. The appetizer was a mound of onion rings which were delicious. Feeling hopeful, I ordered a "Jamaican-style burger"; Omaha had paella. The paella was delicious, Omaha said, but she couldn't eat much, but my burger was disappointing. When someone tells me they're giving it to me "Jamaican style," I expect pepper cheese and paprika and capsicum and onions and veggies. I got a boring cheeseburger, not even Outback quality beef, on an over-toasted bun. Our friends had the same experience: his beef kebabs were good, but her pasta pomodoro was overcooked and mushy. She sent it back uneaten.
The manager came to ask her about it. I complained about my burger as well. She apologized and offered alternatives, but we passed. I'd eaten most of my burger anyway. We ordered dessert and decaf coffee. We got tea instead; they use the decaf coffee maker for brewing the tea that they make iced tea with, our server explained, which put me off the whole idea. The key lime pie was excellent, the first thing I can say I enjoyed, but the other desserts were so-so. My friend complained that the banana supreme was poorly presented.
To the restaurant's credit, both the burger and the pomodoro were taken off the receipt, but between the food and the drinks even with those removed we spent way too much money there which totally blew our dining budget for the month. Not cheap, and not worth it for an unremarkably average restaurant.
