Atlantic Bar & Grill

Dishonest coupon policy!  Be warned!

This restaurant has an ad in the current Entertainment book.  After eating our meal, we were told that they could not accept the coupon because they were no longer Atlantic Bar and Grill and had changed owners.  Never mind the fact that the signage in front stated that it was, in fact, the Atlantic Bar and Grill.  There was no sign indicating a change had taken place and no outward reason to expect the coupon would not be honored.  All in all, we lost about $20 by their refusal.  We find their attitude ridiculous and they are going to lose more than $20 in the long run because neither us nor our friends are ever eating here again.

Welcome back Chef Mike!!!!  We visited the ABG this past Saturday.  This is the first time we've been there since Chef Mike's return.  What can you say about Chef Mike that hasn't been said already?  Extremely talented & creative.

Now that Chef Mike is the Owner the menu has undergone some "recreation" and in my opinion is better than it was.  Very good variety with a lot of new signature dishes as well as some of your classic ABG dishes that customers have come to love over the years.

I had the "Angry Muscles" (special appetizer) and they were amazing (not too spicy) with the rack of lamb that was cooked to perfection (potatoes were a little bland) for $35.00.  My wife enjoyed the crab bisque with the ABG sampler (which for those of you have never been there before is a two person appetizer if you order it on your own).  

What i did like was the introduction of the Tapas plates and also now the option for soup or salad included with the Signature Dishes.  New outdoor dining for light lunch and drinks is a plus.   New trendy decor and some very South Beach type ideas makes for a new dining experience.  Staff was very attentive, friendly and skilled.

I would very much love to rate 5 stars & it if I could rate another half of star I would.  But of course I base my review on overall experience and not just food.  My only negatives are it is still a very noisy dining experience.  This has not changed over the years.  And it's still a bit on the pricey side.  Three appetizers, one Signature dish & 5 drinks (bretween the two of us) with no desert ran us around $170.00 (WITH tip).  You get beat up a bit on drinks and the wine list is not nearly as vast as it was last year.  Personally, I don't mind paying for good food so it was worth it to me.  But it might scare some people off and would definitely not make it a place most people could frequent on a weekly basis.

Overall though I am extremely satisifed and will definitely be back a couple more times this summer.

Killer views of the beach and ocean plus a full bar are the big draws here (5 *).  The kitchen turns out slightly-over-the-top American seafood and steak dishes, also an interesting assortment of bar food relabeled tapas plus yummy desserts (4 *).  But service was as slow as watching the tide go out. (zero *). Expensive too, every entree $25 and up.

This is a place to drink hard and shout at each other over raw oysters on ice. You can almost forget conversation.  Despite noise baffles (they are trying),
the dining room is loud, Loud, LOUD.

We visited on a Monday night in late June.  That's very close to high season so of course the dining room got packed.  We arrived at 6:30 and drinks came reasonably quickly, but we didn't get our entrees until 8:10, and dessert didn't come out until 9pm.  That's just too long when you take the non-drinking retired crowd.

I owe this review some notes on food of course :)  The lobster tamale was huge, the size of a burrito (look at my picture) and slathered in a hot and delish tomatillo salsa.  But the interior was wildly overcooked little bits of lobster, a poor match for the heavy spice load.  Not worth the $9.  The Christie crab tacos were tiny (didn't see that one coming did ya? :) but tasty (ahem, no comment).  

Oysters, clams and shrimp over squid spaghetti was delish, loaded with sliced garlic and bits of tomato.  No closed (bad) shells in the whole batch.  A gluten-free dish of scallops and potatoes had very large scallops perfectly sauteed, but some heavy sauce on top wasn't really necessary.  

Vegetarians can look forward to a really outstanding bowl of udon noodles, loaded with small black mushrooms and other veggies plus a generous helping of kim chi, this was not an obvious choice in a seafood place but I can recommend it highly.

Just for grins we had the bonus experience of sitting next to a table of three fifty-something guys who were way way drunk and impossibly loud.  The manager (I swear he was a double for Paulie Walnuts) warned them to quiet down, then the manager THREW THEM OUT, then the manager apologized to all the tables close by, and then the manager sent out dessert to us.  Dessert was great, but, ah, it was awkward for all, you just don't expect dive-bar behavior in such an upscale and expen$ive place.

FWIW the dress code is all over the place.  Guys in t-shirts and shorts, women in nice summer dresses.