East End Brasserie

Beachfront brasserie in the former Trina space in the Atlantic Hotel.  Indoor-outdoor seating.  Extremely limited lunch menu, along with a kids menu.  Waiter didn't know the soup of the day, and had to ask another server (FYI it was clam chowder, a silly choice for a FLORIDA beachfront restaurant).  Place seemed a bit dreary and "dead," to say the least.  The energy (or lack of it) and the vibe were not good - strange.  We actually decided to get up and leave!  And that's not something we normally do.  Skip it - this place will be out of biz shortly.

Used our Travelzoo coupon and booked a table for 8:30 on a Saturday night. We did not need a reservation, the restaurant was a ghost town. Should of been a big warning sign but the hostess assured us that they were busy with early birds. The server told us otherwise. We ordered two seasonal cocktails, the Kentucky Apple and a Holiday Spiced rum. Both were very good. The appetizer suggestion was the tuna and steak, surf and turf tartar. Very light seasoning, allowed the meat to speak for itself. It would continue to speak later that evening. Chose the chicken and filet for entrees. The peppercorn sauce used for the filet was other worldly. Easily the best flavor on a steak I have ever experienced. The cut of meat itself wasn't too shabby either. Dessert was a chocolate lava cake, which tasted of freezer burn reheated. Overall, the impression leaving the restaurant left both of us at a 4.5 star status. Then we got home...both of us were crippled stomach problems. I am sure the appetizer is the culprit and I understand the risk of eating raw proteins but this is no excuse for a restaurant. If you can't guarantee the health of the customer with every dish, then you need to remove them from your menu.

The East Side Brasserie located in the Atlantic Hotel was somewhat of a fooler for me. Going there I had expected the menu to be French, but with the exception of a snail dish (Escargot en Croute), a confit of duck, burre blanc and a few other rather simple sauces, it wasn't. It's basically a pleasant higher class hotel restaurant, certainly large enough with a big bar area, decent simple but elegant décor, a nice outside patio consisting of a beautiful ocean view with the minor exception of the fact that between your patio seating and your ocean view there are the four lanes of the A1A Highway.

I've been here a number of times but not since it was run by local Chef Mark Militello who operated it as executive chef under the restaurant name Trina. Since then the décor has improved (I really found nothing attractive about bare bamboo sticks stuck in a pot of fake dirt) as has menu. Long gone are the Trina Restaurant days of a pseudo Wolfgang Puck inspired Spago menu consisting of high priced mediocre quality pizza. Good riddance!

The quality of food and service at East Side Brasserie today is excellent but for the price ($45 for a Cowboy Ribeye dinner) or simple daily fish lunch running around $22 with house wines at $11/glass one can do better at other beach front hotels. For example, 954 Steak at the W Hotel Fort Lauderdale, Shula's at the Westin Beach Resort & Spa or even at the Pelican Grand which in fact is located right on the beach, right on the water in the even you are really looking for that ocean view. The other choices are many and the competition is stiff.

So, over all, I can't really say I'm a fan of East Side Brasserie when I take into consideration the prices, however, it is a very nice place with really good but limited menu food.