Pearl On the River

Absolutely amazing all the food was great I had the fish tacos and they were absolutely delicious my brother had the fried chicken was so moist and delicious we are onto desert now and I cannot wait to try it I will be back.

It's always a bummer when a place you've been wanting to visit for years turns out to be a letdown, and that unfortunately was our experience overall at Pearl.  

In the plus column, our 6:30 reservation was honored when they opened at 5.  The inside of the restaurant is quite nice, with indoor and outdoor seating.  The special appetizer we ordered, a thai shrimp watermelon salad, was also very tasty.  The way it was constructed didn't make it very user friendly (giant chunks of watermelon PLUS whole peanuts aren't exactly easy to get on your fork), but the concept was unique and the taste was very refreshing on a hot day.  

The minus column is unfortunately excessive.

1)  We asked to be seated outside, but weren't there very long.  Their mister, which our server Yvette explained was being tested out for the warmer weather, was supposedly off but water was literally pouring out of it.  She said it would stop soon - it didn't.  In the meantime a decent breeze was blowing and my seat took the brunt of it, I literally had to towel off my silverware and phone, and I'm glad I wasn't wearing anything that needed to be drycleaned..  Our server relocated us inside, but in general was smiling and laughing about the whole situation, which was quite hurtful and frustrating.

2) Once seated inside, the specials were told to us again, and we ordered.  While we waited, we heard our same server help the table behind us, describing the specials and then going into rhapsodic detail about the standard menu items.  She talked for at least 3 solid minutes.  A) Why didn't we get the full treatment? But more importantly, B) there's no reason a server should be doing this.  It was borderline intrusive, and the reaction from the other customers once her shpiel finally wrapped up was clearly weirded out.  

3) Bread was brought to our table 3 slices at a time, our server saying she would keep an eye on it and refresh it.  The visual presentation of this is very silly, plus I'm quite sure the servers have better things to do than fetch bread for a hungry table multiple times.  Utilize their time better, just bring a standard  bread basket or nothing at all.  

4)  Our entrees were very mediocre.  My mom's duck breast, ordered medium rare, was overcooked and the fat wasn't properly rendered out AT ALL.  That duck was still wearing all its chub.  My fish tacos were just ok - not particularly flavorful despite a very colorful presentation.  BF's scallops with risotto was literally tasteless.  I don't know how you make something as special as scallops tasteless but they did, and the risotto was soupy and mushy, with none of the promised green onion flavor.  BF and I switched plates, and I took the small cup of salsa from my tacos and dumped it into the risotto.  It actually made the food considerably more tasty.  Despite lovely appearances, seasoning is mostly non-existent.  

5)  At this point we were too frustrated to stay for dessert.  Our server brought our check, and we each put a card in to have the bill split 3 ways.  When the checks were returned, we noticed that 18% gratuity had been factored in for EACH OF US separately, plus the check also included a blank line for any additional gratuity.  I was SHOCKED.  You don't do this to parties of 3, I've never seen automatic gratuity done for parties smaller than 6.  This was inexplicable and inexcusable.  And no, no additional gratuity was handed over.  There are also notes on the bottom of the checks saying 'God Bless America and God Bless You'.  Which I don't find offensive, but I don't feel it is appropriate.  You don't know who your customers are, and assumptions should not be made.  The propietor's religious/spiritual beliefs and opinions are not relevant to the dining experience.  

Beautiful tasteless food, weird server customs, automatic gratuities and religious notes on our checks, plus a free shower all conspired to guarantee I will not be returning.

This place was almost a total bust. We should of done what Terri wanted to do and stay over at Chevy's. Our first impressions were good. The place is very nice inside. The man at the front booth was very polite. We were at first seated outside on the river, which would have been nice, except for the spray mister that was supposed to be turning off any second, and never did. It wasn't even misting but just dribbling water all over us and the table. We put up with it for so long and then finally we asked  to be moved inside. We are now seated at a booth and are ready to order. One thing we found very odd was they would bring us plates with three slices of bread. Yes there were three of us, but  instead of refilling the plates over and over again, just bring a bigger loaf. We started with the watermelon, shrimp Thai salad. It was strange but I found it very good with a nice spicy kick. The only thing is I would of loved smaller chunks of melon. So for my entree I ordered the seared scallops with spinach and risotto. I know this is a fancy place, and they keep there portions normal, and make beautiful plates. But the food was in a bowl way to big and it made it look like an appetizer. On top of that the food was almost flavorless. The scallops were cooked good and tasted OK but the risotto was absolutely tasteless. I switched with Terri and finished off her last fish taco. Again, a lack of flavor. It almost didn't even taste like fish. She actually added the salsa that came with the tacos to the risotto and made it taste better. We shouldn't be finding our own ways to make our food flavorful. That's the chefs job. Our waitress was very nice, just really all over the place. The final slap in the face from this place was on our receipt they automatically take out a tip from your bill. I feel like I was stolen from. We weren't a group of four or more so there was no need for this. It was just the cherry on top of our crap sundae. 1 star for the OK service and the watermelon salad.