Entries categorized as ‘Romantic Lunch’
O’Brien’s is truly unique in Pensacola. For starters, it is small and intimate. This is not a easy charateristic to find in this town. Its food it delicious, its wine list is magnificent, and its service is (usually) sophsticated yet friendly. That few short sentences say it all. It is one of the few restaurants in Pensacola in which you can truly feel that you are someplace special. Sometimes it shows its age, and falters, but it delivers something that you can’t find elsewhere in Penacola.Recommendations? The entres range from seafood to steak. The atmosphere is “neighborhood fine dining”. Try their specials. The wine list is stellar. Spend some time with it to find some unusual gems. If you have a chance, let Jim O’Brien recommend your dinner and wine.
Name: O’Briens Bistro
Location: 4350 Bayou Blvd, Pensacola, FL, 32502
Phone: 850-477-9120
Price: $$$-$$$$$
Website: na Technorati Profile
Categories: Business Lunch · Cordova · Dessert · Dining with Friends · Drinks · Food · Pensacola · Restaurant · Romance · Romantic Dinner · Romantic Lunch · Seafood · Steak
Tagged: Romantic Dinner, Restaurant, Seafood, Steak, Business Lunch, Cordova, Pensacola, wine, bistro, o'briens
What a surprise! This is a chain. It is not unique to Pensacola. I am not a huge fan of chain restaurants and do not frequent them often (aside from Carabas, but that’s a different review). To further set the stage on this review, I have eaten at this Bonefish location in Pensacola on three prior occasions. I found the food bland and uninteresting on all three occasions, as you would expect at any franchise restaurant.
Last Tuesday however, I had a completely different experience. We dropped in to use a gift certificate, and walked out impressed. We started with the chicken spring rolls. They were tasty but nothing extraordinary. The salad was less exciting, though the bread is always a great touch. We both order the tilapia special, because our server sold it so well. Tilapia Withdrew, or something like that. It is a healthy piece of grilled, but delicately spicy tilapia, covered with a spinach-gouda cream sauce topping.
This plate is fantastic. It rivals anything that the Fish House may create and truly trascends the franchise restaurant fare. We will return to see if this experience can be duplicated. Stand by for that review.
Name: Bonefish Grill
Location: 5025 N 12th Ave., Pensacola, FL 32504
Phone: (850) 471-2324
Price: $$-$$$
Website: http://www.bonefishgrill.com/home.asp
Categories: Business Lunch · Cordova · Dessert · Dining with Friends · Dining with Kids · Drinks · Food · Pensacola · Restaurant · Romance · Romantic Dinner · Romantic Lunch · Salads · Seafood · Steak
Tagged: Romantic Dinner, Restaurant, Seafood, Steak, Dining with Friends, Cordova, Pensacola, grill, bonefish
Now I am about to say that Horizen offers the best sushi in Pensacola, but I want to qualify my statement first. Pensacola is a town of superior sushi. Its about the very fresh fish we have here and our long relationships with the Japanese via the Navy, and that is long and complicated. Suffice it to say that in a town of great sushi, Horizen edges out the competition. Why? I think its the sticky rice, but I am not sure.
The Tiger Roll is the item to get on this menu. Never have I eaten here and not ordered a Tiger Roll. It is a house specialty. There are other standard sushi rolsl that are spectacular as well. I have never had bad sushi here. I can’t say that for any other sushi house I have eaten at. And I have eaten at Horizen more than any other sushi house.
However, I have had bad service here. I have had horrible service here. It has dramatically improved since they brought they brought some of the Front of the House managers over from Hunan, but it is still hit or miss. If the restaurant is busy, the three to four sushi rollers can’t keep up. It can take an extraordinary amount of time to get your order. Enjoy the Japanese wine selection, the sake, and some seaweed salad.
If you find waiting long lengths for your food inexcusable, as I do, don’t write Horizen off, just don’t go during peak hours. Its great for a late lunch or dinner. Or on a Monday or Tuesday evening…
Name: Horizen
Location: 3103 E Strong St., Pensacola (just behind Hunan on the east end of Cervantes)
Phone: (850) 432-7899
Price: $$
Website: http://www.horizensushi.com/
Categories: Business Lunch · Dining with Friends · East Pensacola · Food · Pensacola · Restaurant · Romance · Romantic Dinner · Romantic Lunch · Seafood · Sushi
Tagged: Business Lunch, Dining with Friends, East Pensacola, heights, horizen, Lunch with Sweetheart, Pensacola, Restaurant, Sushi
If we had to pick one restaurant that would best represent Pensacola, it would have to be the Fish House. Located on the water, this restaurant has outdoor waterfront dining, delicious fine seafood menu, and lots of local flavor. For starters, though the food is fine dining quality and presentation, the atmosphere is decidedly casual. There are many business suits for lunch and the same at dinner, but you’ll always find shorts, flops, and suntans.
It is the Fish House, and they serve the best seafood in Pensacola. This is quite an accolade, as I consider Pensacola seafood some of the very best in the world. But not only is the Fish House good at fish, it is good at everything. For example, their burger sits as one of the best I have ever had. Their steaks are also superior. While the supremacy of the food at the Fish House waxes and wanes with chef moods, it never drops below excellent. The grits in the best in the South.
The Fish House offers indoor and outdoor dining. Indoor dining is marked by a crowded, white table cloth atmosphere and massive fish tanks. Outdoor dining happens on one of many levels of decks, covered by a variety of umbrellas and wide canvas strips. It is heated during Pensacola’s very short winter, and the ocean breeze cools it after noon during the summer (though one should pick summer lunch seating carefully). Delightfully, the Fish House decks sit on the east side of the building. While this precludes a sunset view, it does often a quick cool down at dinner time.
The only complaint that I may have about Fish House comes in the “local flavor”. The Fish House is a favorite watering hole of local socialites and wannabes, and they don’t mind starting early. What this means is that by early evening, the bar areas can be quite loud and somewhat obnoxious. If you prefer more peaceful dining, be sure to request seating away from the bars.
That being said, the Fish House is the first place that I recommend to visitors to Pensacola, my first choice for a business lunch, or a great place to go with Friends. On the right evening, it can be romantic as well. Regardless, you will have a superior dining experience.
(Well-kept secret: Fish house has the best burgers on the face of the earth. Really.)
Name: Fish House
Location: 600 S Barracks St # 10, Pensacola, FL 32502
Phone: 850.470.0003
Price: $$-$$$$$
Official Website: http://www.goodgrits.com/
Categories: Burgers · Business Lunch · Dessert · Dining with Friends · Downtown · Drinks · Food · Outdoor Dining · Pensacola · Restaurant · Romance · Romantic Dinner · Romantic Lunch · Salads · Sandwiches · Seafood · Seville · Steak · Sunday Brunch · Sushi
Tagged: Downtown Pensacola, Drinks, Restaurant, Seafood, Business Lunch, Dining with Friends, Outdoor Dining, Burgers, Sushi, Lunch with Sweetheart, Seville, Pensacola, fish, house, marina
