A fish painting on the wall of SeaGrass. July 8, 2021. Blogfinger photo. Fish paintings are on all the walls, and those are visually excellent.
Paul Goldfinger, Editor. blogfinger.net
This is not a formal restaurant review. It is a summary of what 3 of us experienced when we went to SeaGrass on Main Avenue, OG, for an early dinner.
The owners summarize who they are this way at their web site: “Festive BYOB serving sustainable seafood & meaty American mains in a comfy digs with nautical decor.”
We arrived early at 6 pm, on Thursday, July 8, so there was no trouble being seated inside or out. It’s a good thing, because they take no reservations. Considering it was a weekday with rain threatening, the restaurant was crowded.
SawGrass restaurant entrance where there is a giant fish tank. Paul Goldfinger photo. ©
The first thing that strikes you is that this room is incredibly noisy to the point where it was hard to have a conversation, and the noisy ambience and the dark interior were a problem for us. The service was quick and very good.
The menu reveals that this is a seafood restaurant above all else, but we have enjoyed their duck here in the past. The lamb chops looked tempting as well. The menu is very busy, and there are so many complicated choices that you have to focus in before you are overwhelmed.
Personally I prefer simple dishes with fewer ingredients, but cooked perfectly, and that is how I ordered here.
I had six oysters (raw). They were fresh, but skip the vinegary (tart) dipping sauce and just splash on some lemon juice.
My main course was baked cod fish which was delicious and cooked to perfection. It came with some chunks of lobster on top, but that was unnecessary and I saved it to take home. The pieces of lobster just clashed with the fish.
They also could have skipped the heavily seasoned breadcrumbs which were piled on top and were visually a loser. I scraped it off.
This dish was $29.00 and promised mashed potatoes with asparagus, but they had no asparagus even though it is in season now. Instead they offered green beans—a let down.
Another in our party ordered an appetizer portion of coconut shrimp, fried. The shrimp was expertly cooked, but she couldn’t taste the coconut and she reverted to cocktail sauce. She also had a salad with mixed greens, goat cheese, cranberries and candied pecans. She thought the salad was “very good.”
Our third critic ordered the lobster BLT on a brioche roll. She was disappointed because the BLT contained a “scoop” of lobster salad, some unimpressive bacon, a few pieces of romaine, a skinny slice of tomato, accompanied by some “homemade” potato salad. She thought it was overpriced ($30.00) “for what it was.”
She also ordered a Caesar salad which was large. We shared it, and it was an excellent Caesar.
We were surprised to have $4.00 added to our bill for a “card charge.” The waitress had a tough time trying to explain that charge, but it was something about recouping lost COVID income. I thought it had to do with using a credit card. In any case, it was a worrisome extra charge.
To be fair, we brought home some leftovers—-fish, some lobster, some mash potato, and a few other components, and our son finished it, calling it “wonderful.”
SeaGrass has a fine location for Grovers and it has no competition in town. We will be back.
I know that many of you like to try the eateries on Cookman. Isn’t that a great name for a street with restaurants? But they should change the name to “Cookperson.” Note that there are some new restaurants in A. Park.
There’s nothing like variety, so if any of you have a great eating experience in this area, please let us know and we will share on the Wassup page.
CONAL FOWKES and EDDY DAVIS WITH “ANNIE HALL” –FROM WOODY ALLEN MOVIES: