Atlantis Restaurants

This blog post is presented by Elaine Paperman, our guest food blogger.
Visit Elaine's web site to get various restaurants' reviews and very delicious food recipes.
http://homecookingwithflair.com
  
June 22-June 29, 2012

Finally we went to Atlantis resort, Bahamas. We’ve been there before, but never with our son. Everyone knows that Atlantis is fun, great grounds with pools, lacunas, all sort of different fishes, sharks, nice beaches, etc. But I will stick to the food topic. After all, it is a food blog. What can I say? Thanks to Atlantis numerous gourmet restaurants, my 7 year old carnivore son can now distinguish a perfect medium steak from dry nearly well done steak! Looks like flipping steaks will be his first summer job, lol! Meanwhile, he will consult me in the kitchen. Seriously, among many expensive gourmet restaurants, only two! served us perfectly done meat and fish.

The first would be good old Casa D’Angelo proudly maintaining its reputation for oh, so many years. We ate there more than 10 years ago and I retain memories of a very pleasant experience. I remember delicious food of a good quality and flawless service. We were very pleased to find the same perfectly cooked food and nice service. Brava, Casa D’Angelo!

The second, but absolutely not the least, was elegant and stylish Café Martinique located in Marina Village. The façade of this restaurant resembles an old-world private villa. Upon entering you can see a wrought-iron birdcage elevator that takes you upstairs to the dining room. There you are greeted by two beautiful ladies with the most amazing make-up. Once entering the dining room, we felt like we were in the South of France during Mademoiselle Coco Chanel era. The food was the most delicious food we ate in Atlantis, even better then Dune’s. The service was superb! Thanks to our captain, Desmond and waiter, Raul! (I hope I got their names right.) They serve you with professionalism and dignity, they talk to you, and they make you feel welcome and comfortable. The Dover Sole I ordered was DE-LISH-IOUS! I remembered Julia Child’s first lunch in France. I do not sound very modest, don’t I? but that was how I felt after trying that OMG how tasteful dish! And there my son finely got his steak right- perfectly medium. Hurray!

Bahamian Club. The appetizer was OK, dessert, too. But the main dish! We ordered seafood sampler. The Blackened tuna was listed as one of the items of that dish. The “Blackened tuna” can’t be pale, unattractive pink piece of uneatable because it was unchewable because it consisted of connective tissue only thingy. Yuck! That should be thrown away, not fed to the guests; do you hear me, Bahamian Club’s people? What a disgrace!

Mesa Grill. It was impossible to get a reservation before 9:30pm, so we went there without any reservations at 5:30 pm and were immediately sited by the very friendly front house people. Thank you, guys, you were wonderful! Unfortunately, and I really mean, unfortunately, that’s all good I can say about our experience at that restaurant. One of my most favorite Food Network personalities, Iron Chef Bobby Flay, why don’t you somehow disguise yourself and go there unanimously. See if YOU liked it. You put your name on the place, so please make sure they do not burn it on the grill! The waiter had that facial expression you would expect to see on the face of the weed pusher somewhere in Jamaica. The food was very mediocre, and the medium steak I ordered was a hair from well-done! What a shame! Our experience in New York’s Mesa Grill was amazing and we both, my DH and I, loved it. I repeat what a shame! I should have listened to many people who advised us against going to Mesa Grill, Atlantis.

 
We liked Dune located at the Ocean Club. The settings of this restaurant are very nice and picturesque. The food was OK; however I expected more from it.

 
We also liked the Virgil’s Real BBQ. As you guessed, it was a BBQ place. We did not have dinner there, only lunch and the food was delicious, the portions – enormous, and the prices – reasonable. We went there once for dessert since it was pouring outside and Ben & Jerry shop was in Marina Village, and we didn’t want to walk there under the rain. I promised my son some ice cream, so we checked with Virgil’s Real BBQ. We ordered one ice cream cookie order and it fed three of us for $9, tips included. Nice, yum, (and prudent).

 
The buffets were well, buffets. Do not expect much from there. And the plain, boring hot dog at the beach or a pool stand for $12! Well, it is Atlantis, after all. So, enjoy, have fun! We did!