Oceano's Fair Lawn, NJ - Review

I have been coming here since it opened many years ago and have always loved the food.  We decided to have a 40th birthday party here for a group of 12 so we made the reservations for 7:00 and received a confirmation call the day of and off we went.  The service was good as I would have expected, but I was a little disappointed when we were sat in the main dining area as opposed the small out-cove to the back, which I asked for.  Everyone had a great time, lots of food and drink going around with a bill of $1090.00 with tip I was not shocked at all.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the food which ranged from salads and calamari for apps and scallops to crab claws for dinner.  I can only truly comment on what my wife and I had.

Apps we had the sampler, grilled octopus and a Caesar salad. The sampler was good, a nice light hummus, a hearty cheese spread, eggplant spread and a feta with roasted peppers.  The octopus was good, but prepared differently from the way I remember it not a few months ago and same goes for the Caesar, a little too much dressing and it didn’t have the usual "bite" I am used to.  My wife had the lavraki whole fish filleted and de-boned, but this time it had a lemon butter sauce drizzled on it as opposed to the usual olive oil.  I had the grilled lobster for the first time and it was cooked very well, soft delicate texture, not rubbery at all.  My only complaint is that I didn’t get it steamed, since I like the sweet meat from the smaller legs, having been grille they were mostly dried out. 

All in all yet another delightful experience at Oceano's, there were a couple hiccups with missing drinks, missing deserts and an extra app but I tend to give a little leniency to large parties.  I also can’t help feel that maybe there was a chef change here in accordance to some of the dishes we had and I also noticed a "slower" than usual business than in the past, but maybe it was due to school being out in the area and people skipped town for a vacation.   I would definitely recommend Oceano's for a nice night out.

Finnegan's Riverside Miami, FL - Review

Great waterside boat up bar. My buddy took us here on his boat. We had se good wings and I had an excellent fried mahi mahi fish sandwich. Crunchy and flavorful with a nice tartar sauce to top it off. He had the chicken quesadilla and said it was good as well. Typical bar atmosphere table games and dj. Good bars ode device but then again they weren't very busy at 11:30 am. Of you have access to a bout and are looking for a quick pull up spot check it out.

Mortaranos - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Review

Ok so supposedly this is a celebrity chefs restaurant. It definatly was over the top with extremely loud music, but it turns into a club after hours so this is to be expected. The service was exceptional from start to finish.
The food - the four of us had a Tom of food ordered:
Apps
Caesar salad - fresh crisp homemade dressing and croutons- very good, AirTran to much dressing for me
Broccoli rabe and meatball - again homemade meatball, delicious and the rave very tender and the roc rabe not bitter at all. Probably par blanched then sautéed.
Meatball with fresh ricotta and green salad, just as good as above.
Grilled octopus - very tender with red onion and very good Sicilian olive oil.
I had the fresh spaghetti puntanesca which was cooked perfectly aldente and the sauce was extremely tasty with the capers, olives and pieces of tuna, a variation. It well executed.
The other had fresh pappardelle Bolognese, fresh fusilli with breaded chicken and veal Milanese. Everyone commented on how excellent their dinners were and we all left very full.
1 bottle of wine, 2 bottles of Perrier and a bill of 300 before tip, Pricey one would say, but worth it in my opinion. I would recommend this for a nice fun night out.

Pashas South Beach, Fl - Review

Everyone seamed to enjoy the meal, the falafel Claiming to be the best in Miami were not, in fact I have had way better in jersey. I think the reason is this place is a fast Mediterranean restaurant, never been to one of these before. The service was very good though.
The sampler spread came with hummus, baba ganoush, yogurt spread and a walnut spread. All were tasty but I particularly liked the walnut spread since it was different and refreshing. Web though that is a wired description of walnuts.
I had the Gyro wrap, eh, meat was tasty but the onion was tough, large slivers for some reason the fresh squeezed pineapple apple juice was awesome though.
All in all it was a nice lunch on Lincoln street in South Beach, which Is an open air mall, of you will. Can't say I would ever come back though, if I ever travel here again.
100$ before tip with 3 apps and 4 entres not the cheapest but not the most expensive either.

Silver Pond Chinese Restaurant - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Review

So this is some of the best Chinese food I have had, authentic "check", there were 6 adults and 1 child and we got a ton of food. We started with hot an sour soup which I don't normally eat but this soup was delightful, then seafood rolls with real fish in them, extremely delicate with a nice sweet and sour sauce to dip. I went for the sautéed conch and squid which was perfectly cooked with a nice light sauce, the other entries were beef with eggplant with a sweet and tangy sauce, shrimp and garlic sauce and chicken with bean curd which was not that spicy, and I really can't handle the spice. I can't tell you the price because my buddy picked up the check but all in all the food was awesome, I kept this at four stars because the place looks a little dated to me, other than that great food, great service, a must try if your in the area.

Aruba Beach Cafe Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Review

Went here for lunch with a friend who lives in the area. I had the Lobster salad club which was very tasty. The lobster was tender, cooked perfectly with just a little kick of heat. My only gripe was that the honey wheat bread was not toasted so the sandwich got a little mushy. My wife had the texican burger, which must have been good since by the time I asked how it was she had already devoured it. Price point was consistent with being right on the beach 46$ for three people with 2 lobster clubs. Check it out of you r ever in ft. Lauderdale

Arturo's Restaurant Midland Park, NJ - Review

Anyone who says this restaurant is good or better is off their rocker.  This place is eh at best.  I have been there more times than I like to admit and each time was equally bad.  The two stars are simply because the place looks nice and the ambience is very nice as well, but the nice stops there. 

Although the wait staff is prompt and courteous they just can't make up for the bad food.   I can’t remember anything that was good, Caesar salad - bland, sausage broccoli rabe special - greasy and let me not forget the "fresh made” fettuccine alfredo, the worst!  Anytime you get fresh pasta that is essentially a bowl of mush you would send it back as we did, what you don't expect is it to come back with a comment from the chef saying that “fresh pasta is supposed to be that way and if we give you another plate it would probably be the same”,  really? Gimme a break!  I don’t know if the chef actually said that, but that statement was conveyed by the waitress.  Either way, whoever said it, some idiot in the kitchen or the chef himself, they should be embarrassed.  And the desserts, well let’s just say they were more than likely of the frozen defrosted variety. 

One last thing, the prices, what are they thinking? They should have never bought this location and stayed in the original spot 2 doors down the food was much better then,  but that was a long, long time ago, my have things changed.

Do I need to go on? I think I have wasted enough of my time in this poor review, which I hate giving to be honest.