Sarah S.
Yelp
I've never been to Brigantine before, and after holding onto a gift card for a couple of years my husband and I decided to finally give it a go for our anniversary. He'd been there several times over the year but only for Happy Hour, which I've heard good things about. When we arrived for our reservation we parked across the street (meter parking), or there was also an option for valet parking ($7).
Kyle was our server. He greeted us and got our drinks going while we took a moment to decide on food. Our dirty martinis were pretty good. We ordered a BLT wedge salad split, and some bread was brought to the table as well. Kyle gave us a run-down of the specials and I opted for the Surf and Turf special, while my husband ordered the macadamia crusted mahi mahi.
My first impressions of our food was that the plating was a little underwhelming (see my photo of the skimpy asparagus stalks laid out like sad little green crayons), but everything looked tasty overall. After digging in, sadly we learned that looks can be deceiving. My husband enjoyed the taste/seasoning of his mahi but we both agreed that it was terribly dry, overcooked and chewy. On my plate, the mashed potatoes, asparagus and seasoning of the filet was lovely, but the lobster was lukewarm, a bit fishier tasting than I was accustomed to and the melted butter was just that - butter that resembled olive oil with zero garlic flavor to complement the lobster. The final nail in the coffin was that although I had ordered my filet medium, it came out rare (see photo). I ate from one edge in, but stopped when I made it about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way because I just couldn't stomach the deep red center.
When Kyle had a chance to come check in on us, I expressed that I absolutely was not looking for any kind of discount or free meal, but just wanted the chef to be aware of my filet being super undercooked. He acknowledged that it was definitely not cooked correctly and offered to have it thrown back on the grill, but by that point it had been probably over 20 minutes since I'd stopped eating and I didn't have the desire to eat any more. He understood and then brought us over a dessert menu, and we ended our meal with a mud pie. When our check came, Kyle did in fact add a generous discount despite our protests (and of course, we tipped on the pre-discount total to thank Kyle for his service and attentiveness, as the food quality obviously had no reflection on him).
I guess I just don't understand the hype for Brigantine. Ours was seemingly just one underwhelming experience in a sea of positive ones, so perhaps this was just an "off" night for them. I won't be in a hurry to return, but also wouldn't blacklist them until I take a chance to give it another go.
