Konnori B.
Yelp
I took my king to a fine dining place we have not tried before: Café Pacific. It is small inside, so booking reservations was the right move for us. Upon entering, we were seated to the left in a more closed off, intimate area which was nice considering we were for a birthday dinner.
The bread and butter came, and it was really good but perhaps not quite as good as other competitors (i.e. Ocean Prime). We ordered some drinks (Old Fashioned and Paper Plane), and both were very strong yet simple and tasty. Next was the appetizer: spinach and artichoke dip. As someone who is not the biggest artichoke fan, let me say that this was amazing!!! The artichokes were diced very well, which is normally an issue when eating this. Not this time, though! It is perfect for sharing. You may need more of the bread-like crisps that come with it though as the portion size is not small.
I ordered the Asian Chilean sea bass, while he got the salmon. I did not try his salmon, but he did try my sea bass which we both agreed was nothing short of incredible! The fish itself was cooked perfectly, and the crispiness on the outside of it was absolutely divine. The soy sauce was not too salty, and the spinach soaked it up which elevated the whole dish. I also thought the jasmine rice was great and cooked perfectly. This is one of the higher-priced seafood dishes but for good reason! Also, the asparagus fritti, which was fried with grated parmesan, was wonderful with a great creamy garlic butter sauce of some sort!
On the other hand, my boyfriend was not as impressed with his salmon dish. He said it was simply grilled and was tasty but could have used more flavor (perhaps a sauce or something to help elevate the smoked salmon flavor). I don't think he will order that again.
I ordered another drink (Vesper), but unfortunately I did not like it at all. With a combination of gin, vodka, and wine, it tasted like Dawn dish soap. That is not an exaggeration. I didn't send it back because I don't like to do that, so I drank it and kept quiet.
For dessert, they gave us their signature dessert with ice cream, nuts, house-made chocolate sauce, and some kind of caramel-almond crisp. It was different yet delicious! It reminded me a lot of fried ice cream which I haven't had in a very long time.
Overall, I do feel that for a little over $200 for everything, the food was great but not quite $200 worthy (maybe more like $140). Would I come back? Well, there are a lot of fine-dining competitors where I know I'm going to get exactly what I want and will easily pay for it. Café Pacific just needs a bit more flavor with their food. I would return but not for a long time.