Pam W.
Yelp
If you don't enjoy Pinky's, you don't really like good food, service and a fun, albeit loud, atmosphere. It's a perfect place to start my birthday week restaurant crawl and beach vacation.
We made a last-minute reservation for 12:30. When we arrived the restaurant was crowded but there were some tables available. We were sat at a 2-top by the bar. I'm not a fan of 2-top tables. I wish restaurants would just do 4-top tables or larger 2-top ones. There's just not enough room to spread out a little. It's the equivalent of being an adult at the kids' table on Thanksgiving. The table was wobbly too. I hate to complain but at this point I was feeling like my expectations were too high. When our server Megan came to the table I asked if there was a way to level the table and apologized for asking her but she very graciously went and got the thing that could slide under the leg, making it stable. Ahhh. So much better.
We started with drinks...smoke and chill and the manhattan. Megan brought water over when she first greeted us so we were set.
The menu. Oh my gosh...the menu! Well, I should say menus. We were there on Saturday, which means brunch and lunch, plus cocktails and wine. And they had a couple more cocktails on special on a little stand that were for the Flying squirrels. Nice!
I've always wanted to be one of those people who could just say 'we will have one of everything,' like the judges on Top Chef when they are doing restaurant wars. But we don't have that luxury because frankly I hate food waste and I can only eat so much. So calamari for my husband and scallops for me. Y'all, go look at the scallop picture I posted. It was amazing! It had a cream sauce with a hint of spice, polenta cakes and a garlicky gremolata with pickled fresno chilis. There was also a sherry reduction. Holy cow
This was good. Honestly, if I had that with some crusty bread or pasta...I need to get back to Pinky's before that leaves the menu. Go there, Get the scallops and a slide of bread and thank me later.
For mains we got the red snapper cooked with wine, butter, garlic, saffron and fennel. It had tomatoes too. It was baked in parchment so steamed perfectly with the flavors intermingled. It came with grilled bread and asparagus. I ate as much as I could but ended up giving half the fish to my husband. I wanted to make sure I had room for dessert.
Tiramisu and Pinky's version of an espresso martini. Probably the best I've ever had. I was around for the first round of espresso martinis being a thing in the 90s so I've had my fair share. This one is next level. My husband has been on the hunt for Strega, a digestive he used to drink in Boston, where he is from. He said Pinky's is a cool bar so they'll have it. I said no way, but lo and behold, it showed up at our table, making the day special for my husband too.
What an amazing meal to start a great week. If you haven't tried Pinky's, you must go. Especially if you like Mediterranean-style food and enjoy amazing seafood.
Can't wait to go back. Megan is on my list of fun servers. She made great recommendations and made the meal so much fun.