Varrick N.
Yelp
We dined June 8, 2021, seated on reservation for 6:30pm. The Terrace has been a go-to for years, always an island of calm in a busy, often raucous world. The restaurant reopening was just a few weeks ago, the hotel used the pandemic closure to spruce up the hotel overall, including the Grille. There's a new Chef, Matthew McBrayer, and he's created a new menu
We started with the Old Cuban champagne cocktail , very nice combination of flavors, $8 each.
We ordered the crab cake appetizer. I thought it a bit salty, but it came out two sizeable patties, nicely browned crust, but essentially all crab meat. It's chef's magic to somehow keep a patty all the way to the table. Fantastic, recommended.
Our salads were both excellent, my wife had the Terrace, I had a Caesar. They should use a better Parma to garnish the whole leaf Romaine on the Caesar, it was bland. Nice dressing and served with a charred crouton and pignoli for a nice crunchy touch.
I ordered the snapper filet. It was fresh, thick, and perfectly pan-seared. The vegetables were nicely prepared but the serving was parsimonious, would have liked about twice the vegetables on the plate.
My wife ordered the seafood Thai curry bouillabaisse. She ate about half then we swapped plates. The charred octopus was amazing, the hint of wood smoke really brought the flavor to the plate. The mussels were tender and delicious. A fine meal, though I would have liked the curry spicier.
Of the two, we both thought the snapper the better plate. We split a bottle of a white wine blend from the wine list that complemented our dinner.
Service here is about the best you'll find in Lakeland, and among the best anywhere.
We split a Terrace chocolate cake& still took about half home, decadently rich.
Our total came in around $170 before tax & tip.