It definitely wasn't the first place on the list for dinner on Friday night, but since we couldn't get a reservation anywhere else we had to go there. Interestingly, the person responsible for the reservation said something to the effect "It always seems that I can get a reservation there when other places are booked." That raises the obvious question of why there might be that regularity.
The name of the place "Zee Bar" is supposed to be a clever pun on "Sea Bar", I must be a little slow because I didn't see that until someone told me. I thought Zee was German for the. The place is supposed to specialize in seafood.
The crowd, is mostly in the 40+ range. Mostly couples, but it looks like a few cougars go the place before prowling the city. I get the sense that its mostly a local crowd.
The place is decorated like Captain Highliner's recreation room. It was hideous. They have like these exposed brick walls all over the place with nets, lobster traps and mounted trophy fish. I almost expected to see the Captain -- Captain Highliner because Captain Morgan would never come here -- come out and work the room to make sure everyone was enjoying their meal and having a good time and maybe tell an interesting anecdote about some what he harpooned.
For some reason, they seem to have a decent wine list. We had a California chardonnay off the list that was pretty good, it was like $48. I can't remember the name exactly, but it had a bit of an Italian ring to it. We also brought a bottle -- a Mersault -- that was fabulous. The corkage fee was kind of high at $25, which would discourage most people from bringing a wine.
The menu has a few selections in the mains and the starters. They also have an oyster bar, so you can order those as well. The food was adequate. Most of the mains are in the low-$20 range, although the oysters were like $3.50 each. I started with the clam chowder and it was pretty good. Unlike Cafe la Gaffe, the clam chowder is prepared like a clam chowder. I followed that with a Jambalaya, which was really filling. It had a little bit of everything, but it was kind of light on the better quality seafood and compensated with a lot of clams and mussels. They also give you a little galvanized steel bucket to put the shells in. If they actually had a little bit of balance in the kind of seafood they were using they wouldn't have to put the buckets out. I mean the buckets on the table is kind of like 1 step removed from spreading saw dust on the floor and having the tables replaced by a sheet of plywood on bales of hay. I also tried someone's frites -- they came with some mussels, he also got a bucket. The frites are certainly not Jamie Kennedy quality. They weren't that crisp, a little on the soggy side.
I did order desert, although I tried a bit of someones chocolate cake. It kind of tasted like something like you could find in the frozen foods section of a supermarket.
Overall, this place is not that cheap. Dinner for four came out to $280 without the tip. The place is hideous and the food is not outstanding. It shouldn't be a surprise that they don't get any bunnies.
Rating: 0 Bunnies
Notes on the Bunny Rating System:
- 0 or no Bunnies, it's a waste of time; don't go.
- 1 Bunny, the place is worth checking out.
- 2 Bunnies, you should go out of your way to check out the place; the food is really good and the place is cool.
- 3 Bunnies, you absolutely have to go there; the food is exceptional and the place is really cool
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