Michael Deans Seafood Restaurant & Oyster Bar

01/07/11

Good food, High prices

by rc38 at Citysearch

Used to like this place a lot. Lately has become fairly expensive. There are other places I'd rather eat at for the $$ but this place is OK for a change of pace.

12/03/10

Mediocre food, poor service

by mhbrekke at Citysearch

My wife and I went to Michael Dean's last night for my company Christmas party, so to be fair I am rating the group dining experience and not the regular dining room. However, reviews of their food and service are still applicable (most of the menu item we were offered are on their regular dinner menu as well).

We almost didn't go to the party at all because my wife received such inattentive service when she called ahead to ask some questions about the menu. She has some food allergies and wanted to make sure that they were able to provide products that she can safely eat. She cannot eat dairy, soy or rice (a challenging combination of omissions, I'll admit). None of their standard starch items are suitable and they didn't seem to care enough to offer anything else. She inquired about a baked potato, but they said they don't bake potatoes (fair enough, I suppose, because I know that it takes time to do). Ultimately, we figured she could order fries so we decided to go.

Service at the restaurant itself was just as poor. My wife's food kept coming out wrong. The waiter (and the kitchen) clearly did not understand that she has to know what she is eating. I don't think the waiter himself even understood that butter is, in fact, a dairy product (for dessert, for example, she inquired whether there is butter in the pumpkin pie crust; he said he'd check and eventually served the pie which not only was served with whipped cream and a caramel sauce but we also eventually determined that the crust did indeed have butter in it -- it's a good thing they served the obvious dairy or she'd have eaten the pie assuming that the staff had paid attention to her question).

The kitchen apparently cannot make plain fries, so the only starch choice they could offer my wife was a fruit cup. Now, I do understand that dietary restrictions can be a challenge for the chef to accommodate, but we are used to decent restaurants making an honest attempt to get it right. Honestly, how hard is it to turn a plain potato into French fries? I've done it at home myself.

My shrimp and cognac bisque contained a single piece of shrimp (clearly fresh and properly cooked, so there's a plus). The bisque itself was certainly nothing remarkable. Our filet mignon was served cooked the way the chef wanted it prepared. We were not even asked how we would like it; they cook them to medium and don't even ask if that is OK. It's just the way they do it. I would have preferred mine medium rare, but as it was it was fine. Not great, and certainly not the best cut of meat I've ever had, but fine. My crab cake was edible, but was more bread than crab. My mashed potatoes had very little discernable flavor or texture.

On the plus side, the burgers they made for our two young boys were prepared exactly as we had asked and were quickly devoured so they must have tasted fine.

Dessert (for me, at least) was OK. Again, not outstanding, but not bad and certainly the best thing I ate all night. The boys had fruit cups for dessert because that's what they asked for. One was served IN A COFFEE MUG WITH A BROKEN-OFF HANDLE! When I pointed this out, the waiter took it away but couldn't seem to understand why I insisted that there had been no excuse for serving anything that way. That was the stupidest thing I've ever seen a restaurant do and at that point I guess I wasn't afraid to let him know that.

So, to summarize: You can get better food for less money; you'll get what they want to serve you and nothing more; staff as a whole is somewhere between inattentive and incompetent.

Do yourself a favor and eat somewhere else.

11/30/10

Bland and overpriced. No reason to eat here.

by rAs at Citysearch

Michael Dean's only barely earned 2 stars from us. We went there for my birthday tonight. And while nothing was terrible, certainly nothing was good either. Crab cakes were overcooked on one side and were made with way too much bread crumb (bread crumb was pretty much all you could taste). Oysters Rockefeller were cooked nicely but way under-seasoned and then doused in bland Hollandaise. Lobster & shrimp bisque had the overpowering taste of soup base and had no discernible chunks of lobster or shrimp; the seafood was minced into oblivion. They floured the scallops before they seared them to attempt getting a well colored crust, but it resulted in a chewy, taste-altering shell on each scallop. Scallops sear beautifully all by themselves in a hot pan with the right amount of oil. Flouring them was beyond stupid. We asked for the tomato coulis on the side, and thank god we did. It was bland and in no way complimented the scallops. We then ordered sides of pineapple salsa and lemon beurre blanc to see if they would fit better on the scallops. Both were absolutely awful. The beurre blanc tasted like mayo with a few drops of lemon. The wild mushroom risotto was decent. The broccolini was blanched fine but not seasoned. The crab and shrimp stuffed flounder used the crab cake mix, so again, it mostly tasted like bread crumbs. Both entrees were $24 each and most other entrees hover around that price. It's insulting and presumptuous to price them so highly. The technique and quality of preparation in no way warrant that price. Our server was friendly and was doing well at first, but after we received our entrees, he didn't ask how everything was. Then it took about 30 minutes between having our leftovers boxed and getting our credit card receipts. There's no reason to eat here. You can get better, tastier seafood at much more reasonable prices elsewhere.

11/11/10

Food Used To Be Good Many Moons Ago

by msrock911 at Citysearch

My friend and I recently ate at Michael Dean's and I was not impressed. I took the waitress' suggestion of the shrimp and crab stuffed flounder, and boy was that a mistake. Upon arrival to the table it didn't look good; when I bit into it, it was even worse. It was obvious that this was a frozen entree (which I was assured it was not) that was defrosted and baked. The texture of the fish was mooshey and grainy, and essentially unedible. The waitress and the manager were very apologetic and I received a new (and different entree) very quickly. While the seafood pasta was okay, it was nothing to write home about. This was the 2nd time I've dined at Michael Deans and received substandard food. I ate at the old location when they first opened and the food was to die for; whatever they were doing then, they need to go back to that.

08/08/10

Horrible food poisoning from oysters

by Lisbeth2 at Citysearch

I got food poisoning from Michael Dean's restaurant several years ago but I thought it was a rare mishap UNTIL I saw here that 3 other reviewers got sick more recently. I was the only one at my table to get sick and the only one who ate Oysters Rockefeller - NOT raw oysters.