Derek Byron

Review of Atlantic Fish and Chophouse

Spending a day on the island for work, I asked aro...

Spending a day on the island for work, I asked around for a food recommendation. This is where I was told to go. High praises, great food and atmosphere. Perfect.
The experience started off fine. Views of the neighboring yacht club were pleasant though not what I was expecting based on descriptions. The appetizers came with relative haste and were overall very good, though, I'm starting to believe that is because I was quite hungry from my journey.
Then came the dark times. A half hour with no visit from the waiter and no signs of my main course, black truffle lobster mac and cheese.
Finally, contact, the food would arrive in a few minutes. What feels like an eternity passes. I check my phone, it's been another 20 minutes.
A few more minutes tick by and a man who I presume to be the manager approaches with a halfhearted apology for the wait and assures me the food would be ready soon. Shortly after the waiter stops by with an excuse that the mac and cheese takes a while. It's now been an hour since the empty appetizer plates were removed from the table, and all hope of exploring the town before catching my boat back to the mainland were nixed.
A surge of joy fills me. I see my dish being carried toward the table. With more apologies I'm handed the meal. Though my joy quickly turns to dismay as I'm only left with about 15 minutes to eat my food and pay before rushing back to the dock.
Disappointment. Where is the lobster? The black truffles? In total there was maybe two arms worth of lobster in the shallow bowl. No sign of the tail, arguably the best part of the crustacean. If there was truffle, it was microscopic and lost in the bland cheese liquid and overwhelming amount of bread crumbs, more bread crumbs than would be needed for a half dozen or more of this dish.
With no time to complain, and knowing this would be my last chance for a remotely decent meal on my 5 hour trek home, I ate as much as I could, which was only about half before the underwhelming flavor and overabundance of the crumbs got to me.
Despite all of that, I'm giving Atlantic 2 stars because I did genuinely enjoy the raw oysters and sauteed mussel appetizers at the time. However, needless to say, on my next trip to the island, I won't be coming back to Atlantic and will likely just go to some seafood shack somewhere.