After a day of sitting in meetings- a great seafood dinner within walking distance of my hotel seemed like a perfect way to end my day. So after debating between a couple of choices- we chose to go to the Ocean Grill- a sleek contemporary restaurant that was voted the best seafood restaurant in Madison in 2006.
Too bad the weather didn't cooperate as I would have liked to have sit outside on their patio area. Oh well- we did get a nice table by the windows to enjoy our dinner.
This restaurant prides itself on its 26 varieties of sparking wine which makes them Madison's premiere champagne bar. Not in the mood for champagne? They have a great wine list with over 25 wines available by the glass.
We started with fresh oysters (2 varieties), fried calamari with a peanut sauce and an interesting goat cheese coated with nuts and honey and served with fruit. All were delicious- a perfect way to start our evening.
The entrees were where it fell apart a little for me. While the grouper sounded wonderful- coated with horseradish and served with wasabi mashed potatoes and stir fried vegetables- in reality, the fish was bland and over cooked and the vegetables were almost greasy. The other entree was a grilled swordfish which was good but unremarkable.
They did redeem themselves with the desserts. We tried two- the molton chocolate cake and the poundcake with creme fraiche and berries. While the chocolate cake was the winner- both were very good.
Service was attentive and they did take one of the grouper entrees off the bill as it was basically untouched. The manager also came over to apologize saying that she "wanted us to love it".
All in all- a solid choice for seafood in Madison. Just stick to the simpler things on the menu and you will be fine. Maybe we were just "bad orderers" tonight!