Whitney: Hands down this is a lovely place to dine. You are sitting right on the water under beautiful pine trees and its all tucked away in quaint Brandermill. The staff is welcoming and ready to serve. But don't get your hopes up too high we cannot 'have our cake and eat it too'. I encourage everyone to go just to sit and watch the sunset but stick with drinks and maybe just the Asian Salmon Salad.
We've all heard the Boathouse buzz but are these people really tasting the food or can they not get over the ambience?
My date and I ordered a total of four appetizers (we'd been pre-warned to only go for appetizers and drinks, that the food was simply not worth the buck). So we ordered a Cava split 9.00 and a Strawberry daquiri. (Most splits about town are anywhere from 6.50-8.00 so the price isn't too far off base).
We decided to stick with the Calamari Fritte-9.50 and there was nothing fabulous or wonderful about the Calamari but it wasn't terrible either (how hard is it to mess up Calamari up, right?). Also ordered were the Maki Rolls, rice, nori, cucumber, scallion, red peppers, ginger, wasabi, sweet soy dip with Spicy Tuna with Chile Sambal and Jalapeno- 9.50. Though the rolls were pretty and simple we also had to take into a consideration that we were not at a Japanese establishment. So we let the fact that the rice was not fresh and that the Spicy Tuna was not actually spicy- pass.
However, The Crab Louis Salad-12.50-was pretty bad! Despite the plesant sounding description on the menu- Crabmeat, Spinach, Asparagus, Artichokes, Tomatoes, Capers, Egg and Louis Dressing- the Crab was NOT fresh. I don't know if it was canned crab, or if they used crab off of another plate, or if this crab was from the trash even but this was not fresh crab on my salad. So much so that I ate around the crabmeat. The Salad itself was a beautiful display of fresh lettuce and artichoke with huge stalks of asparagus, tomato and a sliced boiled egg on top. Even the Louis Dressing was wonderful-but the crab was funky. When the issue was addressed our waiter told us "the crab is delivered fresh daily. But I don't like it either". To this I thought, "Thanks for all your help"!
Finally I'd like to mention the Asian Salmon Noodle Salad-Maple ginger, Glazed Grilled Salmon, Sesame Noodles, Hoisin Vinaigrette, Baby Spinach, Asian Slaw and Fried Leeks- 12.50. This was a dish worth the money, worth the box to take it home and so worth it the next day for lunch. All of the ingrediants led to a colorful array of veggies and noodles all mixed together for my consuming pleasure. The Maple Ginger and the Salmon were tangy and sweet but not of the Teriyaki descent. I highly reccomend this dish.
Overall: The setting was surreal and made us feel like we were vacationing (and for Richmonders' it is quite a hike (especially when we have better food right down the block)). The overall food experience was a total catastrophe. If the only thing holding a menu together is Seafood (so much so that you have an array of items such as Sushi and Pizza and Lobster Bisque on the menu) then shouldn't the Seafood (at least) be fresh?
We've all heard the Boathouse buzz but are these people really tasting the food or can they not get over the ambience?
My date and I ordered a total of four appetizers (we'd been pre-warned to only go for appetizers and drinks, that the food was simply not worth the buck). So we ordered a Cava split 9.00 and a Strawberry daquiri. (Most splits about town are anywhere from 6.50-8.00 so the price isn't too far off base).
We decided to stick with the Calamari Fritte-9.50 and there was nothing fabulous or wonderful about the Calamari but it wasn't terrible either (how hard is it to mess up Calamari up, right?). Also ordered were the Maki Rolls, rice, nori, cucumber, scallion, red peppers, ginger, wasabi, sweet soy dip with Spicy Tuna with Chile Sambal and Jalapeno- 9.50. Though the rolls were pretty and simple we also had to take into a consideration that we were not at a Japanese establishment. So we let the fact that the rice was not fresh and that the Spicy Tuna was not actually spicy- pass.
However, The Crab Louis Salad-12.50-was pretty bad! Despite the plesant sounding description on the menu- Crabmeat, Spinach, Asparagus, Artichokes, Tomatoes, Capers, Egg and Louis Dressing- the Crab was NOT fresh. I don't know if it was canned crab, or if they used crab off of another plate, or if this crab was from the trash even but this was not fresh crab on my salad. So much so that I ate around the crabmeat. The Salad itself was a beautiful display of fresh lettuce and artichoke with huge stalks of asparagus, tomato and a sliced boiled egg on top. Even the Louis Dressing was wonderful-but the crab was funky. When the issue was addressed our waiter told us "the crab is delivered fresh daily. But I don't like it either". To this I thought, "Thanks for all your help"!
Finally I'd like to mention the Asian Salmon Noodle Salad-Maple ginger, Glazed Grilled Salmon, Sesame Noodles, Hoisin Vinaigrette, Baby Spinach, Asian Slaw and Fried Leeks- 12.50. This was a dish worth the money, worth the box to take it home and so worth it the next day for lunch. All of the ingrediants led to a colorful array of veggies and noodles all mixed together for my consuming pleasure. The Maple Ginger and the Salmon were tangy and sweet but not of the Teriyaki descent. I highly reccomend this dish.
Overall: The setting was surreal and made us feel like we were vacationing (and for Richmonders' it is quite a hike (especially when we have better food right down the block)). The overall food experience was a total catastrophe. If the only thing holding a menu together is Seafood (so much so that you have an array of items such as Sushi and Pizza and Lobster Bisque on the menu) then shouldn't the Seafood (at least) be fresh?
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