Oceana
Oceana is a Michelin stared restaurant that I’ve had my eye on for quite sometime now but it wasn’t high enough on my list of places to go to make me pay $40 for a grilled salmon fillet so I waited for Restaurant Week. My first impression of Oceana was that it was a more upscale, pretentious version of Dock’s Oyster Bar. The maitre d didn’t really want anything to do with me and the restaurant was filled mostly with older business men. Though the restaurant is pretty with its all marble raw bar and glass wine rack in the center of the dining room, the food nor the service matched the decor.
I ordered the Scallop Sashimi to start and the Grilled Bluefish as an entree. The portions actually weren’t that small for a Restaurant Week menu. The Scallop Sashimi was paired with a peach chutney which went well with the dish. The scallops were cooked well, which is very important for me since I usually dislike scallops because of their texture, and I liked the sweetness of the peach chutney with the scallops. The Grilled Bluefish sadly wasn’t as good. The bluefish was just grilled and tasted like any ordinary grilled fish that comes out of a Greek restaurant in Astoria and the beefsteak tomato didn’t help the dish at all. The service also felt rushed and my food was bought of very slowly and the waiter seemed too overwhelmed to care enough about me, though they did take my food allergy seriously which was good.
Oceana is known as one of those “under the radar” restaurants that no one really goes to unless they’re in the area and now I know why. While the restaurant is beautiful, the food isn’t anything to rave about and is priced at least twice as much as its worth and is mediocre at best. For good fish go to Thalassa which is just as pleasing to look at as Oceana but the quality of food and service is much better.
Ambiance: 8
Food: 3
Service: 7
Overall: 6
Verdict: Mirage
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