Restaurant Reviews Rhode Island – The Boat House

 

Jo & Ernie’s Restaurant Review Rhode Island – The Boat House Restaurant

 

The fabulous weather, beautiful flowers, tranquil ocean view and always amazing food, make the Boat House a favorite destination on Sundays.  Approaching the entrance to the Boat House during the month of July, guests are greeted by dozens of hydrangea bushes.  The outdoor dining patio is nestled between the Mount Hope bay with plenty of boaters and the beautiful pom poms of pink and blue (not sure why they are called blue, they look purple to me).

One of the many enjoyable aspects of this waterfront restaurant is when the windows that overlook the bay are opened just right to make the temperature inside perfect without the use of air conditioning.

 

 We had an excellent experience at the Boat House during our last visit on the Sunday of July 4th weekend.  We started with a mixed green salad and a half dozen oysters.  Oh yes, and a glass of Louis Martini Cabernet Sauvignon and Grey Goose Dirty Martini with 5 olives.

The native oysters were nicely chilled with a slight buttery taste.  They come with cranberry mignonette, cocktail sauce, lemon and lime.  I do not profess to be an oyster purist and my garnish of choice is cocktail sauce with plenty of horseradish.

To the right is a photo of my half eaten Mixed Greens Salad.  I had forgotten to take a photo before I started digging in.  The salad is large enough to share (unless that is all you are planning to eat) and is a lovely mix of small greens, pecans, goat cheese, radish, red onion, tomato and cucumber with a light Champagne-honey dressing.  I don’t like radishes and Ernie doesn’t care for onion so we exchange those ingredients and everyone is happy, happy, happy. (Duck Dynasty anyone?)

 

 

 

 

   Ernie got fish & chips and I got the 8oz fillet.  The fish is a beer-battered native cod that is crunchy on the outside and full of flavor on the inside.  The coleslaw is a typical salad of cabbage and carrots with a light vinaigrette dressing that is only slightly tangy and a little light on flavor.   The tartar sauce compliments the fish nicely and the chips are to die for, (more on those later).

The 8 ounce certified Angus beef filet was grilled to perfection and I’m pretty sure that it was the best steak I have ever eaten.  Now I don’t eat a lot of beef and when I do, I’m the kind that likes it cooked so that it’s barely pink.  Nonetheless, it makes me hungry every time I think about it.  The dish would normally come with goat cheese-potato cake, asparagus, creamed leeks and a port wine-rosemary demi sauce, which does sound great, but I really wanted the garlic flavored spinach and some of their award-winning fries (I have no idea if they have won any awards but if they have not, they should). I asked if we could switch it up and my request was graciously accommodated.

Just to emphasize here, these fries are so ridiculously good and perfectly seasoned, the flavor cannot be beat.  (I know we should not be eating deep fried foods-more on high cholesterol in a future article.)

 

On rare occasion, we order something to share from the dessert menu. When I say “share”, I mean I’ll take a bite and Ernie will eat the rest.

With a small selection of uninspired (sorry Boat House) desserts, we would typically select the tried and true creme brulee.  We felt the need to try something new and decided to order the Grasshopper Pie.  As you can see here , it is obviously not really a pie.  It was a nice combination of flavors, including chocolate brownie and mint chocolate chip gelato which was not too heavy and not too much (as clearly we had already eaten quite a bit).

We very much enjoyed our meal and the hospitality of this visit to the Boat House Restaurant.

Jo & Ernie’s Restaurant Review Rhode Island will be visiting the Boat House again soon, likely before the end of summer.