This location has gone through several changes in recent years. Originally Pappy's restaurant it is located on Bayview at the St. Andrews Marina. The recent renovation transformed this space into a great neighborhood restaurant. Believe me I want this place to succeed, but my last visit was very disappointing.
Our first visit was early in the life of this restaurant. They hadn't received their liquor license and was BYOB. The waitress even offered to run to the Mr. Mart or Grocery Outlet if we wanted something. Our waitress Terry was very attentive balancing the act of taking care of your needs and not hovering over the table. Please let me eat. Don't ask if I need more water, if it is half full, or half empty just fill it don't speak. We ordered the BBQ shrimp and the She Crab soup for starters. I should know better than order a New Orleans traditional dish like BBQ shrimp having had the original several times at Pascal's Manale. The Alice's version had no flavor. Really lacked salt. There is a trend here. If I learned anything about cooking in New Orleans it is to season in stages as you build the dish. The She Crab soup was not much better. Gloppy in texture, lacking in crab flavor and crabmeat. I long for the bisque from the old Gulf Club restaurant. Lets face it She Crab soup is so named because the original bisque had crab roe (eggs) in it. It is illegal to harvest female crabs in Florida, therefore the She Crab soup is simply a crab bisque. I always judge a seafood restaurant by the fried seafood. It is not easy to do and do well. I want crunchy, not overly breaded seafood. Let the seafood flavor come through. I ordered the seafood platter and my wife ordered the grill fish which was snapper. The seafood was fried well and the Snapper was grilled perfectly. Again there was a lack of salt, which was not present on the table, and overall flavor. The two sides are cheese grits and cilantro slaw. Both lacked flavor. Cheese grits didn't taste cheesy at all. I knew the restaurant hadn't been open very long so I'm willing to give it another chance. Our waitress Terry made up for it in her excellent service.
Unfortunately our second visit was a disaster.
Our second visit came after our band practice was cancelled and we had just left getting my new glasses. I looked forward to trying some new items The menu is very limited. Why is a Burger your first item? That seemed odd to me. This time we sat near the door and greeted several friend as they came and went. Really has a neighborhood feel. The bar was open and had several patrons sitting and enjoying the night. Atmosphere was a little loud but not so you couldn't carry on a conversation. Our waitress approached the table and gave us our menus. When she returned we ordered drinks and appetizers. I took at least fifteen minutes to get our drinks. Way too long. Our appetizers, crab claws and deviled eggs arrived via someone else not our waitress. Again nothing notable about either one. Simple saute of crab claws in house sauce lacked salt. The deviled eggs with yellow mustard and sweet relish, had no sign of either ingredient. Again the lack of salt. The deviled egg order is three. Really for a table of two. We both ordered the fried shrimp entree again it came with cheese grits and cilantro slaw. Again they arrived at the table via someone who was not our waitress. The grits again were flavorless and this time runny, falling through the fork as I attempted to eat. The slaw again lacked salt. The breading fell of the shrimp as we tried to eat them, particularly as we tried to apply tater sauce, which was one of the best we've had recently. I ordered wine with dinner. I could not find my waitress for a second glass and had to get the hostess to get it for me.
I really want this place to succeed. It has all the potential to be a locals place, a neighborhood place, where friends meet for dinner, but you have to fix these egregious faults. I asked to speak with Alice Masker and when she arrive I spoke to her about my issues. She really didn't seem to be interested in what I said. By the way it took 30 minutes for me to get the bill.
No stars for Alice's on Bayview.
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