Pearl on the River

OK, so far I've agreed whole heartedly with Blair Anthony Robertson the Bee's food critic. This is one exception. He gave Pearl at least 3 stars, I wasn't that impressed. We sat inside but on a less windy day it would have been nice to sit on the patio, though the view is of the the marina. I think if you were seated up on the 2nd floor the view would be better since you would be above the line of the marina. We didn't go upstairs so I don't know if that was more dining space or banquet area. We were seated downstairs and there were plenty of open tables. The downstairs area is all wood, clean design with a small bar area plus seating out side on the patio. There are large windows lining the wall so you get a good view of the marina. As far as view, I think Scotts on the River has a better view from the patio. The Pearl has a menu of small plates and also a menu of regular appetizers, salads and entrees.
We started with the Beef Carpaccio which was weird. I had never seen carpaccio that color, it's supposed to be thin sliced raw beef. I finally had to ask the waitress if it was cooked. She asked if we had had carpaccio before and I said yes and it's supposed to be raw. She looked kind of surprised and said yes, it's supposed to be raw and went into the kitchen to find out. She came back out and said yes, the chef said it was quickly seared. You tell me if this was lightly seared, it is just a strange color. It tasted alright, a little heavy on the sauce.

I had the roasted Chioggia beet salad with goat cheese,pear, shaved fennel on mache. Charlie had the Caesar. The beet salad was good, but nothing special.

Entrees were the Seared Ahi Tuna with red pepper butter on yukon gold mashed potatoes and grilled zucchini and Charlie had the ribeye steak he had waned the New York but they were already out. The special of the night was New York steak. Seems they had 4 steaks and two of the waiters had already set those steaks aside for their tables. Who has 4 steaks when it's the special of the night? I have to say though that the Ribeye with horseradish salsa verde, was really good. It was better than the Ahi, which was rather bland.

Desert was a dense dark chocolate cake, I mean dense, you needed a knife cut through this plus it was a grainy texture which I wasn't sure if it was ground nuts or just what..hmmm. Of course Charlie played it safe with vanilla ice cream and berries.

Other than the steak, I was less than impressed. Our waitress was nice but we had to ask for bread and service was a little slow considering they were not very busy. I don't think I'd go back other than to have a cocktail and maybe some of their small plates and enjoy the summer breezes on the patio.

Pearl on the River..Garden Highway next to Chevy's