I don’t know about you, but I am so tired of winter. Cold weather and me aren’t good friends, and don’t even get me started on the amount of snow that we’ve gotten this year. It makes me want to join my cousin in Australia right now, who is going through a pretty stifling heat-wave. Not to say that I particularly enjoy hot, humid weather (I think I like it less than the cold) but for one day, I’d like to not be chattering all day. I’m not even sure I remember what my fingers feel like anymore – and I always wear my mittens.
One of the good things about the winter months is that a lot of restaurants have promotions on to lure customers in from the cold. Case in point: Snug Harbour in Port Credit is offering half price entrees from Sunday to Thursday after 5:00 p.m. until the end of February. Not one to pass up a good bargain, I convinced the boyfriend to go after work one night for dinner.
Driving along Lakeshore, you can see the restaurant sitting at the edge of the pier overlooking the lake. During daylight hours, and especially during the summer, you have a pretty view of the water from the dining room or the extensive patio. The inside decor is dated, with a strong nautical theme throughout. Dim lighting and sparse furniture make for a fairly simple dining area.
On this particular night, the restaurant did not seem overly busy as we saw a few empty tables around us, but we were given a vibrating disc and were asked to wait a few minutes for our table. We sat near the hostess stand and waited as we saw table after table leave, until our buzzer went off and we were shown to a small table along the wall. As we sat and looked over the menu, we saw multiple servers walk by but it was a good twenty to twenty-five minutes before a server came by and told us she would be right with us. Since the restaurant did not look extremely busy (there were a couple of empty tables near us) and there had to have been half a dozen servers, I was pretty irritated. Thankfully, once we were acknowledged, the service improved tremendously and we were well tended to the rest of the evening.
It was explained to us that the half price deal only applied to the Pizzas, Seafood entrees and the Grill entrees, but that there was no limit to how many dishes we wanted to order. Considering the prices for some of the appetizers cost more than the cost of the half price dishes, we opted to share a Smoked Salmon pizza ($17 regular price) as our starter. Again, after waiting what felt like an unordinary amount of time for our appetizer, the pizza was finally brought to us. Six slices of thin crust (whole wheat maybe?) dough with tomato sauce, mozzarella, smoked salmon and artichoke were brought piping hot to the table. The dough had a crisp crust but a soft middle, so soft actually that it was easier to eat the slices with a knife and fork to prevent it from flopping around. The sauce was forgettable and tasted like a basic tomato sauce without much flavour, so that was disappointing. The star of the pizza was the thick slices of hot smoked salmon that was flaky and full of smoke flavour. I don’t tend to like smoked salmon because I find it too salty, but this smoked salmon was perfectly prepared, and coupled with the artichokes it gave it a creamy, earthy taste, that toned down the saltiness significantly. It made for a great start to the meal.
We ordered a bottle of Beringer zinfandel from California ($33) which has now turned into my favourite zinfandel and we actually found it at the LCBO for $9.95 on another trip. (Which just goes to show the mark-up for alcohol in a restaurant is pretty ridiculous.) The wine itself is light and refreshing with a perfect amount of sweetness. I can see many summer nights in my future with this wine.
For a main dish, the boyfriend ordered the Lobster Mac and Cheese ($21 regular price) which came out in a deep baking dish with two slices of garlic bread on the side. The garlic bread was generously buttered, but the bread was chewy which led me to believe that it was not the freshest loaf. The other downside was that the char from the grill was too much and it made the whole piece taste burnt. We opted to not eat the bread and focused solely on the pasta, and we were extremely pleased with our choice. There were large chunks of tender, sweet lobster meat and a generous portion of cheese-laden macaroni. The dish was creamy without being greasy and the top layer had a nice crisp layer from being baked in the oven. The pasta was served piping hot which delayed the cheese from congealing and hardening in the dish. Overall, a fantastic dish that was both delicious and so generous in size we almost couldn’t finish it (almost).
Lastly, I ordered the Seafood Trio ($24 regular price) from the Daily Feature menu with steamed vegetables as the side. The vegetables, if ordered from the menu, are tossed in oil and lightly pan-fried. I asked for them to be steamed, which is not a regular listed item, but the kitchen was happy to oblige. Big broccoli florets and baby carrots were perfectly steamed with just the right amount of crisp. The first item in the trio was the Pineapple Curry Mussels, of which there were three. The mussels were sweet and plump, with a piece of pineapple on each shell. The sauce was so mild that we couldn’t taste the curry at all, and it just tasted like steamed mussels. There were two Blackened Shrimp which were sweet and meaty with a delicious Cajun seasoning. Lastly, a filet of Blackened Salmon was perfectly grilled with a crispy outer layer and a flaky inside. The dish was rounded out with a large wedge of roasted acorn squash and corn salsa. The squash was sweet and soft, but the salsa was nothing special. The cool, sweet salsa did however make a nice accompaniment to the saltiness of the Cajun seasoning off the shrimp and salmon.
If you are looking for good seafood for reasonable prices, I highly suggest going to Snug Harbour during this promotion. Though there were a few hiccups, this has probably been one of my favourite outings in recent memory when comparing value for quality/quantity of food. At these prices, I think I need to be more convincing so we can go back a couple more times before the end of the month.
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