Sweet Willie
Oct 24, 02, 6:40 pm
Had rented an Enterprise car when along with my rental contract, I was given a coupon for $20 off at Bob Chinn's Crab House Restaurant. Seeing as I had not been in awhile and had the $20 coupon, I went.
Some outright hate Bob Chinn's and others flock to it. It is a large, loud and busy place. There are sometimes multiple line up areas and one can feel "herded" at times. The meals I've had at Bob Chinn's (I've eaten at Chinn's quite a bit, used to have an office near the restaurant) range from the mediocre to spectacular. I'm sure with the staff that Chinn's has, turnover may be a problem. I did have one of the best steaks in my life here, a USDA Prime strip.
You will be handed a menu that lists at least 50+ entrees and 29 appetizers.
The whole table will get the garlic rolls. I used to love these, now find them overly greasy, but they are crisp dinner rolls that are smothered in chopped garlic and butter. Quite a mess to eat.
I then had the salad bar + 4 which is access to the salad bar plus 4 oysters, clams or 8 medium shrimp. I choose the oysters which were Blue Points. They were just OK, but then again the last raw oysters I had were in Vancouver and there is no way that a Midwest restaurant will compare to the freshness of oysters in Vancouver. I really liked the salad bar, it had some personal favorites like: sardines, red onion, real crumbled bacon, guacamole.
For dinner the 2 lb. steamed Maine lobster. Which was very good and tender.
My wife likes almost any of the fish offered done Bob's Version, which is: the fish is steamed with slivers of fresh ginger, fermented black beans and then a soy & sesame oil sauce is poured over the fish and scallions and cilantro is added as the final touch. The grouper and sea bass go very well with this method of preparation. Tonight she had the Australian Dhu fish.
Some unique items served at Chinn's include: Curried Ox Tail Stew, Chinese Black Bean Garlic Ribs, Kona Crab, Sashimi of Tuna, Hamachi, Salmon and Scallops.
As stated, the quality of the meals varies greatly IMO. If you do get a mediocre meal for some reason, just go into the Casablanca style bar complete with reed fans and drown yourself in some of Chinn's Mai Tai's.
Some outright hate Bob Chinn's and others flock to it. It is a large, loud and busy place. There are sometimes multiple line up areas and one can feel "herded" at times. The meals I've had at Bob Chinn's (I've eaten at Chinn's quite a bit, used to have an office near the restaurant) range from the mediocre to spectacular. I'm sure with the staff that Chinn's has, turnover may be a problem. I did have one of the best steaks in my life here, a USDA Prime strip.
You will be handed a menu that lists at least 50+ entrees and 29 appetizers.
The whole table will get the garlic rolls. I used to love these, now find them overly greasy, but they are crisp dinner rolls that are smothered in chopped garlic and butter. Quite a mess to eat.
I then had the salad bar + 4 which is access to the salad bar plus 4 oysters, clams or 8 medium shrimp. I choose the oysters which were Blue Points. They were just OK, but then again the last raw oysters I had were in Vancouver and there is no way that a Midwest restaurant will compare to the freshness of oysters in Vancouver. I really liked the salad bar, it had some personal favorites like: sardines, red onion, real crumbled bacon, guacamole.
For dinner the 2 lb. steamed Maine lobster. Which was very good and tender.
My wife likes almost any of the fish offered done Bob's Version, which is: the fish is steamed with slivers of fresh ginger, fermented black beans and then a soy & sesame oil sauce is poured over the fish and scallions and cilantro is added as the final touch. The grouper and sea bass go very well with this method of preparation. Tonight she had the Australian Dhu fish.
Some unique items served at Chinn's include: Curried Ox Tail Stew, Chinese Black Bean Garlic Ribs, Kona Crab, Sashimi of Tuna, Hamachi, Salmon and Scallops.
As stated, the quality of the meals varies greatly IMO. If you do get a mediocre meal for some reason, just go into the Casablanca style bar complete with reed fans and drown yourself in some of Chinn's Mai Tai's.