The food is largely sea-based, as you might expect, and don't be surprised if your first whiff of the joint as you open the door is one of sea salt and fish, and not necessarily in the most appetizing way. Still, don't let that cause you to shy away from the excellent wine list, with favorites such as the Fess Parker Riesling ($8.50) priced about right. That may be the last time you see reasonable prices, though. The tuna tartare ($15) is served in a smallish lump, which could be forgiven if the flavor was anything exciting. Or, for that matter, if it had any flavor at all. Ours was almost entirely devoid of taste. The crab cake ($15) was the one delight on our visit, though not exotic or experimental.

The sea bass ($36) can be charitably described as 'unremarkable', though perhaps more honest is 'bland.' It was enough food, but this is clearly unacceptable for a dish bearing such a high cost. Ah, you're thinking, perhaps that was simply not their best work? You'll be fooled then by the house specialty, so noted right on the menu, which is the wrapped red snapper ($34). It too was a decent amount of food, and the fish was properly cooked inside, but the outside potato wrapper was indescribable, perhaps just weird. Served with a leek fondue and red wine-butter sauce, which tasted like the flavor of 'burned', whatever that is, the meal didn't really satisfy taste buds either. The food wasn't bad, on the whole, but it was boring, which is almost the worse sin to commit. At these prices, the value simply isn't there. One bright exception: the very large child's meal of grilled chicken ($5.50), which came with decent rosemary potatoes and overcooked broccoli. Even large kids will have enough food out of this, and the price can't be beat, incongruously.

Service was friendly, and it's nice to see not only free refills on the child's chocolate milk but no mention of the milk at all on the bill, but this is a band-aid to an otherwise mediocre service. The staff knows the menu sure enough, but the big blemish here is wait times. At 5:45 (15 minutes before our reservation), the restaurant was all but empty, having opened at 5:30. Yet we were given a buzzer and not seated until 6:00. We didn't order our food until 6:25. On the one hand, we were certainly not rushed in any part of the evening, but somehow the delays stretched beyond 'luxury' and into simple unwanted delays.

Expect things to pick up, edging toward boisterousness, later in the evening, with some quiet early on. Diners are not packed so closely as to invite uncomfortableness, but no reasonable argument for privacy could be mounted, either. The atmosphere is comfortable and debonair, fairly contemporary in nature.