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| Landry's Seafood House - Corpus Christi, TX |
I've eaten at my share of Landry's Seafood Houses. This is mostly due to a sentimental attachment, but partially because the food is palatable. Back in 2007, my wife and I took a honeymoon to Myrtle Beach, SC, and the first place we ate when we arrived was the Landry's Seafood House at Broadway at the Beach. It was pretty good for chain restaurant seafood, and my wife's Mai Tai was exactly what you'd expect (and desire) for a fruity, tropical drink to start a beach-blanket honeymoon...Elvis not included.
Last year while visiting Corpus Christi for our anniversary, we decided we'd hit up Landry's and reminisce. The night before our anniversary, we arrived around 8:30pm and saw a plumbing van out front--not a good sign. The second bad sign? Nobody at the hostess table. A few servers walked by, ignoring us, so after 10 minutes or so, we finally grabbed someone's attention. "Sorry, we're closed for the evening, we're having some plumbing problems." Funny, I see people seated, eating...but that's fine. We'll come back another time...
After scouring the internet for options in Corpus Christi, and much to my dismay, learning that Cafe Aeby was closed, we decided we'd go back to Landry's and give it another shot. This time, for our anniversary dinner. It's seafood, it's "beach-y", it should conjure good memories...what more could you ask for. Well, haute cuisine, sure, but I'd gotten over that.
We arrive at Landry's at about 8:45, plenty of cars parked outside, no plumbing van, and again...no hostess. We waited approximately 15 minutes this time, and the same waiter from the night before spots us and tells us, "Sorry, we've closed early for the night." No explanation. Again, plenty of people eating, servers busing tables, all the signs of an operable, functioning restaurant...what gives? Not pleased, we make our way out of the restaurant, while mentioning that it would have been beneficial to have at least put a sign on the door saying they were closing early.
About halfway to the car, the waiter and a casually-dressed woman begin following us. The woman comes up to my window and proceeds to ask us to "Go ahead and come back in, I'll make sure you're taken care of, and I'll throw an appetizer in on the house!" I explained that the last thing I want to do is eat at a restaurant where I was previously made to feel unwelcome, let alone hold up the kitchen if they were already cleaning up and preparing to leave for the evening. Why would I want to eat at a restaurant that didn't want to serve me? That's just asking for a poor experience for everyone involved.
Fast forward nearly a year. Friday evening, we decided it was time to give Landry's another shot. Upon arrival, there was a girl at the hostess table. I almost didn't know what to do with myself...I'd never been invited up the stairs to the dining area before!
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| Drink JAX, and bring your kids to the bar at 9:30pm. |
We were seated near the bar and near a table with very loud children. Our waiter told us of the seasonal specials. He was polite and seemed well-informed about the makeup of each dish. We started with a salad, tossed with their house balsamic / honey dijon dressing, served family style not unlike Olive Garden. Iceberg, shredded carrots, et cetera. Nothing to write home about, but nothing to shake a stick at either.
I ordered the Chilean Sea Bass Madrid, and my wife the Stuffed Flounder Melissa. Both dishes were just over $25 each, were healthy portions, and for the most part, properly cooked. The scallops on both of the toppings were very overcooked, but the shrimp and most importantly the fish component were flawlessly executed. The Sea Bass was moist and dense with large flakes, and the Flounder was filleted but with the tail attached, stuffed with a tasty and not too starchy shrimp and crab mixture.
I could do without the vegetable "risotto" that comes with most of their dishes. It's just mushy rice with vegetables. It's not creamy, it doesn't taste as if it's been mounted with butter (or anything) at the end of cooking...it just tastes like they threw a bag of mixed frozen vegetables and some arborio into a rice cooker and called it good. It's not the worst thing I've ever tasted, but if I remembered, I'd ask them to sub in some steamed vegetables, or hell, even some fries.
Ultimately, it wasn't a bad dinner, but for one drink each, a salad, and an entree, we came out of there for around $80 before tip. If I had it to do over again, I'd eat at Joe's (a Landry's subsidiary), have a better view, and a cheaper tab. Maybe I could use the extra $40 to convince the waiters/waitresses to never dance to a Quad City DJs song again.
