Lately, when we decide to go out we are using a coupon, or gift card or some means to get some $ off the bill. I have a variety of coupons, presumably sent for my birthday. We decided to go to Bahama Breeze on 16 Mile in Troy. I had a whopping $10 off $40. Better than nothing!! Now this is not our first time at Bahama Breeze. We knew well what we were getting ourselves into. Bahama Breeze does some things right, like their Bahamarita, a delicious concoction of frozen margarita, with mango, strawberry and kiwi ices, with a shot of cactus juice schnapps on the side. I have added a picture from their website, as I completely forgot to take one of my own. The drink is refreshing, albeit very sweet. You really can only drink one without going into a sugar coma. The alcohol content is not very high either. You could probably drink all day and feel no different that if you were drinking slurpees. But they are a nice start to an evening. Combine that with the lively decorated patio, and occasional live reggae or calypso music and you really get transported to Jamaica.
The food however, is where they start to drop the ball. They have some decent things and if you stick to those menu items you will have a superbly adequate experience. Their salads are pretty good, and their… their… humm… I think just stick to the salads!
Tonight Omar got a couple appetizers. Started with the Lump Crab stack. Was described as lump crab, stacked high with chilled shrimp, avocado and fresh mango. So firstly, they bring you two, that’s right, a whopping two cracker/chips to eat this with. Clearly the crackers were for show, because they certainly were not enough to eat the appetizer. I was also expecting nice big chunks of lump crab, like those beautiful pink pieces that you carefully pull from the crab leg. When you get that one perfect piece of crab that just slides out of the shell, and then carefully place those like lincoln logs on my plate. Instead, it was lump canned crab meat, white, and flaked, with the largest “lump” the size of a dime if lucky. Two completely different crab experiences. In my opinion, any crab dumped from a can is intended to be mixed in to a recipe, like crab cakes, and not dumped on a plate for your two crackers to enjoy. It is akin to eating a plate of cat food, in my opinion. They started the “stack” with an unripe, browned avocado, topped with cat food, chopped mango and some very small, overcooked cold shrimp, lacking in flavor and abundance. The mango was tasty, I will say that, but I ran out of my one portioned cracker before I could finish.
His second appetizer was calamari. Now Omar orders calamari almost everywhere we go. His favorites being Kona Grill, Eddie V’s and Cameron’s Steak House. Deer Lake Inn also has a great calamari offering, but it is very different, sauteed with peppers instead of deep fried. This calamari was lacking in most categories. The sauce was uneventful, calamari boring, and actually not a very large portion.
I ordered the jerk chicken pasta. Made with asparagus and mushrooms, I asked if I could substitute the mushrooms (which I can’t and don’t eat) with spinach. The waitress said that would not be a problem. The dish however, came with spinach only, and no sign of asparagus. When I mentioned this she hurried off to the kitchen to get me some asparagus on “the side” which is seriously, not the same. When show brought it, it was seasoned so heavily with lemon and other spices, it would have clashed with the pasta so there was no way I was adding it in. Omar couldn’t even eat it as a side dish as the odd combination of heavy lemon and Jamaican spice lent to an odd, unnerving flavor. The pasta was however, pretty good. The sauce was creamy and cheesy and the chicken had just the right amount of blackened spice. I was worried it would be too spicy, but was happy to be wrong.
All in all, Bahama Breeze is a decent place if you just want to take a summers night, listen to some reggae and drink one Bahamarita. Then pay your bill, and go down the street to one of the many other good paces to eat and have dinner.