No beachside restaurant tries harder than P.E.A.R.L. to provide something for everyone.

If it’s breakfast you want, P.E.A.R.L. serves fantastic breakfasts. You want lunch? Great lunches, including daily buffets, are found at P.E.A.R.L. as well. Fan of early birds? P.E.A.R.L. offers an array of excellent choices. And since summer, P.E.A.R.L. has offered a prix fixe "Lites" menu (still called Summer Lites even though it is now fall) in addition to its dinner menu.

So how to explain the fact that P.E.A.R.L.’s attractively decorated dining room frequently is close to empty at breakfast time, under populated at lunch given the raves we have heard for the buffet, and only about two-thirds full at 8 pm on a mid-October Saturday night?

The problem at breakfast and lunchtime may partly lie in P.E.A.R.L.’s location, a bit out of the main flow of Ocean Drive foot traffic in Portales de Vero. Part of the challenge in the evening may be that P.E.A.R.L.’s dinner offerings, when it replaced Polo in the space last winter, were not exactly budget-priced.

But if you are looking a pleasant ambiance and food that matches up well against most of the other leading beachside restaurants, P.E.A.R.L. is very much in the running.

On our most recent visit, I opted to start with a corn and crab chowder ($7) while my husband ordered the rich and creamy lobster bisque ($9). The bisque was indeed rich, but contained only hints of lobster, while the thick chowder was tasty, but almost completely devoid of crab. Our companion started with what turned out to be a better option, the baby greens house salad ($4.50) tossed with white balsamic vinaigrette.

The entrée’s, however, were excellent. My husband ordered the Long Island duckling ($26), a slow-roasted, partially deboned ducking served in a very tasty apple cashew sauce. I ordered one of the evening’s specials, a scallop dish ($28) featuring panko-crusted scallops served in a sumptuous parmesan cream sauce.

For reasons that remain a mystery to me, the scallops were served with an oddly shaped tower of puff pastry sitting atop the casserole dish. The puff pastry seemed strangely disjoined from the dish, and added nothing to the otherwise excellent preparation. Both entrée’s were accompanied by a medley of crisp vegetables, and a mound of dense mashed potatoes.

Our companion on this evening ordered the twin crispy eggplants off the prix fixe “Lites” menu ($21.99). Like the scallops, the eggplants also had been pankoed and were served over linguine in a very light marinara sauce. She pronounced this rendition perfect if you are looking for a vegetarian entrée.

On previous visits, other entrées we have tried and loved included two dishes from the early bird menu – an extremely tasty battered chicken scaloppini sautéed Francese style in a lemon sauce, and the Mediterranean stuffed chicken, which was served wrapped in a puff pastry and stuffed with spinach, feta cheese, Portobello mushrooms and roasted red peppers.

If we had to pick two favorite desserts, P.E.A.R.L.’s signature key lime tartlet ($7) is an excellent rendition of this Florida favorite, more tart than sweet, and few desserts in town can top the Chef’s homemade blueberry bread pudding ($5.95).

One oddity that our publisher commented on in a mini-review of P.E.A.R.L. published several months ago on the VeroBeach32963.com website is the restaurant’s somewhat confusing pricing.

For diners who arrive before 6:15, the excellent early bird menu is priced at $15.99 (with dessert an additional $2.99 and coffee an additional $2.25). So for most people, the early-bird actually comes to $21.23. For diners who choose to order from the “Lites" menu, a cup of soup or house salad is included and this one comes with dessert -- but again not coffee. So for most, the "Lites" option has a base of $24.24.

As for the regular menu, a dinner for two that includes salads, appetizers, entrees and desserts chosen on an a la carte basis can easily surge well past $100.

But P.E.A.R.L . is one of the few restaurants where prices over the past year seem to have eased down a bit. Appetizer prices remain high, but most entrées now are priced in the mid-$20s with a couple in the low-$30s.

Given P.E.A.R.L .’s effort to provide something for everyone, we would recommend that you consider reciprocating by giving P.E.A.R.L . a try.

I welcome your comments, and encourage you to send feedback to me at tina@verobeach32963.com.

The reviewer dines anonymously at restaurants at the expense of Vero Beach 32963.

Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 5:30 pm to closing

Adult Beverages: Full Bar

Address: 2855 Ocean Drive, Vero Beach

Phone: (772) 231-4665

Review first published: Nov. 6, 2008