Dockside Grille: Not quite the same
While the Dockside Grille on Royal Palm Pointe last season seemed like an almost interchangeable option to Bobby McCarthy’s beachside restaurant, several recent visits have persuaded us that the Dockside – while still featuring a similar menu– no longer is up to Bobby’s standards.
Sure, on any given night, some of the dishes are still good – particularly if you stick with the juicy burgers and the tasty fl atbreads. But when you move into the steaks and seafood, it becomes more hit and miss.
On one recent visit, for example, my husband ordered the 16-ounce New York strip – which at $30 with an au poivre sauce, is among the pricier Dockside offerings. Despite the sauce, the steak was not very flavorful and was quite chewy, not at all what we would have expected. And when almost half of it finally was taken away, there was no hand-wringing or apology from management.
On another visit, two of the catches of the day – the blackened wahoo ($27) and the blackened salmon ($25) – were spicy and tasty, but clearly had been overcooked and were quite dry (the wahoo more than the salmon).
All this will come as disappointing news to many beachside diners, who continued to cross the bridge to the Dockside long after Bobby parted company with co-owner Jerry Maher and retreated to his Ocean Drive restaurant.
Interestingly, the slippage in food quality to this point doesn’t seem to have greatly impacted business at Dockside. One factor may be the Happy Hour specials – both food and drink – which enable you to both imbibe and sample appetizers at a very reasonable price before the dinner hour.
While those specials were originally instituted as a way of boosting business during the quiet summer months, we are told the Dockside now plans to continue offering these – with appetizers like a plate of lightly breaded fried calamari served with a tasty marinara sauce priced as low as $5 – indefinitely.
(You may want to pay more attention than we did to your check. On our most recent visit, when we got home, we discovered we had been charged the regular price for drinks -- not the Happy Hour price.)
The Dockside also is trying to boost business with entertainment. On a recent visit, we heard the familiar sound of a guitar, and realized that the entertainer was Frankie Holiday, who used to serenade customer’s night-after-night at the old P.V. Martin’s on south A1A.
On this evening, one of those highlights you can never anticipate saw Holiday joined by baritone Roman Ortega Cowan, who briefly left the table at which he was dining to raise his magnificent voice in song.
No review of Dockside would be complete without special mention of the burgers. Virtually identical to those found at Bobby’s, they continue to rank right up there as among the juiciest and tastiest found anywhere in our town.
The Dockside Grille is split into two rooms -- the bar area, where booths surround the large central bar, and a dining room, where tables look out on the canal to the south side of the restaurant. There also is a small but very attractive outdoor dining area overlooking the canal for evenings that are not too sultry.
For burgers and flatbread, or for Happy Hour drinks and appetizers, Dockside still is an excellent choice. But if you are looking for first–rate steaks and seafood, you can do better for this kind of money.
I welcome your comments, and encourage you to send feedback to me at tina@verobeach32963.com.
The reviewer is a beachside resident who dines anonymously at restaurants at the expense of Vero Beach 32963.
Hours
Daily, 11:30 am to 10 pm
Bar
Full Bar
Address (MAP)
41 Royal Palm Pointe, Vero Beach, Telephone: (772) 569-6865
Online
www.docksidegrillevero.com
