Pacific Grill - South St. Seaport, NYC

After spending the whole morning and a good part of the afternoon walking around the South Street Seaport Museum, we decided to head over to Pier 17 to grab a late lunch. We knew that there was a food court inside the Pier 17 mall (which, by the way was the where they filmed Nirvana's In Bloom MTV back in the 90's :P) but we wanted to try one of the waterfront restaurants. After all, we were at the Seaport district, so we were looking for some seafood and nice harbour views. We walked down the boardwalk and noticed that there were so many waterfront restaurants! We didn't know which one to pick! There were also some on the second floor of the Pier 17 mall. Some were packed to the brim while others were totally empty.

We walked by Pacific Grill and saw that it had a decent crowd. Not too empty and there wasn't a line of people, waiting to be seated. They also had some good music playing, so we decided to give this place a try.

A quick look at the Specials menu as well as the Happy Hours menu sealed the deal. :P Looks like they have some relatively cheap drinks and pretty yummy seafood.

There is a large bar and a huge indoor sitting area but we chose to dine al fresco, since the weather was perfect and we wanted to enjoy the waterfront as well as the boardwalk view while eating :D

From our table, we had a great view of the boardwalk, with the view of lower Manhattan in the background.

We also had a great view of the East River, Brooklyn Bridge and Brooklyn Heights. A perfect place to just relax and have a nice weekend lunch with friends and family. We ordered from the lunch menu (less items compared to the dinner menu but cheaper) and we didn't have to wait too long before our meal was served.

Kevin ordered the Fish and Chips ($15.99). Two large fish fillets with lots of fries, served in a basket. It came with a small serving of tartar sauce and a lemon wedge. I asked Kevin if the fish was any good and he said it was alright (by know, you guys should have figured out that Kevin doesn't complain much, everything is good :P). So, for the sake of this blog, I took a bite. I felt that it wasn't all that great. I wouldn't say that it was bad but it was just alright. Nothing really to shout about at all. In fact, maybe a tad bit tasteless. I wouldn't really recommend it, I feel that its a little bit below par for a seafood restaurant.

I ordered the Crab Cake Burger ($13.99). Now, THIS was way better than the Fish & Chips. Two large crab cakes (crispy on the outside and juicy in the inside) with some sliced tomatoes, red onions, lettuce and special mayo sauce in a lightly toasted bun. It was served with a side of fries, coleslaw and a pickle. The crab cakes were pretty good, it had just the correct amount of seasoning and it wasn't dry at all.

Sooo, the big question. What's the damage? Well, we ended up just ordering a soda each (should have ordered the happy hour beer though, they charged us $3 for a soda and beer was $4) and with the two mains, our bill came up to $44.55! That's pretty steep for lunch. Also note that they have already added in 15% gratuity into the total bill (I hate it when they do that..it's like they are so afraid that we will not tip them? Sheeshhhh...). The food was really nothing to shout about and it's grossly overpriced. However, the service was pretty good and the view was amazing! I guess that's what we were paying for, the ambiance and view. Would I return? Well, probably not for the food but it would be a good place to go to for a $4 beer on a nice sunny afternoon.

Pacific Grill - South St. Seaport
89 South Street Seaport,
Pier 17 Mall,
New York, NY 10038
Tel: (212) 964.0707
Web: http://www.pacificgrillnyc.com/