Bahama Breeze

Hey everyone. I apologize if I haven't posted lately. I've been rather busy. This next restaurant review is on a restaurant located in Tukwila next to the Southcenter Mall called Bahama Breeze. It's a Caribbean restaurant that has a very friendly, colorful, and inviting atmosphere. I was there about a week or so ago with a beautiful someone and her two friends. Anyway, here we go with the review:

I've always driven by this restaurant every time I've been down in the area, mainly to go to Southcenter Mall. It's located less than 20 minutes south of Seattle. The outside looks very neat and somewhat interesting. There aren't a lot of Caribbean restaurants around here with this type of flair.

I should have taken more pics of the outside to show you, but there are a couple of tiki torches near the entrance. There are also a couple of valets to park your car, if you're so inclined. I'm not really sure this is the type of restaurant where you'd need to have someone park your car, especially since there is ample parking all around the restaurant. In any event, it's nice to know it's there, right?

Inside the restaurant is pretty colorful and has a very "fun" atmosphere to it. Right away we were promptly greeted and seated (well, we just told them we were meeting people there and found them ourselves). On the way to our table we could see this huge bar in the middle of the restaurant. People were lined all along the edges sipping on alcohol and enjoying a bite.

The waitress quickly introduced herself with a friendly personality and got us our drinks. I have to admit that it did take quite a while before she returned to actually take our order (we were starving). There were moments where she would just disappear throughout the night when we actually needed something. Only occasionally I had to flag her down. Overall, the service wasn't too bad. She was there to frequently check up on us on occasion, but not to a point where it was annoying (like in some restaurants).

I ordered the Breeze Wood-Grilled Chicken Breast dinner. The menu states the dish as: "Moist and tender with citrus butter sauce, fresh broccoli and cinnamon mashed sweet potatoes." Damn, doesn't that sound good? When the dish arrived, the presentation was nice. I thought the layered chicken breasts looked delicious, and the veggies and mashed potatoes looked tasty (of course, I was starving so anything would have looked delicious). The chicken breast was pretty moist, although I think I was expecting a bit more flavor. Yes, I did resist the urge to just swallow the entire dish whole (alligator style) in my hungry state, just so that I could try to savor the food and enjoy it. I have to say my favorite part of the dish was the cinnamon mashed sweet potatoes. I thought it was a good accompaniment to the dish, although a roasted pork shoulder or loin would have been even better with it. The broccoli was fresh and tasty....but it's still just, well, steamed broccoli. I did not have anything else to drink besides my favorite.....ice water. I did manage to take a sip of "E's" pina colada (I don't remember the flavor though), which was very refreshing and tasty. Sorry, we were all too full to dive into dessert that night.

I did have to use the restroom and got a look at the layout (yes, I'll try to review the whole restaurant in its entirety everytime I do one of these things). It was actually a very cool restroom. The urinals were far apart and angled away from each other. You know, us guys like our space when it comes to urinal use. The sink area actually had different soaps, lotions, and even mouthwash (even with little disposable cups)!

I have to say, I'm glad I finally got to check out this restaurant. I thoroughly enjoyed the company and the atmosphere. And now time for the review/rating using my 5-doughnut system:

• Service, 3 doughnuts= We were promptly greeted and promptly seated. Our waitress was very friendly and cool and occasionally checked up on us, but there were a couple of times when our table really needed something and we had to look around and/or flag her down.


• Atmosphere/Location, 3.5 doughnuts= I thought it was a pretty "neat" restaurant. It had an outdoor eating area with even a firepit. There seemed to be a bunch of different large dining rooms (we were in the main/center area next to the bar). The restaurant is all by itself outside the mall not too far from the highway. Overall, it's a friendly hang-out type of restaurant.


• Food Presentation, 3.5 doughnuts= I think for this type of restaurant, the presentation was alright. They layered the dish and even included a couple of fried plantain chips sticking out of the mashed sweet potatoes. Not too bad.


• Taste, 3 doughnuts= I guess I'm giving them a somewhat low score because I think the main course (the chicken in this case) should be the biggest deciding factor of whether this was a tasty dish. Like I said, it was good, but not crazy good. I think it just needed some more seasoning or something. I definitely liked the mashed sweet potatoes though. Don't get me wrong, it was a pretty good dish.


• Originality, 3.5 doughnuts= I don't know too many Caribbean restaurants around here, even in Seattle. The layout of the restaurant is pretty original in itself. As I stated before, there are a couple of different, large dining areas, a bar, and a nice outdoor eating area with a firepit. It's pretty cool looking at night.


• Overall, 3.5 doughnuts= I had a nice time at Bahama Breeze. I would like to go back and try a couple of other dishes that I saw on the menu. I think the company made it more enjoyable to hang out and dine there. The food was good and the atmosphere was "chill".

Be sure to check it out at http://www.bahamabreeze.com/.