The Palm in Sea Bright

[wawairis]

Hi!

There's a new restaurant on the Jersey shore called "The Palm". Is anyone familiar with it? I hoping to go sometime next week and would appreciate and opinions you might have.

It's supposed to be French Vietnamese.

Thank you (bowing out...)

[=Mark]

Had dinner there on Friday night, and was somewhat less than impressed. Making an early arrival, before 6pm with reservations we entered a completely empty dining room. Even so, we were directed to a cramped corner table. When asking if we could move to a better table next to the windows we were told that they were sorry but no. This became more troubling by the time we left and the dining room was not even half full.

One of the first pronouncements from our server was that she was new there (relatively, the place has only been open 3 months), and that the person training her was not in that night. Hmmmm. Oh well, it was just a Friday night...

Appetizers wew ordered and served, and turned out to be fairly unremarkable. I had a Scallop Roll which was made with seared scallops, mango, scallions and was served with a tamarind sauce. Even though the ingredients were seemingly well prepared, the overall impression was one of blandness. I've found this with a lot of Japanese foods as the textures and flavors can be very nuanced, but expect Vietnamese fare to be heartier and more floral.

We were then served a Mango salad which was julianned mango and jicama. It was OK but still lacked some punch.

Our waitress then came and asked if we would like our check. I can appreciate attentive service and hate to be left forgotten while waiting for the check, but I honestly had hoped to be able to enjoy the entrees first... Once the confusion was cleared up, our dinners were served. Shortly after the plates were set, we were assured that our Mango Salad would be right out... (?)

Incidentally, 3 of the evenings main courses were not available that night, which was a real dissapointment to half the table.

I had the seafood medly, a combo of scallops, shrimp and chicken (of the sea? Nahhh.), served on noodles. I had specifically asked them to spice it up, but it was still bland. Other folks had the Filet Mignon, Diver Scallops and Pad Thai. Again the food was well prepared and cooked as asked, but remained rather ununspired. A little more assertive seasoning would have made our selections more memorable. Oh, and they did bring us our second Mango Salad...

A notable departure from this trend were the desserts, not usually a contender in Asian restaurants. The Creme Brulee and Apple Tart with vanilla ice cream were declared winners.

All in all, this place may be worth waiting for, giving time for them to work the kinks out of the service, but more attention needs to be given to the seasonings used in what is billed as an ethnic eatery. There are other local Vietnamese places with more authentic fare for half the price.