Mystic Fish in Palm Harbor

[Manderley]

Finally managed to find this little place, tucked into a strip mall on Tampa Rd. Great decor, staff was superb. However, a "friend of the chef's", who is there almost every night, had a voice so loud it almost made my eardrums bleed. We, along with several other couples, all asked to be relocated on the other side of the restaurant. Not good for business, in my humble opinion.

Anyway, we got settled in our new seats and dinner began...nice wine list, a little on the pricey side. Lovely little loaves of crusty bread with the most outrageous garlic-artichoke butter (oh it was REALLY good!). House salads with a cilantro lime dressing, tasty. Appetizers: Honey had a shrimp cocktail, huge gorgeous shrimps but the sauce was odd, a little on the sweet side; we both like our cocktail sauce with a spicy kick. I had Lobster-escargot style; little chunks of lobster in garlic butter. The lobster was a little tough, maybe cooked just a little too long. Then came the entrees. Honey had a NY strip steak which he adored. I had a special, Red Snapper Hogfish (?) in a red pepper and fried cilantro sauce. It was good, but I was wishing I'd had the Chilean Sea Bass instead. We will go back, and that's what I'll have next time!

The mashed potatoes, swirled out of a pastry bag, were pedestrian. Nice liitle medly of interesting steamed veggies, including parsnips and pea pods, but my serving was dismally small.

Dessert: two nice big cups of double espresso with the most outrageous white chocolate bread pudding, moist and custard-y. It put the bread pudding at Twisted Bamboo to shame!

All in all, a good meal, we were pleased. Not cheap though....for the two of us it was $130, not including tip.