When we take our son to his very far away allergy specialist appointments we like to visit one of the many different restaurants that they do not have in our area. We did plan on going to Red Robin, but our son saw, and read the Bonefish Grill logo. He said "I like fish. Let's go there". My wife decided to look them up on a ratings site to see how expensive they would be, and they were rated at two dollar signs.
The outside of the establishment reveals very little. Of course it has outer seating to try and make it seem like a resort type of place. We walked through a revolving door into a very dimly lit room. I thought at first it was just the waiting area, but no....the whole restaurant is lit like a dungeon. They just had candles on each table, and the windows are covered with blinds, so that no light gets in. WEIRD!!!! The greeter sat us down at a table(I was hoping for one of the many open booths). I'm guessing this is the designated kids table, as there are Cheerios on the floor under this table.
Our waitress slowly approaches, and I emphasize on the slow part, because she was so unenthusiastic that she was like Eeyore on Prozac. She hands us the menus, and they are formatted so that the pricing is questionable. Being that it is a seemingly posh place I don't confirm what I think the prices are. She asks us if we would like some drinks, and I point out that the menu is hard to read. So she mumbles out some drink selections and I agree to a lemonade, which I later find out is a Vitamin Water brand. These lemonades once brought to our table are so watered down tasting it's like drinking cloudy water with A LOT of ice. I decide to use the restroom to wash my hands, as I always do before eating, and the bathroom is even darker. I almost can't find the stall it's so dark in there.
The waitress comes back and we decide to order. We order the infamous Bang Bang Shrimp appetizer, which this was sadly the highlight of our entire visit. I order the fish, and chips. My wife decides on a pasta dish, which for $4 more you can add chicken, which is the cheapest meat item. My son chooses a cheeseburger, which by far is the most expensive kids meal I have ever paid for at a whopping $7-8. Surprisingly the shrimp came fast, and it was on special because it was Wednesday, and it was a decent portion for $6, and it tasted very good.
The food came at about the usual 15-20 minute wait. The portions for price in value were very very small, and not a good deal. For instance my meal the fish and chips, consisted of 3 fish tenders, and a portion of fries that was smaller than what you would receive in a value meal from a fast food chain. My son's cheeseburger looked so gourmet that he refused to eat it. My wife's pasta was kind of blah, and had very little chicken, which cost an extra $4.
So to sum up our total first time visit I would not go back to this place again unless I had a coupon or some money saving discount. It was not a good value, and I feel that the restaurant had taken advantage of us as patrons.
