The Sardine Room

I haven’t been out to dinner in for-ev-er.  Seriously, it had been an embarrassingly long time.  Mostly because every time I go out, I leave unimpressed, knowing I could have had a better meal at home.  But sometimes it’s nice to get out, not have to cook, try a new place, see some friends.  So Mom, Dad, and I met up with our friends Art and Jessica at The Sardine Room in Downtown Plymouth.

It was a pretty nice June day where we had to dodge a few raindrops, but it turned into a perfectly lovely evening.  The restaurant is small; it is long and narrow with few seats.  Known for the raw bar, there are a good number of seats there with people constantly preparing fresh seafood.  We skipped the raw bar and were seated against the wall.  The tables were quite close together, but it was early and so not too crowded, a good thing since the restaurant only takes reservations for parties of eight or more.

The service was our biggest issue, as it was very slow.  We had a simple drink order: water, beer, a cosmopolitan, and waited over ten minutes.  The waiter also seemed to lack knowledge about the menu.  After a few times looking at it online, I felt like I knew more than him, as he called the porchetta sliders porcini sliders.  Pretty big difference between porchetta and porcinis!

The food was a little hit and miss, but overall pretty good.  We were so hungry after waiting so long for our food that I forgot to take pictures.  Sorry!  But I’ll do my best to paint the picture with words.  Art and Jessica had the leg of lamb and scallops.  Both looked great, and they enjoyed them.  I have heard many people say the scallops were great and that seemed to prove true, as they had a nice sear and were accompanied by bacon.

Dad had the aforementioned porchetta sliders, gnocchi, and fries.  He loved the fries, thought the sliders were good, though he wasn’t exactly sure what was on them, and thought the gnocchi lacked a little flavor.  Mom had the lobster roll with coleslaw and fries.  She liked the slaw, though found the fries nothing special.  I have to agree with her on this, as they seemed rather soggy.  The lobster roll was full of nice, big chunks of lobster and not drowning in mayonnaise, letting the lobster shine through.  It was pretty good, just a tiny bit chewy.

The soup of the day was cream of ramp, and as you know I’m pretty ramp obsessed.  Neither Mom nor I wanted a whole bowl of heavy soup, but the chef was kind enough to provide us with a sample.  The soup was fantastic.  Super hot, it had that onion-garlic flavor and was silky smooth.  It was very nice of the chef to let us have a taste, and we were both so glad we got to try it.  If you want to learn more about ramps, check out this post I wrote about them last year!

I had the fish tacos and Momofuku style Brussels sprouts.  You know I have to try anything and everything Momofuku!  They did not disappoint with crispy bacon and spicy sriracha.  I wish I could get those to-go when a craving strikes!  The fish tacos were also pretty great.  The shell was nothing special, but the grilled snapper was perfectly seasoned and cooked.  The jalapeño sauce was crazy addictive.  I want to know that recipe!

We didn’t order dessert. I know, shocker!  The choices were a bit uninspired and even the waiter seemed luke warm on them as he said it was more of a savory restaurant.

All in all, the food was pretty good and it was wonderful to be out on a warm summer night with great friends.  The walk we took around Downtown Plymouth after dinner made the night very memorable.  A nice way to kick off summer!