Bonefish Grill

Bonefish Grill was born in St. Petersburg, Fla., and was immediately a runaway success. Under the umbrella of OSI Restaurant Partners Corporation, the restaurant flourished.

We are fortunate that OSI established a e, along with three others in eastern Pennsylvania, as part of the successful chain’s expansion.

I have dined several times at the Bonefish location in Willow Grove and at the Boca Raton, Fla., outlet.  Each has an active manager, a well-trained staff, a higher-than-typical ratio of servers to patrons, constantly high customer traffic and quality seafood.  Simply put, the restaurant knows how to prepare and serve fish dinners.

On a recent Thursday night visit with my dear LDC (Lovely Dining Companion), we arrived at 6:30 p.m.  I had called ahead, and we were promptly seated at a comfortable booth in the pleasantly lighted main dining room.  The colors are neutral, even down to the vinyl tablecloths and napkins, and the covering of matching Kraft paper.  A realistic looking, battery-operated candle, along with salt and pepper grinders and a carafe of virgin olive oil adorn the tables.

The signature starter is its Bang Bang Shrimp ($9), denoted as one of the menu’s “Popular Guest Choice” dishes.  It was a generous portion (more than enough for two) of moist-on-the-inside, crispy-on-the-outside shrimp tossed in a creamy, vivaciously spicy sauce spiked with visible red pepper flakes.

Man, did my bargain choice of a cold 16-ounce bottle of good old Pabst Blue Ribbon (only $3.50) go well with this tangy taste buds tingler!  I usually order my current favorite beer Stella Artois on draft at Bonefish.  My LDC said her Avia pinot grigio ($5.50 a glass) was simply “very good.”

If you like calamari, as I do, you will also want to try Bonefish’s excellent appetizer, Singapore Calamari ($8).  The squid was super tender, with a tasty crusting, served with roasted red and green peppers and a perfectly sweet spicy Asian sauce.

A warm loaf of bread served with a dish of olive oil pesto dip, which was poured at the table, was appreciated, as was a good, shared house salad ($3 with entrée), which was kindly split for us in the kitchen and served on chilled plates with a citrus herb vinaigrette.

Her LDC-ness loved her choice of succulent grilled sea scallops and shrimp ($17) in a mango salsa with a side of asparagus ($1 extra).

For my entrée, Snake River Rainbow Trout ($16), I chose the Pan-Asian teriyaki sauce (one of four different sauces availalbe).  The grilled fish was a large whole trout, split and deboned. The fish delivered a grill-charred flavor under the sauce’s teriyaki tang.

Both of our entrées had well-prepared sides of fresh vegetables – I opted for asparagus for an extra $1, and a scoop of warm chickpea salad.

Throughout our dinner, our personable young server was skilled and efficient.

A dessert of vanilla crème bruleé was sweetly creamy smooth and tasteful enough, with a nicely caramelized sugar top, but was too much of a good thing.  It was supersized — served in a ramekin triple the depth and almost double the length of the proper French classic crème bruleé ramekin.  

Larger does not necessarily mean better.  The custard is meant to be eaten in conjunction with the brittle, partially burnt crust for maximum delight. But half the dish was buried under a mound of whipped cream. No! Finally, the advertised "fresh berries" were only three token stunted blueberries.  Sadly, we had to end on this off-note.

We will ignore this one unfortunate overblown dessert and still award…  mmmm (out of 5 m’s)  overall… for the otherwise high quality seafood, nice ambiance, and excellent team service.

Location: 1015 Easton Road, Willow Grove

Phone: 215-659-5854

Website: bonefishgrill.com                            

Cuisine:  Seafood

Hours: Dinner only, Monday through Thursday, 4 to 10:30 p.m.; Friday, 4 to 11:30 p.m.; Saturday 3 to 11:30 p.m.; Sunday, 2 to 10 p.m.

Prices:  Appetizers, soups and salads, $4 to $15; burgers and tacos, $9 to $15; entrées, $13 to $27

Ambiance: Pleasant, softly lit, comfortable, low noise, yet lively.

Reservations: No, however “call-aheads” are accepted            

Credit cards: Visa, MasterCard and American Express accepted

Alcoholic beverages: Full-service bar and lounge; decent wine and beer list.                       

To contact Mitch Davis, you can e-mail him at: MdavisMainCourse@aol.com