#HelloNewMenu: Family Date Night At Bonefish Grill

Disclosure:  I received a gift card to facilitate this review.  All opinions expressed are 100% my own.

Family, food and fun.  Three of my favorite words and favorite things to enjoy in life.  Last week I got to enjoy all three while checking out the new menu offerings at Bonefish Grill.  It was wonderful to have a family date night outside of the house because it's been a while since our last one.

Although, I had never been to Bonefish Grill prior to our visit, several of my friends had.  One of my close friends even had her birthday party there last year.  I knew from word of mouth that the food was going to be good.  Plus, not to toot my city's horn or anything, but the Queen City does have some of the best restaurants around.

What We Ate

So, let's get to the actual food part.  We were started off with drinks, an artisan bread and the best made from scratch pesto I've had in years.  The Mr usually isn't a fan of the breads or rolls at restaurants, but he gave this one a thumbs up.  We decided to all order something different and eat family style.  

I knew ahead of time that I was going to try one of their new seafood bowls.  I chose the Spicy Tuna Bowl.  Sushi style tuna slices crusted with sesame seeds, fresh avocado, shredded carrots, jasmine rice & chives topped with crispy fried noodles, passion fruit salsa, a few springs of cilantro and sweet & spicy chile sauce. 

Simply delicious are the words that come to mind when I think about my Spicy Tuna.  The passion fruit salsa helped to balance out spiciness of the chile sauce and was a great compliment to the tuna itself.  Overall, I loved the way all of the flavors gelled together once I mixed everything up and poured the chile sauce over it.  

I really enjoyed the chile sauce and have been searching the web for the recipe so that I can attempt to make it at home.  You could definitely put that sauce on just about any piece of meat and it would taste good.  They were not stingy on the serving size either.  You get your money's worth.  I ended up taking some home.

The Mr ordered the Half-Pound American Kobe Beef Burger.   He was craving a little red meat since we've pretty stopped eating it at home.  He had already sliced his burger up into fourths before I could get a picture of it. Bummer because it looked so juicy.  And any burger lover can tell you that juicy is where it's at when it comes to a good burger.  You don't want it to be dry at all.

Besides being juicy, this burger was well seasoned and the special sauce was unlike any other special burger sauces that we've tried.  The lettuce was crisp and you could tell that the tomato was fresh.  Of course, cheddar on a burger is always a good choice.  The Mr gave this two thumbs up and so do I.  The kids didn't try this because of food allergies.

Moo ordered french fries and shrimp.  We haven't had shrimp in over a year and when she saw the Bang Bang Shrimp while I was checking out their menu online, she said wanted to try some.  I thought for sure she would want fish once we got there because she loves tilapia, but she stuck to her guns.  After trying her shrimp, I was glad she did because they were yummy!

The face of a very satisfied Bonefish Grill customer

JJ had just woke up when we got there and because of his many (too many to list out) food allergies and being in his picky eater stage, he got an order of fries.  He ended up having a meltdown and going back to sleep.  

What Else We Loved

From the time we entered the door until we left, the service was AMAZING!  Seriously, everyone was super nice.  Our server, Lydia, took her time in walking us through the menu.  Did you know all of their fish comes in fresh daily?  I'm not going to knock frozen fish, but if you've ever had frozen fish and  fresh fish, you know the taste is different.  

We had the freedom to customize our meals.  For example, I get headaches from eating meat that is medium rare and so I asked to have my tuna well done.  With Moo's gluten allergy, we were able to have her shrimp not breaded.  They took care to make sure there wasn't any cross contamination by using a new set of cooking utensils and keeping her food separate.

So, if you have food allergies, just be sure to let them know because they will mostly be able to accommodate you.  We also got to meet one of the managers, Julie.  She was a doll.  She greeted us when we arrived and even stopped by our table to check on us.  She mingled with a few other guests as well.

I would describe Bonefish Grill as being family friendly.  They have kids' menus that also double as coloring pages, high chairs and booster seats.  There were two other families with small children dining while we were there.  Nobody batted an eye or gave us a rude look over JJ's brief meltdown.  They understood that meltdowns happen.

As far as pricing, I do think they are reasonably priced considering the quality of the food.  They have options for every budget.  The cook time is fast.  We didn't have to wait very long for our food to come out at all.  I was most surprised by that because they had a full house when we arrived.  There was seriously no empty tables.  I would definitely recommend that you make a reservation to be on the safe side if waiting is not your thing.

What We Want To Try Next Time

Because the portions were so big, we didn't have room for everything we wanted to try.  We've made plans to go back next month to celebrate our wedding anniversary and the one month anniversary of the kids being in school.  Moo has requested to get her own Spicy Tuna Bowl (sans the crispy noodles), I want to try the Lobster  Grilled Cheese, the Mr is probably going to have an Kobe Burger and the Bang Bang Shrimp and JJ will most likely stick to his french fries unless he stops being a picky eater and then we'll throw some non-breaded chicken breast with that.

I also want to try the Jen's Jamaican Coconut Pie for dessert.  I'm hoping we can get some kind of berry/fruit salad for the kids for their dessert.  And I've already told the Mr that he can't dig in to his food until I've snapped pictures.  

Be sure to follow Bonefish Grill on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up with all their awesome specials and promotions!

Have you ever been to Bonefish Grill?