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Ate: September 25, 2005 Published: October 2, 2005 $$$$ My lovely wife and I wanted to go somewhere nice and upscale to celebrate our one-year anniversary. Based on word-of-mouth, a previous enjoyable experience at their sister restaurant, and a good marketing campaign, we chose the Divine Fish House, located on Highway 17 in Murrells Inlet. In the last few years, the inlet has become the strand's new "Restaurant Row," home to many new, classy seafood restaurants. However classy the Divine Fish House is, it is anything but new. It is an establishment with a long-standing reputation for quality and excellence. Unfortunately, this is the point at which quality and excellence took a small vacation. Based on the other tables around us, I think that we were supposed to get a small basket of bread. But I can't be sure, because nobody ever brought us one. Our appetizer of lobster dumplings turned out to be three small items that, more than anything, brought to mind a Chinese buffet's crab Rangoon desperately trying to be upscale. Besides the lobster instead of crab, the only real difference is that Crab Rangoon doesn't cost four dollars per individual dumpling. The small, sparsely decorated salads came out in a timely manner. They pretty much consisted mostly of romaine lettuce and very little of anything else. During this time, our waiter showed no personality, wordlessly replacing the tea glasses and getting out of there as quickly as possible. I almost got the feeling that he knew our meal was not up to par and he seemed embarrassed. My bride and I made the best of it and joked to each other about our low expectations for the rest of the meal, accepting it as our bad luck. Then our entrees arrived. After the meal's inauspicious beginning, my wife's eyes nearly popped out of her head at what we saw on the waiter's tray. Both of our dinners looked absolutely wonderful. Her Carolina Scallops were the size and thickness of hockey pucks and lightly fried in a batter. My San Antonio Salmon was layered several inches high and topped with some very festive looking shredded and deep-fried sweet potato. Even our waiter seemed to perk up and show a little personality. After our less-than-stellar appetizer and salads, we were understandably cautious as we tried our dinners. Fortunately, such caution was not necessary. Each of our main courses tasted quite good. My dish was a layered affair with a good, quality salmon steak resting atop a fried cheese grit cake. On top of the fish were fresh leaves of spinach, which were themselves covered with melted pepper jack cheese and apple smoked bacon pieces. To add flair, it was topped with the aforementioned shredded, deep-fried sweet potato. The whole thing was a feast for the eyes as well as for the palate. Other than a few thin strips of julienne zucchini and red bell pepper, there were no side dishes to speak of - the salmon dish pretty much stood on its own merits. While my wife's scallops were good, I'm sad to report that it they weren't as superb as my salmon was. The batter on the scallops had not adhered well to the meat, and when they were frying, the steam from the scallops made the batter puffy. It quickly peeled off every time she tried to cut one of them. With most of the seasonings in the batter, this left the scallops themselves a little blander than she would have liked. I think her critique of her dish was on the mark. It was her opinion that fine scallops like these would have been tastier had they been seasoned and grilled. Also, her side dishes of rice and squash casserole were a bit bland for our taste as well. We ended up taking half of her scallops home for leftovers and she dug into my salmon, enjoying it just as much as I did. Since we opted not to get dessert, we went ahead and asked the waiter for our check. This is sometimes where a good dining experience can go bad for us. My wife and I often have bad luck at restaurants and find ourselves abandoned while waiting for the check. Thankfully, we were not abandoned, and paying for the meal was a timely, painless affair. We drove away from Murrells Inlet and reflected on our anniversary and our celebration dinner. Overall, we had to count the meal as a success, albeit an inconsistent one. The appetizer was unimpressive and overpriced, but the entrees delivered. The next time we go back to the Divine Fish House, we'll get drinks instead of an appetizer, but we will definitely go back. While worth its price, this establishment and it's rich, quiet, unhurried atmosphere and spectacular inlet view is not cheap and is best suited for special occasions. Go and indulge yourself. |
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