The short version:
This October 30th the Bonefish grill had a Halloween menu we used to celebrate the running group's October birthdays. Service was top notch and the food was overall very good.
The Experience:
We are a large, scandalous group, so when the person who wanted to make the reservations called, they said they couldn't accommodate so man people (around 14 or 15 people). which was weird because once we got there (which I hear took a bit of convincing from one person from our party to the restaurant people), most of the other tables were of about the same number of people each, so I don't really understand the resistance.
Anyway, once there, the service was excellent. from the moment we got in to the moment we left, everyone in the staff was friendly, helpful... and patient.
Yes, not only we are a big party, we do what we want to enjoy the night, which, sometimes, yes, we know restaurants have their systems and people moving tables and ordering "a la carte" mess up that system... but how does it make sense to put two people on a separate table, when we have space where we are to add that table?
Well, once we were all seated, the courses started coming. This time I remembered to take pictures before eating them, so take a look - especially to the menu, which has the exact description of the plates and the drinks-.
Course 1:
The most excellent dish of the night came first. The appetizer, an apple crostini. LOVED IT!!! Perfect sweet and savory balance between the apple the goat cheese, the honey, the arugula etc.
Drink 1: Phantom's web
A nice drink, a bit dry but overall very nice complement to the appetizer. came with a tiny plastic spider to give it personality.
Course 2:
The Vodoo Shrimp pasta is a black pasta with a pumpkin sauce and three shrimp on top Halloween menu. It came a bit cold, but don't hold it against the restaurant. There was a lot of costumers and getting all around at the same time is a logistic nightmare, but everyone got their plate and, even though I'm not a fan of anything pumpkin the pasta was pretty good... the shrimp were a tad overcooked, so the texture was a bit chewy, but the flavor was really good.
Drink 2: Vampire's Delight
A bit too sweet and fruity. The bloody hypodermic was a nice touch, but the drink didn't do it for me.
Course 3
Barbecue Pineapple Tequila Mahi-Mahi
What surprised me the most here was the side of roasted squash, which I actually enjoyed even though it's usually not my thing. The rice was ok, if not a bit hard and chewy, and the mahi-mahi itself was decent, but the barbecue-tequila glaze on top of it was, again, way too sweet and overpowered every other flavor.
Drink 3: Diablo's Dream:
This was AWESOME! highly recommended tequila drink with strawberry and jalapeño... It doesn't really do anything for the sweetness of the mahi-mahi, as the menu says... though, maybe, the sweetness of the mahi-mahi does bring out the flavor of the drink and make it better.
Course 4:
Tequila bites
It wasn't bad but what it amounts to is a bunch of fried dough cubes you dip on the most delicious tequila-lime icing. Not bad, but nothing really special.
Drink 4: Sorceress Spell
A Very. Nice. Digestive. Loved it. not as much as the Diablo's Dream, but loved it nevertheless.
We aso got cheesecakes (not in the Halloween menu) for the october-birthdays-people. Very good.
Overall a nice experience, but not as "special" as I would have expected from a "special" menu. That is not to say there was anything wrong either. Also, after leaving I did hear from one of the organizers from our party that someone on the restaurant side was "unhappy" that a couple of our people decided to order from the regular menu instead of the 4-course special. While, again, I understand that the logistical nightmare gets worse because of such things, you can't really force everyone to just be the same.
That said, everyone at the party enjoyed the event, and as I said before, the staff we interacted with was all lovely.