My top-tier chum who literally went to the school of hospitality and I were in the mood for a…read morebougie sit-down dinner this past Saturday night and decided to try out Ocean Prime; we've had a few underwhelming dining experiences in Cranford, so we were hoping to break the streak. I'd say we were successful in that regard, and this is probably one of the top two places I've been now in town, along with Garlic Rose.
Even if you didn't have access to the menu, this just LOOKS like an upper-class steakhouse - lots of darker interior colors with deliberate use of lighting almost like the aisles in a movie theater. We did the responsible thing and made 6:30pm reservations, though the restaurant was relatively empty when we first got there (it filled up for sure during our dinner). We were immediately seated and attended to, which was a pleasant recurring theme for our experience.
On the booze front, we each got an Old Fashioned, which was specifically cited on the cocktail menu, and a bottle of Daou Cab Sauvignon to share (I let my chum take the lead on that selection, which I think was influenced by the strong reviews on the Vivino app - a recommend if you're into that sort of thing). The Old-Fashioned was decent; I'm always pleased when the de facto bourbon is Angel's Envy. I'm not crazy about vermouth, which I always think gives off shoe leather vibes, but I did like the smoky profile on this one. Not bad at all, but I liked the bottle of wine better.
We decided to split the Grilled Octopus app, which came with seasoned potatoes, olives and tomatoes. This was arguably the weakest part of the meal. The octopus was a little tough/rubbery and the accompanying potatoes to me were very much needed and better, frankly, than the designated star of the show here. I'm not an olive person but my chum's comment there was they were too overwhelming, taste-wise. Noted. We also got a side of parmesan truffle garlic steak fries, which I didn't have too many of because I was distracted by all of the other options on the table, but would totally get again.
For entrees, it felt morally proper to hit up the cattle (when in Rome). I went with the Braised Short Ribs, which is one of my go-tos if it's on the menu. Pretty good - VERY tender and literally falling off the bone. I'd say about 20% of it was too fatty for me, and I pawned that section off on my chum, but the other 80% was primo. She got the Filet Mignon Oscar style (which my computer wanted to autocorrect to Oscars, thinking it was the umpteenth time I was typing something about the Academy Awards), and was very pleased by it. Not mindblowingly amazing but solidly above average across the board.
I'm not sure why we ordered dessert at this point other than to ensure I had something else to munch on the following day, but we did that too. I got the Cheesecake w/ Marionberry Compote. This was just okay for me. Taste-wise, the cheesecake seemed a little off for my palate; maybe a little too tart? It didn't seem as milky as other cheesecakes, which doesn't necessarily mean it was bad, but wasn't my kind of cheesecake. The compote was also just okay, both in the moment and as a leftover the following day. Maybe I'm just used to getting this dessert with strawberries and compotes that are similar to that type of fruit, but I just didn't think the compote and cake meshed as well. Debatable though.
There's room for improvement but this is a strong entry in the Cranford gastro scene, such as it is.
