Bristol in Leawood

Bristol Seafood Grill

5400 W 119th St
Overland Park, KS 66209
Website

 HOW I FOUND IT:  It's in a pretty visible spot in the Town Center shopping center, and a pretty well known area seafood house.

ATMOSPHERE (SCORE: ****):  A classy establishment, to say the least.  The exterior of the building is nice, not overly fancy, and easily visible from the road.  The inside is a mix of modern contemporary stylings and traditional seaside accompaniments.  The lighting fixtures really stood out, large round chandeliers that put out a very mood-setting glow.  Had my wife not been pregnant and feeling under the weather, I daresay I would have gotten some after a dinner in a setting like that.  ALAS!

FOOD (SCORE: ***1/2):  We started off disappointed, so maybe that affected our opinion of the food we ended up with, but I like to think that's not the case.  When we sat at our table, we received a small card containing their "low tides" tasting menu.  A four course prix-fixe meal that sounded very tasty, and was a good price at 29 bucks, which is pretty amazing, considering one entree item at the Bristol costs around 25 bucks.  Well, that would have been amazing indeed, but apparently they weren't offering it anymore that night. We both decided we wanted that four-course deal, and the waitress came by to take our order.  Once we held up the card, she got a look of horror and said, "I'm sorry, you weren't supposed to get that menu.  We can't run it anymore tonight, as we're out of scallops (first course was a seared diver scallop)."  This was even more disheartening, as this was at around 6:30pm on a Sunday or Monday, I believe.  I can understand running out of something at like 8:30 or 9 on a busy night, but a seafood place running out of scallops at 6:30?  Really?...Seriously?

After being so dead set on that tasting menu, we had a really hard time deciding on what to get.  We decided to start off with the Lobster Tamale.  We love tamales, poblanos, corn, cilantro, and lobster.  So why the hell wouldn't we like a Lobster Tamale?  Because they faked the funk, that's why.  A tamale is one of those rustic favorites that, the less you do with it, the better it usually turns out.  Instead, what we got was a whole that was less than the sum of its parts, a cornmeal mush with some lobster chunks thrown in, wrapped in a corn husk.  Which I thought was funny, because that dish was a tattered husk of what a "lobster tamale"  could, and should, have been.  Melodramatic I know, but remember, at this point I was still pouty because they played with my emotions on the four-course menu!

Then came the mains.  Cyndi got the ahi special, a literal brick of seared ahi with roasted yukon potatoes, asparagus and poyot sauce.  The ahi was above and beyond our expectations, a nice, large portion full of flavor, that was augmented perfectly by the poyot sauce, which is basically Bearnaise sauce with a reduced meat glace added, in this case veal.

Mine was not nearly as mindblowing.  I ordered the grilled Mahi Mahi, which I had eaten there before at  lunch some time ago, and remembered enjoying it.  What came out was passable, albeit under-seasoned and slightly dry.  For my side items, I had a choice of two, and opted for a coma inducing amount of carbs, going with the lobster mac n' cheese, and the lemon-asparagus risotto.  The risotto was quite nice, hearty without feeling heavy, thanks to the light touch of lemon.  The lobster mac and cheese kinda let me down, even though it was as advertised.  I was expecting something like a 'play' on mac and cheese, maybe with some nutmeg, chives, old bay, I dunno, SOME kind of seafood flavor profile in the cheese sauce itself. It literally tasted like regular ol' mac n cheese with some lobster meat in it.  It was more confusing than anything, and I found myself wishing it was just plain mac n' cheese, because I freakin love the stuff.

Desserts were a molten lava cake, which was accompanied by an almond tuille and some ice cream, and hit the spot.  Cyndi ordered a "Chocolate Velvet Cake", which in our minds would have been similar to a red velvet cake, but with chocolate.  Instead it was a big-ass piece of what tasted like a flourless chocolate cake.  Which is completely different from a red velvet cake that tastes like chocolate.  But still good.

SERVICE (RATING: ****):  Our server was polite and professional, and handled the situation of us having the Forbidden Menus well.  She was also very knowledgeable about the menu.  That poyot sauce I mentioned earlier, that I liked so much?  I had no idea what that crap was, and asked the waitress, who informed me of the ingredients without even stopping to think about it.  Thorough menu knowledge is always a huge plus.

VALUE (RATING: **):  Cue fog horn.  Bwa bwaaaaaaa.   Had we been able to have the ever elusive "Low Tides" tasting menu, I think the value would be great, sitting at a nice 29 bucks for four courses.  However, having our entrees weigh in at 25-29 dollars each, and a wack-ass tamale for almost 9 bucks, and desserts bringing up the low end at about 7 bucks, and this was a rather expensive trip to ho-hum-ville.

OVERALL:  Having been in a couple times, I can safely say that I just don't really see what the big deal is with this place.  While I did like the decor and the service, I was very let down by the actual food and the price that was slapped onto it.  I mean, I recognize that good, fresh seafood is hard to come by in Kansas City, and if you want the real deal, it can cost you.  However, I don't think that is a good excuse to charge out the ass for mostly run-of-the-mill fare.  I'm OK with paying more for a great meal.  If I shell out as much as I did here, though, I expect the food to be at least really damn good.  Instead, what I got was all over the place, ranging from really good, to mediocre, to just plain boring.

OVERALL SCORE: ***1/2