Farraddays' Steakhouse, Pompano Beach, Isle Casino
Important: This article was last updated on May 15, 2009. Please call ahead to confirm hours, prices, dates and other information.
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Isle Casino, 1800 SW Third St., Pompano Beach
954-633-6644
Cuisine: American
Cost: expensive
Hours: dinner daily
Reservations: accepted
Credit cards: all major
Bar: full service
Sound level: moderate
Outside smoking: no
For kids: high chairs
Wheelchair accessible: yes
First impression: Look for this casually sophisticated steakhouse on the second level, just above the flashing lights, ringing bells and coin clinking of the main casino.
Ambience: Soft lighting, rustic stone work walls, gentle lighting and an open kitchen provide a handsome backdrop for an expensive evening.
Starters: Room-temperature spears of grilled, barely garlicky bread stacked Lincoln-log style interrupted our vision of a garlic bread stack ($11). The blue cheese sauce surrounding it was uneventful. Pass on the creamy crab and corn chowder ($10) that tastes of neither crab nor corn. While the kitchen uses diver scallops in its Coquille St. Jacques ($15) and it has a nice, crisp crumb coating, ours was overcooked and blandly sauced. Instead, order the coconut breaded shrimp (5 enormous beauties for $21) if they're on the menu as a special.
Entree excellence: Steaks, all properly cooked, are your best bet here. They range from a 24-ounce Porterhouse ($56) to a 12-ounce New York strip ($40) to an 8-ounce filet mignon ($38). Or, dig into a petite filet and a cold water lobster tail ($56), or one pound of Alaskan king crab ($49) that the menu says is flown in fresh. A small portion of mediocre roasted free range chicken ($28) is served in natural au jus with Yukon gold mashed potatoes. Snapper francaise ($35) offers two large meaty moist filets over linguine in an average white wine sauce showered with capers.
Side issues: Order an iceberg wedge with Applewood bacon, red onion and Maytag blue cheese rather than spending the same $10 on an under-dressed Caesar. And, since there's nothing like a good baked potato with steak, you'll like the chubby salt-crusted overstuffed one here ($9). It's fresh, fluffy and nicely packed with all the expected goodies. Creamed spinach ($9), a steakhouse standard, is more cheesy than creamy.
Service: Our curt server, who could use more training, seesawed between hovering and missing in action, bringing the restaurant's other shortcomings into focus.
Sweet!: Deep dish apple pie a la mode ($12) is a worthwhile ending, with creme brulee ($10) coming in second.
— Judith Stocks