Surf Taco: A Dissapointing Taco Experience

While staying in Manasquan. NJ on a weekend getaway, we needed a quick snack because our friends who just arrived from the city were starving for lunch. My friend, who is from New Jersey knew of Surf Taco (121 Parker Ave., Manasquan, NJ) and recommended that be the place for our mid-afternoon snack before our dinner later.

We were absolutely starving when we arrived and the place didn't look super busy. When we placed our order, the cashier mentioned that they were catering for an event and that our order would take about a half hour and asked if we were ok with that. We were ok with a half hour wait, and placed our order. 

My boyfriend and I both ordered 2 types of tacos and decided to forgo the combo platter which included beans, a drink, and chips. However, our friends ordered the combo platter. One would think that if you are ordering a platter that comes with chips, and you are told that you have to wait a half hour for your food, that the cashier would supply you with your chips upon ordering so that you could snack on them and use the salsa bar while waiting. No such luck here!

Luckily, we were given our cups to fill up with soda while we waited. Surf Taco has one of those awesome movie theater style soda machines where you can pick between many flavors of soda and brands with a touch of a button. Unfortunately, they were out of all the fun flavors and we were stuck with orange or vanilla. They definitely needed to check on the machine and fill it up with the missing flavors! It seemed very neglected.

We sat down on the outdoor patio, and started to wait for our food. The clock kept ticking and ticking and ticking, until about an hour went by and no sign of our food. As I was about to stand up and check on what the hell was going on with our food, it finally arrived! For the time our tacos took to come out, they better be damn good. 

Garlic Shrimp Taco & Mahi Taco

When my boyfriend and my order arrived, we noticed that it came with chips, even without ordering the combination! We all found this misleading, since the only reason my friend ordered the combo was for the chips! They also should have given us these chips while we were waiting for that whole hour! 

I ordered one garlic shrimp taco and one mahi taco. The garlic shrimp taco was supposed to be sauteed with garlic and topped with shredded cabbage, pico de gallo, cilantro sauce, and lime juice. I didn't taste even a hint of garlic on the shrimp, pretty disappointing! 

The Mahi Taco was blackened Mahi Mahi, topped with avocado lime sauce, shredded cabbage, pico de gallo, slice of fresh avocado, chopped pineapple, and lime juice in a double corn tortilla. I can't say I tasted all those flavors in this taco either. It was not that exciting and I think I could have had better at Taco Bell. 

Traditionally Tacos are naturally flavorful with mixtures of ingredients, sauces, and textures, but these tacos definitely lacked that excitement. I understand that the restaurant was catering an event, but they should have either had more staff on that day to make sure the customers in the store were served in a timely matter or they should have closed the store that day. I think they definitely need to work on time management of preparing food for an event and having store business at the same time. All in all, we all felt like our tacos were prepared half-assed because of the event, and for the time they took, it was so nice not worth it.

Blend on Main: A Foodie's Paradise???

I was spending the weekend in Manasquan, NJ and my boyfriend and I arrived on the later side to our hotel. It was a rainy night and we wanted to stay close by, so we decided to check out Blend on Main (152 Main St, Manasquan, NJ) since it was connected to our hotel, and the menu sounded unbelievable. Also, how could you pass up on a restaurant with the quote "People who love to eat are always the best people" outside? This seemed like it was going to be a foodie's paradise just based on the menu! 

Inspiring Quote Outside the Restaurant! 

When we made a reservation an hour ahead, the hostess acted as though there was very limited availability for the time we selected and gave us a weird attitude. We had asked her if we could have 8 or 8:30 and she said "oh, you must take 8". When we showed up at 8, half the restaurant was empty, and as 8:30 approached, the restaurant became less full due to tables finishing up. We were mesmerized by how the hostess had made it sound like the later time would have been so packed when we would have preferred to be sat later than 8. 

 The restaurant had a beautiful ambiance with a fireplace in the center of the restaurant and nicely spaced seating. It was the perfect setting for our date night, since the following night we were being joined by another couple for the weekend. It also happened to be BYOB which was a fabulous perk, since my boyfriend and I love to drink wine with our dinner! 

The waitress immediately came over to our table to let us know about the specials and to open our wine. There was no corkage fee, have we found heaven? The bread basket immediately came out for us to munch on before ordering, which I thought was an extremely nice touch, since I find that at most restaurants they wait till you have ordered before bringing the bread out. Sometimes I am so starving that I can't concentrate on the menu, so this bread came in handy.  

Asian Calamari - American squid, crispy fried,  Thai chili plum sauce, nori komi furikake, scallion, wasabi aioli

For our first appetizer, my favorite one, we ordered the Asian Calamari. The calamari was served with beautiful presentation in a Chinese take out container, which was definitely very creative! It was also accompanied with chopsticks, but unfortunately, only one set. We had to ask for another set from the kitchen, which was kind of a chore because we had to ask two of the waiters for them before actually getting a second set.
The calamari was lightly fried and topped with Thai chili plum sauce, nori homi furikake, scallions, and wasabi aioli. It was a nice combination of sweet and spicy all at once. I also loved that it wasn't too heavily fried, so it felt much easier to eat. I happened to love this dish, but my boyfriend thought it was a little too sweet. I agree, I would have liked it to be a little spicier, but I did love it the way it was.

Lobster Mac n' Cheese - macaroni, Maine lobster  tail, sliced black truffle, three cheese bechamel, mericaine, truffle sauce

For our second appetizer, we ordered the lobster mac n' cheese. From the description, you would never know it was going to be prepared in a crab cake-like ball. Our waitress had told us about it before ordering, so we were prepared, and it actually made us more enticed to order it. The fried ball of macaroni, was supposed to be stuffed with pieces of lobster, black truffle, and truffle sauce. I saw shavings of black truffle on the plate, and also a few inside the ball, but did not really taste the truffle sadly. I wish they had sprinkled some truffle oil into the cheese to make it a little more flavorful, since there was definitely a lack of truffle and flavor. Also, there were microscopic size pieces of lobster in the mac n'cheese. My boyfriend and I probably each got two tiny bites of lobster, so it was a little disappointing. This dish was awesome in theory, but not awesome in creation.

Ahi Tuna Taco - tuna belly, sriacha aoili, nappa cabbage slaw, yuzu jalapeno vinaigrette, wasabi tobiko, crispy won ton

For our third appetizer, we ordered the Ahi Tuna Tacos. These were absolutely delicious and we enjoyed them, but the description of the dish was a little misleading. Ahi Tuna is generally seared fresh tuna, where you can see the red center and charred edges. These tacos had ground up tuna in them that was then mixed with sriacha aoili. This type of preparation is generally called spicy tuna, and you never know if the tuna is as fresh or great quality when you get it in this preperation. Other than that, we loved the freshly fried won ton taco shell, and the perfectly seasoned and dressed tacos. MMM MMM good.

Shrimp & Grits - cajun crusted mayan shrimp, roasted organic carrot, roasted asparagus,  mascarpone grits, house bacon

The main course was our favorite! Typically, appetizers tend to be more exciting and tasty than the main course, so this was a rare experience. We ordered the Shrimp & Grits, which was large shrimp deliciously spiced in cajun spices, atop creamy mascarpone grits, served with roasted carrots, asparagus, and bacon. The shrimp was cooked to perfection with the perfect level of spices and grilled to the perfect consistency. The carrots and asparagus had some charring on them, which gave the dish that grilled southern feel. The bacon was thick and cooked to perfection. It was a perfect pairing to the creamy grits that sat underneath this flavorful dish. There was not one bite of this dish that I did not enjoy.

Drunken Doughnuts - fried doughnut, cinnamon, sugar, rum berry sauce

For dessert we ordered the house special, the Drunken Doughnuts. I thought from the description that the doughnuts would taste as though there was alcohol mixed into the batter, but it was really only the sauce that had that flavor. They were fried and crispy and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and accompanied with rum berry sauce. They were very delicious and definitely would order them again! I am glad the waitress raved so highly of them.

We enjoyed our dinner at Blend, although my boyfriend and I felt that the menu was very foodie driven with key wording on the menu and key ingredients that speak to foodies, but when the dishes were delivered they lacked the flavor that was promised. I would check this place out again if in need of a dinner spot next time I'm in Manasquan, but definitely not my first option.