29 January 2010.. Evening

It was dineLA Restaurant Week and time to take advantage! So the "quadruple date" dinner was set for an 8:30pm reservation @ Chart House in Redondo Beach CA.  When I heard that we had to dress casual elegant, I wasn't feel'n it too much at first but then I was down for it.  Us friends never go out and dress nice for a dinner so hey that would be cool.

Before I go on.. congrats to my buddy n his girlfriend, they're having a Baby BOY!! So the dinner was also a celebration.  We got seated with an awesome view of the ocean.  Our table was at the very corner of the restaurant so we had a nice little view of the incoming surf crashing against the rocks.  Some pretty big swells were coming in and you could feel a little rumble in the floor beneath your feet.

In past dineLA/OC Restaurant Weeks, I've gone away from the 3-4 course meal specials because nothing really caught my eye.  Not this time! Check out the menu:

 

 

Seared Peppered Ahi Tuna -

Served rare with tangy mustard, ginger & wasabi

I like Ahi Tuna a lot so I made this my First Course.  I'm not much of a wasabi fan so I didn't touch it.  The Ahi Tuna tasted really fresh, and dipping it into that sauce in the background made it even tastier.  

 

Coconut Crunchy Schrimp -

Served with sweet plum sauce

My gf got this for her First course and I think I liked this one better than my Ahi.  The sweet plum sauce really complimented the shrimp with every bite.  What I liked about this shrimp most was that it was big and crunchy! haha.

 

Shrimp Scampi -

With garlic white wine butter sauce & angel hair pasta

I was in the mood for pasta and this was under the Second Course.. Perfect! This was pretty damn good! So good that my gf and I ended up trading because she liked this one better than hers.

 

Macadamia Nut Crusted Mahi Mahi -

Peanut sauce with hint of Frangelico, mango coulis & coconut ginger rice

So when my gf and I traded dishes, my only problem with it was that it barely had any rice.  Chart House needs to put more rice in this dish! I mean wtf! haha.. Besides that complaint, the peanut sauce was a good combination with the Mahi Mahi.  I didn't mind our trade at all!

Key Lime Pie

I'm not much of a fan when it comes to Key Lime anything but this pie was surprising. Very yummy and very filling.  I almost killed it but I was 3 bites shy.. This was the nail in the coffin though... this made me officially FULL!

 

Raspberry Creme Brulee 

My gf had to settle for this because it was too late to request the Original Mud Pie..Wack!! There isn't any Raspberry because she didn't want it on there.  I don't remember even taking a bite out of this, and I even like Creme Brulee.  I think I was caught up on my Key Lime thats why =).  

So thats that.. Dinner was good and it was fun having a good time with some real good friends.  Our only complaint of the night was our server.. The place wasn't even that full, and our dining area was pretty much empty and yet he was taking forever to come back and serve us.  I give our server a "C".  Other than that, I highly recommend this place for the casual and elegant mood with a loved one. 

Oh yeah btw... some cat that works there looks exactly like Screech from Saved By the Bell!!!

Chart House

231 Yacht Club Way

Redondo Beach, CA 90277

(310)372-3464