Pebbles Island Grill at Crossroads in Lake Buenna Vista.
I think this is the third visit I've had to Pebbles, it is changing it's style a little and seems to have changed it's target audience a little. In previous years ( under different ownership I think) it championed itself as a "casual fine dining experience" , possibly for that "fine dining" label it was somewhere that I didn't try for a long time as usually places that label themselves such tend to be a little less child friendly and a little more expensive than other similar restaurants. When you've got kids in tow, one tends to look for somewhere they will fit in as well. Having eaten there when it was still under it's original owqnership ( I think it changed about 18 months ago) I was probably wrong about it not being "kid friendly" although it was a very popular lunchtime venue for many of the local professional people looking for a nice quiet dining option.
The new owners seem to have decided they will appear to move a little "down market" and aim more at the TGIFriday, Bahama Breeze and Tony Roma's level of market as opposed to being a little in Limbo somewhere above that genre, but not in the Vic+Albert's/Narcoosees class. Considering the relatively low occupancy ratio I think that move has still to become an over-riding success. Perhaps it's simply that their location ( tucked at the rear of Crossroads , next to TGIFriday) and fairly low level advertising means this place is always going to be a little known "secret" , because why there should be 50-70 people queueing outside of TGIFridays (just 30-40 yards away) when Pebbles was less than 50% full makes no sense. The food is better (IMHO) the service was up to the job, the decor is as good ( or better) and the price is about the same. Why wait an extra hour, when a better experience is across the street for the same price !! I can only put it down to lack of knowledge among the visitors. TGIFridays ( and its a decent enough place) is a known quantity and Pebbles is not.
Anyway, the restaurant has had a slight refit and I would say the decor is a little on the lines of Bahama Breeze. The food ( and cocktails) also slants towards Key West/Caribbean influences. Music was at a decent level, not intrusive, but loud enough to drown most of the noise from neighbouring tables.
We had a "Crabby Spinach Dip" to share as a starter (starters ranged from $4 to about $10, ours was $8). This was very nice, came with sort of deep fried flat bread/tortilla chips (flat bread was slightly too oily, but not so much it spoiled the starter) , having had a very similar dish at Pinapple Grill last week, this wasn't quite as good, but if it had been the first time I'd tried something like this I'd have been very happy with it.
For entrees Jana had a Crab Pomodoro (Crab, pasta in a tomato based sauce) that was excellent, I went for a spicy Jambolaya ( I know thats more Creole food than Island, but they made a pretty good fist of it) This wasn't the best version I've ever had ( I love Creole food) but it was a pretty good one, I'd be happy to have it again. Entrees ranged from $14 -$30
For dessert Jana had the chocolate Bread pudding with "creme anglaise" (or thin custard to you and I) and I had the Key Lime Pie. I really enjoyed mine, although I do like Key Lime pie quite a bit tarter/sharper than many other people do. For anyone who likes their's sweet, I wouldn't choose this here. To me, Key Lime pie, should have a little bite to it, and this had plenty. If I was organising the menu, I'd probably suggest they served it with a surround of "creme anglaise" with a sweet rasperry sauce etched into the creme to give a sweet counter to the sharp limes. Jana's bread pudding was excellent ( I've had this before) we'd forgotten quite how much they give you of this ( 2 generous slices) and it's pretty heavy, IMHO there is more than enough here for two people to share. This is a really good version of this dish, not too chocolatey, the thin custard ( creme anglaise) works really well with it. Desserts were all $7-8 range.
While the wine list was reasonable both in range and price, we didn't try any, however Jana and I did hit the cocktail list a bit
, which meant the bill was a little higher than it needed to be 
, we had a Red Stripe each (Jamaican beer) and a couple of their "themed" cocktails each as well. It meant the bar bill came to more than the food 
by the time the $15 entertainment book discount of $15 was deducted. The total was $88 for the two of us, would have been $103 without the coupon. For what we had I think it was pretty good value.
For anyone faced with a 40-50 minute wait at TGIFriday IMHO it's a no brainer, check out Pebbles and see what the wait is over there. IMHO it's better food, similar atmosphere,service and decor for probably slightly less $$s.
I think this is the third visit I've had to Pebbles, it is changing it's style a little and seems to have changed it's target audience a little. In previous years ( under different ownership I think) it championed itself as a "casual fine dining experience" , possibly for that "fine dining" label it was somewhere that I didn't try for a long time as usually places that label themselves such tend to be a little less child friendly and a little more expensive than other similar restaurants. When you've got kids in tow, one tends to look for somewhere they will fit in as well. Having eaten there when it was still under it's original owqnership ( I think it changed about 18 months ago) I was probably wrong about it not being "kid friendly" although it was a very popular lunchtime venue for many of the local professional people looking for a nice quiet dining option.
The new owners seem to have decided they will appear to move a little "down market" and aim more at the TGIFriday, Bahama Breeze and Tony Roma's level of market as opposed to being a little in Limbo somewhere above that genre, but not in the Vic+Albert's/Narcoosees class. Considering the relatively low occupancy ratio I think that move has still to become an over-riding success. Perhaps it's simply that their location ( tucked at the rear of Crossroads , next to TGIFriday) and fairly low level advertising means this place is always going to be a little known "secret" , because why there should be 50-70 people queueing outside of TGIFridays (just 30-40 yards away) when Pebbles was less than 50% full makes no sense. The food is better (IMHO) the service was up to the job, the decor is as good ( or better) and the price is about the same. Why wait an extra hour, when a better experience is across the street for the same price !! I can only put it down to lack of knowledge among the visitors. TGIFridays ( and its a decent enough place) is a known quantity and Pebbles is not.
Anyway, the restaurant has had a slight refit and I would say the decor is a little on the lines of Bahama Breeze. The food ( and cocktails) also slants towards Key West/Caribbean influences. Music was at a decent level, not intrusive, but loud enough to drown most of the noise from neighbouring tables.
We had a "Crabby Spinach Dip" to share as a starter (starters ranged from $4 to about $10, ours was $8). This was very nice, came with sort of deep fried flat bread/tortilla chips (flat bread was slightly too oily, but not so much it spoiled the starter) , having had a very similar dish at Pinapple Grill last week, this wasn't quite as good, but if it had been the first time I'd tried something like this I'd have been very happy with it.
For entrees Jana had a Crab Pomodoro (Crab, pasta in a tomato based sauce) that was excellent, I went for a spicy Jambolaya ( I know thats more Creole food than Island, but they made a pretty good fist of it) This wasn't the best version I've ever had ( I love Creole food) but it was a pretty good one, I'd be happy to have it again. Entrees ranged from $14 -$30
For dessert Jana had the chocolate Bread pudding with "creme anglaise" (or thin custard to you and I) and I had the Key Lime Pie. I really enjoyed mine, although I do like Key Lime pie quite a bit tarter/sharper than many other people do. For anyone who likes their's sweet, I wouldn't choose this here. To me, Key Lime pie, should have a little bite to it, and this had plenty. If I was organising the menu, I'd probably suggest they served it with a surround of "creme anglaise" with a sweet rasperry sauce etched into the creme to give a sweet counter to the sharp limes. Jana's bread pudding was excellent ( I've had this before) we'd forgotten quite how much they give you of this ( 2 generous slices) and it's pretty heavy, IMHO there is more than enough here for two people to share. This is a really good version of this dish, not too chocolatey, the thin custard ( creme anglaise) works really well with it. Desserts were all $7-8 range.
While the wine list was reasonable both in range and price, we didn't try any, however Jana and I did hit the cocktail list a bit
, which meant the bill was a little higher than it needed to be , we had a Red Stripe each (Jamaican beer) and a couple of their "themed" cocktails each as well. It meant the bar bill came to more than the food by the time the $15 entertainment book discount of $15 was deducted. The total was $88 for the two of us, would have been $103 without the coupon. For what we had I think it was pretty good value. For anyone faced with a 40-50 minute wait at TGIFriday IMHO it's a no brainer, check out Pebbles and see what the wait is over there. IMHO it's better food, similar atmosphere,service and decor for probably slightly less $$s.
