Tommy Bahama is a clothing store chain, but 14 of their stores have restaurants connected to them. This evening, my dining partner and I decided to try Tommy Bahama in NYC. Since the store closed at 7pm, we had to enter the restaurant by climbing a spiral staircase after entering the “Marlin Bar”. Since we had a reservation, we were seated promptly. Well, actually, since only about 10% of the tables were occupied, we would have been seated promptly w/o a reservation I’d guess, but I’m not sure given our experience with this place.

We were offered a “complementary bottle of Natura sparkling or still water”. I declined. See, this restaurant normally offers free tap water, but charges $1.00 per person for the Natura water, with free refills, 50% of the money goes to some special water fund. I’m a big water drinker at dinner, so I’d go through that free bottle fast and I expected the $1.00 charge to kick in with the first bottle refill, so we declined and, after 10 minutes got tap water. My dining partner ordered a Beefeater Martini. The waiter asks if we want to order appetizers. No, we normally order appetizer and entrees at the same time. After 10 minutes, the waiter returned saying that the bartender had to get a new bottle of Beefeater Gin and apologized for the delay. They could have just asked if a different gin was acceptable and my dining partner would have been fine with Tanqueray. 20 minutes later, the martini arrives at precisely the time that I get a leg cramp and start walking it off. The manager approaches me and asks if he can help. I tell him “I got a leg cramp because I’ve been sitting for 30 minutes!”. I return to the table. I order Crab bisque and the Codfish special (Cod with ginger risotto). My dining partner orders a coconut shrimp appetizer and Sea Bass entree. We can’t share the shrimp since I’m allergic to shrimp. We wait, and wait. We ask for bread and are informed that bread is served BETWEEN the appetizer and entree. Really? We tell them to bring the bread now!  5 minutes later, some bread arrives. 10 minutes pass and the chef arrives from the kitchen. It seems my partner’s shrimp appetizer was mistakenly served to a different table. Three minutes later, my crab soup arrives as well as my partner’s shrimp and the chef arrives, apologizing for the error, and giving us complementary shrimp fritters. Great, they mess up and give us a dish that I can’t eat! 30 minutes later, entree’s arrive. My Cod special is a gigantic plate of risotto with a tiny portion of cod on top. My dining partner’s Bass looked good. My Cod was overcooked but not dry so I kept it, but the risotto also was lacking in any ginger taste, but I ate it. The bass, I was told, was good. My dining partner asked for a glass of white wine and. after walking off for 5 minutes, the manager brought over two wines to sample, one of which my dining partner greatly preferred over the other.  For dessert, my dining partner ordered the chocolate malt cake which tasted like a Ring Ding. I liked the taste I had of it; my dining partner said it was just OK.  Decaf coffee was excellent but my dining partner complained that the milk was too cold. When the check arrived the manager removed the charges for the glass of wine and for the shrimp appetizer.  That was a nice gesture, but this place really needs to get its act together.