Cricket made plans to meet some old friends in Fort Lauderdale last week so it was off to the Marina for us. We opted for the Hilton as did most of the group, but a few were residing across the way at Pier 66. I was asked to make plans for the group for Saturday night and after a little research settled on the Pirate Republic. Whatever review you read below, I do want to clearly state that Cricket's friends had a great time this night.\r
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Saturday night we all boarded the Water Taxi casting off on a grand and epic voyage of culinary barbarism that soon run aground at the aptly named Pirate Republic. \r
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I say the name is apt because the theme and decor are decidedly Pirate-esque. The governmental style of the service was decidedly Republican. Upon arrival there was no hostess, servers passing to and fro in a frenzied state of "in the weeds" , one even offering that to me as an excuse when I tried to ask about our reservation. They were very adept at passing me off to another server several times. Finally, I came face to face with Michelle who took over and put us on auto pilot for the rest of the evening. She was a terrific server with a corny (but in a good way) sense of humor. She was all over us, just like the gnats, but I digress (more on that later). We were seated at the end of the dock where a few boats were tied up. It was a great vantage point to watch the boats go by. We also had a perfect view of the railroad bridge which did close a little before 8 for a 100+ car freight train to rumble by for 15 minutes. This piece of entertainment was only outdone by the homeless man who apparently has taken up residence in the park across the river who took an extended pee break into the river in full view of just about everyone! (The consensus was that the extra shakes at the end were only for show.)\r
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We started out with some apps for the tables (they had to split our party onto two adjoining picnic tables) and the results were mixed. The fried Kraken calamari was nicely cooked and had a nice flavor, but oi! all that salt! The Babaganoush was just plain fun! Everybody loved this one although more than half had no idea what they were eating. The calamari house salad was a little disappointing. The calamari was slightly under cooked but was still very good as was the mixed green salad. The real disappointment was the salad dressing. A salad like this needs something a little more exotic than the Sysco Balsamic Vinagrette it came with. The ceviche was delicious with really big pieces of fish, jalapeño slices and green onions. \r
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As the sun continued to set, out came the gnats and no-seeums in great numbers. For some reason, they retreated after the sun had finished setting however there were a few mosquito bites reported the next day. Even after sunset it was very hot and muggy. But it was early September on the river. If you go out of season, insist on eating "inside" where they have fans and misters. \r
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We consumed quite a few beverages this night, as we were at a Pirate Bar so it was a near requirement we sample the beverage menu as well. After an odd house cocktail, I went with the frozen margarita which was pretty standard, but that didn't stop me from consuming more of them as fast as Michelle could present them. . Cricket had more than a few virgin pina coladas that she enjoyed very much. I even think one wasn't so innocent because she got really giggly for a while (there will be no more on that later).\r
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The second our apps arrived we were bombarded by a squadron of large black flies who were followed up by smaller ones who kept zipping in and out. The larger ones would make strafing runs straight into your food. For a while there our dockside setting appeared to be a reenactment of the Battle of the Coral Sea. \r
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For dinner, our table ordered 2 chicken alfredos, Corsair's shrimp, a fish sandwich and I opted for the whole fried red snapper. Everything came out at one time and was hot. My snapper was served with head on but tail off all alone on a platter that was the same length as the fish. Perhaps they felt they had to cut the tail off to make it fit on the small plate. The fish was perfectly cooked, and in seconds I was pulling the skin back and tearing in to it. However, this fish while fresh was a little bland and really could have used a sauce. Speaking of sauces, Cricket was admiring a dish of fish and shrimp on the menu that came with a red sauce. When she asked to sub it for the white wine sauce our ever-chipper server Michelle suddenly froze up like a deer in the headlights. "Oh, no the kitchen will not do that. Please don't make me ask." Such was the force of her convictions that the normally firm minded Cricket just went ahead and ordered the Corsair's shrimp in white wine and garlic.. There was real fear there!\r
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Cricket's shrimp were well cooked but the sauce was a little sad and amateurish. She basically had six well cooked shrimp floating in a thin briny broth with a few strips of baguette sticking out. She probably ate about 2 of the shrimp as I remember her feeding them to me for quite a while. The alfredo's were deemed acceptable however the fish sandwich got rave reviews.\r
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We had a wonderful riverside birthday party complete with a chocolate cake someone had brought along and Michelle impressed us again by having plates and a large knife ready to go when needed.\r
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At 8:55 sharp here came the Water Taxi to collect us and return us to our hotels. Everyone enjoyed the taxi experience and I was able to don my captain's cap for the brief return trip.\r
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From this experience, I was able to deduce that this chef and his crew are very good at turning out pretty great pirate grub such as sandwiches and fried apps but they are in fact reaching too far from their comfort zone when they try to put out an upscale menu that they can't support. If the Pirates can't reign in their ambitions, it's up to you to reign in your expectations: Stick with what they do best and you'll enjoy your night all the more, matey. (I was told it was a requisite of any Pirate Bar review that one use the word "matey" at least once.)
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