First impression:
If the first three rules of a successful restaurant are location, location, location, then this 250-seat, 15,000-square-foot gem on the Intracoastal will be around for many years to come. It’s the most casual of owner Burt Rapoport’s holdings with a beachy menu that runs from burgers and sandwiches to great steaks and inventive seafood specials.
Background:
When Rapoport opens a new restaurant,
listens. He’s been a South Florida restaurateur for three decades and currently owns Henry’s (Delray), Bogart’s (
) and is part owner of Max’s Grille at Mizner Park in Boca. Deck 84 opened in November.
Ambience:
Once home to Busch’s Seafood, Rapoport spent $1.5 million on the redo. It’s all blond wood and turquoise inside. The almost glitzy lobby with a unique bubble tank belies the informality of the enclosed outside deck where the beer flows and the music roars. The deck — with misting system — is where you sit for the view and a sense of celebration.
Starters:
Like so much of the menu, this is bar food just slightly elevated. Popcorn shrimp ($12) are a little heavy on batter, but good. Black Angus sliders ($10) were nice, but a better shareable starter is the smoked chicken quesadilla ($13) with fresh pico de gallo and caramelized onions. A rather bland guacamole with chips ($8) was over processed for my tastes. Leave some lumps! But I’m crazy about the flatbreads. The brie & pear flatbread ($12) is topped with poached pears, miso bacon brittle and baby arugula.
Entree excellence:
So called main plates shine. Steaks are a specialty here, as evidenced by the perfectly cooked tender sirloin ($23) and soy and ginger marinated skirt steak ($24) served with Asian-style veggies and ginger rice. Flavorful swordfish ($26) comes with cilantro scallion rice and sauteed spinach. Jamaican jerk chicken ($16) is a generous portion, served with garlic spinach, but it lacked flavor beyond the skin, and the accompanying red beans and rice were cloyingly sweet. Someone ordered the Mediterranean plate ($12) — called a bar snack — for an entree. It was a weak collection of hummus, babaganoush, toasted pita, harissa grilled zucchini, roasted mushrooms, tomato and cucumber. A balsamic chicken wrap ($15) combines salad greens, goat cheese, pine nuts, crispy onions and chicken in a wheat-honey wrap. It seems expensive for what it is, although the accompanying sweet potato tater tots were a hit.
Sweet!:
Apple cobbler ($7) was the favorite at our table. Brownie sundae ($8) was a bit too sugary and Key lime pie ($7) was short on sour.
Service:
Youthful and efficient. When someone at the table knocked over a pomegranate martini ($10), it was replaced for free.
Insider tip:
Ask about cocktail cruises, dinner parties, sunset and snorkel sails departing from Deck 84 in partnership with Palm Breeze Charters.
or 954-356-4632. Read his blog at and follow him Twitter.com @FloridaEats.
