My birthday celebration continued...at Nick's Bar and Grill

Hey, I only have my birthday once a year, so I was going to milk it for all its worth! After the massive friday Tharen's party, I had a quiet night on Saturday with a few friends at the Italian Film Festival in Leichhardt. This was because Sunday was going to be another birthday celebration which involved lots of shopping and heaps of food.

I found out that Nick's was having an all you can eat Seafood and BBQ special on Sunday and Monday nights after 6pm and I managed to convince a friend that that is exactly what we needed. The day involved shopping around Town Hall and an hour at Kinokuniya to slowly browse some of our favourite books. We eventually get kicked out and stroll to Darling Harbour. Since it was early, we sat outside Nick's Seafood for a while to enjoy the night light before going in to get a table.

Once we were seated, we start browsing the menu and realise there is no mention of the all you can eat special. No probs I thought, it was probably one of those specials advertised on the internet only. The waiter comes by and I asked if they had the all you can eat special offer on and this is what happenedL:

Him: "You're at the wrong restaurant."
Me (mild panic attack): "Wait.....is this Nicks?!?!"
Him: "Yes, but you need Nick's Bar and Grill"
Me: "OH CRUD! I thought it was the same thing! Like there is only one Nicks!"
Him: "No no, its the same owner, just different restaurant. We get a few mistakes a week. You need to head down to King St Wharf for Nick's Bar and Grill."

We sheepishly get up from our chair and make a quick get away. Damn that was embarrassing. We walk towards King St Whard and eventually spotted Nick's BAR AND GRILL. And luckily, outside the restaurant they had a hugeeeeeeee sign with the all you can eat special poster on display. Yay!!

We get seated and the lovely waiter gave us a quick run down of what the deal is about. Basically we order, and he'll bring the food. We did request that they either reduce the amount of chips or skip it altogether, because we knew it was just going to go to waste (Especially since 3 out of the 5 choices were LOADED with chips). But since it would be extra work for the kitchen NOT to give us chips, we can just opt not to eat it. They're not going to force us to clean the plate before bringing more food.

Seafood Plate #1 of 3

First plate we got was a bit cold and stale. I think we were the early arrivers and they were batch cooking everything. However, plate 2 and 3 was piping hot and oh so good! The fish was moist and flakey, the calamari uber tender and the prawns were nice and meaty.

Seafood plate #2 of 3

Mussels in white wine sauce #1 of 2

These mussels were tiny compared to what I am used to at the Belgian Bier Cafe or even at Bungalow8. Taste wise, they're nice, but definitely cannot compare to the BBC or Bungalow8. Plus they were slightly on the cold side.

Mussels in red sauce

I didn't really like this one at all. The red tomato sauce tasted distinctly like canned tomato soup, with fresh tomatoes thrown in at the last minute. I was hoping for a red sauce made of fresh tomatoes and herbs, this was quite a disappointment.

1/2 rack of ribs

The ribs were nice, but not up to the standard of Hurricanes or Tony Romas. Walking past their open kitchen, you see racks and racks of white ribs sitting near the stove. The ribs looked like they had been poached/stewed and basted with BBQ sauce after it was thrown on the stove quickly to warm it up. Flipping the ribs upside down, the bottom of the ribs was whiter than my belly, meaning it wasn't marinated or slow roasted with any marinade. It also wasn't as tender as I had hoped. But for all you can eat, you can't be too picky.

Mixed Grill

We really should've ordered this earlier, because we were much too full when this came out. Surprisingly, the meat was all very tender. Grilled chicken thighs, tender greek style lamb souvalaki, steaks, chorizo and ribs. But I was just way to full to enjoy this.

Overall, the food was pretyt good quality for the price you paid. And we had the most wonderful waiter who didn't make you feel guilty ordering plate after plate of food. That plus the water views made this a lovely birthday dinner. Now I just have to work off all the food!!

Nick's Bar and Grill

http://www.nicks-seafood.com.au/nicks_bar_grill.htm

The Promenade, King Street Wharf

Sydney NSW 2000

Ph: (02) 9279 0122