The nautical exterior is accentuated by a serene setting that makes a wonderful backdrop for the contemporary dining room and spirits area.  This restaurant has an understated contemporary feel that’s crisp and refreshing. The cozy yet suitable lounge area makes for great conversation.

We found the wait staff to be courteous, knowledgeable and quite accommodating.
This adept restaurant team, led by diligent owners that are never too busy to
greet and cajole the guests with sincere banter while overseeing and assuring quality from the front of the house right through to the kitchen.

The soup course we had was a sweet pepper puree (above center) with lime chipolte and crème fraichè garnished with mint. This was a creamy, smoky, precisely spiced soup with a great mint finish that counter balanced the heat and smoky aromatic elements.

The house made Crab cake (above left) was a fall apart creation with fantastic crab taste. This was accomplished by using only jumbo lump crab meat. The scant amount of bread crumbs where just there for the ride. The cakes were served with a spicy mango and chive vinaigrette that was a superb sweet and spicy combination.

The Tuna tartar (above right), served with a light wasabi glaze, was a touch spicy yet refreshing.  The Tuna was presented on a layer of cucumber with wasabi and seaweed in a sesame and ginger dressing. We felt this selection was exotic and comforting.

Neptune’s tower (above left) was impressively presented 3 tiers high with a trilogy of sauces including cocktail, wasabi aioli, and thousand island. The shrimp (above right) were very fresh, plump and especially tasty. The jumbo lump crabmeat (above right), same as in the crab cakes, was succulent, fresh and bountiful.

Malpeque oysters (above left) of Canadian waters were served ice cold and went down way too easily.  Little neck long island clams (above left) were served with a Lilliputian sized bottle of Tabasco sauce that was simply adorable. Finally, the Lobster meat (above right) we tasted was very tender and cooked to perfection and delivered great natural lobster flavor.

As we progressed onto the salad course we quickly noticed an array of interesting and eclectic combinations of ingredients. We tried the Cinnamon apple salad (below left) served over mixed greens with Danish blue cheese and walnuts with a sesame Jerez vinaigrette. This salad was more reminiscent of autumn with many layers of flavor. Effectively it had sweet, sour and salty notes with the out of place cinnamon surprisingly in place.

The Strawberry summer salad (above right) served over baby greens with fresh strawberries, goat cheese, lemon & wild berries lived up to its summery promise. This salad was drizzled with a fine extra virgin olive oil and had a magnificent fresh strawberry fragrance that easily matched its natural sweetness.

The Pistachio encrusted baby lamb (above left) prepared to order in a natural jus was cooked and seasoned so perfectly that it did not need the assistance of any sauce. Its great taste stood on its own merits. The Baby carrots and asparagus that came along were fresh and crisp. The house-mashed potatoes were rustic with a creamy buttery flavor.

A dish that is certainly not to be missed was the sweet potato shrimp (above right) in a Sam Adams brown sugar glaze that was simply a surprising knockout. The shrimp were carefully ensconced with thin shoestring sweet potatoes, which gave an impressive vibrant presentation.

Crispy Skin East End Duck (above left) with summer strawberry coulis was quite appetizing. The sweetness from the strawberry coulis was a fabulous compliment to this traditional game.  The Crispiness of the skin brought out the true flavor of the duck.

The Chilean Sea Bass (above right) was served with an unconventional sweet vanilla rum lobster sauce. The bass was crisp on the outside and flaky on the inside with subtle sweetness from the vanilla rum. What a marriage of flavors - the Rum and Bass ran off and eloped.

“Rare” Hawaiian Ahi tuna (above left) served with soba noodle salad and a lemon grass ginger reduction was an impressive dish with a decorative coating of bi color sesame seeds. The Soba noodles were liberally coated with sesame oil. This traditional “rare” tuna was so stand alone it made the pickled ginger seem out of place.

The sweets we sampled were so delicious we wished we started with the dessert course. We started with a house made pecan pie (above right) that was marvelous.  A Tahitian vanilla crème Brule (below left) was very creamy with hints of vanilla and a thin caramelized top that was excellent.

An unexpected hit was the summer fruit martini and lemon mouse (above right). It consisted of fresh fruit, a sparkling trilogy of strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries.  The tangy lemon mouse made a great compliment to the sweet berries. This was a very satisfying dessert on the slightly lighter side.

Two additional desserts not to be overlooked were the graham cracker crusted Cheesecake (above left) and the Flourless chocolate cake (above right). The cheesecake was true to form while the chocolate cake was a flawless fudge like dessert that can be best described as an incredible brownie.

Our final thoughts on this newly minted restaurant, was that it was a superb combination of thoughtful service casual upscale atmosphere and great cuisine that paid homage to its wonderfully nautical setting.  Pier 441 is definitely worth the trip in any season.