Mulligan's Beachhouse Bar and Grill

Critic's Review

I tried to go to Mulligan's last week, but something very bad has happened in Lauderdale by the Sea. While it looks nicer, parking is much more difficult, if not impossible. I coudn't get a spot at all last week and I ended up at the Mason Jar. Today, even though the restaurants were sparsely attended, i had to park 3 blocks away.

The delusional city planners have given up 4 spaces for "Electric Vehicles", which are perpetually empty, probably costing the neighborhood 50 customers a day.

Lauderdale By The Sea Golf Cart Spots

At least they feel good about themselves. With reduced parking and an additional restaurant, you really can't consider coming here on weekends or during busy tourist times of the year.

Mulligans takes over a space that was previously retail; it's the kind of indoor / outdoor restaurant that you expect to find in a town like this; it's a lot more beachy than 101 Ocean, where they try to convince you that they're a restaurant and not just a bar.

Mulligan's indoor/outdoor Bar

It's very casual inside; like your typical mid-casual restaurant.

Mulligan's Interior

I ordered a tea and took a look at the menu. They don't have prices on their web site, and I can see why. Prices are as high as on Las Olas. No lunch menu.

Mulligan's Iced Tea

I decided to go small, opting to try the Seafood Bisque and the single crab cake appetizer. My server warned me that it was spicy, which was fine with me. It came out right away.

Mulligan's Seafood Bisque

The soup was, in fact, spicy. Not a skillful bisque, but there was plenty of seafood in it. Couldn't really tell what it was, but I'd say the soup was fine. If you got this at Morton's you'd be ticked off, but it's about what you'd expect at a place like this.

I was done with no crab cake yet, so I took in the atmosphere. They have some cool stained-glass artwork on the walls, and the music is crankin.

Mulligan's Wall Art

Paramore, "Carry On" from Fun, Natalie Merchant's "Jealosy". Blake Lewis. Finally the cake came out.

Mulligan's

Obviously, my spirits dropped considerably. When the lemon wedge is bigger than the crab cake, we have a problem. A big, unwanted pile of weeds, some sort of oddball salsa, and enough yellow sauce for 10 of these cakes. The cake was terrible, like someone made a ball of crab meat from a can and squashed it on a grill. I "suppose" the yellow stuff was hollandaise? It had little taste and a shot of vanilla could have transformed it into a decent pudding. The salsa was kind of sweet and kinda tart and not very good on its own. I wasn't sure what to do with it, and the greens got in the way of trying to scoop it up.

Here's the deal with this. When someone orders a single crab cake for $10.95, they don't want a tiny cake and a bunch of other crap on the plate. How can an item like this stay on the menu for more than a week?

Conclusion

Mulligan's seems like a cool place to hang out, but it appears to be Quarterdeck quality food at Las Olas prices. Why would I pay $20 for a lobster roll in this place? It's patently absurd.

Another reason to go to BurgerFi if you're on foot in Lauderdale By The Sea.