Critic's Review
The plan wasn't to go to Ocean Grille, but I found myself in this part of town and there it was. I'd never been inside; I'd only had breakfast on the outside patio. A bit hot today and some smokers were outsize, so I grabbed a booth inside.
The place is no more than a bar with a grill behind the bar. A counter and a few booths; my impression was that this was an all-regulars hangout.
They have a decent menu and a long list of specials, but you can't read the special unless you have birds-eye vision. I wanted something grilled, since this is a "Grlle"; I opted for what they call a Grille Reuben. Then make it with pastrami, so it's really a Rachel and not a Reuben.
I got an iced tea; they only have while a pink here, like it's still 1985 or something. The sandwich was ready in about 10 minutes.
A good-sized sandwich, a little pickle spear from a jar (the bad kind), and pedestrian cole slaw. The sandwich was well made but it wasn't great pastrami and it could have used more thousand island; it lacked the pop that makes a rachel great. It was "OK" but not nearly as good as the ones I'd gotten at 1st Street Deli or Grampa's.
There aren't many choices in this area. If you're on foot this spot will do; and there's free parking. That's about all I can say.
Review 11/13/10
Ocean's Grille isreally a bar; and a crusty one at that. It's a local hangout that also serves food. It was a beautiful morning so I felt like sitting outside, and this place was on my to-do list.
When I got there I thought I had made a mistake. There were a bunch of people at the bar as if they were left over from the night before. The setups on the table were in plastic baskets. Quite a few of their breakfast specials include a bloody mary. They have some interesting items, like poached eggs with bearnaise sauce, but given the surrounding I thought I'd better not try anything too fancy. So I just asked for my usual with coffee.
It didn't start out well; the coffee was bad. Just a weird color. It was drinkable, but I didn't really care for it. When they dropped the food in front of me I was initially disappointed.
The eggs were clearly over-medium (at least). As it turned out they were fine. I think they used a butter substitute on the bread. I thought the sausages would be ordinary but they grilled them on a flame grill which gave them a unique, charbroiled taste. The potatoes, a measly portion, were good. It turned out to be a fairly enjoyable meal overall, with a price tag of $8.47. The good 70s music playing in the bar didn't hurt.
I wouldn't go out of my way to come to this place, but if you 're in the neighborhood and you don't feel like hitting Lauderdale by the Sea village, I wouldn't tell you to avoid this place. You might want to pick up coffee on your way, however.