Best Elegant Seafood Dining in Santo Domingo

Lucas61

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Jun 13, 2014
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retired English teacher (30 years)
Hello All,

I hope you are all safe and well.

My wife (dominicana) is turning 60 and wants private dining for just the two of us, without fanfare! What is the best bet in Sto. Dom. for seafood and fine dining? I'll give you an example of what I think is NOT fine dining: Villar Hermanos (atmosphere: check; menu selection: check BUT food mediocre and service poor). Some of my friends recommended Meson de Luis on Hostos near El Conde. I checked that out. The menu was in French and English. The last I heard the D.R. was a Spanish speaking country, and my wife speaks not one word of neither English nor French. Plus, there were no clients dining--a bad sign.

So with those negative examples out of the way, how about a positive example?

Any ideas? I might go there myself first to sample first and avoid disappointment as this is a one-shot deal . . .

Thanks!
 
Jan 9, 2004
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Hello All,

I hope you are all safe and well.

My wife (dominicana) is turning 60 and wants private dining for just the two of us, without fanfare! What is the best bet in Sto. Dom. for seafood and fine dining? I'll give you an example of what I think is NOT fine dining: Villar Hermanos (atmosphere: check; menu selection: check BUT food mediocre and service poor). Some of my friends recommended Meson de Luis on Hostos near El Conde. I checked that out. The menu was in French and English. The last I heard the D.R. was a Spanish speaking country, and my wife speaks not one word of neither English nor French. Plus, there were no clients dining--a bad sign.

So with those negative examples out of the way, how about a positive example?

Any ideas? I might go there myself first to sample first and avoid disappointment as this is a one-shot deal . . .

Thanks!
No hesitation..................for seafood................Sully.............



Respectfully,
Playacaribe2
 

Lucas61

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Jun 13, 2014
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retired English teacher (30 years)
@playacaribe2
Wonderful suggestion! I have no need to look elsewhere. This is just the kind of elegance I'm looking for. In addition, since they specialize in seafood, there's
a good chance that it is fresh. of good quality, and well prepared because a restaurant such as this likely as first dibs in the market compared to all the other places that sell a little on the side.

While looking at the map, I found a place nearby that is highly rated called "Little Desserts." This might be a place to check out after dinner in order to
bring a cake home.

For the information of others who might read this thread, note that Sully is closed on Monday. It's open Tuesday through Sunday. Further, lunch is served from 12 noon and then the restarurant closes at 4:20 and re-opens again at 6:30. So you have to decide in advance whether you want a day meal or a night meal. I think we'll opt for a day one since transportation, etc. is much easier to navigate. Thanks again.
 

Lucas61

Well-known member
Jun 13, 2014
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retired English teacher (30 years)
Hello All,

This is my review of Restaurnat Sully:

My wife and I went to Sully for my birthday (69!) and soon we’ll return for hers (60!). This review will evaluate service, atmosphere and food according to this scale: great, good, OK, not so good, bad.

A couple of general points. This place is FAR. We liver near Barrio Chino and Zona Colonial, y el viaje por Uber, 45 minutos la ida y una hora la vuelta. Yikes! On the other hand, it’s right across the street from a Price Smart, so you could kill two birds with one stone. Be aware that the restaurant is closed on Mondays and also that it shuts down at 4:30 p.m for two hours before re-opening for dinner. We arrived at 3:00 and by 3:30 it was clearing out. In this thread you can find the link to the website and check for more information.

I rank the service and atmosphere as “great” and my wife concurs. The service was rapid, polite, and efficient. The atmosphere: linen table cloths, a soothing ambiance with the color beige predominating, and spotlessly clean restrooms with plenty of soap.

My wife also thought that the food quality was “great” but here we parted company. Here we come to the tricky business of "one person’s opinion". Maybe when we return again and I order different items I’ll have a different conclusion.

For seafood lovers, it’s the Langosta/Lobster section that draws attention. With ten varieties of entrees, I thought I’d just ask the waiter to explain the differences to my wife. No lobster in the house! Moving on! My wife wanted lobster! First disappointment. Boca Chica maybe?

I had a sopa de mar. When I think of the creatures of the ocean, the first thing that comes to mind is fish! Too bad there were no fish in the sopa de mar. Instead chewy lumps of lambi. And the shrimps were not succulent and a little undercooked. The broth was savory but overloaded with salt. You can’t blame Sully for that. Over salting is a problem on the entire island of Hispaniola. So the soup was not so good to OK.

The avocado salad was nicely presented with sliced tomatoes but the avocado was out-of-season and slimy. That should never have been served and gets a rating as bad.

For my salmon, there were several varieties so I asked the waiter for his recommendation and I chose the Sully “house” salmon. Maybe when you think of salmon you think of a fish that is orangeish in color (sapote), flaky and oily. Not in this case. It was in a cream sauce, didn’t have the color of salmon, didn’t exactly taste like salmon, and I’m not even positive that it was salmon. Plus it was a little undercooked which is bad news in the fish world. Not so good to OK on that one. And I'm a salmon lover.

If it was just me, I wouldn’t go back. But since my wife thought the food was great, I’ll give it another shot and order different stuff. And if it’s not properly cooked, they can do it over again, for this place is not cheap. Or put it this way, if the food was great, it’d be worth the price.

I didn’t read the reviews but if I remember correctly the rating was between 3 and 4, not so good.

Meanwhile, can anyone recommend another venue in Sto. Dom. for seafood dining?
 
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JD Jones

Moderator:North Coast,Santo Domingo,SW Coast,Covid
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Restuarante Cantabrico in Silver Sun Gallery.

They also have their original one on Ave. Independencia. I've never had a bad meal there.
 
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william webster

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Well, lobster price will be less than a restaurant, wine too.... all food less than restaurant

Only cost is the chef......... 1,000 pesos...1,500 for the night.... maybe more if he/she shops, maybe not

I do it this way..... way cheaper and easier..... especially the wine
Look at the lobster prices on a menu !!!
 

Lucas61

Well-known member
Jun 13, 2014
966
151
63
70
retired English teacher (30 years)
Well, lobster price will be less than a restaurant, wine too.... all food less than restaurant

Only cost is the chef......... 1,000 pesos...1,500 for the night.... maybe more if he/she shops, maybe not

I do it this way..... way cheaper and easier..... especially the wine
Look at the lobster prices on a menu !!!
OK! Interesting! Ah, but there's nothing like getting out of the house!
 

Lucas61

Well-known member
Jun 13, 2014
966
151
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retired English teacher (30 years)

Restuarante Cantabrico in Silver Sun Gallery.

They also have their original one on Ave. Independencia. I've never had a bad meal there.
This is my choice. I checked the menu. It looks great. I'm going for the one on Av. Tiradentes. From the reviews I've read, this is a place that would never serve out-of-season slimy avocado like Sully did. It's a shame that Sully falls short on the most important criterion: food quality. We all know about the restarurants in the U.S. called "greasy spoons," places kind of poor and run down but with great generally home cooked food. If the food isn't great, nothing else really matters.

I'll report back. We'll go next week.
 

JD Jones

Moderator:North Coast,Santo Domingo,SW Coast,Covid
Jan 7, 2016
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This is my choice. I checked the menu. It looks great. I'm going for the one on Av. Tiradentes. From the reviews I've read, this is a place that would never serve out-of-season slimy avocado like Sully did. It's a shame that Sully falls short on the most important criterion: food quality. We all know about the restarurants in the U.S. called "greasy spoons," places kind of poor and run down but with great generally home cooked food. If the food isn't great, nothing else really matters.

I'll report back. We'll go next week.
Cool. The one on Tiradentes is in Silver Sun Gallery. That's the mall that's a round tower of mirrors.
 

JD Jones

Moderator:North Coast,Santo Domingo,SW Coast,Covid
Jan 7, 2016
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We’ve been to the original on Independencia, excellent!
It sure is. Probably my all time favorite. I remember once we told the chef to surprise us with his favorite, and we got a lobster stuffed King Crab plate that was out of this world.

I've been to the one on Ave. Independencia probably 25 times, and the one in Silver Sun 5 times.
 
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Mr Deal HD

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La Cassina, Maraca, Sophia Bar & Grill (SBG), Lila, Allegra, Peperoni SDQ, Meson de La Cava, MG Kitchen, etc.
 
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