Ocean Prime opened this week in Buckhead, across from Fogo de Chao. I was lucky enough to be invited (lol) to a special twitter tasting at the Cameron Mitchell restaurant, where we sampled some small bites and cocktails. Not really menu items, just some riffs on dishes they offer. I was curious to see what this Ohio based chain was bringing to the table, as it’s not really the best moment for high overhead, carbon copy restaurants in Atlanta. Anyone know how Shula’s is doing? What about that restaurant, what’s it’s name, the place from Boston that sells $40 steaks and frozen Philly cheesesteak egg rolls or some crap. Yeah. I don’t hear a darn thing about those places.
But sometimes these upscale chains have the ability to open all over the country, and low and behold, they are a success! I’m sure the devil is in the details.
Ocean Prime is a seafood and steak restaurant, feeling somewhere between Chop’s and Atlanta Fish Market. High quality ingredients, crafted to your liking. But their hallmark, I was told, is service. The old, “yes is the answer, now what is the question?”. Everyone likes to say they have superlative service, but to maintain it at a high level within a national chain takes a strong and clear culture with an effective chain of command. We saw some of the training, and I talked to the location chef, the regional chef, and we saw the training floor manager commanding her troops. My impression of Ocean Prime was very positive in this regard, and would personally give them a shot at earning my business for this reason.
Though I sometimes make snap judgements as to the viability of a restaurant (see my post on the recently closed LeRoy’s), I never wish a restaurant anything but success, and hope the same for Ocean Prime.
