Nobu: Atlantis Resort & Casino, Paradise Island, Bahamas

I've been to the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas half a dozen times now and in the past the greatest criticism came from the food. Too expensive and in most cases, really bad. And we tried the high end restaurants (Nobu, Mesa, Dunes), the mid range ones, the buffet and the pool grills. There were some standouts during those visits like the steaks at Mesa (Bobby Flay's establishment at the Cove) and the burgers by the pool. So getting ready to go again this past week with my Mom and two nieces (seven and fourteen), I prepared myself for lackluster fare and a huge tab. But to my surprise, there were more good meals this time than bad!

The first experience was a solo dinner at the bar at Nobu. I got into town a day earlier than my family and went looking for somewhere I could eat and people watch without the uncomfortableness that sometimes accompanies eating in the main dining room. I was told that both Nobu and Mesa served the full menu at the bar or in their lounges. Not in the mood to hike it over to the Cove for Mesa, I opted for an early dinner at Nobu. I arrived at 6:30pm on Friday night. The bar was empty with a few couples in the lounge area relaxing and drinking on the sofas. I went to the far end of the bar to set up camp. This allowed me a great view of the length of the bar, the lounge and into the casino. I let my bartender know that I was going to be eating and hanging out. During the next two hours the restaurant, lounge and bar filled up with lots of interestingly dressed people ranging from early twenties to mid fifties. Great people watching with both great and horrible outfit choices ~ plus some fabulous shoe choices to critique!

From their rather large menu I selected the arctic char with baby spinach from the hot dish section and four pieces of sushi (mackerel, big eye tuna, toro and hamachi). They brought me a dish of edamame to begin that I munched on while waiting for my dinner to arrive.

To go with my food, I perused through their wine list and thought a half bottle of Tattinger brut would hit the spot and was very reasonably priced at a 1.5x mark up. The champagne was as expected, crisp and slightly yeasty with a short to medium finish. I enjoyed it quite a bit and have no problem at all drinking a half bottle myself with dinner.

The sushi arrived first. I was prepared to be underwhelmed. So imagine my surprise when it turned out to be very fresh with great, firm texture (except the toro that displayed the signature melt in your mouth feel) and wonderful flavor. I was so happy! And during this time, I had also struck up a wonderful conversation with the amusing and charismatic bartender, Stephanie. She had fabulous stories about growing up in the Bahamas, raising her two little girls and what it was like working in Atlantis for the past fourteen years as the resorts first female bartender. We're now FaceBook friends!

The arctic char arrived sometime later on it's bed of crispy, baby spinach and soy sauce. While not quite as mind blowing as the original dish we had at Nobu in NYC, this one was quite nice. A little too salty from the sauce, but the fish was nicely cooked and the spinach was wonderful. Such a nice evening! Would I recommend this Nobu over the one in NYC? No...but as far as resort dining goes, this one didn't do so badly.

Jenn's rating: 82