The Three Fare Ladies Dine Out: Cole's Dockside

By Michele, Luci, and Billa

On a delightful summer night, we Three Fare Ladies went off to dinner along with Martin and David. Michele selected Cole’s Dockside Restaurant based on a search of seafood restaurants on Staten Island with good reviews. We had hoped for a pleasant water view but, there was no water view, just beached and docked boats obscuring what could have been a nice water view from the indoor porch where we dined. The service was very good. Unfortunately, we all agreed that based on the ambiance and food the restaurant deserved 3 out of 5 wooden spoons, denoting it was just average. Here’s why:

Michele’s Take:

For my appetizer, I ordered the Coconut Shrimp, a special appetizer for the evening. I was quite surprised as they used jumbo shrimp. Normally, when I’ve ordered coconut shrimp at other restaurants, they use a regular-sized shrimp and butterfly it. The four jumbo shrimps were butterflied and breaded in coconut and were accompanied by a citrus dipping sauce. They were not overdone nor mushy, which I appreciated. The size and portion of the four shrimps was way too large for an appetizer. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed two of them and took two home for lunch the next day.

I ordered the Lobster Arugula Salad as my entree. It was on the menu as an appetizer, so I expected that the lobster would be sparse. I was right, though what was there was tender and good. The lobster was accompanied by greens, chopped apple, grapes and pecans, all in a tasty balsamic vinaigrette. I ate the entire dish and found it delicious.

My husband ordered the fried oysters and enjoyed them. "Tender and tasty" was his description. While the oysters impressed him, his main dish, scallops oreganata, was a disappointment. He said the oysters were too small, mushy and lacking salt. After using the saltshaker, he was happier.

Lastly, Dave ordered the apple pie for dessert. He didn’t particularly enjoy it but ate the entire thing. I took a taste and was not impressed. The crust was soggy and the apples lacked spice.

Luci’s Take:

First impression: I was disappointed by the lack of ocean view but pleased by the wrap-around windows and wooden floors which helped to keep the sound down.

The menu: Without any interesting or unusual dishes, it was adequate but average. 

The service: Service was above average. The pleasant servers were pretty prompt at the right times and unobtrusive otherwise.

The food: The seeded Italian bread, served shortly after we sat down was good - a plus. But, as almost always, the butter was brick-hard, making it difficult to spread. The sauvignon blanc I ordered was as good as any at the modest price.

I’m a lover of fried shellfish with a very crispy, substantial and flavorful coating accompanied by a creamy, tart dip. That’s the recipe for oceans of taste and texture contrasts to make one’s mouth catch a great wave. Cole’s fried oysters - just to my liking. 

While the starter was splendid, my main-course selection of clams with linguini in white sauce was merely average: an average number of clams in a white wine sauce (I’d guess they used just a wee bit of a mediocre wine) perked up with black pepper but so much garlic that the dish lacked balance. With lots of sauce I’d hoped that my take-home portion would be more pleasing the next day after the linguini soaked up all of the leftover sauce, allowing it to develop more flavor. Nope.

Feeling quite full, I opted out of dessert.

Billa's Take:

The house salad was composed of lettuce, a few sliced canned olives, a couple of halved cherry tomatoes, red onion slices, and carrot strips. The vinaigrette dressing was fairly decent. I enjoyed it.

My entree was shrimp Francese, which instead of being firm and tender was rather mushy. The sauce it came with was nice and lemony. It was accompanied by a very good potato croquette - breaded on the outside with mashed potato on the inside. There was also a vegetable medley. Generally, I prefer one vegetable, done well, rather than a medley. In this case, the medley was composed of boiled untrimmed green beans, waterlogged zucchini, and a few carrot bits.

I tasted Martin’s sesame-crusted tuna. It was, as advertised, crispy on the outside and rare on the inside. I thought it was okay, if not particularly flavorful. To be fair, it's hard to judge from just one bite. And Martin, who ate the whole thing, said it was tasty.

Dessert was a chocolate mousse that I felt had too much cream and not enough chocolate. It came with very good, sweet and crispy, waffle chips.