Critic's Review
The owner of the Downtowner, Roger Craft, invited me to hang out during the Boat Parade last Saturday, but I thought it would be too much of a madhouse. I also don't really like the Boat Parade; I don't really get the point of doing the same exact thing every year. I was bored with it year 2. So I stopped by earlier in the day to check out the changes he's been making to the place.
He's renamed this from the Downtowner Saloon to The HIstoric Downtowner; I've expressed my view on this. To me, the history of Fort Lauderdale is Penrod's and The Candy Store.
He'd told me about their "seawall" dining permit in August, but who wants to eat outside when its 95 degrees? So I never checked it out. Today the seawall was set up for the boat show, so not a good representation.
They do have a great view. The garbage cans are likely just for the event.
From the outside the restaurant looks pretty much the same. A large outside patio on a 78 degree day is the place you want to be.
Inside, they're trying to make the place look "less old". The balance between "historic" and not being perceived as "outdated" is as in play here as at any restaurant in the city. They have newer TVs; the layout is largely the same, but they've reconfigured it a bit.
They're going with a cleaner look; I mentioned that it reminded me of Docker's; the other restaurant he owns. They're going for a clean look with a bluish theme. Being from NY I'm a fan of bare bricks vs painted ones; overall the place looks a lot different.
What you might not know about is the courtyard space outside. You think of The Downtowner as being a pub on the river, but there's a big space with outside seating on the side and rear of the restaurant.
There's also a private party space, The Maxwell Room, that you can rent out for a wedding or a private celebration.
It's a huge room with a large bar. I'm not sure what it looked like before the renovations.
Conclusion
Craft is trying to transition the place from the party spot it was back in the day to a serious waterfront restaurant. He's clearly targeting an older demographic, focusing on the history of the building and the serenity of the riverfront location, which is different from what every other restaurant is doing in the city. He's done away with the daily specials: The rib night, 2-4-1 Appetizer Wednesdays and "Steak Night" have been replaced by daily blackboard specials.
What's happening here is similar to what the Grateful Palate people tried to do with Shooter's; they've kept the "historic" name but both places are nothing like what they were before. It's a risky proposition. It appears to have failed badly for Shooters, while the Downtowner seems to be chugging along nicely. It's certainly a nice place to grab some lunch on a 78 degree Saturday afternoon.
Review 8/1/14
The Downtowner is under new ownership, again, but with all of the new-fangled places opening up they're not gaining much traction. I used to come here to watch NFL on Sundays, but with Bokampers and The Royal Pig it's not even on my top 5 anymore.
They've remodeled the outside and it's nicer than before; Inside it seems about the same. The crowd here seems to be habitual; the same folks that have been coming here since the old days.
They've changed the menu and eliminated some of the old special like Steak Night and the All you can eat Crabfest. The menu is more Pub-like and they're not calling themselves a Steakhouse anymore. No Strips or Rib Eyes here. You used to get a massive 22oz Prime rib for $30; now they give you a 16oz cut for $29, which is pricey for a place like this. Also, $19 for an 8oz sirloin is way too much for a $4 piece of meat.
I always sit at the bar here. I should have gotten a table but it's too late now.
I was getting a wedge salad; when I saw it was only $6, I decided to try a cup of the Lobster Bisque. I'm done with Conch for awhile. Ice tea still comes in a big red plastic cup ala Pizza Hut.
The bisque came out immediately.
Not bad, but Lobster Bisque without any chunks of lobster meat seems unfair.
Ambiance is the same as before. No convo with the bartender, ESPN on the TVs but nobody is watching (or cares). Music by Band of Skulls and Gold Fields. The salad came out with a thimble of Blue Cheese dressing; I asked for some more.
I ordered the salad without the carrots, because carrots don't belong on a wedge salad. Even 2 thimbles of dressing wasn't enough for me, although I didn't ask for a 3rd. Good, chunky blue cheese. A pretty good salad. I prefer when everything isn't chopped up; bacon bits just hurt my teeth when I bite into them. It's too hard to eat a salad when everything is cut into tiny bits.
Decent grub that's not quite as good a deal as it used to be.
Review 8/6/12
Downtowner isn't exactly on the water; there's a road and walkway in-between, but if you sit outside you do get a nice view of the river.
Back in a time when there were no places to watch the games, the downtowner was an option close to downtown. With better choices virtually everywhere now, it's become an afterthought to all but those who have been coming here forever.
Inside, there are 2 big bars and a lot of TVs;
The place is one of those "wood" restaurants from back in the day of log cabins and Rustler style steakhouses. The Downtowner opened in 1978.
For Sunday Football, its a bit of a free-for-all, so if you want to watch some fringe out-of-market game you may need to get them to put it on. They generally accommodate their regulars, but they'll find somewhere to put it on for you. You can tell this is a real locals bar, as I was the only one watching the Giants this Sunday. On Sundays they also have a brunch buffet; it reminds me of the buffets on cruise ships. It never really appealed to me so I've never done it.
I've had the wings here, and they're not bad. They give you plenty of blue cheese dressing.
The spinach dip here is outstanding, although a mussels special I had once had quite a few cold mussels, so they obviously weren't steamed fresh. Today I was doing lunch; I opted for a new menu item; the jerk chicken. I started off with an ice tea, which is served in a huge plastic cup. I asked for few extra lemon wedges due to the extra volume.
Its not a great experience eating at the bar. I purposely put the paper from the sugars and foil from the butter at the end of the bar, but the bartender never got the hint. She was dumping stuff in the sink right in front of me. It was quite a while and then I think she remembered my order and ran into the kitchen. No tellling how long it was there.
One thing I can say is that it looked like a balanced meal. I was hoping the mango salsa would be on the side, but they put it on top. I turned out to be pretty benign so it didn't bother me. The chicken tasted more like Thyme chicken than jerk; they need to kick up their jerk marinade and marinate the chicken longer. My guess is that they just brushed some on a cutlet and threw it on the grill. I asked for some butter which i added to the rice and the brocolli. It was an ok lunch, but $10.99 is no bargain considering the $1 worth of chicken they give you.
This place used to be cheap, but now they get $29. for a 16oz prime rib. Why should I pay 50% more here than at Outback?