VERO BEACH — For those who enjoy a good bottle of wine with their meal, the summer specials being offered at the Polo Grill – while certainly not the lowest priced in town – may well be this year’s best dining value.
At first blush, Polo’s summer prix fixe menu for two – priced at $60 – doesn’t sound like one of the world’s great bargains.
But with that prix fixe, you get choice of one of 26 white or red wines – many of them normally found on restaurant wine lists priced at $30 to $40.
Then you get to select from a dozen main course entrées that run as much as $27.95 on the regular Polo menu.
And if all that doesn’t strike you as enough of a deal, present one of the $10 coupons that proprietor John Marx sends to customers on his Polo Coupon Club e-mail list, and the total cost of this dinner drops to $50 for two.
Amazing!
So on a recent Wednesday, four of us stopped by this clubby restaurant – with its dark paneling, leather chairs, and martini-and-red-meat ambience – and received a warm welcome by John and his sommelier, Tony, who make everyone feel like Polo “members” rather than simply diners.
From the white wine options, we decided to start with a bottle of Chateau St. Jean chardonnay.
We then ordered salads which are included in the prix fixe.
I chose a Caesar salad – crispy romaine hearts, garlic croutons and shaved parmesan cheese – while the other three members of our party opted for blue wedge salads.
The latter were particularly nice, consisting of a wedge of iceberg lettuce, chunks of Danish bleu cheese, crisp bacon, and topped with a creamy bleu dressing.
For entrees on this visit, one of our companions opted for the crab cake entrée and the other chose one of Polo’s great staples, the calves liver with bacon.
My husband and I decided, however, to go for an upgrade.
For a total of $75 for two ($65 if you have one of those e-mail coupons), you can not only enjoy one of those bottles of wine, but can order any item on the Polo Grill’s menu or any of that evening’s specials.
My husband decided to go for the filet mignon bordelaise (he could have chosen the veal chop or the cowboy ribeye steak, both regularly $39.95) and I opted for the diver scallops. And for a second bottle of the included wine, we ordered a Joel Gott cabernet.
All of the entrées were perfectly prepared, and were accompanied by either rice or potato, as well as mixed vegetables.
At dessert time, we were offered a complimentary scoop of vanilla ice cream with a chocolate sauce, mocha chip ice cream, or mango sorbet.
If you are a wine lover, Polo’s $60 and $75 prix fixe dinners for two are a great dining value – particularly if you have one of those $10 coupons.
I also would be remiss were I to fail to mention the Polo Grill’s “Dinner at Five,” where those willing to come no later than 5:15 p.m. can order from a menu that includes seven entrees for $16.95 and four for $19.95!
These extremely popular dinners also include the choice of the Caesar or blue wedge, and ice cream for dessert.
House wines are available as part of Dinner at Five for only $3.95 per glass.
And if you have one of those magic coupons, each of the entrées on the Dinner at Five menu is reduced by an additional $4!
If you have no problem dining really, really early, you simply can’t beat that.
I welcome your comments, and encourage you to send feedback to me at [email protected].
The reviewer dines anonymously at restaurants at the expense of Vero Beach 32963.
