After several years of uneven transition, it is finally time to put firmly to rest any notion that Maison Martinique remains one of the island’s top restaurants.
Not only would the food we were served on our most recent visit have the late founding Chef Yannick Martin spinning in his grave; the décor has been allowed to become dowdy, offering but a hint of what was once the most elegant dining room in town.
The only vestige from Maison Martinique’s glory years that seems unchanged are the stiff prices, which diners were once happy to pay for a culinary experience that in the Yannick era was arguably Vero’s finest.
We rarely write reviews this severe, but with winter residents starting to flock back, we feel impelled to caution readers that Maison Martinique is not the fine-dining standout it used to be.
On our most recent visit, our party of three was ushered to a table just inside the Bamboo Room, the larger of Maison Martinique’s dining areas. (The smaller but very attractive Shell Room appeared to have been sealed off; we were told it is occasionally used for parties.)
The main dining room was full and the way the table we were shown had been set, my husband was seated at an angle that left him half hanging out into the entry hallway. We subsequently persuaded the waiter to rearrange the place settings, and that worked better.
For starters, I ordered the beer battered smoked salmon ($10), my husband chose the escargot ($11), and our companion decided to start with the hearts of palm ($11).
The fried smoked salmon, served with a chive crème fraiche, got the meal off to an interesting start. The escargot, sautéed in a wild mushroom, thyme, garlic, cognac and crème sauce, also were not too bad, and the hearts of palm salad – with baby heirloom tomatoes, spring greens, goat cheese and tossed in a lemon garlic vinaigrette – was OK, though very light on hearts of palm.
Then for entrées, I decided to go with the grilled rack of lamb ($48), my husband opted for the braised beef short rib ($32) and our companion ordered the fresh fish of the day, which on this evening was a yellowtail snapper ($38).
The snapper was a nice enough piece of sautéed fish served with an overly sweet coconut sauce. The short rib was topped with a heavy, salty demi-glace that overpowered the braised beef, and was accompanied by some tired green beans and a cold, dense mass described as a wild mushroom and Vidalia bread pudding. It was not fork cut-able.
Then there was the lamb. While on presentation it first appeared to be a quite large portion, this turned out to be the chunk that was left when the original rack was ineptly cut – mostly bone and fat, with only a couple of bites of meat. It was also topped with the same demi-glace that adorned my husband’s short rib.
But the final indignity was the accompanying “potato of the day,” which appeared to be the scrapings of the “potatoes of yesterday.” These never should have left the kitchen, and weren’t helped by the fact that they too were served cold.
When I finally caught the eye of a waiter and pointed out the potato problem, he reemerged a couple of minutes later with a plate of freshly grilled asparagus.
To conclude the meal, we shared an order of blueberry bread pudding ($10).
Dinner for three with five glasses of wine came to $240 before tip.
When we got home, I decided to look at several of the websites where diners post reviews. While you have to keep in mind that restaurateurs try to game these sites, the recent reviews of Maison Martinique were uniformly negative. On Urban Spoon, a diner lamented: “This place used to be great; don’t know what happened. For $300, you should expect better.”
Those two sentences certainly sum up my view. And for that kind of money, there are a number of Vero restaurants where you can do better.
I welcome your comments, and encourage you to send feedback to me at [email protected].
The reviewer is a beachside resident who dines anonymously at restaurants at the expense of Vero Beach 32963.
