Tapatini's last night.
After being out on the boat until about 8:30, my wife and two friends found ourselves with a good buzz and ready to for dinner and more cocktails at about 9:45, so our wives suggested Tapatini's. Without many other options, and to satisfy the ladies we begrudgingly agreed.
We got there a little before 10, and were told to sit anywhere we wanted. They have all of these really weird sofa things that looked absurdly difficult to eat on, so we opted for a 4 top table in the bar. There was a guy playing piano and singing, and he was actually really good and the volume was good from where we sat. We looked over the menu, which probably has 20-30 different things on it separated into sections (French, Italian, Asian, Sandwiches, Entrees, thats all I remember). Everything was around ten dollars plus or minus a buck except the entree section which had a filet, a whole lobster, and something else I can't think of.
Anyway, we all ordered cocktails, which they made well, and ordered food. I ordered a burger which was served with blue cheese, a horseradish mayo, thin sliced onion rings and lettuce/tomato. It also came with fresh cut fries topped with garlic and shaved parmesan. It was delicious, clearly the best burger I've had north of the lake (I know, I know, it's just a burger). The fries would have benefit from a second frying, but they were very good. My wife ordered the crawfish gratin, which had brie in the sauce and garlic gnocchi. Again, REALLY delicious. Friend ordered meatballs, which were made with beef, veal and pork. The were in a marinara that was slightly sweet and heavy on basil, and it worked really well. I was quite surprised how much we all liked them. Friend's wife ordered Lobster & Mushroom Ravioli, which was served in a shallot cream sauce. The filling and sauce were wonderful, the only downfall to this dish being the pasta, which was overcooked. Other than that it was another great dish. All except the burger were slightly smaller than a normal entree, kind of the size a a typical table shared entree and while one course each during a normal dinner probably wouldn't be enough, it was perfect for what we were doing. Everybody tasted everybody else's food, and we all agreed it was very good.
We stayed an had a few more cocktails and listened to the piano player until midnight, and all agreed he was very good, though could've known more songs as most that we requested he didn't know. The service the whole night was informal, and very enjoyable. Our waitress was laid back and was not having to pretend she was enjoying herself. The only service issue (if you could call it that) was an older bartender who gave us attitude at the end of the night when we asked her to call us a cab. Whatever.
It's been a while since I've been really surprised by a restaurant, but I was last night. The food was all really good, and we enjoyed ourselves quite a bit. I have no earthly idea why they do the whole sofa thing (or why they chose that horrible name), it makes zero sense to me but we had a good time and will be going back (but to a table).