The ad promised a "20 ounce Prime Rib for
Only $12.95!" I love prime ribs plus it was a restaurant I hadn't been
to before, it was on the ocean and it was Allen's birthday and I was
taking him out for dinner after treating him to a movie.

Christina's By The Sea  is a long narrow room
not very well laid out nor does it take advantage of being on the beach
side of A1A. There are two levels with a bar taking up most of the
lower level in the center of the room. To the east of the bar, hardly
visible to the upper section, is the entertainment corner where a lounge
singer plays a keyboard and sings.

Tony greeted us at the door and took us to
our table sort of hesitating at a couple on the way as if not sure where
to seat us, eventually putting us near a window overlooking the pool
and beach, one of only 3 tables that did. We were the only diners--there
were 4-5 bar customers--which was fortunate for us as the tables are
set up almost one on top of the other. As it turned out Tony was also
our server.

Tony was
congenial and an okay waiter but not as sharp as he could/should have
been. He gave us the regular menu, a two page large one in a leather
holder, and a one sheet special seafood menu and started to say
something when I interrupted him, with a smile, and told him that we
were there for the prime rib special. It was a set menu with the beef served with an order
of garlic mashed potatoes and a side of cole slaw. All we had to do was
tell him how we wanted our meat done with my ordering it medium rare and
Allen ordering his medium. Tony asked us what we would like to drink
suggesting alcohol and we, not being drinkers, had a diet coke and
coffee. You could see the disappointment in Tony's face as he looked
like I did when I was a waiter, and had nondrinkers, as that brought the
check down as well as the tip.

The cole slaw was warm, the potatoes
cold, the meat lukewarm.
What was strange, and I love my prime rib served on the bone, which is
rarely done in restaurants anymore, both of us had a bone on the side of
our dish. Along with the meat there were sides of au jus, butter and horseradish sauce.

Tony took the
potatoes back to the kitchen and nuked them when I told him they were
cold but there wasn't anything
he could do about the meat or slaw. just before we left another party
came in but I had a feeling they mostly did local bar business. There
was a Tiki bar out by the
pool which was crowded with drinkers. Neither the pool, or beach, were
accessible by people not staying at the Lighthouse Cove Inn, which is a
time share place, and where the restaurant was, which sort of gave a
unwelcome feel. With the restaurant not being busy, and using the prime
rib special as a come on and not being served properly, there really
wasn't a 'feel' to the place.

All in all the whole experience was a downer
but we did get to go to  a new restaurant, see the beach and afterwards, thanks to Tony, go to Killwin's which was nearby for good old fashioned ice cream. I don't think we will be going back to
Christina's By The Sea.