Dine on deck at Alex Bay's Admirals' Inn

ALEXANDRIA BAY — Admirals' Inn is located on a prime chunk of real estate right in the middle of the action in downtown Alex Bay.

I've been past it a million times and never thought to stop in. It looks like a big old house that's been added on to over the years. What you see from the street is a sizable outdoor dining area with a roof over it. And the warm summer night we were there, there was little question — we were dining outdoors, picnic tables and all.

It's a seasonal restaurant, and it's been around for quite a while — it's their "27th year of serving old friends and new," it says, right on the front of the menu. And you'd think, if they've been around that long, they're doing something right.

The menu looked pretty basic, including the usual corny categories you'd expect from a place called Admirals' Inn: From the Admirals' Private Locker (comfort food), The Crow's Nest (chicken entrées), Lower The Gangplank (desserts) ... OK, enough.

It's a basic menu with steak, seafood, salads and a few Italian dishes, simply described and simply prepared.

Appetizers are mostly the same old fried stuff. We did hook onto a few nice catches, however. (See, I can be corny, too).

Crab cakes ($9.99) were very good, deep-fried crispy on the outside, warm and tasty on the inside. Two round, nice-sized crab cakes were served on a bed of lettuce, accompanied by standard ketchup-and-horseradish cocktail sauce.

I asked Cheryl, our waitress, if the steamed clams were fresh or cryovacked. (mussels, clams and oysters are now available from restaurant suppliers "fresh-frozen at sea' in plastic pouches).

The answer: "They just came in fresh today."

That made for an easy decision between ordering a dozen ($9.99) or two dozen ($18.99). We got the larger portion, and oh, were they great. Plump and juicy native littlenecks (not those scrawny things from overseas), steamed until just opened, served with plain ol' melted butter. Absolutely delicious. We were in heaven.

Attentive Cheryl brought a plate for each of us, complete with a wedge of lemon and a seafood fork. She was on top of her game.

A bread basket had already arrived at the table with soft, warm, not-long-out-of-the-oven wheat rolls. These were yummy.

Entrées come with soup or salad.

We tried both soups, New England clam chowder, available daily, and homemade soup of the day, chicken rice. The chowder was OK, a light cream broth light on clams and heavy on cubed potatoes. Chicken rice was excellent, full of shredded chicken and full of flavor, lots of rice and finely chopped carrots and celery.

The house salad was right out of a bag — you know, the wilted-looking iceberg lettuce with a little bit of red cabbage, machine-shredded carrots, a few grape tomatoes tossed in to allude to freshness. Italian dressing, served in a little plastic soufflé cup, had separated.

We tried one of the dinner salads, the Admirals' Island Fruit Seasar Salad ($13.99) (SEAsar — get it?). Described as "crispy romaine lettuce tossed with the Admirals' special dressing, topped with croutons and grilled chicken with pineapple, strawberries, apple and coconut."

Lots of lettuce, for sure, but rather light on the strawberries, Granny Smith apple slices and pineapple wedges with the rind still on. The chunks of chicken were dry and way overcooked, probably earlier in the day. A little bit of shredded coconut. Some grated Parmesan. No croutons.

That "special dressing" stuff always scares me. Just tell me what it is so I can decide if that's what I want. Our best guess was honey mustard.

We got the impression that they'd do meat and potatoes up right. So we got The Admirals' Pride 'N Joy, slow-roasted prime rib and a baked potato, the larger of two cuts, over a pound of cow for $21.99.

The portion completely filled a plate, rib bones still attached on one side and a layer of fat on the other side. It arrived more like medium-well than the medium we ordered. It lacked any kind of seasoning. Au jus was splashed over the meat, a little greasy looking. Foiled baked potato was fine.

Similarly, the steak and shrimp scampi combo ($26.99) was unremarkable. An 8-ounce broiled sirloin could have been juicier and seasoned a little. The shrimp were a decent size, five of them, but what about the scampi?

Scampi is all about the sauce, isn't it? Butter and garlic, some lemon, some wine, some parsley. There was no sauce on these shrimp. It was like they'd cooked them earlier, held them in the steam table and plopped them on top of some garlic and buttered angel hair pasta and shook some Old Bay seasoning (or maybe it was just paprika) on them for eye appeal.

A side of broccoli was equally forgettable. We assume it was fresh, but it had been overcooked until it turned a tasteless pale green.

Finally, we ordered the broiled seafood medley ($29.99), a platter with haddock, shrimp, scallops and lobster.

Everything was cooked perfectly, as far as doneness goes. The haddock flaked with a fork, the scallops were a tad undercooked, but fine for me, the lobster was a tail split in half, the meat moist and tender, easily pulled from the shell. The downside to this dish were the shrimp — the same shrimp that were passed off for scampi in the previous entrée.

There was a watery wine/butter sauce on the bottom of the plate. Everything got the Old Bay shake. But in general, it was a bland and flavorless dish. Salt helped a little. So did a squeeze of lemon. But I shouldn't have to be the one doing that.

A side of spaghetti, angel hair, was nicely cooked, with a splash of marinara on top.

The dishes had been mostly cleared and Cheryl was showing us the dessert tray, a good assortment of house-made and elsewhere-made desserts.

I kept staring at the brownie a la mode. Remember, we were dining outdoors, the temperature was about 85 degrees and the wind was blowing. I said to Cheryl, "What's that on top of the brownie?' "Crisco," she replied, without hesitation.

Oh, yum, could have that that piece? I knew about the ice cream substitution trick but just wanted to see if she'd own up to it.

Carrot cake was made right there and moist, chock full of big walnuts and with a very good cream cheese frosting on top. Portion size was noticeably smaller than the one on the display tray.

Caramel apple cheesecake, made elsewhere, was very dense and heavy, with a few raisins and pecans on the bottom of the slice.

Homemade "Thousand Islands pie" (pretty close to million dollar pie, if you've ever had that) was a graham cracker crust filled with whipped cream, cream cheese, coconut and bits of pineapple. Light and refreshing, it was perfect for a warm summer night.

Desserts were priced at $4.99 apiece. The total for dinner came to $151 for four, before tip.

We appreciated Cheryl's experienced, laid-back service and her good humor. She always found time to keep our water glasses filled.

Admirals' Inn is a seasonal restaurant, open from early spring until sometime in October.

You can contact restaurant reviewer Walter Siebel via e-mail: wsiebel@wdt.net.

Admirals' Inn

20 James St.

Alexandria Bay, N.Y.

482-2781

Steaks and seafood, chicken and Italian dishes, simply prepared.

HOURS: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day of the week; open till 10 p.m. Friday and

Saturday

Dinner menu available anytime they're open.

Steamed clams were great; so were the crab cakes. Thousand Island pie is a must for dessert.

RATING: 2-1/2 forks