Pika Fusion Cuisine — Restaurant in Sea Ranch Lakes

I had lunch with a friend yesterday for the first time at Pika, a wonderful small restaurant in the Sea Ranch Shopping Centre in Lauderdale By The Sea across the street from the beach. We split a salad which arrived chopped in perfect elevated mounds on each of our white plates with a lemony herb vinaigrette on the side which my friend and I shared. I could taste the fresh herbs and the freshly squeezed lemon juice in the vinaigrette and I could not stop drizzling it on my salad. Then I had the Snapper Francese which was melt in your mouth tender in a delicious sauce. It was quite a large serving but I ate all of the snapper and the fresh vegetables on my plate. I could tell the snapper was fresh as was the tangy delicious sauce it was napped with. It came with some rapini, carrots and broccoli which were all perfectly cooked, tender but slightly firm to the bite. I did not taste the mashed potatoes as I was full from the homemade hot bread the waiter had initially brought to our table with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dip it in. My friend had the gnocchi in marinara sauce and she really enjoyed them. You could tell the gnocchi was homemade as well. The service was excellent throughout our meal, yet unobtrusive so we could talk. The atmosphere was lovely with crisp white tablecloths on all the tables adorned with ocean blue napkins. The walls had royal blue wainscoting on them. It was a beautiful nautical decor in a shopping plaza across the street from the ocean. We were both full but the waiter mentioned a caramelized pear for dessert so we ordered it and shared it. Oh my! It was poached in red wine with a wonderful puff of air light creme and tasted divine. I could not stop eating it. I highly recommend you try Pika, this new wonderful restaurant in Lauderdale By The Sea. You will love it! ...

Chicago Sicilian Review: 8pm 1st visit; short answer is 'Meh, underwelming'..probably wont return. 🙄 Detailed is, nice cozy strip mall space with linen on the tables and attentive staff. The hot bread came out first, two hot & fresh chibatta size rolls.

Ordered side Caesar, which was very good but a bit overpriced for the one large handful of greens on a bread plate.

Next the spaghetti and meat balls came out.. I had high hopes. Boxed pasta and frozen ping-pong ball size meat balls.. at almost $26 its real value is about $15. And honestly nothing to be proud of..

I was a kid of about 4 when I rolled and cooked real meatballs. Great Gram Mary came from Sicily as a girl of 17 with Grandpa Auggie in her belly. There are two great passions in my life.. 1. Food 2. Music (live). We always made two kinds of meatballs then. Large oven baked the size of MLB baseballs and the other were 1/4 cup sizes that we pan fried from the same mix for the kids or anyone that did not want to eat a baseball. Everything was from scratch, EVERYTHING.

While I dont expect that level of dedication, serving me frozen meatballs for $26 is just lazyness I can spot a mile away and wont endorse..Pika, you can do better!

Lastly the marinara sauce was decent.

My honest...

Completely outstanding experience.

We were served by 2 very professional and accommodating gents. Service was unrushed while still being fully attentive. Never pushy. Drinks were always topped off. Menu and specials were presented clearly. Bread was a variety of 3 dinner rolls, piping hot and served with good quality olive oil, balsamic and shaved Parmesan for dipping.

We wanted to order everything and finally decided on the lasagna and corvina entrees. My partner had the lasagna and described it as "incredible" (I've rarely heard him use such language). My corvina (a south American white fish, my first time having it) was delicious and such an amazing consistency - a perfect hybrid of delicate and firm textures - topped with a seared golden crust. I also got the soup of the day, which was a zucchini/spinach potage-like deliciousness.

The flavor profiles were all well balanced, both subtle and flavorful.

Atmosphere was lovely. Decor was unique and clean blues and blacks and greys/whites with sharp lines. GOOD AIR CONDITIONING. The music was pleasant bossa nova covers of popular songs.

Very classy without breaking the bank.

I wish I lived near here, so I could come back...