Dauphin’s restaurant review (Mobile)

My son and I are in Mobile for a couple nights so we tried Dauphin’s for the first time.

The location was cool - it’s on the top floor of the Trustmark building, with a nice view overlooking the Battle House Tower and Mobile Bay.



A couple specialty butters were a nice touch to start along with some very good bread. One was hibiscus butter - can’t recall what the other was, though I vaguely remember ginger and/or coconut being mentioned.



First appetizer was fried green tomatoes and shrimp remoulade. I’m not a huge fan of fried green tomatoes, but these were the best I’ve had.



The other app was oysters Bienville -they are cooked in a cast iron skillet with little compartments instead of in the shells. Good idea with poor execution - they had a good shrimp and mushroom cream sauce but were very inconsistent. Some were very runny while others on the opposite side of the pan were dry and bread crumby.



Son just got fried shrimp for his entree, which were great but not plentiful. I got the Ono Island Tuna, which was superb - the best tuna steak I’ve ever eaten. It’s a marinated sashimi-grade tuna steak encrusted with ground pistachio nuts and sesame seeds, lightly seared and rare, with wasabi soy sauce and citrus butter. The crust on it was amazingly good.





This entree alone made it easily one of my top 10, maybe even top 5, meals I’ve ever eaten. Just incredibly good.

We forced dessert despite being stuffed. My son got the flourless chocolate cake with chocolate sauce, hibiscus syrup, raspberries, and whipped cream. It was our first experience with flourless chocolate cake. Delicious, VERY rich amd fudgy - not really a “cake” consistency.



I got the key lime pie - probably the best key lime pie I’ve had. Very thick cinnamon graham crust, and covered with a mango and hibiscus syrup.



Another nice touch at the end -when they bring the bill they also bring you some chocolate truffles in a smoky bowl (presumably dry ice underneath).



Overall it was an excellent meal, and the few extra touches like the view, specialty butters, and truffles created a very pleasant dining experience. It surpassed my expectations, especially for Mobile.