The Brigantine is a local chain of upscale seafood-oriented restaurants. We ate at the one on Shelter Island. It's a nice-looking building located in an area near several other restaurants, all near docks and fancy boats. A fine and easily accessible place to go for dinner. There is all sorts of parking right next door.

The restaurant is on the second floor. There's a large and busy bar area, and the whole place is dripping with sailing memorabilia, as you might expect at San Diego harbor. To look at the photos on the walls, you'd think that the America's Cup had been fought in a brandy snifter perched on the Brigantine bar.

We'd been supplied with a "free appetizer" coupon by our hotel, so we tried that. It was a sampler of three items, two of which were tasty and one of which was sushi, which is not a hit with people whose natural instinct upon coming into contact with raw fish is to put it on a hook and toss it into the water. We resisted the temptation, tried one piece each -- yellowfin, we're told -- and found it forgettable. Just a matter of taste, I'm sure.

Be that as it may, the entrees were a mixed bag. I had a three-course special consisting of soup, a main course -- scallops -- and dessert. The scallops were very good, but the portions were skimpy. Could they have spared a fourth scallop on that plate? You'd think so. My wife's entree was shrimp stuffed with crab and wrapped in bacon. One thought too many! The shrip-crab combo was really good., but the two thicknesses of bacon overwhelmed everything. She found herself removing the bacon and eating it separately. It's funny how scallops wrapped in bacon work very well, but shrimp in bacon just doesn't make it.

Dessert was creme brulee, which was as it should be.

The whole thing came to $83 with tip. That's the amount I would pay for a really good meal, not an okay one. So while the Brigantine has its strengths, I wouldn't be inclined to eat there often, if at all, if I lived closer.