"Nico has been on my list of must try places for a while. With its unassuming exterior, one might easily pass it by in favor of some of the on the water offerings nearby, but I had heard great things about Nico 's seafood from locals. My party dined on a weekend afternoon. Since it was the off hour, we had the entire restaurant to ourselves. The interior was cozy and comfortable. I found the exposed spray insulation a bit strange and wondered why they wouldn 't plank the ceilings to give the space a warmer feel. Some small design touches could really give the place the nautical feel they were seeking with the menus and class the place up. We were seated quickly and our server was friendly. Not particular warm, but certainly professional and knowledgeable about the menu. I started with the baked scallops from the wood fired menu. The presentation was nice with each of four scallops situated on a shell filled with harissa butter. Four small baguette slices accompanied the scallops on the plate. I was a little concerned the scallops had no color they still had that glossy look but I chalked it up to the wood fired baking (I had never had scallops prepared this way). However, the harissa butter was the star of the plate. The smokiness of the harissa was gorgeous and the baguette turned out to be a perfect touch because I didn 't want to see a drop of that butter wasted! For my entree, I opted for the lobster roll from the comfort section of the menu. When it arrived, there was a momentary thought of, why can 't a lobster roll just be a lobster roll? The lobster was balancing on a bar of buttered bread. My first impression was wrong. The smaller bread serving balanced out the juicy (and large) lobster serving perfectly. It avoided all possible complaints about the lobster roll being all bread or mostly filling that is often experienced with the dish elsewhere. The lobster roll was delicious and the side of camembert sauce is a nice touch (initially). My only complaint/suggestion about the camembert fondue is to dress it up as fondue. A tealight to keep the cheese warm would have been the perfect touch, as once the cheese (quickly) turns cold, you may as well be in Velveeta territory. And the fries. I just read an article featuring a chef in Atlanta (Garden and Gun magazine) that said a lot can be said about a restaurant by the state of its fries. So true. The fries with this dish were a complete disappointment. I 'm guessing frozen. No salt or seasoning of any kind. Truly confusing to us why a chef would choose to put those fries on any plate, much less a plate where obvious effort had gone into such a lovely lobster roll. We shared the creme brulee for dessert. No complaints. A server torched the surface at the table which is a nice touch. The serving was huge and served in a shallow Pyrex like bowl instead of the usual ramekin. A heavier dessert would have thrown the meal out of proportion but the creme brulee was the perfect final touch. NICO would have been a solid four star experience for me had it not been for 1) the illness that followed for 24 hours that I suspect was due to undercooked scallops (as everything else was shared with others), 2) those fries, 3) the camembert fondue that quickly became cheese sauce once the heat was lost, and 4) the water has that very strong marsh smell that influences every few bites. At these prices, some filtered water is necessary. It is hit or miss, but I think some tiny tweaks could greatly improve the experience."
