MAR
314 E. Howard Ave., Decatur. 404-373-2725, marcoastal.com. Open for dinner daily.
By far the most ambitious of Decatur’s new crop of Mexican restaurants, Mar serves “coastal cuisine” in a pretty renovation of the space that was long Feast. The old brick storefront got a spanking new whitewash — the better to show off the aqueous palette of blues and greens inside, along with the distressed wood flooring and the tasteful rusticity of the furniture. It’s all very weekend in Cabo.
But it needs something better than the unsure-feeling menu of plates, tacos, ceviches and bistro-style entrees. For a seafood restaurant, there’s surprisingly little emphasis on seasonal market ingredients, and the margaritas are bland and watery.
Ceviche with calamari, snapper, shrimp and tuna was served too warm, with chewy slices of fish that had absorbed none of the flavor of the citrus-herb marinade. A clever and otherwise tasty salad of endive, hearts of palm and peanuts arrived with puckery grilled shrimp on top tasting like the seafood version of Sour Patch Kids. Things improved with the tacos. A lobster version with corn-cucumber salsa and mornay sauce was squishy fun, and the shrimp taco with beans and avocado was spot on.
