Restaurant Review:

For more than 50 years, the restaurant at the north entrance to Sunset Beach was called Sam’s Seafood. It was identifiable and an icon, not only in the sleepy beach town, but around most of Orange County.

That bastion of consistency has yielded quickly with the restaurant forgoing the Sam’s name and, to date, going through two name changes in three years.

First it was Kona, and it kept the Polynesian theme, but the owners couldn’t make a go of it, apparently, and it was snatched up by the owners of Don The Beachcomber, a 16-restaurant chain that began in Hollywood.

The hope is that the name will bring in both the tourists and the locals, and the facility can build a consistent clientele.

There was entertainment on the Friday we were there. Two men, one on guitar, another on bass, sang Hawaiian songs and were accompanied occasionally by a young woman doing hula dances.

It is nothing like the shows that Sam’s used to put on with the accompaniment of hula dancers and a full band.

The menu is pretty much the same as the other restaurants, though the hostess and the waiter went out of their way to tell me about the prix fixe menu they were offering.

It comes with two options, a drink flight and a non-drink flight. The non-drink is $30 for appetizer, entrée and dessert, while the drink flight has three alcoholic beverages served during the meal.

It is a little limited. There are only two entrees — the grilled mahi-mahi and the grilled mai tai chicken. It might be better served with a couple more choices. The same was the case with the appetizer and dessert, which also had limited options.

My guest and I decided against that, but we did want an appetizer and went with the mixed grill stix. It was a house-marinated skewered chicken and flank steak with a sweet and spicy peanut dip.

It was awful. The steak was way overcooked, and the pineapple that came with it tasted sour with the marinade. The chicken was actually mealy.

So we took two bites, and then it sat there. The waiter was very astute and noticed we had picked at it and asked if everything was all right. When we told him it wasn’t, he went out of his way to get the appetizer taken off our check.

It was that attentiveness that saved the evening. He, along with the rest of the staff, watched over us, even before the appetizer debacle, and that earned a lot of points with me.

A bad appetizer does not a meal make, and our entrees absolutely made up for it and then some.

My guest had the Kahlua pork, and it was incredible. The meat is slow-roasted in jumbo banana leaves and then hand-pulled. There is a ponzu-style sauce at the bottom of the pork, and it only complements the meat. The tenderness of the pork was unbelievable, and I was really impressed by the dish.

The bacon-wrapped Escolar that I had was equally good. The white fish, found in the Gulf of Mexico, is similar to mackerel and tuna, though I didn’t find it nearly as oily.

The presentation was nice. It looked like a piece of filet mignon, especially with the bacon wrapped around the fish. The fish was flaky, tender and very well prepared. I really enjoyed the wasabi mashed potatoes that came with it.

The potatoes that usually come with the meals are garlic mashed potatoes that I wish had more garlic on them. I would try and get the staff to substitute the wasabi potatoes, which were much better.

This is a restaurant that has potential and may evolve into a steady, but not spectacular, dinner house.

Don The Beachcomber

Address: 16278 Pacific Coast Hwy., Sunset Beach

Phone: (562) 592-1321

Website: www.donthebeachcomber.com

Cuisine: Polynesian

Specialty dish: none

Alcohol served: full bar

Entrée price range: $12 to $27

Family friendly: not so much

Credit cards accepted: American Express, MasterCard and Visa

Rating: ***

JOHN REGER reviews local restaurants and may be contacted at Nolimepublishing@aol.com or P.O. Box 2984, Seal Beach, CA 90740.