Oh no. My first negative review. I didn't want to have to ever write one, but I have to be honest.
After driving by season after season, we set out with a specific goal to stop here for dinner on a Sunday night. We were greeted in a very friendly and warm manner by a male host who seated us outside at our request and was very sweet to offer us a seat inside for our meal and offered to have us come back out for drinks by the fire so we could be more comfortable. We felt very welcome at that point and I wish he had been our server as well because we might have actually stayed for the meal.
After being graciously seated inside, our waitress came out and asked to take our order. I wanted the Beach BBQ, but, in addition to that, I also wanted to try the pulled pork. To clarify, as I did with the waitress, I wanted to pay extra for the pulled pork in addition to the large Beach BBQ meal I was going to order. Keep in mind that that the dish I am ordering is one of the higher priced menu items-it isn't like I am asking for a handout on the side of an inexpensive order. Her response was, "Well, I have to ask. He isn't right out straight right now, so he might be okay with it." Weird response, but I understand that she needs to check. At this time they could have named their price for the side item- I just really wanted to try the pulled pork, gosh darn it! She went back to ask the cook if this was possible (Apparently it might not be okay to make an additional sale on a slow Sunday night?) While I was waiting for her to come back I discussed with my date that if it wasn't possible, I was just going to get the nachos with pulled pork on them and pick it off so I could at least try it, but when she came out, her response just changed everything. You could have heard a pin drop. Get ready for it.....
"He is willing to let it fly for tonight."
Really? Willing to let it fly? The chef isn't doing me a favor. If I was going to spend with abandon on drinks, meals, desserts and a nice date night, for an extra $10 side of pulled pork, I would think that accommodations could have been made without making us feel uncomfortable and unappreciated as guests. We were hoping to have a bit of a romantic evening at a restaurant we had been anticipating and instead ended up going somewhere else WITHOUT ordering anything (so glad we did, after reading other people's reviews of the food). I felt bad for the waitress for having to deal with an ego like the one on this guy working the kitchen. She apologized that she might have painted an unfair picture of him. I think that just made things worse. I am very reserved and quiet, but I couldn't help telling her that this statement was very rude and I didn't feel comfortable ordering something from an upset chef. After all, I don't want to be concerned that my food might be prepared in retaliation for a "special request".
This is the first time I have ever walked out of a restaurant in all of my years on this earth.
There are plenty of other places to stop along this stretch of Route 1 and I would suggest you try another place. We ended up going to Mike's Clam Shack which offered a much more casual, "woodsy" pub environment, but we had a great time there and got some great seafood, burgers and drinks. I got Moscato by the glass and he got Angry Orchard on tap. The night worked out in the end, just not in the way we expected.
I kind of do feel like I should thank BeachFire for shooing us out. We ended up with a nice meal at half the price in a lively, busy and fun environment just down the road. We even entered to win a Harley from Big Moose at Mike's while we were there. If we win it, I will be sure to drive by BeachFire and drop off an official thank you note to the chef. read more