I was on vacation with my son and we decided to go here because it was "voted best restaurant by locals".
We go there and it is a pleasant atmosphere and the server was friendly as well.
We asked how much the lobster tail was (listed as MP). She said $35. I asked if they came from Maine or somewhere else. She said she didn't know exactly, but they were "freshwater lobster". These creatures do not exist as far as I know. They are a species of crayfish. Bleh. If you put it on your menu, then tell customers exactly what it is.
We ordered an appetizer and our entrees. The appetizer (lobster bites, which my son really wanted to try) came out and it was OK - a bit bland actually. However, at this point I just looked past it as far as the "truthiness" of it goes.
Then came the salads. I give them credit for not using iceberg lettuce. The cherry tomatoes, however, were hard and lacking flavor.
We had been eating our salads for less than two minutes and they brought our entrees out (prime rib w/ added on "crab" cake for me and grilled shrimp for my son). I have worked in many restaurants and this is a big pet-peeve of mine, but do NOT bring out the next course before the current course is finished.
I was obviously not happy and I expressed it, politely. The two people standing with our entrees (one of whom I found out later was the manager because I asked to see him after the server brought the check - more on that in a bit) said, basically, "Sorry for this" but still insisted on putting them down in front of us. Any decent manager would have taken them back and let us finish our salads, then brought out fresh entrees. But no, they put them down in front of us and made us feel like we were being forced out the door.
The server did say it was "her fault" because, according to her, apparently the shrimp order usually takes a long time to come out. This is ridiculous as anyone who has cooked shrimp knows it takes very little time to cook shrimp. I believe she just put our order in all at the same time (no problem with that if the timing is good) and the kitchen put it out as fast as they could to get the ticket done.
My son's grilled shrimp looked good and he liked them. The prime rib was OK, but a bit pricy for the quality and size. I had added on a crab cake because I was dying for some seafood at the ocean. I could neither see nor taste crab. Definitely not lump crab. Just mushy filling, with no texture.
I was so fed up at this point I just asked for the check. When it came my son's shrimp entree came in at $4 more than what was on the menu and my order was $1 more than the menu. I'm not cheap enough to care about $5, but I do care about being charged what is the listed price, especially after such a bad experience.
I asked the server to bring the manager, who happened to be one of the people who brought the entrees. I asked him about the prices and he said, "I see you and your son ordered the asparagus. That's an up-charge." I asked where that was listed on the menu. He said it wasn't, and the server should have mentioned it. She hadn't. The cost for my meal didn't reflect the fact that I had also ordered the asparagus (which was boringly steamed/boiled without any seasoning), yet again reflecting the incompetence of the place. I never did find out why my meal was priced the way it was.
The manager did comp our bill at 50% but I really wish they had just done the right thing at the start and let us enjoy the meal as best we could by taking the entrees back and letting us enjoy our meals, as bland as they may have been.
I have worked in many restaurants and one of the best managers I've ever had said everyone makes mistakes, but you never know how good a restaurant is until they show how they handle the mistakes. This place did not handle their mistakes well. I have no doubt that if you go there you may have a better experience. But for me, I won't be going back again. read more