I have never felt so moved to write a restaurant review until now. I am writing this as a warning to all.
I took my family to this restaurant when returning home from a camping trip and regretted not reading all of the reviews first. When entering, it didn't seem too busy, with about 6 tables already seated, mostly all served.
We were hungry for clam chowder and hoped for something decent, being so close to the coast. When ordering, we asked about whether or not the bowl of chowder came with bread. The teenage waiter stated that the bread bowl was the only soup option that came with bread. We ordered two bowls of soup, not wanting to pay $7 extra per bowl for bread. I ordered a Ruben sandwich and my wife ordered fish and chips.
15 minutes went by before our waiter brought us waters. After 25 minutes, we started to worry when se saw another table of guests served their meals. They had been seated well before us and it didn't bode well.
I noticed how none of the other guests in this restaurant seemed to be happy or enjoying their meals. I worried we were n for a subpar experience.
After 35 minutes, the waiter came up with the soup... in bread bowls. Both my wife and I told the waiter, in unison, that we had ordered regular bowls of chowder. He apologized and shuffled off.
10 minutes later, he returned with my Ruben sandwich.
Shortly after, a waitress came up with two bowls of chowder. She was chewing gum as she asked for help in taking one of the bowls of soup out of her hands. Apparently there hadn't been much training in how to carry out an order. I asked for place settings, since we had not yet received any napkins or silverware. She looked at me stupefied for 5 seconds and I felt the need to clarify my request. My wife received her fish chips shortly after (without incident).
The waitress returned 5 minutes later, still working her gum, handed me a stack of rolled napkins with forks, not bothering to set them anywhere near our plates.
Once we were given the privilege of napkins and silverware, I was able to turn my attention to my sandwich, discovering it was badly burned and it was cold. For all I knew, it could have been sitting out for 30 minutes before it was brought out to me. I tried to get the attention of either wait staff, but ended up chasing one down on the floor. I told them I couldn't eat the sandwich and requested it be removed from our order. The wait staff didn't bother to retrieve the poor sandwich, but left it to haunt us for the remainder of our meal.
I shared my wife's fish and chips (3 small pieces of fish and fries for $17 - not worth it). The clam chowder was below average, lacking proper seasoning.
When we finished up, the waitress brought our check, which we checked for inaccuracies. We immediately called her back to point out that we had not ordered soup with bread bowls and she quickly retorted that it was the same price as a regular soup bowl. I said is was not. Soup bowl was $9 and bread bowl was $16. She backed down and went away to make corrections.
I paid our bill and got out as quickly as possible. As I left, I saw a large family being seated nearby. I was tempted to warn them and wish now that I did.
It's surprising that a restaurant like this can survive with comically poor service and food quality. It's obvious that management has either left or has lost interest in running a successful business. Never again will I enter a restaurant before reading its reviews. read more