Marc G.
Yelp
Found out about "The World Famous Anchorage Inn" on an episode of DDD, and was compelled to go there whenever making the 2-hour drive to the Atlantic City area; as Guy Fieri gave it a destination-worthy recommendation.
For what we had to eat, it definitely WAS NOT at that level...
It was just OK at best, and if ever in the area -- One of the other area seafood restaurants will be our next choice to dine at.
My wife and I both had no breakfast or lunch, saving our appetites for what seemed like a surefire-amazing chow-down... So, our disappointment was amplified by how underwhelming it all was.
The outside and inside bar/tables have an old-world charm. We sat on the enclosed patio and (while it was kept warm enough on a chilly day) the view of that particular section of the shoreline was nothing to write home about.
The menu is huge (diner-like) and there was a Saturday-before-Valentine's Day sheet of specials as well. The prices seemed pretty fair, but (overall) for the quality and serving sizes of the food we received -- It was actually not much of a bargain.
For appetizers, my wife ordered the French Onion Soup and I got the Oysters Rockefeller.
The soup was pretty standard, but my wife's verdict was that she has had MUCH better at many places. The presentation was good, but the taste was not bold by any means... And the tiny amount of bread made it really more like onion soup than any real French version of it.
I've had Oysters Rockefeller at many places as well... And these were the smallest and most unspectacular ever. They basically were oysters with a dollop of boiled spinach and a squirt of hollandaise sauce. No cheese mixed in with (or atop) the spinach, and no sign that the oysters had been stuck under a broiler/salamander after the toppings were added. *See photo.
For our main courses, my wife ordered the Stuffed Shrimp, and I ordered the Seafood Milan.
The description of the stuffed shrimp on the menu said it was JUMBO shrimp. These four sad shrimp (not hard to be termed as "stuffed" based on their size) were somewhere between medium and large... Not jumbo (or even extra large).
The accompaniments to the dish my wife chose were a baked potato (also smallest, almost-fingerling we had ever seen) and vegetable. The veggie given was succotash (indeed a suffering corn and lima bean mixture) that definitely came from a can.
I will say with certainty that my seafood dish was the highlight of our visit, as it was tasty and there was a fair amount of shrimp, scallops and crab meat. The bread points that came with it, however, we're not toasted enough and (as a result) tasted chewy and stale.
The mildly-cheesed bread points were only eclipsed in sadness by the salad I chose as a side (in size, and lack of effort in preparation).
Our server was a young lady who was really nice, which took this from a sub-par 2-star review to a passable 3-stars. She made sure everything came fast and in the proper order.
It wasn't her fault that our early dinner may have been prepared the way it was by the "B staff" of chefs, or that the size of it may have been a "conservation effort" for what was surely going to be a much busier night.
In a nutshell -- "Eh!"
