Vince N.
Yelp
Our family's 2022 Ocean City vacation final night dinner was here, unfortunately. I haven't done a 2-star review in a while...
ATMOSPHERE:
It's a big restaurant with a matching volume level. Two bars, a sushi bar and a variety of seating options were available.
MENU:
Sushi, salads, seafood, steaks, poultry, pastas, sandwiches, kid's menu.
BEVERAGE:
Key Lime Martini - $13.00
I totally missed the description of vanilla-flavored vodka so it's my fault and it had a bizarre aftertaste. I think regular vodka would've sufficed.
Peju Sauvignon Blanc - $45.00 (bottle)
Smooth, fruity and tart.
FOOD:
House "Bread"
A plastic ramekin filled with what tasted like tuna salad was accompanied by prepackaged crackers. Odd presentation but surprisingly quite good.
Caesar Salad - $9.95
Was I at the Cheesecake Factory? This thing was huge! Creamy dressing, cheese and lots of croutons. And sadly, my highlight of the dinner.
Roasted Tomato & Garlic Lobster Bisque - $7.95
Served warm and not searing hot, it had a nice balance of tomatoey and creaminess. Lobster amount was minuscule but I guess it depends on your luck-of-the-ladle.
Sweet Corn and Crab Carbonara - $28.95
Avoid. Carbonara calls for heavy cream, but as you can see from my picture, the milkman forgot to deliver. The copious amount of overcooked penne was dry as the Mojave, with the amount of crab going the opposite direction of generous. Desperate to save my dish, I added salt. Didn't help. I then asked our server for some cream/sauce of some kind but it wasn't available, so I reluctantly accepted the sauce from the Special Lobster Pasta dish which was a vodka-like pink sauce. Needless to say it rained in the dessert but it resulted in a recipe that would get us killed in Italy.
Grilled 12 oz Prime NY Strip - $48.95
My spouses dish that was supposed to be medium rare. The steak's temperature was all over the place. It also lacked any form of salt or seasoning, akin to the side of Brussels sprouts. And, to add insult to injury, the toppings of fresh mushrooms and white onions were hardly sautéed and were close to raw. The only saving grace was the mashed potatoes.
Special Lobster Pasta - $39.95
My niece-in-law's dish. Humongous in size, it almost looked like a pasta soup with the vast amount of sauce. She liked it overall.
Crazy Tuna - $16.00
Crash and burn! It looked like a California minus the mayo and cucumber and topped with ahi. Even with a dip in soy sauce, it lacked tastebud happiness.
Hot Dog - $9.95
One of the children's dishes. The bun was rock hard like a baguette. The meal included ice cream but they only had cinnamon flavor available. Thankfully our server found some vanilla ice cream in which she brought several bowls to the table.
SERVICE:
No reservations are taken, so our party of 9 had about an hour wait which is understandable.
Our server, Andreea, took care of us and checked on us often. She tried to help remedy my disastrous carbonara dish as best as she could, I guess. I feel like I should've been offered another dish as 90% of it went uneaten. Read the room?
OVERALL:
Generous portions of pricey, underwhelming food.