Martin H.
Yelp
Underwhelming.
Friendly greeting from hostess. We were early for dinner reservation so went to the bar. Greeting was "Are you eating here". Nope, waiting for our table. We started with Empress 75 cocktails which were dull. Much better versions available at Lilou and the Vault. I received a text when our table was ready, then a phone call. The hostess could have simply grabbed menus and met us at the bar. Paid bar tab with a tacky hand held card reader. Bartender stood there while I inserted card, pressed tip button, all the class of a food truck.
Waitress was lovely, friendly, couldn't have been nicer.
Menu had items with "market price" and included sheet of paper with specials. "Market Price" is a stupid holdover from days when menus came from expensive print shops. It costs pennies to print the specials on a sheet of paper, include the price of everything or put them on a board. It's pretty easy.
Crab bisque was tasty with good texture but had shell fragments.
Crab cake was delicious but lacked char and lumps of meat, a bit too homogenous. Blackened scallops were disappointing. Scallops had blackening seasoning but no char, blackening. Also, very small and stingy portion. The menu did not specify diver scallops but I expected something a bit more substantial. The side was the special of green beens, small serving advertised with a thyme butter but had no sign of any seasoning. 9 oz filet with lobster tails also disappointing. Filet was grey, little char, under seasoned and had slight liver taste - cooked too slow. Lobster a bit dry. Baked spinach side was good.
Like the bar, check came with tacky hand held card reader. The waitress stood there while I made transaction, tipped etc. The whole meal was a let down, felt stingy and boring. The room is pretty, menu has potentially good options but nothing was executed well, nothing to return for. Chesapeake's is not a prohibitively expensive restaurant but not a cheap night out either and for the price, felt like a bit of a rip off.