Ocean Cafe At the Boardwalk

Ocean Cafe At the Boardwalk

It’s the start of Labor Day Weekend. We went out Thursday night because it was more convenient for us and the crowds aren’t quite as bad. We went to the boardwalk and decided to check out Ocean Café, a new place that just opened up this year. We’ve been fascinated by it ever since the very beginning of the summer when we saw it. It looks really nice from the outside and looked like a nice classy place. Well, we walked up to be seated and from the start, we were turned off. John recalls hearing the manager flirting with the hostess and being inappropriate. We were seated and given menus and the menus were real (which as you know, is a good thing with us!). There were a ton of screaming children, which is not the restaurant’s fault, it’s the boardwalk so we don’t expect there to not be crying kids. However, a friend of ours who is familiar with the restaurant mentioned that the acoustics and walls make everything louder, so one child crying sounds like ten to begin with. The small booth we were sitting at was fine at first, until we realized that we would have a family of four sitting in the booth next to us with no barrier or anything in between. They booths are like those in Friendly’s (made so you can have a large group over two booths) except this place didn’t have a removable wall in between them so it was like we were having dinner with a family of strangers. We ordered our meals and got some bread and butter, which is a plus! Then the meals came out and were very average, if not below average. To top it off, we paid with cash and were hoping for the waitress to break a 10 dollar bill so we could leave her a tip and she returned with the 10 dollar bill unbroken. Typically when we do that, the waitress will understand that we need ones or a five dollar bill to leave the tip. Overall, not a good experience and we also heard that it may not even be open next year. We’ll just have to try its replacement and hope for better results!

John ate: Chicken parmigiana, C-, “This was your classic Ocean City restaurant, with the exception that it was very nice on the inside. The atmosphere was not very good considering we were sitting in a booth with no barrier between us and the table sitting next to us, so we could listen in on their conversation. In addition, the music was a little irritating considering that they played Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and Justin Bieber (I actually like Lady Gaga, but not while eating dinner). I was also taken aback when the manager abruptly grabbed my shoulder to ask 'you ok?!?' about a minute after our food arrived. It was very awkward. I don’t mind the screaming kids, especially in a vacation town on the boardwalk there’s going to be screaming kids, it doesn’t bother me at all. However, the food wasn’t great either. They had the typical Coca Cola glasses for drinks and the chicken was mostly just bread crumbs, was very thin, and was actually a little burnt. The spaghetti and sauce had little flavor to it as well”

John's Half Eaten Meal

(We forgot about taking pictures. Sorry!)

Lauren ate: Pollo Limone, C-, "The screaming kids, strange booth situation, and creepy boss threw me off from the start.  The bread and butter was good, but the meal was not.  The chicken was decent I guess.  It came with garlic mashed potatoes and some vegetables.  I really am not a big fan of not being able to choose my own sides.  I understand that it's often easier for the restaurant that way, but it's less enjoyable for me.  John even tried my mashed potatoes and said they were not very good.  I asked the waitress what kind of drinks they had and expected an answer such as 'Cokie, Diet Coke, Sprite, Root Beer...' etc. However, the waitress had no idea what I was talking about so I simply ordered water.  It was definitely a family friendly restaurant (as John mentioned the music was trendy), so sure, bring your kids there.  Or go to Clancy's.  You'll be better off."

Lauren's Half-Eaten Meal! Oops!