Cape May Clambake Sorry guys, no pictures on this one, except the birthday treat they brought to me.
DH and I love this place, the last two times we ate here have been great. This time was just eh, ok I guess. We may skip it on future trips. We had reservations at 5:35 and arrived around 5 pm or so, we figured we could just hang out in the lobby and sit for a bit. We just had a quick walk from the YC. The lobby of the BC was totally full with people all over the place. The line to check in was so long, just standing around waiting and waiting. We Now when we walked over from the YC you could see the people setting up the food, and it was only 5 pm and they did not open for another half an hour...hmmmm...
So we are seated right when they open, at a cute little booth behind the dessert area. The seater told us they moved some things around a bit..all the seafood is on one side now and the cookies, brownies and things are next to the breads and carved beef. The corn bread is now next to the baked ziti on the hot station.
Our server was a very nice older gentleman. He was great with the drinks. I wanted a blueberry colada but he said that is only on the menu for a few months a year and would I like the new pumpkin martini...no thanks no this time...I want to fill up on food instead. 2 ice teas it is.
DH gets up and makes a beeline for the littlenecks. He gets a huge bowl of them, he dives right in and guess what, they are ice cold. Could it be that they were sitting out for 30 minutes before the opened? He picked up a few ears of corn and he said they were cold and mushy. When he went back up he got a fresh bowl of littlenecks and he said they were 100% better.
I get up to get some food, the corn bread was dry and hard as a rock. The broccolini, string beans and roasted chicken is all cold. The baked ziti was dried out, the ribs were awesome! The mashed potatoes were awesome! The mini hot dogs were good, the chicken nuggets were gross, the mac and cheese was ok. They had fried talapia which was out of this world, I could not get enough of it. Did not try the salmon. They did take away my favorite item, the beef tips with mushrooms, I loved that dish!
I tried to get some clam chowder but it was empty and took forever to get refilled so I gave up and had some tomato bisque, it was ok...tasted like Campbells. DH and I shared some salad items and fruit, they were great. I love the cole slaw, marinated mushrooms, cuke and tomato salad...very good fruit too.
DH got a plate of the same items as me and he said it was just ok...not as good was the last two times we went. He had some sliced beef but it was so rare he could not eat it. He asked the carver to get him a few pieces well done and the guy said that would take a while because they have to bring it into the kitchen and then plopped the beef on his plate. I like my meat that rare and it was pretty good but DH said forget it...he wasnt going to wait for them to cook it.
The desserts were pathetic. The oreo bon bons were good, the mini cheesecakes, key lime tarts, german chocolate cakes all tasted like refrigeration..you know that funky taste when it is in the cooler too long? The blondies, brownies and cookies were good.
Here is the treat they brought to me, such a sweet server he sang HB to me all by himself! This was a sponge cake filled with a thick chocolate mousse covered in a very rich dense dark chocolate topping, it was gross and we could not stomach one bite, but the thought was very nice.
Overall, I dont think we will be rushing back here and that is sad because we really liked this place on other visits. If we do go back I will make a 6:30ish reservation to ensure the food is good and hot.
