We went in 2016, and I was disppointed to see that they no longer focus on freshly steamed seafood.
The first time we dined there all the way back in 1999, the highlight of the buffet was the steamed clams, mussels and oysters. One section of the buffet had a gigantic steamer manned by a chef. They had big metal scoops so you could fill a pail with shellfish and told you to take an empty pail for the shells. There were a couple of dipping sauces, plain butter and a tomato-based one IIRC. They put brown paper on the tables to soak up any mess from the shells.
As time went on, they seemed to focus much less on the steamer although they added shrimp then snow crab legs to the clams and mussels that were being steamed.
Last time we were there, it turned into a regular buffet with mussels in a tomato broth and plain steamed clams and crab legs in regular trays on the buffet. The steaming station where the chefs poured out freshly steamed shellfish was gone.
The crab legs served that night were not meaty and were difficult to clean. Although I had a roasted brussel sprout dish I really liked, I was disappointed by mostly everything else. The fabulous selection of salads that they used to serve was gone too.
Later that week, we had the Seafood Sensation buffet at the Garden Grove, and the crab legs there were about 100 times better than the ones served at Cape May Cafe.
So unless I hear that they’ve gone back to serving from the big steamer station, I won’t be back to CMC. The food at Garden Grove is way better.