Rehoboth Beach's "Big Fish Grill"

A restaurant review, third one for Rehoboth Beach's Big Fish Grill. This time they wouldn't let us sit where we wanted. Why?


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Big Fish Grill-Still Serving Seafood to the Masses In Rehoboth

Web Site for this Restaurant

Goodness this is my third review of this restaurant, one as far back as 2005 and in the one in 2009 I vowed to never go to this eatery again.

So here it is 2011 and I am writing about this fabulous seafood restaurant in Rehoboth Beach Delaware that must be doing something right in that there is always a line of patrons waiting at the door.





On this night after Valentine’s day there was no such line and it is, of course, the mid of winter down Rehoboth shores way.

Which lineless situation caused a bit of grief the night husband and I went to the The Big Fish Grill in that there was not only no line, there were plenty of seats. Instead of offering us, Valentine lovebirds that we were with the good sense to arrive plenty early, a nice private, cozy booth, an empty booth was completely bypassed and husband and I were escorted to a table. Understand here that even a table would have been okay except it was a table that was not sitting by itself, but was part of a “banquet” table kind of set up, with tables side by side, chairs to the front with a banquette seat shared by a bunch of folks, likely strangers, on the other side. There was no one sitting at the table to the side of where the hostess took us but it was empty and during our meal a pair of strangers could arrive, making our meal uncomfortable at best for the proximity to those who could hear our conversation and survey our meals.

Like I said, the place was full of empty booths. Now many of these booths were huge affairs, capable of seating six, possibly more people. When I requested that we not be seated at this table with its uncomfortable configuration, I specifically asked for a smaller booth, they had quite a few open, and explained that I did not want to take up their big booths with just husband and I.

I thought it a reasonable request. I know I would not have enjoyed my meal with worry that at any second another couple would be seated adjacent to us, thereby ceasing all casual conversation, causing me, at any rate, not sure about husband’s feelings, to want to get out of there. We only go out to eat once every six months or so, we’d come early, there were plenty of booths open, why couldn’t we get comfortable? And, proof of my two earlier reviews of this restaurant, we were semi-regular customers so pleasing us would seem prudent.

You know what the hostess told us when we asked to be moved to a booth?

No.

That’s right. She wasn’t mean or anything. She just looked around, mumbled something about no booths being clean and ready for seating, and pointed to the table where we would, evidently have to sit, like it or not.

To all restaurants on the planet….this is just totally unacceptable. There was no good reason to deny us a booth, the place was half empty….and know that I did get a bit uppity about it. I said I was a Blogger and I would be sure to write about this in my review. I was getting ready to say never mind we’d leave but I held my tongue as husband, for Valentine’s Day request, specifically asked to go here for his want of a nice big fried flounder, made as well at The Big Fish Grill as most anywhere else.

Another person at the front desk saw there was some discussion going on and came back to intercede. We explained the problem and she said it was no problem at all, just let them clear a booth.

Which was done, we were seated, and I wonder why the first hostess couldn’t have done the same thing?

After that we did get most excellent service, as you might imagine. They knew I was a Blogger doing a review, something I don’t like to tell. I’m thinking maybe me taking pictures of the food might also have been a clue.



I had fried oysters, something I thought quite appropriate to purchase in a seafood restaurant dead in the middle of February. Husband had the fried flounder, a big crusty thing, and he ate it all.

One of the big surprises of the night, besides the good seafood as would be expected, was the side dishes. On the night we were there, offered was a most delightful side dish you don’t see very often…sugar snap peas! Also, a side of mushrooms for husband, that was really for me. The mushrooms were good, along with Big Fish Grill’s smashed red taters…a very good meal indeed.

Another surprise was the little appetizer served free of charge. On every other visit we got this little platter of sorts but I always thought it was tarter sauce or some such. Turned out it was a small container of, well I guess it was tuna fish, at least that’s what it tasted like. I suspect that there’s plenty of fish leftover in the kitchen and the fish is shredded and seasoned to a quite tasty salad type of thing. This was a delightful surprise.

After the meal, another hostess came to our table and gave us a coupon good for $11.00 off on our next visit to Big Fish Grill if we used it before the end of March.

Like I said, we only go out to eat once every six months so we’ll probably not use it. She told us it’s something they give to “special” customers-I’m thinking “special” customers like Bloggers doing a review or folks treated strangely over seating arrangements. Just throwing it out there.

Still I accept that management regretted the confusion over seating and I accepted the gift graciously.

My final word of advice, go to Rehoboth Beach Delaware’s Big Fish Grill in the winter months, get there early, and insist on a booth.

The food is, as always, excellent. They just needed to tweak their customer relation skills a bit.
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”Irish Eyes”-A Restaurant Featuring Comfort Meals That Might Kill You

Seriously. An Irish restaurant. We've got three of them down around our parts in Southern Delaware.

Here's a review of "Irish Eyes", a culinary adventure into cholesterol and prepared food that would have New York Mayor Nanny Bloomberg shutting the place down and arresting the cooks for attempted murder.

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”Irish Eyes”-A Restaurant Featuring Comfort Meals That Might Kill You

Let me sum it up by stating that if southern Delaware’s infamous “Irish Eyes” restaurant was in New York Mayor Bloomberg would shut it down toot de sweet and have the owners thrown in jail for attempted murder.

New York, along with Nanny Bloomberg, is on a mission to make all New Yorkers healthy, already prohibiting foods fried in trans-fat and on a mission to cut salt usage drastically.

On a recent visit to Irish Eyes restaurant located in Lewes, Delaware I ordered a concoction that would have Bloomberg beating up the cook bejeesus with a billy club.

Irish Eyes, Lewes Delaware restaurant, web site.

Which is not to say that I didn’t quite enjoy the meal but go with me here, as one with a heart-bypass and a penchant for racking up high cholesterol, I could only indulge in this sort of dinner maybe once, twice a year, tops.

I began the meal with a fine appetizer, heart-approved, of something called “almost famous” cucumber bruschetta.

The treat consisted of about six pieces of Melba type toast drizzled with balsamic vinegar. The “bruschetta” contained tiny, perfect squares of feta cheese and fresh cucumber.

Bruschetta is a dish one normally associates with tomatoes, perhaps onions, some celery, chopped up finely. It is a sort of watery salsa usually scooped up with a piece of dried toast type bread or large crackers. The only problem I had with this Irish Eyes “almost famous” bruschetta is those perfectly square pieces of feta cheese. Good feta cheese is crumbly. You get those exactly square pieces of the stuff and you’ve got a very processed sort of feta cheese, not the very earthly tasting cheese made from goat’s milk. Like American cheese can be processed and formed into perfect blocks and manipulated to become the stuff of velveeta, so can feta cheese. Indeed, this feta cheese was certainly edible but it was lacking. If Irish Eyes would use real feta cheese maybe this bruschetta dish would finally become famous. The fresh cucumbers, however, and the Melba toast with the balsamic vinegar were perfect. This appetizer had the zesty feel of a summer garden.



For my entrée I chose a dish called “Seafood Shepherd’s Pie”.

I’d debated long before the anticipated visit whether to get that very Irish meal of corned beef and cabbage. Since I am very Irish in ancestry, I love corned beef and some kind of pork, cooked in a big pot along with plenty of potatoes, of course. But I balked. First, I like my cabbage boiled to nothing-hood, not that I’m proud of this. Restaurants of this day tend to barely boil vegetables, serving them in the trendy “crisp-tender” final product. I say phooey on that. If I want a salad, I’ll ask for a salad, darn it.

Thus I did not want to order what I’d hope would be a big plate of mushy cabbage with potatoe pieces to the side and a couple of healthy slices of corned beef and instead get a wedge of “crisp tender” cabbage and some chewy potatoes.

But Shepherd’s Pie? How could you go wrong with this?

Shepherd’s pie is another English/Irish dish, consisting of at a minimum a combination of mashed potatoes over some sort of protein in gravy. Beyond that shepherd’s pie is a cook’s creation and could include the addition of various vegetables with meat ranging from stew beef to ground beef.

The Irish Eyes concoction added a layer of melted cheese over the mashed potatoes and hey, that sounded fine to me.

The dish also included shrimp, big hunks of scallops and some lobster meat in a creamy gravy that contained fresh tomatoes, zuchinni, carrots and celery. I dislike zuchinni and yes it came “crisp-tender” so I pulled all this out. The cheese layer over the mashed potatoes, folks it was a bit over the top and I could not have finished that big plate of melted goo on a dare. But it was very good, yes it was. Took me two days to eat it at home and this was for the best in that my cholesterol rose just looking at this dish.

Husband had fish and chips. The fish looked to be fried just perfect though I didn’t take a bite. I already had more than I could handle with that shepherd’s pie.

I ordered an appetizer of wings in sesame-honey sauce to go plus I had a Margarita. Our bills for the meal, the two appetizers, one drink and two entrees was $60.00 which included a nice tip. Service was excellent by the way. Those wings were delicious after a quick heat in the microwave the following day.

Yes I’d go to Irish Eyes again but I’d have to limit such eating adventures to once a year. I’m not sure about husband as this sort of fare is definitely not the sort of stuff he enjoys. We only went this one time because…well it’s a long story.
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OutBACK-Review...the Blooming Onion Is the Best

Here’s a review of the Outback Steak House and sure, it’s a chain thing, it’s not considered even close to gourmet, it’s like the Walmart of steak houses.

But folks you can’t beat that Bloomin’ Onion in even the swankiest of steak joints. A review of a recent eating experience at Outback tells it all.


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Outback, the True Story of This Walmart of Steak Joints



Husband made the choice of restaurant for the night and he chose Outback Steak House.

Not that he didn’t have a plethora of eatery choices, goodness, what with us living in a resort area and plenty of steak houses all about.

The choice was fine with me as a)like I say, it was HIS choice and what sort of bad sport would I be to complain about his birthday desire? And b)hey, I like Outback, at least I did on the few prior occasions that had me as a patron of the steak chain.

WEB SITE FOR OUTBACK

Seems to me one can get a right decent steak item, a potato of some sort, perhaps a salad and a roll, at Outback, and for a reasonable price.

Outback has taken the same route as so many restaurants today, which is to charge for a side salad and many side orders. The times are tough, so the saying goes, and by making those items that were once normally part of the dinner a la carte, the restaurant can pull in more cash without actually raising the price of the meals.

It’s a bit of a scam is what I’m saying here but I’ll allow that an argument can be made that there was waste in giving to salads to non-salad folks and a basket of rolls often went to waste.

In many of the meals offered on the Outback menu, a side potato of some sort was included in the price of the dinner and all meals came with a small loaf type thing of warm whole wheat bread. It was good bread as most warm breads are but I prefer the white stuff, yeah, all that gluten, filled with warm sweet-smelling yeast.

Most steak houses offer battered fried onions in some form and fashion. Husband is a big fan of these things although he’ll run screaming from any meal I’d dare serve him at home containing any sort of onion stuff.

We’ve had huge fried onion ring things, onion loaf devices, round things that pretended to have onions within but were mostly fried breadcrumbs. Nothing compares to Outback’s “Blooming Onion”, nothing, not anywhere, not anyhow.

Outback sure has a winner with this menu entrée. All tables around me held a platter of this Blooming Onion thing, shared by the patrons around the table, all dipping and talking and enjoying this splendid appetizer. The dip served with the Blooming Onion is as good as the appetizer itself.

A Blooming onion is an onion cut with some sort of geometrically even device that creates a round onion flower, all the onion “petals” easy to pull from the main onion body. The thing presents quite nicely. The entire onion bloom is dipped into some sort of batter and fried; fried very nicely in fact.

The Blooming Onion won’t make your arteries any softer but it’s not dripping with grease. There’s a pleasant crunchiness to the onion petals and the grease does not overwhelm or distract from the mild onion taste.



One of the biggest surprises of our meal was something called “Walkabout Soup”. Another pleasant surprise, a cup of the stuff was included in my husband’s dinner. Since this is a man who hates to eat with a soup spoon, he told me to order what I wanted as he would eschew the soup.

I don’t know why it’s called “Walkabout Soup” but this is allegedly an Austrailian restaurant chain and those Aussies tend to have cute nicknames for everything. It’s really a “soup du jour” and that evening it was a splendid Cream of Potato Soup.

The soup was delicious in fact, a real surprise. The soup’s cream base was only slightly thickened, not the library paste so many restaurants like to add vegetables to and call soup. There were some green onions sprinkled within, some perfectly cooked potato cubes and it had a pleasant mild spicy taste to it.

Husband had, what else, a New York strip steak. I had a special dinner, one of many featured on the Outback menu.

These specials usually include two main items, smaller portions of each to be sure. Mine was a few slices of something called “tenderloin steak” served alongside a small platter of stuffed shrimp, costing $15.99.

I found the shrimp to be overwhelmed with, well it wasn’t butter, in the true sense of the word. It was that stuff restaurants serve with fish that looks like, and almost tastes like, butter. The shrimp were good, however, nice and tender, a good size. If they’d stop serving them swimming in that oily stuff they’d be a real hit.

The “tenderloin” that came with my meal was, again, not real beef. Like the meat didn’t real come from the hind-quarters of the cow. This tenderloin was some sort of meat that is somehow “re-processed”…somehow ground up and re-formed to look like a slice of a real loin of a cow.

It tasted okay, really, but I wasn’t fooled.

Husband’s steak was real, however. He pronounced it a bit “chewy”, a description he gives to many food items since he had all his top teeth pulled and replaced with dentures. Not that his dentures don’t work fine but hey, they’re not real teeth I must suppose.

I had a bit of that NY strip and thought it was of the right amount of “chewiness”, this was real teeth though my teeth aren’t top notch either.

I had one drink at the Outback, what with husband driving and myself seldom indulging in any sort of alcohol type of drink. Wow. The drinks at the Outback like to kill.

I had to search the entire menu to find one under eight bucks and this was some sort of specialty drink that cost $4.99. It was a good drink and I’d buy it again. But I can afford one. The Outback Steak House is not the place to enjoy a leisurely meal preceeded by a few fine drinks to make us mellow.

Our bill, with a generous tip, came to $69.00. While this isn’t cheap by any means, I’d challenge the meal, drink, warm bread, good meat, fabulous blooming onion and soup, is as good as that purchased at a more expensive steak joint.

Go for a nice meal and, if for no other reason, that Blooming Onion.

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Delaware Eatery Features "Pretzel Salad"? Chicken Fried Steak to Die For at Georgia House

"Get the pretzel salad," my choir member told me after recommending Georgia House for a good but inexpensive dinner out.

I did have the pretzel salad. Also a huge chicken fried steak while husband had blackened catfish with a zesty cajun bite.

The cost of this meal, with plenty of leftovers for future meals and dog, was as big a surprise as the pretzel salad.

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Georgia House…Big Meals, Small Prices

Husband I had originally planned to go to the more famous local pub “Irish Eyes” when an annual visit by his mother was being planned.

“Irish Eyes” seemed like the perfect restaurant locale for our cherished annual meal out, especially that restaurant located on the world famous docks of Lewes harbor.

I called to inquire if a reservation would be needed. Seems they had a fire at Irish Eyes, odd in that the whole damn restaurant had burned to the ground a few years ago. This was a restaurant in serious need of plentiful fire extinguishers.

“Georgia House” a member of my choir exclaimed to my query as to a nice restaurant for mother-in-law visit, a restaurant not necessarily part and parcel of Rehoboth’s tourist scene but one with local color and charm.

Georgia House features something called “pretzel salad” and you don’t get much more charming than that.

The summer season was over in this beachside section of Delaware. As such, reservations are not needed at local eateries, even on a Saturday night. Not so at Georgia House, a charming place located roadside smack in the middle of Milford Delaware, nowhere near the Rehoboth Beach scene.

But there was a line for a table at Georgia House at that admittedly prime time Saturday night hour that husband, myself and mother-in-law arriving for a happening local meal.

We only had about a 20 minute wait and Georgia House had several nice areas to wait for a table.

This is no place to seek a romantic candle-lit quiet dinner with a special lover. Georgia House, like its southern name would suggest, is a restaurant featuring cholesterol-laden fried dishes famed as originating in America’s more southern locales.

This fact required that I get, of course, the chicken fried steak with a side order or redskinned mashed potatoes and, of course again, some pretzel salad.



Mother-in-law too got the chicken fried steak while husband got some fried catfish.

The steak was crisp and BIG, very tender, tasty, smothered with the famous cream gravy this dish requires. Georgia House does offer smaller portion entrees and husband said that the next time we eat there (and we WILL go again) he will get the smaller portions.

Yes the portions are big but I’m a believer in wrapping up uneaten restaurant meals to take home for later meal or hey, we have a dog that quite enjoys day-old chicken fried steak.

Mother-in-laws side dishes of green beans and cole slaw were well-prepared. The cole slaw at the Georgia House is very creamy and a bit addictive from the very first bite. The green beans were long, fresh and crisp-tender, seasoned with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and a perfect side dish to make the diner feel righteous as the pretty beans sit along side that great big fried steak.

Husband felt his catfish was spicy and intriguing. I had some of it later in the form of a lunch a few days later from the “doggy” bag and I thought it was delicious. I’m not a big fan of catfish ordinarily but I’d urge anyone to try that entrée at the Georgia House for a whole new taste sensation. It’s seasoned in a Cajun style and yes, it’s got some zip to it.

Now about this pretzel salad…well I had to order it.

The concoction featured a cream cheese type of base with pretzels spread over this with a layer of jello, of all things, over the top.

Well I just don’t know about this sort of thing with chicken fried steak of Cajun seasoned catfish. Seems to me this is a real nice dessert type of item. However I did eat the entire serving of pretzel salad along with my steak and redskinned mashed taters and, well, it was good. Different, but good.

Georgia House also serves a bangup southern type of sweetened iced tea and the menu was long, varied and intriguing. Rolls are served with the meal, homemade things, warm, yeasty and perfect for the meal’s bread serving.

The prices at Georgia House are as amazing as the pretzel salad. That huge chicken fried steak came in at around $17.00. This includes the big steak, two side orders, those nice warm rolls. Dinner for three cost us around $65.00 that night, which includes tip, drinks but we passed on dessert. I took home plenty of leftovers, enough for two lunches for me later in the week and one treat for the hungry hound.

I consider Georgia House a great find for husband and myself, having been living in the area for over five years now and a bit jaded of the offerings alongside the Route 1 strip.

We’ll definitely be visiting Georgia House again and I understand the restaurant has two other locations, one that serves lunch only right up the street from us!

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Restaurant review-Lewes' Version of Bethany Blues Gets Thumbs Down for Its Smell?

Lewes Delaware's Bethany Blues restaurant gets lots of pluses like its Bethany Beach parent. But the eatery loses because…why no baked potatoes?

And what's so weird about its smell?

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Bethany Blues-Lewes

Husband and I had visited the coast of lower Delaware’s most famous rib joint, Bethany Blues, a few years ago. Bethany Blues, named after its original home town base, Bethany Beach, moved up to Rehoboth, closer to our home here in Serendipity Shore in the swamps of Delaware.

Bethany Blues is a rib joint and as such I give it an overall grade maybe a C+, possibly a B-.

It’s not that their ribs are bad. Bethany Blues does serve both baby
Back ribs, husband’s personal favorite as well as “St. Louis pork ribs”, the larger ribs that I ordered and found very tasty.



There’s something a bit too sterile, too clean, too ordinary about Bethany Blues, especially the one here in Rehoboth. First, the place has NO smell at all. A rib place that doesn’t smell like ribs? I find it odd and I wonder where the hell the ribs are cooked.

Because as husband pointed out, they also do not serve baked potatoes. The restaurant does serve cornbread with a meal but I’m betting this cornbread wasn’t made in house. It wasn’t warm at all and was way too sweet. A decent cornbread should have a bit of a gritty texture to it from the cornmeal and really shouldn’t taste like cake.

The French fries served with the meal were fine as French fries go.

I had an interesting little side dish known as Sesame Ginger Slaw, essentially cabbage with a bit of shredded ginger doused with a sesame flavored dressing. While it was different, frankly I’d lean toward a more traditional slaw. The baked beans side dish weren’t so much either, okay but not filled with meat as promised.

I got an appetizer, six bucks, that blew my mind. It was billed as a tray of “meat sticks” with cheese cubes and it was so small as to be almost laughable.

The meat sticks were just beef jerky type affairs. They had a good taste but the entire appetizer looked chintzy although six bucks for the thing was probably a fair price. The cheese was very good I must add. If I owned a restaurant I’d be too embarrassed to serve that appetizer. No matter how fair the price, if it looks cheap and chintzy it’s just bad business.

The ribs, in both cases, were very good. Husband grouched that the baby pork ribs could have been meatier but hey, he ordered, and ATE, an entire rack. The St. Louis ribs were very meaty and very good. They were by no means spicy but I liked them and would give them a solid B+…maybe an A-.





Bethany Blues is not the best rib restaurant I’ve ever dined at and I’m very suspect about how food is prepared at that joint. One should be able to smell a rib restaurant a mile away. You can’t smell ribs cooking even while INSIDE of Bethany Blues.


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