I have been going to Oyster Creek Inn for almost 38 years. While the place never won any awards for style, the food was always excellent and the service very good or better. Well...it used to be anyway.
However, today (9/13/10) I went there for dinner with my wife. We arrived just before 4pm and noticed the parking lot was empty. We waited ten minutes and walked inside. The place was unlocked but EMPTY (published hours are 4pm to 9pm). The chairs were still up on the table, the bar fully stocked, but every light in the building was off except for the neon lights in the windows.
We yelled 'hello' a dozen times or more...and no answer. No smell of food cooking...nothing.
There was a couple that arrived just after us from Pennsylvania. They had heard great things about the place...but were as stymied as we were as to where everyone was. IS THIS PLACE IN BUSINESS OR WHAT?? The sign outside stated ""dinner served from 4 to 9 pm.
In the time we were waiting for the restaurant to open my wife and I noticed how run down it had become. While it was never high society, it now resembles a crack house in the inlet in AC than a restaurant tucked away in the reeds of Leeds Point.
I wasted 90 minutes of my life going to a restaurant that wasn't even open to serve me. We will not return.
We did find an EXCELLENT Mexican restaurant where Senior Rattlers used to be on Route 9...just minutes away from Oyster Creek. THEIR FOOD AND SERVICE WAS EXQUISITE, AND THE PLACE WAS SPOTLESS.
The restaurant is called La Hacienda. 609-652-6050
I guess the restaurant changed hands and the new owners don't need the money. Or...maybe they got an Obama bailout like the mortgage companies.
PS I HAD to rate this dive one star or I could not post my review. I rate it zero stars.
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