Andrew Joos

Review of Ocean Club Hotel

It's difficult whether to rate this with 2 stars o...

It's difficult whether to rate this with 2 stars or 3. The best part was the entree itself and the location on Beach Avenue. The front of house staff which is either absent minded, apathetic, or simply not competent, distract from what could be a great experience, well, and could make the place MUCH busier than what we saw. We made a reservation, showed up on time, and yet the hostess, after a short verbal scuffle that she had with another employee, finally took the trouble to seat us, at a table that was directly in blazing sun, even though three other empty tables were available under the plentiful umbrellas.

Coffee was lukewarm. So, the server poured partial cups of coffee, then walked away in silence, leaving us to figure out that among the items on the table, none of them were cream. So, the process of waiting to see if she'd surface again began. Finally got the cream, but she didn't think to come with a coffee pot to enhance the partially filled cups. BUT, we ordered. Both ordered omelettes. They came out rather promptly, eggs were nicely cooked, potatoes were good and toast was dry, and cold. One of us ordered cream cheese, but for the other plate, no butter was provided and since the plates were delivered without anyone waiting for even a glance to see if anything else was needed, we had to keep looking for an opportunity to waive someone down because even in observing other diners, it seems that checking in with tables, especially after first delivering entrees, isn't done here. We heard a table behind us have to ask, and wait, for syrup for the waffles they'd ordered. It created a nice little moment between us all, but distracted significantly from being able to say that the experience was good, even though the kitchen did a nice job of preparing each order.

So, it seems that the chef wants the place to succeed, but the uninspired service level of the staff are holding that effort back. But, you know, it was a nice place to sit.