Berrets Seafood Restaurant and Taphouse Grill

8 Reviews on “Berrets Seafood Restaurant and Taphouse Grill”

• Aaron Brooks

  I would be tempted to say that this meal is the worst meal that I have ever eaten. Now, to be fair, it is not the worst food I have ever had, however, it did fall the farthest below expectations of any experience I have had in my life to date.Please, please, PLEASE, if you care about the taste of your food, the service you will receive, or the cleanliness of the restaurant, save yourself a miserable evening, and a wasted $150 tab, and GO ANY WHERE ELSE. I can promise you will be happy to avoid the mistake we made. I believe this place survives only on the fact that the majority of their patrons are on vacation, and they need not rely on return business. Details below:1) Food:- I ordered the Lobster Ravioli with Shrimp and Scallops. First, the shrimp was overcooked, and chewy. Secondly, the ‘tomato’ sauce that the chef elected to drown the ravioli in was a highly acidic (almost metallic tasting) thin sauce, that filled my plate with a thin red water. It tasted like a cheap can of stewed tomatoes was opened and poured directly into the plate. The flavor was so poor it left me wondering if cutthroat kitchen was filming in the back, and the chef lost some horrible challenge. Now, the lobster ravioli was unfortunately lacking lobster. I will concede the it might be possible that some small bit of lobster existed somewhere, but it could not be tasted, or even found when I opened the ravioli and looked for it. I must, however, say that the scallops were fantastic. Large and cooked perfectly. Yet my last of them fell into the plate and got some of the toxic waste posing as tomato sauce on it and was ruined.- My wife ordered the special, which was a tuna steak, shrimp, and crab cake. She ordered it because our server sold the tuna steak as one of the best things on the menu. So, let’s begin with the tuna; it was overcooked, and underseasoned. This combination (again) left it tasting like a canned product. Her shrimp, also, was overcooked like mine. This leads me to believe that this level of incompetence is the standard for the kitchen, not just a fluke on my plate. The crab cake was seasoned appropriately, but also overcooked and very dry. These three proteins were sandwiched between some sort of a bean paste tomato couscous that was so over seasoned it could not be eaten, and a fig and berry Chutney that was so sweet it had to be scraped to the side. On the side by the discarded Chutney were vegetables that were so over salted that they also were inedible. All-in-all, the worse balanced plate of food I have ever encountered.- Neither of us are food snobs; we clean our plates wherever we go. We enjoy lowly hole in the wall eateries, dinners, and the upscale. As a home chef, I tend to enjoy food for what it is. This is the first time I have ever gone to a restaurant hungry, and left most of the food on my plate. I can say that I have eaten worse food, of course there are slums that have been abysmal. Yet, at a restaurant billed to be one of the best in Williamsburg, and at $30 a plate, I was expecting food that at least I wanted to eat. This meal absolutely fell farther below expectations than anything I have encountered to date.Service:- As much as it pains me, little positive can be said here either. We arrived 5 minutes early for our 7:30 reservation, and then sat for 25 minutes waiting for them to clear a table for us–though the table was vacant from the time we walked in the door, and just needed to be cleared and set.- Our server (Daryl) did not know the menu, and had no idea what wines were on offer, much less what should be paired with what. Finally, when he brought us the bill, it was incorrect, and he had overcharged us. We had to have him correct it (luckily we checked).- Our water glasses were kept full, which is something.Atmosphere:- The general atmosphere was actually quite nice. From the hand painted lights, to the wall decor, I had a feeling of casual finery with hint of the sea. The music was good, and at a good volume. I would give 4 of 5 stars for ambiance. – However, our table was sticky when we were finally seated, the floors were dirty throughout, and in the restroom the trash was overflowing onto the floor. In cleanliness, it would be struggling to get 2 out of 5 stars.

  November 20, 2015, 10:51 pm

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