The Sandbar — Restaurant in New Brunswick

The only reason that I'm giving this place 2 stars is that the staff were pleasant, the atmosphere was reasonably pleasant and the location is great. With regard to the food? Absolute rip off!

I wanted to take my husband who is new to the maritime scene for a really good lobster roll. The Parlee Beach Restaurant, where I have had excellent food in the past summers apparently requires that you pay $20 to park at Parlee Beach to have short access rather than walking a km. to get there, so we decided to try the Sandbar. MISTAKE! Because we had our dog with us, my husband went in to place our orders, lobster rolls with coleslaw and fries so that we could dine outside at the picnic tables beside the water, also very nice by the way..super clean.

He came out juggling the boxes, drinks and condiments as apparently they don't offer bags of any sort for take out orders. I thought the boxes looked small. When we opened them, there was room left inside! A baby hot dog bun (1/2 size) with a claw and a few pieces of lobster leg in each. That's it. Nothing else. No mayo, no seasoning, nothing nada. Two tablespoons of lobster in a bare, dry half bun, with literally 2 tablespoons of coleslaw in an extra small condiment container. You know. The little round plastic containers that you usually get mayo or ketchup or dipping sauce in? ya. This of course came with a pile of cheap frozen fries, but the real food? The food we payed $30 bucks each for? Children's portions and no thought at ALL put into the preparation. Certainly no recipe to tossing a few pieces of boiled lobster into a dry hot dog bun. Even though the location alongside the pretty marina is really nice, we will not recommend, take guests or return. Dining out is supposed to be better than dining...

A nice laid back place with a good selection (although prices were on the high side for the region) but, sadly, we had a very poor experience at the Sandbar recently. We are a family of 4 with 2 small children. At almost any establishment we have dined at, there is usually an effort to ensure children are looked after. The service we received can only be described as indifferent (at best) and descriminatory (at worst). It was obvious to me that something had gone wrong with our order but no effort was made to own up to it or offer anything for the children. Perhaps it had been sent to another table by accident? We saw many similar platters being sent out to other tables that had ordered after us. I hate to say this, but our server was lively and attentive to francophone customers while all but avoiding us until about 40 minutes after our order was placed. The kids were, at this point, extremely hungry and upset. A small appetizer was brought out after 45 minutes and nearly an hour before our main courses. Again, others around us arrived and left and had received many of the same dishes we had ordered. While we waited patiently and quietly for our dinner, our server appeared unengaged and eager to see us off... often looking over our heads and away from us when speaking. It was a generally uncomfortable experience all around. The restaurant was nice, the food and setting were good, but this poor experience leaves me unable to recommend the...

Lovely wife Pat and I ate here for the first time this past hot July day. Both of us enjoyed the visuals within and around this idealy situated restaurant. Within moments we were offered seating to which we asked for a table outside but in the shade. The attendant obliged the two of us by letting us know she'd have to go out and clear a table recently vacated. Moments later we were seated in an ideal location, right next to the lighthouse but with visuals to the wharf, bay and the street to/from the adjacent parking lot. Always seemed to be something to watch. We thought it odd that a trio of elder gentlemen went swimming right in an area where a sign warns of boat traffic (see attached photos). Happily all three made it back to the warf safely. Guessing this is something all good water voyagers watch out for. Within moments of being seated, our waitress came and took our order for drinks. Shortly after returning with said drinks she kindly took our orders. In no rush we did not mind the wait for our food, especially realizing this is not a fast food outlet where items simply sit under a heating lamp. Both of us enjoyed our meal. Pat had the Shrimp Pesto Linguine while I had the Grilled Chicken Club. Waitress did come back to check on us and neither of us had any complaints. We both look forward to returning...