The Wharf — Restaurant in Alexandria

Before visiting The Wharf, I sent an email to ask if any of their seafood entrees can be made without egg or dairy products and received a response that yes, this is possible so I proceeded to visit the restaurant.

While ordering I made sure to mention that I was told I could get a seafood entree made without egg or dairy products, and asked which entree I could safely order. The waitress said the flounder stuffed with crab would be possible so I ordered that, and when it came out it was covered in a creamy sauce.

I asked the waiter if there was cream or other dairy in the dish, and she said no, we cook the flounder in olive oil. I pointed out the obviously creamy sauce and asked if she was sure there wasn't dairy in there, and then she said that yes, the sauce does have dairy. Very confusing how I was assured the dish was free of dairy and egg when the waiter knew the sauce in the dish that I was served had it, but I understand mistakes happen and it wasn't a big deal so it was returned to the kitchen so a new one could be made.

When that one came and I cut into the flounder I noticed the crab inside had a creamy look. Again I asked the waiter if there was any dairy or egg there, and their response was "no, that's the crab cake" which didn't really make sense to me because typically crab cake contains egg as a binder. But since they assured me there was none and my partner tasted it and thought there wasn't any, I ate the dish.

Now the next day I am certain there was egg or dairy in that crab, and I am very disappointed that I was assured I could receive a dish free of dairy and egg and misled by the waiter on multiple occasions. Not taking allergies/food intolerances/restrictions seriously is appalling and for people with serious allergies can lead to death by anaphylaxis. If they couldn't actually make anything free dairy or egg I would have much preferred to be told they couldn't so I could have...

To say that we had an awful dining experience at The Wharf in Alexandria this past Saturday would be a mild understatement. It was a party of 10 and we made our 6.15pm reservation on the OpenTable. We were seated at 6.30pm at the upstairs dining room. Our waitress took our drink order and 1/2 hour later we finally got our drinks. My peach sangria was a glass full of ice with a splash of an actual beverage. It was so watered down, it was barely pink. Appetizers did not come out until 7.45pm. She Crab soup was lukewarm. We asked the waitress to take it back and microwave it. We were excited about the oysters, but noticed that some of them had a foul odor and did not finish them. Our entree's did not start coming out until 8.45pm. We only got seven of them out of ten and some of them were cold. Remaining three came out 1/2 hour later. Our kids were splitting a steak. They only got half of the steak for two of them to share because: "another half was dropped on the floor and they had to cook a whole new one". Second half of the steak came out at 9.30pm. At that point one of our sons was crying because he was hungry, tired and wanted to go home. Despite of the fact that several entrees were sent back untouched, the restaurant manager did not come out until we asked to speak to him. He was mildly apologetic. Offered to give us The Wharf gift card. We refused. He then agreed to take 50% off from the price of our meal (not including the alcohol). Our total bill, after the discount, was still $508. We left a tip for our waitress, because watching her struggle was as agonizing as the meal itself. End result: we paid $60 per person for what probably was the absolute worst meal we ever had. Needless to say, we will never be coming back...

Had dinner with the family this past Friday. The food was just okay to me. The calamari and oyster appetizers were the standout highlights of our meal. I've dined here many times in the past with my family and for business meals...even referred them fir private events; but, I was really disappointed this time. The 2 star rating was for the service and the weirdness of the waitstaff. The service wasn't great... we really had no idea who our waiter was, we were told it was the older gentleman who was often MIA the entire evening. We had to beg to order appetizers and then they took away the menus. So we had to beg to order our meals. Our server hardly ever came by to ask us if we wanted anything. The young lady working upstairs did ask my son if we wanted more bread and lemonade. Water glasses were never refilled, along with several other faux pas. My biggest problem was that we were treated differently than the other tables. They were less attentive and slower in service towards us. We also got the impression that they assumed we would just order drinks and appetizers...and that's it. There was never any conversations ...explanation of the specials. The only obvious difference between us and the other tables seated at the same time would have been our race. I hate to think that in 2021; but, it was too obvious. Which is a shame. The bill was over $200 and I tipped 20% as I always do; but, it wasn't deserved. Management needs to have a conversation with their waitstaff to make sure they are treating all...