Brandl — Restaurant in Belmar

We have been here a couple of years ago and we're not overly imressed. However we have some friends that seem to really love this place and it was our anniversary so we decided to give it another try. Unfortunately I can't say that I feel any better about this place. Our friends have money to burn so they dont care what anything costs. I expect a better experience when I spend more money. The food was okay but really not any more than okay and the prices were way crazy overpriced. The service sadly was rather poor. They did serve us water and bred rather quickly when we got there. They took our order reasonably quickly too including the dessert order. But then it took a while for the food to come. Nobody ever offered to refill my drink. We had to wait a long time for dessert. we were warned that it would take 45 minutes for a souffle but it took well over that amount of time. We were never offered coffee and so we did not have any with our dessert. I started with a salad which cost an additional $10 over the price of dinner. It consisted of mixed greens some cherry tomatoes and spiced nuts that I really did not like. It also had blue cheese which I did not notice on the menu. I personally don't like blue cheese but fortunately it wasn't that much and I could mostly pick around it. salad had a vinaigrette dressing that honestly just wasn't very good. I love vinegarette dressings and especially balsamic but this one just didn't do it for me. Of course this is just a matter of preference. For dinner I had the scallops. They were okay. They were on top of Brussel sprouts and they were good but not that special that they could justify the $35 price. The portion certainly wasn't justifying the price either. I thought the scallops could have been cooked a little more also but again that's a matter of preference and I don't eat sushi. I ended up leaving a few scallop bites on the plate. Husband had lobster. The taste was average. The inside was chill cold as if it had been in a refrigerater or frozen first and not fully reheated. We did not say anything because he had eaten most of the Lobster by that point and nobody ever came to ask us how our meal was. For dessert we had the white chocolate raspberry souffle. Server told us she doesn't like white chocolate but she loves this. I also do not like white chocolate but I did like this souffle because there really was nothing white chocolate about it. It really had more of a taste of a vanilla white cake. It was nice and hot when it came out. If you have lots of money and don't care what things cost then I would say go for it. But I don't think I could say it was worth the a $24 cost. On a positive note i didn't feel like I over ate at the end. Picture shows the complete $35 scallop dinner as...

I am sorry I did not read some of the reviews before me and my husband went last night to eat. I had heard for years how incredible this place was and maybe I just buildt up up my expectations too high. The inside of the restaurant is more chairs and booths and then bigger tables for eight but the booths need to be redone because you sink too far down into them and they’re not comfortable especially with anybody has back issues. So we went back-and-forth for a couple minutes and then I ended up in the booth my husband in the chair because his backs worse than mine but then my back started to bother me so when I came around to sit next to him I spilled the water and made more of a scene then I would like because that area is smaller and there were a couple couples there. The waitress was very nice I could tell that the owner was annoyed he didn’t even come over after that. Also while you’re waiting for our food some of the other waiters who were very abrupt when someone asked if they served alcohol the answer was kind of rude . The weird thing to was they served your water but they didn’t ask if you wanted anything to drink like soda or iced tea I thought the way the other way to responded that they didn’t serve any drinks except water and then I asked and she said oh you want an ice tea we have that. The food was good but I was not worth what you paid for it. We had the short ribs with the mashed potatoes and pickled vegetables. It was $48 for this entrée which is a lot for short ribs. I’ve had it at other places for a lot less money and it was much better. It was good but when they say pickled vegetables what they mean is they took a pickle and put it in there cut up and the pickle kind of gave it a weird taste to me but all in all it was good not great. I knew they were annoyed with us and my husband had the same feeling as we were pretty much rushed out of the restaurant and at the end when I was walking out with my husband the owner didn’t say anything he just looked at us and looked away like he was annoyed. I mean the problem probably would’ve been solved if it wasn’t so hot last night because they do have a nice area in the patio and then the front but whether or not you can’t be annoyed with us because the booths are hard to sit in I think we made the best out of the situation. No one wants to sit side-by-side like you’re in the cafeteria but they didn’t understand that. If you want to upscale place that’s really good try any of the David Burke restaurants you’ll be paying the same but you will get more bang for your buck. Also just a tip if you’re going to charge those type of prices then you should treat your...

Overall, 3.5 out of 5. Food was good to very good, service was terrible and everything was very overpriced. Started with the potsticker of the day - short rib and caramelized onion. They were very good but the sauce was a touch too sweet for my tastes. French Onion soup was very good. I really like the bread they used, although the portion was very small, especially considering the price ($14). Wedge salad had nice chunks of pork belly instead of crumbled bacon. Crispy exterior, soft interior, really well executed. Pickled onions were a nice balance. The "Caesar" salad was disappointing for a high-end restaurant. Entrees were ok. Ribeye special was very good, cooked as ordered. Braised short rib was tough, really had to saw at it to separate the meat. Flavors were good though. Finished with the dark chocolate souffle, which you have to order when you order your apps as it takes 45 minutes to prepare. It was a decent chocolate dessert if a bit dry, nothing special and definitely not worth $27. Now the bad stuff. Service was horrible. Place was not busy, maybe 5 or 6 tables occupied when we came in, all but one just two people. Waiter brought water and opened our wine (it's BYO) quickly, then we sat. And sat. And sat. Finally placed our orders. Didn't check on us once when the food came out. When it was time to pay, I provided him with a coupon (BOGO entree up to $35), 2 gift cards worth $100 and my credit card. He came back and I saw he had charged my credit card the entire amount. I pointed out the gift cards and the coupon and he apologized profusely. Said he never does that. Took it back, rang it up again, applied the gift cards but didn't apply the coupon. Stapled it to the check tho. Apologized again and said he'd give us a $35 gift card, which I'll probably never use. Total bill with tip was over $250, which is insane for a BYO place. Our favorite steakhouse won't cost this much with a couple drinks thrown in. Overall,...