Bum Rogers Crab House & Tavern — Restaurant in Berkeley Township

If I could give two and a half, I would have. First thing to know, you’ll get rushed out off season if they don’t know you personally. At least that’s what we took from the experience. The food is passable, it’s food-service grade prepared with little to no care. Decent, but then when you factor in price, it borders on poor.

We expected that. For those who consider Olive Garden or Friday’s or Magic Mushroom decent dining, it’s probably great, then again if you’re that sort you’re not my desired reader anyway so go kill some time at the mall then pile in your Escalade and hit Bum Rogers and be happy.

However if you appreciate passion in food, if you can tell when a crew enjoys their work, if you can tell when an owner doesn’t treat their establishment as a dividend, but as a labor of love, do not go to Bum Rogers.

Also, if you don’t like to sit at the bar for 20 minutes staring at an empty glass while there are 10 free seats at a 30 seat bar.... our server was inept. No other way to put it. That’s where the two stars come in. She gave us ONE menu. She filled the drinks once promptly, then we sat for :30 with empty glasses while she did bussing and prep right in front of us. We sat AT THE BAR ON PURPOSE, WE LIKE OUR DRINKS. She fired our dinners seeming thirty seconds after the soup so we had cold dinners by the time we finished soup.

Oh and my second White Russian, filled by a tall blonde was cream. That’s it. No alcohol at all, I watched her mix, there might have been half a shot of kaluha. Maybe. The rip off on that drink was bad enough without having to stare at the melting ice for a half hour. Half afraid to risk another $8 glass of cream over ice.

There are two explanations, either she was inept or rushing us out. A woman in her mid 40’s? With long dark hair and I say this, because we spent $100+ on two dinners, a couple drinks and an app. Completely unacceptable, in fact just thinking about the experience has cause me to drop to two stars. Then the second bartender holding back the alcohol, or just again flaunting the general ineptitude of the joint.

The staff were far more interested in each other than in their customers, and it showed, glaringly.

In the end, it has the atmosphere of a place that makes so much in the summer and has so many local pro-alcoholic customers in the winter that they patently do not give a shit. That’s their right, to run a business that way, but it’s also our right to not ever go there again.

Passable food, crappy and inconsistent bar tending, bad lighting, way too loud crappy acoustic cover duo.... yeah, a BIG NO from us.

Update, which I never bothered to post on here. On other social media the owner of this bar came after me personally and without any room for question called me a homosexual for drinking White Russians. While that doesn't offend me For the inference, it does offend me regarding his homophobia. So I would never return here even if the food and drinks...

PLEASE READ BELOW WHERE THE OWNER OF BUM ROGERS REPLIED TO MY COMMENT!

ORIGINAL POST…..The service was extremely slow and it was not packed. The food was horrible. Disappointed and never going back. Been coming here forever. Oh, the flies were all over my shitty steak.

**OWNERS REPLY

Bum Rogers Crab House & Tavern (Owner) 4 days ago No specifics, just bullshit comments. You have a problem , see me, if not flip off and don’t come back

EDIT!!!!!!** Response to the owner….

I don’t know who you are, nor do I care. Six of us came to your establishment — as we’ve done for years — and we were deeply disappointed. Our bill was $700, and what we received was absolutely unacceptable, from the service to the food.

To start, we waited 20 minutes before anyone even took our drink order. I specifically asked for a non-spicy Bloody Mary, and the one brought to me was clearly spicy. When I pointed this out, the waitress simply said, “Oh, they’re pre-mixed and spicy.” That’s something I should have been told up front.

Then it took another 25 minutes to get our appetizers. During that wait, we had to go up to the bar ourselves — twice — just to get another drink. We waited yet again, this time 20 more minutes, just to put in our dinner orders. By the time we started eating, it was 8:45 PM, and we had arrived at 7:00 PM.

To make matters worse, the waitress never came back to check on us. Meanwhile, three other tables who arrived after us had been seated, served, and had already left before we even got our food.

As for the food: • My filet mignon was definitely not a filet — it was a dry, flavorless, pressed chunk of beef. I took one bite and stopped. • One friend ordered stuffed shrimp skewers that were missing the crab meat and were mushy. • Her shrimp cocktail was undercooked — basically raw. • Another friend had the fried Diablo, which was the only dish we could all agree was good. • One ordered prime rib (end cut) that came out undercooked and tasteless. • Another ordered garlic crab, only to be told you were out — at a crab house, no less. She settled for snow crab, which was decent, but not what she wanted. • My wife had the broiled seafood platter — it was bland, clearly steamed (not boiled), and came with imitation butter and mushy scallops.

We’ve supported your restaurant for years, but this experience was beyond disappointing — it was insulting. For the amount of money we spent, the poor service and low-quality food were simply unacceptable. You’ve lost loyal customers, and we hope this feedback is taken seriously — both for the sake of your future patrons and your reputation.

How’s that...

This isn't my first time coming here, but it definitely will be my last. The only reason I have given it multiple chances is because it is right up the street from Island Beach State Park so it's convenient since it's on the way out... party of 3 arrived here July 16 at around 4:25. The restaurant was practically empty, considering it was a Wednesday afternoon. There was probably around four other people there eating late lunch and like four people at the bar/ bar area. Ro start off the experience the hostess had her head down the whole time looked up and acknowledged that we were there and didn't greet us and then proceeded to answer a phone call and held up her finger as in gesturing one minute I'll be with you as if we weren't there before the phone started ringing.. another waitress noticed this and walked over and sat us herself. Ordered two drinks from the bar, a margarita and a piña colada. The margarita is advertised as being made with fresh lime juice, but yet they brought out something made with sour mix. A huge soda glass full of sour mix with a drop of alcohol. The piña colada was tasteless and had no trace of alcohol in it and was just full of ice chunks as if the bartender got impatient with the blender and just decided to serve it that way. We sent the margarita back and the bartender comes to the table asking what was wrong " I made a margarita. That's what you asked for. That's what I made." In a condescending tone. Didn't put any liquor 43 in it or the appropriate amount of tequila. Now onto the appetizers, we ordered Clams Casino and the hot crab dip. The clams were the size of a quarter and were cold despite being broiled?? the crab dip on the other hand was literally just melted cheese and artichokes. There was no trace of any lump crab meat. for entrées, we got soup and a salad. The lobster bisque soup had rubbery pieces of lobster in it and the potato soup had the potential to be good yet. It had no salt in it and was lacking flavor. The only bright side is they were hot. The Greek salad was basically a plate of feta with a side of lettuce. The chicken on it was good, but that's all I can say you don't put roasted red peppers in a Greek salad. It was more of an antipasto salad. The waitress dropped off the check and it took about 15 minutes for her to come back and take the card so we could actually pay and leave. while the waitress was nice, her service skills were severely lacking. She did not come back to the table and asked if we needed anything. Overall, I would not be giving this restaurant another chance even if it is convenient it's extremely disappointing...