Chef Mike's ABG — Restaurant in Berkeley Township

I came here with my family for my father's birthday. The food is expensive, but of a quality that more than justifies the prices.

We had lump crab meat, octopus, and burrata appetizers. The crab came served cold on a plate with a small pile of meat and a handful of claws. The claws tasted better in their cold state. It was mild in general. The octopus was fantastic, it had just been grilled and was excellent, as was its accompanying green sauce. The burrata was similarly delicious, with prosciutto under it and (admittedly less than desired) bruschetta to place it on.

I ordered the fish special, a filet of red snapper in a puttanesca sauce over saffron rice. The rice was wonderful, the fish also very good. My sister greatly enjoyed her salmon and the accompanying shredded sweet potato ensemble above it. My grandmother seemed to be enjoying her generous serving of shrimp pasta. My other sister praised the poke bowl served in a waffle cone. My father also got the snapper and loved it. My mother had the scallops, one of which I tried. There were four of them and they were enormous. The bacon and sauce they came with was excellent, as was the risotto. The food at Chef Mike's ABG is quite good. We all had dessert as well. My grandmother and mother had the coconut sorbet, which they liked. My father and sister had the warm chocolate lava cake, which they devoured. I tried some of it and was not particularly impressed, but thought it was good. I ordered the waffle sundae and was surprised to find two small belgian waffles sandwiching vanilla ice cream, not one as I had expected. The waffles were good, the ice cream was good, the whipped cream was good. It was serviceable. It did not blow my mind away. The almond gelato my mother ordered was cold, almost a little icy but very grainy in texture, perhaps a bit too thin, but had an intense almond flavor that one would expect from a true gelato. The best dessert was my sister's order of the caramel creme brulee, which was enormous and equally memorable in taste. She is a creme brulee aficionado and was very impressed. My sister's cappuccino came presented beautifully (a stick of rock candy to stir in as sugar), but disappointed her. It and my father's double espresso came with a small biscotti.

I recommend Chef Mike's ABG, but be aware that they have a dress code that does not allow men in tank tops, despite allowing men in open-toed shoes like flip flops. If you were thinking of coming here after a warm day out, make sure your shirt has sleeves. This restriction, of course, does not apply to women. I don't know the rest of the details around their dress code, which seems...

I went there because of the 5 star rating. Maybe it was an off night. Maybe because of the large parties in the atrium, the kitchen couldn't handle the volume, but it was disappointing after reading the reviews and what people were telling me. I just didn't get the 5 star rating, i guess, to each their own .My beer must have been sitting at the bar, came to the table warm, and flat. The grilled octopus was like rubber. Fried calamari was like every other bar . Two crab appetizers were good. Butter Poached lobster was served with way over cooked risotto and couldn't get what the tomatoes were added for ,they added nothing to the dish but bitterness. The short rib tasted like pot roast? that i make at home but not as good ,it was dry?. The service was not good, slow, and forgetful. I had finished two bottles of sparkling water and asked for a glass of ice water, what happened to my glass of ice water, i asked the waitress twice finally asked bus person and i finally got my water?. The desert came out 20 minutes after we finished our coffee . The tres Leche was dry ? I have to ask, The table for two by the stairs going down to the atrium. Why is it that there it doesn't fit? first, an older couple came in and wouldn't even sit down and were relocated to one of the 3 empty four person tables behind them. The second younger couple were looking to move but looked like they were afraid to say anything they kept looking at the other two empty four person tables and whispering. They were not able to move forward,column behind they lady or back,stairs behind the gentleman. It looked like an uncomfortable...

Walking in we noticed it was very dirty. The floors were crying out for a good power wash. The place is old and dirty. We had a reservation for outside, the area we were seated in appeared to be a makeshift dining area, there was a old bar equipment covered in tarps behind us and what really was the straw that broke the camels back was industrial LOUD fan that was blowing directly at us. They said they could not turn it off when we asked. There was zero view of the water, we assumed we would have at least some view. They have a policy where they charge if you don’t show up/take a credit card to hold the reservation…..for this weak table we had I cannot believe they have the audacity to issue a no show fee or even require a CC. Food was nothing great, the appetizers we had were alright (peanut shrimp and crab cake) but the entree was not good. We had horseradish crusted Chilean sea bass however it was basically fish fried in funnel cake batter….to think someone would destroy a good piece of fish like this is sad. It was sweet batter….in my opinion this was BAD. This place is also not cheap yet they use plastic cups for water and they look at you funny if you ask for fresh silverware with your entree. Sorry but for $45 for an entree I expect a real glass and fresh silver wear with my entree. Lastly the service was very slow, the party next to us sat down about 20 min after us yet they got their entree before us. Things like this are not easy to let slide when everything else already was pretty weak. I really can’t say anything good about it and I’m not trying...