The Penguin — Restaurant in Bethany Beach

Went here the other day. The Homemade pop tart was delicious. However, the rest of the fare & service was something to be desired.

I ordered 'A Long Sunrise', which is a $15 Avacado toast with a side of fruit. The side of fruit consisted of 9 blueberries, a single sour strawberry, and 4 slices of thin green apple - more like a garnish really. So stingy. I did like my $11 cocktail though, just not the molted brown lime slice that came with it.

My bf ordered the Brisket Bowl. I don't recall the exact words, but he mentioned something about the flavor being akin to an off-tasting pot roast. Stubbornly, he tried to eat most of it as it was $23. He also ordered a Blueberry Banana cocktail but it ended up being just a $12 smoothie. Later that day, my BF had excruciating food poisoning & was incapacitated for 24 hours. We don't know for sure if it was the food from the Penguin, but it was his main meal of the day & he only ate packaged chips + soda after.

Our waitress was nice enough but we had some inconveniences. The few times we wanted to ask for something, we had difficulty locating her as she was often in the back or behind the bar wall. A couple behind us also had to wait around for the waitress to appear in order to request cups of water and refills. There were only a few tables seated, with other waiters present. In fact, there was not much to do and even the man behind the bar was mostly just standing there since not a lot of people were drinking. In any case, when we tried to get our bill, we didn't know where our waitress was again. We waited long enough for us to both use the bathroom, stack the plates, and clear the table. We never ended up getting our own cups of water but we did spend $70+!

The Penguin is just one of those overpriced generic diners with zero ingratiating charm. Not horrible, but not great.

Would not recommend The Penguin to people I like.

EDIT_________UPDATE_ The BF is still sick despite the food poisoning happening a few days ago. He's been diagnosed with Salmonella. We believe it was due to the undercooked eggs on his...

My parents recommended we come here so we stopped in for Sunday brunch. They’ve been here since 2006 but we’ve typically avoided it since it’s in “downtown” Bethany. We do appreciate that they are open in the off-season. Overall we had an okay experience but it was not the best value for breakfast - pricier than average for the portion size even taking into account organic ingredients, maple syrup, etc.

The service was passable to slow. They were understaffed on our visit. Our server was a person of very few words and he was not willing to go off menu with additional requests, even though we stated we were willing to pay an upcharge. He never refilled our water and only offered additional coffee once toward the end of our meal. He had a decent attitude though. We had to wait for 10+ minutes for our bill after we finished. The mimosas took a while also. All in all the food was well prepared and tasty. Blueberry pancakes stood out for me - great flavor and I like that they come with maple syrup.

Some breakfast suggestions to the owners: ask if a patron wants 1 or 2 pieces of toast. I had 4 small “toast points” of rye that didn’t constitute a full slice. Would’ve liked 2 full slices that is the standard. ask if a patron wants condiments with their meal like hot sauce, jelly, etc. slice your scrapple 2-3 times thicker than the 1/4” sliver you’re currently serving. Or charge half as much than the $4 currently. serve bacon in more than extra crispy doneness and ask what a patron prefers. have your servers introduce...

We were having a girls trip in the area and stopped in here for breakfast on our last day. So happy we did! This place was wonderful, service was great and the portions large and plenty to share or have left overs for later. My sister and I shared Andy's Breakfast wrap (Soft flour tortilla packed with home fries, scrambled eggs and Vermont white cheddar cheese with potatoes) it was plenty to share. The table shared the Penguin Pop Tart with raspberry filling (House made pastry topped with a maple glaze icing. Filled with a choice of strawberry, brown sugar, or daily special) Everyone loved it! Another one of us had the Nina's Nutella Delight (French toast quarters stuffed with Nutella and bananas), she also loved her choice. And last but not least was the Maple Meat Lover's Scrambler (Eggs scrambled with bacon, ham, and sausage with a hint of maple syrup) this was also a hit and once again was huge and most of it was taken to go. I loved this place and will return next time I visit...