Shipwreck Grill — Restaurant in Brielle

I never leave negative reviews and I am passionate about food. The reason I felt compelled to leave a review is because it was recommended so highly. Unfortunately, it was a disappointment, especially as my 1st time anticipating a special Mother’s Day. Our reservation was helpful as we were seated promptly. However, after that we sat for quite a bit just waiting for a waiter/waitress to come over. We were outside which was nice considering the weather and there were numerous open tables at 5pm, so the wait really didn’t add up. Finally a girl came and asked us about water, tap or bottled. She came over delivered the water, didn’t take an appetizer order or even ask. She disappeared basically and we waited again like 15 min at least before our waiter came out. Our waiter still didn’t ask about appetizer’s or suggest any. He did quickly run through the specials and none were particularly appealing or maybe it was his approach. We got our appetizer and our dinner orders in and then waited approximately 25 min for our dinner to arrive. When they arrived, it was brought by yet another girl who never asked if we wanted or needed anything else. I asked for steak sauce and a new knife and fork, as I had none, as she walked away. She left me coming back almost 10 minutes later and at that point I had got my own.

We had calamari, lobster bisque, fillet mignon, angry lobster, a crab dish and the petite fillet with half a tiny lobster tail. The calamari was crisp, but the sauce was basically bland chopped tomatoes, like that you get out of a can, but not properly seasoned. My filet was good, but not great. It was 4-5 oz no complaint on that but the flavor again was kind of bland. We agreed that the bisque was good, probably the best part of the meal. My husband said his lobster was bland as well expecting more flavor from the dish. My children liked their food. but said nothing special and over priced for quality and they are adults who enjoy cooking and eating. In my opinion this place is ok, but not worthy of these prices in terms of quality of food and...

The food was decent and fairly priced but our busboy Phil was amazing. I’ve never seen someone move with such urgency zipping around the restaurant. He was so attentive and friendly and was actually much better than our waiter who sat us at a table with no silverware at a fine dining place and didn’t notice for 20 minutes; Phil noticed, apologized, (even though it wasn’t his fault), and rectified also bringing us our bread which we didn’t get and our waiter didn’t catch onto. He should be a waiter there, not a busboy. Even noticed the small fine dining details like putting his one hand behind his back while pouring our water which I didn’t see anyone else do. Very elevated. Our waiter didn’t know the market price of anything and had to check which was strange. Ordered my steak rare and got it medium to medium rare. The manager was kind of rude when we walked in. My mom asked if we could sit inside and she said they were fully booked but our whole meal we observed 4 indoor tables that sat vacant up until we left which we could see through the glass from the patio. She also had an attitude with my mom when she asked her a question putting her finger up saying, “I said one minute, I’m doing something.” Even if a customer is annoying you should stay polite and not get testy. I use to manage a large NYC retail flagship so I’m very big on customer service and would never tolerate that type of behavior amongst my team. The manager should be walking the room and checking in on the guest experience vs. standing at the hostess booth the whole night. Had she, I would have given this feedback to her directly and not shared such on a review. Went here and to Red’s, (same owner), and we all agreed the lobster tail, steak, and service was much better at Red’s. Red’s is AMAZING and one of our favorites so we were hoping for the same caliber of food and experience but I’d say overall Shipwreck was just good whereas Red’s is out...

Could have been better.

Service - was a bit slow, so 4 out of 5 there. The waitress was difficult to understand with a mask on (not her fault obviously.)

Atmosphere - nice enough. Not super deluxe, but clean white tablecloths and adequate spacing between tables. Not overcrowded, but by the time we left the outside seating was being used by quite a few parties. 4 out of 5.

Food - was good quality, and well cooked, but rather odd combinations. I ordered scallops and filet mignon. Both were good - but both were covered in a heavy brown mushroom gravy. The gravy overwhelmed the taste of the scallops. It went well with the filet, but the scallops deserved their own bowl or small plate with some sort of light sauce on them.

I also had a wedge salad offering - it was OK but nothing to write home about. The blue-cheese dressing was good, but not enough of it, and the bacon bits added some zing to it.

My wife ordered surf and turf - lobster and filet mignon. Again the food was good, quality was good, cooking was spot on, but the plate came with mashed potatoes. They went with the filet - but it's the first time I've seen or heard of mashed potatoes being served with lobster.

Price - not inexpensive, actually on the expensive side. With tip - over $230 for 2. 1 drink each, and we split desert. We each did have an appetizer (which averaged $11-15.)

Will we go again - possibly. Depends on the event. This was our 50th anniversary so we were looking for something special. Shipwreck perhaps wasn't quite...