Shanty On The Shore — Restaurant in Burlington

I ordered a Bloody Mary at the bar while waiting for a table. Was told later that the mix for that drink is made in bulk ahead of time in the morning. It was so peppery that I could barely drink it. Didn't want to complain, but it was terrible! The young man tending bar however had great attitude, and he was working his butt off. He really needed an assistant.

We were seated at a window table with the setting sun beating in on us. The waitress said they couldn't lower the outside shades because then they couldn't see the outside tables. It was a hot day. The A/C was inadequate, and we sat there with the sun in our eyes and sweat pouring off us as we tried to enjoy our meal. Management needs to come up with a solution for this!

Lastly, the place was very busy, and the noise level was terrible: absolutely horrendous! There are no drapes, no carpets, no padded chairs, no sorts of screens, or anything whatever to deaden the sound. It was impossible to carry on a conversation. I saw people at a neighboring table literally yelling to each other in an attempt to be heard, and we were forced to do the same. One doesn't expect a busy restaurant to be quiet, but that level of noise was unnecessary and unacceptable. Once again, management needs to address this issue. There are, indeed, solutions.

The Shanty is a moderately high-end restaurant and the prices reflect that. While the food was good, it was not spectacular. And although our waitress had an excellent attitude and did her very best to take care of us efficiently and pleasantly, she was completely overwhelmed. I don't know how she managed to keep her wits about her.

As a result of all this, the dining experience was far, far from the quality one would expect for...

Decent place but not much to write home about. Started with a cup of the lobster bisque which was very good but the rest of the meal was just so-so. Had the Lobster & Shrimp Au Gratin which was served scalding hot to the point the first bite had to be washed down with a half a glass of ice water. I like my food warm/hot but this was ridiculous. Munched on my bake potato waiting for the entrée to cool down and found the potato itself was a little dry and the skin was over done to the point I had to saw through it with my knife. Lobster & shrimp pieces were nicely sized for the most part but, no surprise, over cooked to the point of being a bit rubbery.

My wife had the salmon platter and like my dish hers was overcooked to where she described it as “vulcanized.” We’re not terribly picky eaters but have eaten in sea food restaurants around the country, especially on the coasts, as well as in a few Caribbean countries and seldom found as poorly prepared a meal as we had here. The food was edible in the final analysis, but just barely. Add to that the fact that the service was slow (albeit friendly) and they brought me sour cream for my potato when I actually asked for butter and we won’t be going back.

It is the attention to detail and properly prepared meals that will bring us back to a restaurant pretty much regardless of price. Here, the only selling point is the view and the friendly staff but we found that the night before at the place right across the street known as the Ice House. Good food, great service and great view. Maybe a bit pricier than the Shanty but as we always learn, you get what...

I had the clam chowder and a lobster roll. I'm not super familiar with lobster rolls, but this was good the bread was toasty but soft beneath the crisp exterior. The lobster on it was a cold salad with a bit of celery and mayo, it was tasty. The lobster was flavorful. The clam chowder was thick and creamy and had good depth of flavor.

We had a group of 7 so I'll briefly cover the other dishes we ordered. The escargot was very buttery though a bit too much butter. Chicken fingers were good, it takes a lot to mess up chicken fingers! Especially when it's made with real chicken pieces, not flaked and reformed, and served with curly fries which were quite crisp though a bit under seasoned in my personal opinion.

The hamburger was a solid burger - moist, relatively flavorful, with a nice tender bun. Also served with the above mentioned curly fries. All the sandwich plates came with whole pickles as well. They were okay, I felt they were a little bitter for me, but everyone else enjoyed them.

The chicken sandwich was a big disappointment it was crispy, but the breading just fell off and the breading and chicken were completely flavorless. It looked flavorful, but had absolutely no flavor. At the very least, it needed salt and pepper.

Customer service was also a bit rough, just failed to keep glasses full. Polite and helpful, but either too busy to keep up with drinks or the glasses being very small plastic glasses were too small to keep up with when you have a decent amount of business at lunch time. Most likely it's a combination of...