The Shanty — Restaurant in Cape Charles

So sad, it must be under new ownership. I’ve been going to this place for years, however I noticed as the years have gone The food has gotten worse and worse. I was in town and wanted some softshell crabs and couldn’t be in time to go to my favorite place which is the best restaurant there hook at Harvey! I wound up going to the shiny because they had softshell crabs and I had a friend with me so we decided to sit at the back bar. We sat there forever, waiting to get waited on while Our bartender was too busy at the other end of the bar talking to her family and giving them free drinks. My friend ordered the conk Fritters And they were absolutely horrible. We ate two of them and then just told the waitress which was our bartender that we didn’t want them. They were all bread and very greasy. Finally, my softshell crab sandwich came out and it smelled like ammonia. She asked me did I want another margarita I said yes and she goes back down to her family to make them some more drinks and stayed there and totally forgot about my margarita. We gave her the fritters back And she took him to the kitchen, then comes back until us that the fritters aren’t breaded. I wasn’t gonna argue with her. I just let it go. When we got our bill, the fritters were still on there and said she had to charge us for them anyway. I asked to speak to a manager in a black African-American gentleman came out and asked me what was my problem and I told him he said well. I’m gonna have to charge you because there was 10 of them there and you only sent three of them back which was a darn lie. I couldn’t imagine stomach and the rest of them that he said we ate. He insisted on keeping it on the bill and finally he takes it off and he tells me that without my business they will still make money there. I have never seen this guy before as a manager, but I will tell you this as a business owner if he worked for me, his butt would’ve been long gone. And the food service industry, which. The industry I’m in the last thing you wanna do is lose customers especially tell your customer will make money with you or without you. Everything I tried to explain to him he wanted to be very confrontational. I will never be back to this dump again! If you read all the reviews that are good, they all go way back several years ago when it was obviously under a different owner or management. If you’re ever on the Easteren Shore, the very best place to go is hook at Harvey. You have to drive right past it to get to this place called the shanty and man they live up to their name. What a shanty it is. My employees stay at the campground right down the road from there every year we have campouts a few times a year during the summer and we always went to the shanty. I will never spend another dime in that place again...

Surprisingly very few dining choices in the area. The Shanty could be a star, but falls short. Like many others, we were a vacationing family and wanted dinner on the water with a sunset view. This place is on a marina with a somewhat industrial view. The sunset still wound up being nice. We had a table close to the doors and back deck. But, to backup, we started our evening talking to 2 young hostesses, one doing a lot more than the other whom merely stood around. The wait, we were told, was going to be quite long...over an hour. We headed to an outdoor bar where one employee did a stellar job of noticing us, cleaning off a table and explaining we could order drinks and even dinner out there if we chose. It was not the most comfortable so we opted for just drinks and a continued wait. The drinks were pricey and not well made. My daughter's Shirley Temple had no cherries and lacked flavor. My painkiller had a flat taste and lacked liquor! My husband did enjoy his beer. (In fact, he had a couple more inside during dinner) When a text came through that our table was ready and to return to the hostess stand, we found the girl of lesser work ethic there...she forgot who we were, seemed confused as to why we were there and then led us to a table putting down just one menu on the table in silence. The waitress then arrived and apologized for the lack of menus and returned with an additional one (still one short). We were enjoying the coolness of being back inside, getting situated and looking at the menu when the waitress was already back. We had to ask yet a second time later on for more time. After this, she still insisted on taking our dinner order before appetizers even arrived. The angry clams were very good - yummy! The buffalo chicken nachos were ok - overpriced, dried out in spots and not overly appealing. We wound up with apps and dinners on the table at the same time. Clam strips seemed to lack actual clam. Chicken tenders and fries were standard fare. Too much fried variety on the menu. I wanted local, fresh seafood. Broiled options would have been nice. Overall, I would not return nor recommend this restaurant, it is unforgettable and...

This place gets 3 stars because the food is good. However, that’s where the buck stops. The employees that I dealt with (the hostesses and waitress) had an attitude of being almost annoyed you’re there and unfortunately the problems didn’t stop there. First they said they didn’t have any highchairs left, when we saw one available we went and got it but unfortunately they aren’t compatible with high top tables (which is okay I mean I don’t even know if they make high chairs like that) but it appeared they only had 2 in the building. Second, I had to change my child while there. I was shocked when I went into the bathroom to find NO changing table. Super inconvenient as we walked there. Luckily they had some sort of table/cabinet thing I could use, but it was right by the soap dispenser. I’m sure that was super pleasant for the other guests having to wash their hands.Third we barely saw our waitress and when she did come she’d run away as fast as possible making sure we didn’t have enough time to ask questions. After almost an hour of waiting for our food I finally asked what was going on and she said they dropped my food. Which I get accidents happen that’s completely okay! What wasn’t okay was not being informed and not saying anything or really even a sincere apology, or asking if there was anything they could do. She did apologize but it was more of “oh yeah sorry about that it’s really not my problem kind of way” if that makes sense. I was disappointed because I read so many good reviews about this place so maybe it was an off day. But if you have kids and you’re enjoying Cape Charles for the day, I’d stay clear of here, they aren’t kid friendly and in a passive sort of way make that known, (see above) I wish someone had reviewed it that way so I would’ve known. Also some facts about it in case you were planning to try here with a large family, they will not seat a party of 8 or more, just...