Freda's Cafe — Restaurant in Cape May

Overall we had a lovely time here. The food was delicious, the service was exemplary, and the atmosphere was great. I will say that it's really frikkin expensive. But if you want to or can splurge on a great meal then Freda's Cafe would not disappoint you.

The menu was definitely inspired, there are no mozzarella sticks or tired burgers here. We ordered:

1. spring rolls filled with artichoke hearts, crab, mascarpone drizzled with a sweet guava sauce, they were amazing so crispy, creamy and flavorful.
2. butter dipped and crispy fried oysters with pepper bacon and a lemon dill sauce.
3. crab cakes that were mostly crab, topped with a mango sauce. Very very good. Apparently they've won best crab cakes for a few years running and with reason.
4. pepper bacon wrapped filet mignon topped with shrimp and fiddleheads, served over bamboo and green tea rice. This was overcooked to a med well instead of the med rare we ordered.
5. the magnificent 14oz veal chop served over garlic mashed potatoes and topped with scallops, shrimps, and incredible mushrooms in some amazing creamy sauce. This was $45 alone. My problem with it being that it was hard to cut. Maybe they should provide sharper knives. I'm bringing my own next time.

The server was amazing. We never felt rushed, she kept our water glasses full, answered all our questions about the locale and the food and was in a great mood. We probably spent at least 2 hours at dinner.

The restaurant is small and crowded, but everyone is enjoying a leisurely dinner so there's not a lot of jostling. You did have to get a key for the restroom which is out and around the corner in Fredas deli.

The only food aspect I didn't really enjoy was the soy ginger sesame dressing on the salads, it was basically straight soy sauce. Definitely could have benefited from some rice vinegar and oil or something.

I only gave 4 stars because of overcooked meat and because it was really expensive. Half the menu is a separate page of specials with no prices. I did not like that. I would have definitely ordered something less expensive if I knew that chop was half my weekly...

My wife and I were looking for something outside of the typical bar and grille during our vacation last week. We came across this location thinking a distinctive cafe (sandwiches, soups, smoothies). The identity of the restaurant was opposite to a cafe (first red flag). We were asked if we had a reservation and if we BYOB. When we were sat down, we were stunned by the menu prices...nearly $15 for a regular bowl of soup (which I will say was good as were the $20 bite size spring rolls (2 full size spring rolls cut in half)). The server was insulted that we only spent $50 on those 3 things and not get entrees. On top of that, each of us were only given 1 bread roll and 1 pat of butter....1 for the entire experience. And they only filled our water one time each. When it came to pay the bill, our server didn't even come to collect our payment, instead what we believe was a manager did that. Don't even know if the server got tipped. We truly appreciate restaurants that dedicate themselves to making quality food from scratch, but don't appreciate when you misidentify yourself to lure in customers and give preferential treatment to only certain customers, particularly tourists which appeared to make a difference compared to locals, only to shock them with prices and...

We had a wonderful dinner at Freda's. Somehow this restaurant fell off of our radar and we hadn't dined here since before the pandemic. Freda's is a single room restaurant, so it is small and intimate. This is a BYOB establishment so you can bring your own wine/libation and save on liquor costs. That said, we found the price points to be very fair particularly in light of the quality meal and service we received. The staff seems to be long-time employees versus transitional workers, and they are vested in the restaurant's success and your dining enjoyment. We had absolutely wonderful shrimp dumplings (shumai type) that were very memorable - we can't remember having better. The seafood soup was delicious as well. Bread was served with the appetizers and your meal as well as a nice side salad - both of which were nice added touches. Our dinner entrees (which were in the low $40 range) were cooked to perfection. We enjoyed the filet and rack of lamb each of which was accompanied by delicious sauces and vegetables. We didn't have room for dessert. We were delighted when some neighbors were seated next to us and they raved that Freda's is their "go to" Cape May restaurant. We clearly understand why. We will be returning on our own. Definitely...