The Blue Pig Tavern — Restaurant in Cape May

We had dinner at the Blue Pig Tavern during a recent stay in Cape May, and it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable meals of our trip. The restaurant is lively and welcoming, with a bit of a buzz in the air. It’s clearly a family friendly spot, which shows in the higher noise level and the number of tables filled with multigenerational groups. We chose to eat indoors, but many diners seemed to love the outdoor seating area as well.

Even though the restaurant has plenty of tables, it’s a good idea to make a reservation. They do take walk ins, but the wait looked long by the time we arrived. Despite being very busy, the service was excellent from start to finish. The staff was attentive, friendly, and especially helpful when it came to answering questions about gluten free options and how certain dishes could be modified.

I ordered the shrimp cocktail and the scallops, both prepared gluten free. The shrimp were fresh and well chilled, and the scallops were the standout of the night, tender, flavorful, and cooked just right. The rest of my family, who don’t have any dietary restrictions, were equally happy with their meals. One of the favorites was the lobster mac and cheese with added bacon, which came in a generous portion that made for great leftovers. My husband couldn’t stop talking about the mussels and the crab cakes, both of which he said were excellent.

Dessert was another highlight. While the gluten free options are a little limited, the ice cream and sorbet are both very fresh and creamy. Everyone else at the table gravitated toward the apple pie à la mode, which was the favorite across the board. My youngest son had the flourless chocolate cake paired with a hazelnut gelato, and he absolutely loved it.

The cocktails were just as well executed as the food. There was a small issue with the second drink my husband ordered, but the staff handled it gracefully and quickly. The fixed version came out perfect, and it was nice to see that kind of care taken in a busy setting.

Overall, Blue Pig Tavern delivered a memorable dining experience for our whole family. The atmosphere is vibrant, the service is professional, and the food, especially the scallops, is...

This place has been on my list of must-trys for a couple of years, and I finally had an opportunity to check out a few of the dishes. While the food was tasty, the service was something to be desired.

We ordered: a BLT, two bowls of clam chowder, the burrata salad. The sandwich came with chicken, which is not a BLT (especially for a vegetarian looking for a BLT) and was priced at $18. The clam chowder, while tasty, barely had any clams, and the burrata salad was $20 and was average. Our bill for these 4 items was $55. That was apparently WITH a milotary discount, which we do not know if we received because we never received an itemized bill, just the charge to my card.

The service was so disappointing, we were surprised for such a slow Tuesday at 11:30am, just how bad the service was. From what we could tell, our server had one other table, and there were at least five more servers, some food runners, and a couple of them had a single table each. Our order was taken quickly, and while my friend asked if she could have "a simple BLT" that was not on the menu, the server insisted that would be no problem. Our food came quickly, and was delivered by someone who was not our server. We did not see our server again until 10 min after we finished our food and we were sitting there looking around for help to get our bill. We finally received the bill, my friend put $25 in cash in, and I put my card in the payment fold. She came back 15 min later with having charged my card the full amount and did not take the cash. Fifteen minutes to bring back my card improperly charged. We ended up having to pay for additional parking because we were going to be running almost 30 min late just from waiting.

My recommendations: if you have a history passion, this place has been open since 1816. That's pretty cool. If you want to overpay for a soup and salad and have all the time in the world to hang out while you wait for your server to come back eventually, cool, try this place. But do not attempt to split the bill with your friend, as that may be too much for your server to handle on a slow Tuesday...

Came here for breakfast on a Wednesday morning.

We were initially seated outside on the patio. Our table was VERY wobbly. It should have been noticed and fixed before anybody was seated there. Moments after we were seated, a work truck pulled up and started running a generator almost right next to our table. As a result, we opted to go inside instead. I know staff has no control over that, it was just what pushed the situation over the edge.

Once seated inside we were served relatively quickly. We ordered a cappuccino and a fresh OJ along with water. The waiter came back after about 5 minutes with our drinks and took our orders.

The Cappuccino was decent and the OJ was excellent. Clearly freshly squeezed and worth all of the $9 it cost.

My wife had their Eggs Benedict. The Hollandaise was bland. There are a lot of ways you can go wrong with Benedict but a bland Hollandaise is probably the worst. I've had far better Hollandaise from the packets you get at the grocery store. The highlight of the dish was the breakfast potatoes but they couldn't overcome the problems with the Hollandaise.

I myself had the strawberry-topped, mascarpone stuffed French toast with a side of eggs and bacon. The French toast was ok. The filling could use some pizzazz, though the actual French toast was excellent. The bacon was a touch overcooked and two eggs on the side was more like 4 eggs on the side. The eggs were cooked just right but needed a touch of salt and pepper. No big deal on any of these things, but combined altogether it felt like a lot of mediocrity for such a highbrow place.

I have no idea how there is such a wide disconnect in the overall quality of some dishes and components. While everything LOOKS excellent, only some things are excellent (OJ, potatoes) and other things are just unremarkable to the point of being kind of blah (Hollandaise, eggs, mascarpone). If I could go 3.5 stars I would. Alas, I don't round up on principle and it will be 3/5.

I don't think I'll be by again for breakfast. I'd much prefer Bella Vida. Maybe not as fancy but the main dishes are...