Ugly Mug Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in Cape May

To say I am disappointed in my experience with the staff at the Ugly Mug would be a gross understatement. I am a born and bred Jersey girl, now NH resident, who came to Cape May with a close friend to celebrate our upcoming college graduation. My family has been customers of this establishment for years, particularly my late grandfather who passed away last week. It was my intention to come and enjoy a celebratory drink in his honor when my friend and I were egregiously mistreated by the bouncer. We both presented our real IDs and were met with immediate condescension. The bouncer could not give any legitimate reason as to why he would not accept our IDs. He did not ask for any additional forms of ID, which we would have happily presented, and he even admitted that they passed standard security testing that is run on every customer’s ID wishing to enter the establishment. It was clear the bouncer had no idea how to properly do his job, he even went so far as to bother the police officers standing near by, but would not scan our IDs, telling us he was “not trying to get us arrested”. He also told us that one of the IDs “did not pass the scratch test”, which upon preliminary research, does not appear to be a legitimate way of checking IDs. In addition, his handling of our IDs was particularly careless as he continuously tried scratching them with his nails. Regrettably, my friend and I did not ask for his name, however, whoever it was can rest assured we were in no danger of getting arrested as we presented valid forms of ID. I would also like to point out that this bouncer was very keen on allowing men to enter without checking their IDs, but questioned every woman who tried entering during this 10 minute debacle. It was extremely disheartening to be met with such indignant service and I caution anyone wishing to patronize the Ugly Mug unless they would like to deal with an incompetent, patronizing and...

We have been going to Ugly Mug every summer while we vacation in Cape May. Typically, we will have lunch or dinner there 5 to 8 times over the course of our 2 week stay. Our first time this summer was on Saturday night and that experience has made me downgrade my previous 4 star review. I ordered ribs. I cut in to the Rib and separated with my fork, and a clump of hair, I mean many strands, was strung from my fork down to underneath the Rib, in top of the lettuce bed, covered in BBQ sauce. It took 3 different staff members to come over, laugh and giggle, then the hostess came over, said she was the manager amd that there were no women working in the kitchen so the hair could not have been from the kitchen. It was so frustrating. I was so hungry from the long wait. We just ended up leaving. They took off the ribs from our check and I paid the rest of the bill even though noone could eat their food after seeing what came out of mine. Also, the waiter, Dan, came to get our drink order and we told him we all knew what we wanted so we were ready to order. He said, no, that he would be back for our order. Maybe 15 - 20 minutes later he came back to get our dinner and appetizer order. At that point, I wanted to eat the hair I was so hungry... but my gag reflex prohibited that from happening. Thumbs down ugly mug and Dan. You can do...

We came here because we heard it is an institution here at Cape May in the mall and it seemed to have good reviews. It was a lovely day temperature wise so we sat outside, which was great for people watching. It was also very dark inside, which was not the vibe we were looking for. All the mugs were hung as the story goes. The staff were very helpful and nice.

On the other hand, the food was a huge disappointment. We started with the wings and we're excited to try the garlic cilantro sauce, which is supposed to be the hottest one. However, it barely caused a tingle but real problem was that the wings were over cooked so it was hard and dry. It was not tossed in the sauce, which was just poured over the wings, so it did not get a chance to soak in to help soften it. We didn't even bother finishing the wings. We got the dinner crab cakes with Caesar salad and beets. Was excited about the 2 6oz lump crab cakes but it came out looking like 2 dark brown pucks, once again overcooked. The house tartar and cocktail sauce were ok, which tasted like it was packaged. Similar with the beets. We took pictures for memento to share with family and friends but we would not...