Pier 88 — Restaurant in Chesapeake

My sister and I dined here yesterday evening. I usually go to a different boil spot in the area when I'm in the mood for seafood boil, but I decided to try this place instead since it's closer to where I actually live. Bad decision.

We arrived right around 6pm. To our pleasant surprise, happy hour wouldn't be over for another hour.

My sister ordered a traditional marg. It tasted like straight sour mix. She swapped it out for a lemon drop martini, and I requested a raspberry lemon drop martini. They both tasted and looked like nothing but juice/mixer. Anyone who's familiar with a martini knows that they shouldn't be overladen with juice/mixer. We sent the martinis back and I just settled for a beer.

After we sent the drinks back, the manager came over and asked what the issue was. I told her that the drinks taste like nothing but juice/mixer. She told us that they don't take drinks off the tab but can swap for something else. I had already requested a Modelo at that point which she agreed to swap for my glass of juice, but that wasn't an actual swap bc the Modelo is about $2.50 less than the martini (I mean juice). Essentially, she had to remove the martini either way. ALSO, before she walked away, she felt it necessary to say that the bartender is there all the time and other customers are usually happy with her drinks. Why was this comment even necessary ? When I sit down at a restaurant to have a drink, I don't plan to pay $7-14 for a glass of juice/mixer. I expect that my money will buy me an actual adult beverage.

On top of the poorly made drinks, the crab boil was disappointing as well. The seafood was fresh, and the server was nice and apologetic, which I appreciate, and is why I decided to give 2 stars instead of 1. But the boil sauce was SO liquidy and salty. It just wasn't good. No butter, just juice.

Might as well had flushed the $36 I paid right...

Absolutely terrible. This is our second time trying Pier 88 (not my decision to go back) and it was just as bad the second time. Here's why:

1. Our calamari was not cooked. It was breaded and served cold on my Po-Boy sandwich. My daughter had it in a basket with fries but it was equally disgusting. Her calamari and her shrimp were so tough that they could not be eaten.

2. Our server was rude and had piercings that kept falling out and bouncing all over the floor (not kidding).

3. The atmosphere in this place is just terrible. They allowed everyone to write all over the walls when they opened up, which was a huge mistake because there's inappropriate garbage all over the walls now. The music they decide to play should come with ear muffs for your kids. The only reprieve from the music was when the completley unprofessional staff was laughing so loud in the front you couldn't hear people at your own table.

I'll never go back. I was trying to be nice to my son and let him pick because he just graduated, but no one will convince me to ever go back.

If you are considering going, here's what I would recommend. Walk to the entrance and then turn around. Close your eyes and throw a rock and you WILL find a better place to eat with much better food and...

I used to go to this place all the time but I see in the past couple of years the quality of the food has gone down as well as their customer service. I went to this place expecting a nice meal after getting off of work. For starters the egg and potato that came with my food was either old or really over cooked but I decided to ignore it until I found a hair wrapped around one of my crab legs. I decided to go back to the restaurant with the food to show them just in case they thought I was lying. The so called manager, I’m not sure of her name but she’s short and Asian decided to come up to me with an attitude without even looking in the bag to tell me that the hair came from the SEA and not a persons head she then looks in the bag to tell me that it was almost gone proceeds to open the bag and pulls the hair off of the crab leg and I was trying my best not to throw up. Long story short this lady was giving me a very hard time instead of just accommodating me for having hair in my food. Regardless of how much was left over having hair in your food is disgusting and unacceptable I definitely will not be going back here their customer service...