AJ's on the Creek — Restaurant in Chincoteague

** owner removed their original response after I added the photo of the sign that clearly indicates "fine dining". Hmm, why not add to the response rather than remove it? Re: their new update--by "weeks ago" they mean 2 weeks. While technically correct, it is a deflection meant to undermine my review and imply that we were there long ago. Given their penchant to deflect rather than care about our experience, my overall review has now become a two. Before we went, we checked out the dinner menu online. It was very disappointing to get there for our 5:00 reservation and find that they had NO flounder of any kind although it was on the online menu. In our group we had coconut shrimp, chicken parm, crab cakes, scampi. The chicken parm was served over capellini which was overcooked and a poor pairing with chicken parm. The chicken had a lot of breading. The coconut shrimp was very tasty . The crab cakes got a mixed review: one person thought they were good and another felt they had far too much filler. The scampi was rubbery. What amazed me personally was for this place to call itself fine dining. The wait staff was dressed like they just ran over from the gym, Many seating situations (including ours and we had an early reservation) were inappropriate: one on top of the door to outside dining, ours offering a view to every single customer walking in the door rather than some privacy for dining. another right IN the reception area. The staff was right beside our table gathered for a personal gab fest. We ordered a starters and literally less than two minutes later the salads were plopped in front of us! Really? Bread was finally brought to the table after we had been seated for 30 minutes. They were not at all busy yet the staff had time to socialize and we got seated in one of the worst spots in the restaurant. Overall, the food was okay but priced too high for what was actually delivered. It is not at all fine dining. Our bill NOT including drinks came to $200 for 3 people. Not impressed and not returning. Update: establishment wants to indicate that we looked at wrong info. We looked up AJs and used their site. See the photo. This is THEIR sign. They don't even know what they have out front. It clearly states fine dining. I appreciate their quick response but don't make out that the issues were our mistake. And to give you the additional info you requested: when I posted rubbery I meant just that....the seafood was a rubbery texture and chew. One of the people in my party who had crab cakes (and is a huge crab cake fan and orders them whenever he can) found the cakes to be more filler than premium crab cakes should have. ( See Jimmy's in Baltimore for the...

My girlfriend and I visited Aj’s to celebrate our anniversary.

To start with the positives, the wait staff and hostess were great and the bacon wrapped scallop appetizer was delicious.

Unfortunately the appetizer was the highlight of our night. I ordered the seafood scampi (32$) and my girlfriend ordered a clam special (~25$). The pasta for the scampi was so bland - it was basically just cooked noodles. The seafood portion of the meal was just cooked - no sear from a pan, not grilled, not seasoned - just not raw... the whole dish is covered with “Parmesan Bread Crumbs” but seamed like just Parmesan cheese you buy in a plastic tube. Out of pure obligation for how much I paid for the dish - I ate the little seafood that came with the entree and didn’t even take the rest of the pasta home (which I’m the king of leftovers so this is saying something). Also to note, I saw another gentleman on my way out of the restaurant who ordered the same entree and his food was mostly untouched as well. To be blunt is was really pitiful, I wouldn’t pay 5$ for this entree.

My girlfriends clam special was basically clams with a garlic / wine sauce served in pasta. Her pasta was just about as bland as mine. We didn’t take her’s home either.

Lastly just to comment on the atmosphere, the main dining room is quite nice and very light filled. However my girlfriend and I were hoping to sit “on the creek”, hence the name of the restaurant, so we asked for the porch. The porch is a little underwhelming. There are only a few tables actually looking onto the creek. Half of the tables are on a wooden deck with views to the creek, while the other are on a lower - un-level concrete floor. We were initially seated on the concrete floor with our table pushed up again a wooden railing that bounds the deck portion of the porch. There was another table with a couple eating on the other side of the railing.

So not only are we sitting on a leaning surface, there is another couple 6 inches from us and 6 inches taller than us, blocking the view to the creek. I did work it out with the wait staff to switch our table to the preferred seating (which they were pleasant to work with), but when you are calling yourself a fine dining restaurant there are certain expectations that comes along with that, which were not met.

This is my first ever review I’m leaving for a restaurant, so I guess that tells you how this relates among all my other visits to restaurants. Rather than complain to the waiter - I hope my comments here, directly from the source, can be seen by management for...

We were a party of 6 that came on 8/1 at 6:30 PM to celebrate my birthday. I somehow thought I marked we were a party of 6 on Open Table but after actually arriving and reading all my confirmations and not just glancing I realized I somehow screwed up or it defaulted somehow and put a party of 4. My heart sank when I saw that. AJ's still accommodated our party of 6 and they were very pleasant about my mess up and did not make me feel bad even though they were busy. I was very happy with the service, the waitress was phenomenal, I have had her before & she remembered me from previous visits. I believe her name was Gina maybe, I could be very wrong I am horrible with names. She has been working there for 16 years and is ALWAYS a pure joy to be around we never feel unattended with her EVER, she always checks on us to make sure we have everything we need. We all got cocktails and a bottle of bubbly and they were all delicious! The food was amazing as usual and it came out hot and in a very timely fashion. We were nervous that we would not be able to get out on time to see the 8:30 PM rocket launch but we had plenty of time!! We got starters of Oysters Romanov, Calamari, 2 cups of cream of crab soup, a couple cesar salads and of course the yummy basket of bread they give each table. For dinner we got the Filet (med rare) and added scallops, Filet (medium) and added a crab cake, Seafood Scampi, Lamb chops special, and 2 of the Salmon dishes and for desert they brought me out a slice of Key Lime Pie with a candle on it!! The entire party was wowed by all the food and we did not expect any less. AJ's really delivered as they always do!! We come at least a few times a year if not more so Thank you for accommodating us and making us feel like we were welcome even though I screwed up the reservation somehow. We will be back, every time we come:) Thank you again for making it a special night...