Cleat & Anchor — Restaurant in Dennis

We went to dinner here on Friday 8.18.23 at about 7pm for our daughter's 27th Birthday. There were 5 of us in total. We were seated, right away, at a high top table- which was great. Our server was excellent. We ordered some drinks which came right away. My husband ordered a burger, I ordered the brisket sandwich. My daughter and her girlfriend ordered a pasta dish and buffalo chicken. Our son got chicken tenders. My husband, son and my dishes came out first. The server went to get the girls dishes. During that time my husband cut his burger in half. It was absolutely raw. He ordered medium. When the server returned with the other meals he looked at the burger and said "did you order it mooing?". We laughed and he took it back to the kitchen. All perfectly fine. When he returned with a new burger that was not raw, a manager was with him. The server was gracious and kind, apologizing for the error and said he is taking the burger off the check. The manager then stepped forward, and in a VERY rude tone asked my husband to cut his burger, and said "I want to make sure you aren't going to send it back again". It comes off ok when I write it out, but believe me when I say... it was said in a rude and condescending tone. My husband kept his cool, even though I know he wanted to tell that manager to shove the burger where the sun doesn't shine. It was our daughters dinner and we did not want to make an issue. They did take the burger off the bill, which we appreciated the SERVER very much. The 2nd burger was just OK. The kids ate their meals, which they reported as "pretty good". My brisket was pretty bland, but saved by the horseradish sauce which was delicious. We won't go back. Even if the food was amazing, we didn't like the feeling of being talked to like that from anyone, never mind management. I'd like to stress again, it sounds in writing like the manager was just making sure my husband was happy with the newly cooked burger... which would have been appreciated. He was RUDE. He was visually annoyed and had a wicked tone. We were embarrassed, like he was implying we got the 1st burger and some how reversed the cooking process to make it raw and complain. Funny, it was our SERVER who said first that our burger was still Mooing!!!! Anyways, I know less than great reviewers get torn apart so I have thought over a week about if I would review. I decided I'd rather give an honest review about an ok meal with a great server and a terrible manager, than not...

This was our 3rd summer coming to Dennisport and our 3rd time dining in at Cleat and Anchor. Unfortunately this most recent experience was enough for us to throw in the towel, never again. We showed up around 6pm on a Thursday night in the middle of June. The parking lot was packed!! We just barely found a spot after driving around for a few minutes and luckily we caught a few people leaving. The number of people in the restaurant did NOT reflect the number of vehicles in the parking lot. We would guess there were at least 10 to 15 open tables. I suppose this was a good thing as we were able to get right in, 4 adults and 2 kids. Our waitress was nice however between waters, place settings, drinks, and food orders we would sometimes be waiting up to 25-30 minutes. For example, we got our waters and gave our drink orders but then didn’t see anyone for at least half an hour. We eventually got our food but soon realized we didn’t have any silverware so we had to track down our waitress who said "I always forget that". Other parties who arrived after us received their food before us. We thought the food was good the first year, the second year it seemed to be below expectations and we recall thinking "’maybe we we ordered the wrong food" but this past year seemed to confirm, it’s nothing special. Cold dishes and some drenched in butter to name a few issues. One of our meals was not delivered with the rest and when we asked about the missing meal it became obvious the order was not placed. This extended our time there when all we wanted to do was get the check and leave. It’s possible there were issues in the kitchen and possible the waitress was new but it would’ve been nice to have a manager making the rounds, checking in on tables… especially ones that have been there for over an hour and a half and still waiting on...

This place is part local dive bar, part gourmet, part BBQ joint, part craft beer sports bar...it tries to be a lot of things, and the end result is confusing and finnicky.

It's almost like there's a masterful chef in the kitchen who picks a handful of haute cuisine dishes ($30-$35+), and then lets somebody else fill the rest of the menu with run-of-the-mill $15 sandwich plates. These sandwiches come with an immense mountain of tater tots, which despite being so prominently used, taste frozen and are nothing special. And to be sure, the dive bar atmosphere is much more fitting with the BBQ/sandwich menu than the fancy-pants dishes (which when we visited, included wild boar and a seafood pasta plate that I regret not getting).

The BBQ sandwich is actually quite tasty, with a very interesting spice and excellent flavor. The grilled corn was good, but overpriced. Fish sandwich and brisket sandwich were fine to ok. Maybe this is a place where you do really should double up your expenditure and spring for the chef's specialty meals.

There's a good selection of craft beers, but all are quite pricey. Domestic beers on the other hand are extremely affordable.

You cannot make any substitutions on anything. They do not offer fries. A side of REGULAR MAYO was an extra charge. And, unforgivably, trying a sample/taste of a draft beer was a $1.25 extra charge. I understand that MA law technically prevents free samples, but can't they at least make it a token $0.05 fee or something? Maybe that's the letter of the law. Either way, the taste should be a smaller amount.

Service was generally pretty good. There are issues with the TVs and viewing angles that make this place not a great sports bar, unless you're at the bar itself. Overall, I left feeling unsure I would return and a bit perplexed by the combination of the vibe,...