The Ocean House Restaurant — Restaurant in Dennis

I actually meant to write this last year. I may have needed the year to recover. You see I grew up in a 1st generation Italian family. I know what it is to eat a lot of food.... like a lot of food. In 57 years I've never been bested by a restaurant before. I always clean my plate... always... until one fateful night when I walked into the Ocean House.

The bread basket should have been a clue but I must have been distracted. I mistakenly ordered the Point Judith Calamari, a gigantic basket of Rock Shrimp, Calamari, Scallops, Pork Belly, Ponzu and Pickled Chiles in a portion big enough to feed my extended family... only problem is that it was just my fiancé and I. Nonetheless I bravely walked into the fire and started eating this delicious concoction of flavors.. it was hard to stop. At some point I could feel my belt tighten and I knew I should stop.. but I just couldn't... By the time the waiter took away the now empty bowl I was starting to sway like overloaded scaffolding in a high wind.. I knew I may have bitten off more than I should have, but there was still a bowl of pasta to come. I can't quit now.

If I'm to be honest I was hoping for more time before I saw the waiter bring our mains, but alas I soon our waiter delivering what looked at least to my eyes as a bucket full of pasta. He gingerly placed my plate in front of me and I could swear he had a grin like he knew I had been bested. I tried with all my might to eat everything on my plate. It's been 57 years and I've never been bested, I'm not going to let the Ocean House take me down now. But ultimately I sat there in shame.. disgraced and let maybe hundreds of years of family legacy down.. I just could not eat another bite... I wanted to, I really did.. It was delicious.. maybe the best pasta dish I've ever had but at this point I wasn't even sure I could walk. I know we ordered desert, but if I had any I don't even remember it. I was just so darn full and thus marked the first time in my life that I walked out of a restaurant without finishing my plate. If I can offer a word of advice I'd say go easy on the bread and maybe don't order the Point Judith Calamari or maybe you should absolutely order the Point Judith calamari. Great food, Great service, beautiful atmosphere. Not cheap, but you’re probably on vacation and you can’t take it with you… It was a wonderful experience that I...

Let me start by saying this review is based on my first time experience coming to The Ocean House.

I had planned a long weekend getaway with my girlfriend for my birthday on July 4th weekend and wanted to make reservations for a nice upscale dinner to enjoy ourselves and celebrate. After looking around in the area, I had found TOH and was excited when I was able to make a reservation on 7/2 for 8:45pm on OpenTable for a high top table. Desirable location, difficult times, i was lucky to get this reservation after multiple attempts.

Upon arrival we valeted the car and walked inside. The hostess informed us that we were to be seated outside, to go around and meet the other hostess for our table. Confused, because of the 'high top' reservation i had made. Regardless, we were okay with this because of the ambiance, we were seated looking out over Nantucket Sound with the moonlight. I'm just glad my girlfriend had a sweater because there was no mention of this being a possibility, even during the COVID situation. As we were seated, there were 2 paper folded menus on the table which appeared to be the 'offerings' for the outside seating. I was disappointed to see the menu was limited and did not offer the same luxuries as inside.

The server was okay, but he could tell I was irked by the experience so far and inquired if everything was alright, i had mentioned that i was hoping to get a more hearty meal during my visit, but the view was nice. He proceeded to tell me that 'i should have asked for the full menu, as it was being offered outside.' This is where the visit went overboard for me. He told me that 'the hostesses should have conveyed that the full menu was being offered outside' (which neither did) and he never offered upon greeting us at the table.

I went to this restaurant willing to spend $150+ dollars for me and my girlfriend to have a nice multiple course dinner. Instead, she was asking me if I thought we were dressed appropriately enough to be seated inside (which we absolutely were).

I went here wishing to get a soup/salad and a nice steak dinner or some surf and turf, ultimately ended up with a chicken sandwich on ciabatta at the beach bar. Again, the setting was nice, but thats...

We made a reservation two days in advance. The only spots available for two before 9 pm were at the bar. It was a little tight to squeeze in when we got there but the other diners made room. Our bartender was very attentive. We ordered drinks - my husband ordered the painkiller, but it was too sweet for him so the bartender happily replaced it with the sangria. I ordered the 3 Roses which was delicious. We ordered our food - the Ahi tuna nachos and the Bento box. Our bartender also brought out a bread basket. This was very good - house made sesame seed crackers and fresh rolls with a dip that was similar to garlic hummus. It could have used a little more salt but was otherwise very tasty. The ahi nachos were delicious. Fresh tuna, avocado and lettuce with two different sauces drizzled on top. We were full after we had this. We ordered a bottle of Prosecco to share. It was fine, but it’s hard to pay 3 times the price for the same brand that you can buy at Total Wine for $14. The bento box consisted of five different small bites. A mayo based lobster salad on a small spoon was tasty. There was an oyster in the shell with a sweet/sour sauce that was good. The chorizo stuffed little neck clams were so delicious - we could have had a whole plate of those. The pork belly bun tacos were also very tasty. The only outlier were the meatballs - these were super dry unfortunately. A sauce would have helped. I ended up scooping up the leftover sauce from the oysters just to make them edible. All in all we spent just over $200 to sit at the bar and have dinner. I would say it was not a bad experience but maybe slightly underwhelming. We had a view of the ocean, but it would have been nice to be outside with the ocean breeze. As we were leaving, we discovered that right next door is the Ocean House Beach Bar. There was fun music playing, it was all outside with lots of available tables. The girls at the front said no reservations are needed. The menu is more casual - burgers, tacos etc. I think next time, we’ll skip the fancy indoor restaurant where you need reservations weeks in advance, and opt for the more relaxed, fun atmosphere of...