The Cinder Inn — Restaurant in East Stroudsburg

We came here tonight for a dear friend's birthday. Her husband made reservations a month ago. They arrived and were told the dome they had reserved was not the one the reservation was under and oh, our party of 6 would not have fit in the requested space unless we were 6 skinny people. She should have asked for her deposit back right then and there. We were seated in a dome all right.. with the flimsiest folding chairs for 2 of our party. We got them changed out one by one over the course of our meal. Speaking of the meal, we arrived at 545 when half the party had already been seated... and our waitress, Jess, who apparently was the only waitress on until 6, when her "backup" arrived. One person ordered a mixed drink qnd appeared to have forgotten it completely until she came to take our order and we asked about it. She darted off without taking the order and didnt return to take the order until the drink was delivered...and shefinally took our order, for apps and meals, at 6:30pm. 4 of our party ordered the same special, and then were told that they only had the special side dish for 2 portions, so 2 people would need to sub a starch or change their order. The apps were decent. The "southwest chicken eggrolls" were pretty bland with some kind of mango-jabanero sauce in a ramekin. Side salads were standard, no complaints there. By the time our meals were delivered it was almost 7:10pm, and it was dark. I couldnt differentiate sauces on my food, and only discovered by taste that my mashed potatoes (the starch sub) had no gravy. The pork was dredged so thickly in sauce and cut into chunks it made me question if they ran out of pork loin and just dredged the meat they use for the "brisket." It wasn't worth the effort to try to talk to a manager and frankly it didnt seem like we would have been able to if we had asked, as there appeared to be no management on duty... or perhaps they were trying to help in the kitchen. Our waitress's absence was a bit of a relief at times. When we arrived her mask was under her nose and it had migrated downward into a chin guard by the time we got our appetizers and stayed there the rest of the evening. Often times we were just handed a requested condiment or lemon with an arm poked through the doorway and she was gone.

The one decent point: My husband did enjoy his rodeo burger and onion rings, though I dont know if it was done as he requested as we did not have the ability to see our food...

Delicious Food! Not just a roadside bar!

I have driven past The Cinder Inn numerous times and thought it was just a roadside bar! Imagine my surprise when I used Google to find some new restaurants to try and saw good ratings and an excellent menu. None of that describes what we experienced, though. The service was perfect! Ashley seated us and served us and answered all questions. She was so kind and helpful. The food was outrageously phenomenal! Are there stronger words to use to describe delicious foods? Then it was those words, too! No kidding. The quality and taste screamed gourmet chef and fancy restaurant! The Manhattan Clam Chowder literally had clams in every spoonful. There were chunks of clam and minced clam. Huge portion of salmon. Mixed veggies were so delicious, I even ate the orange carrots. AND I CANNOT STAND ORANGE CARROTS! They are working magic in that kitchen! Last but not least, I've never had kimchi, so I decided to try their kimchi rice. So good! Such flavor! If you can't tell, I love food, but their portions made me tap out, so I had to take half the meal to go! We will be back and we will bring friends! I am gluten free and was impressed to see they offer gluten free bread and pasta options. The Cinder Inn gets my highest recommendation. Have you been repeatedly driving by because you think it's just a roadside bar? It's...

I have to say this was one of the worst meals I have had in years. The waitress was fine, but it took us over an hour to get 4 of the 8 meals we ordered. It took another 20 minutes for the remainder of the meals to be served.

Three of the meals were okay but our seafood was horrendous. My wife had to pour A1 on her salmon just to add some moisture to what was a small dry brick on top of rice. Our seafood boils were largely overcooked. The lobster and crab were okay but the clams and shrimp were inedible. The shrimp was desiccated and the clams were rubbery and disgusting. They even managed to screw up the corn on the cob. It was soaked in what we guessed was butter, leaving it soggy with a terrible flavor.

I did complain to the waitress; afterward, a nice lady tried to offer us complimentary deserts. Honestly, after waiting over 1.5 hours for disgusting food, that just isn't sufficient. No apology, no offer to refund the food we ended up mostly throwing away. On top of the failure to apologize, they actually put a 20% automatic gratuity! Eating here was my biggest regret...