The Beach Plum — Restaurant in Epping

Bad, bad, the Beach Plum was not “on” today! It was awful! I blame this type of thing on the Management. We ordered fried shrimp and scallops. When the plate came, I said to the server “this isn’t our food. We ordered shrimp and scallops”. He argued with me and said it was. I said “no, this is clams and scallops”. He disagreed. So I opened up a clam and its giant black belly, and then he said “oh ya” and took our plate and table number and left us…for a LONG time. Long enough that I went up to the desk to let someone know. You’d think they’d try and do something on the fly to get your order right out to you. NOPE. We watched order after order going out. Everyone except ours. So finally it came and the server apologized. Cool, I thought we were set. Then another girl came over and said “Either the cashier heard you incorrectly or you told her the wrong order”. Nope! I would never order clams with their bellies…EVER! That felt a little condescending, but I’m not a Karen, so I let it slide. Then we tasted our food. Damn! The shrimp were the only good thing on the plate. We believe they had served us back the same fries and scallops from the first plate, now cold, with the oil having congealed and also soaked into the fries, also now cold. Only the shrimp were fresh(ish). The rest had been sitting on the plate for the 25 mins we waited for our corrected order. The Cole slaw was pretty good, but really sugary. Too sweet. The fries also had tons of black spots and rotten areas. They seem to have no quality control. By this point, we were tired and had already been there way longer than expected. We ate some of our mostly crappy food and left.

When it first opened, I thought the Beach Plum was great. Now I think they’re spreading themselves too thin and cutting corners on quality and service.

The last time before this, we ordered lobster rolls. The 8 oz size. They were all lobster claw meat, including all the skinny, dry, red bits of the claw. They were not good. When Beach Plum was new, they used the knuckle meat as well and seemed the snip off the dry claw bits. We never saw them. But now, no more knuckle, just claw, my least favorite part of the lobster. Just one more way I notice the quality slipping. :(

We don’t plan to return any time soon. There are many other places that are so much better.

You let us down Beach Plum. (Epping location) Brickyard Shopping Center. Let me know if you decide to step up...

I was thoroughly dissatisfied with my experience at the Beach Plum in Epping. I placed my order online, received confirmation and was assigned a pick up time of 7:45pm. No problems there. I arrived early; was standing in the pick up area by 7:40pm. As I waited for my clam strip dinner, I observed staff eating and not washing their hands before getting drinks and food orders. I saw one staff sneeze and not wash. Another staff member used his bare finger to push ice cream into a cup. Repeatedly. Then returned to get drinks...you guessed it: no handwashing between any of it. I saw no staff wearing masks, but I did see an individual wearing a stained shirt with holes in it. While watching all of this other orders were placed on the counter and picked up. At nearly 8pm my phone rings as I watch a staff member look through a bag on some shelves behind the counter. This bag has been there since I arrived, no warming lights, no refrigeration. The employee hands me the bag, and when I ask how long it's been there, his reply is, "maybe 5 minutes". I informed him that I had been standing there for 20 minutes, and the bag was on the shelf when I arrived. No one called my name. I also told him that the seafood wasn't even warm. He shrugged. I drove home and immediately called the Beach Plum to request a refund. The staff member said that she could only give a refund if I brought the dinner back, or she could have her manager call me in the morning to do it. I chose to wait for the call in the morning rather than go there hangry. FOUR days later I'm left a voicemail by someone who identifies herself, says she was told to call me, and states that I can email her at (her Beach Plum email). No mention of a refund, no complaint acknowledged. Not even a phone number to call...such poor service all around.

My opinion is that if you are serving food on disposable foam plates with plastic utensils and cups, that the customers have to come to the counter to order, pick up, serve their own fountain drinks, and clear their tables...all you have are the food itself and the staff behind the counter to make the brand shine. Nothing shines...

I gave up on their lobster rolls a long time ago. Apparently, the people that leave favorable reviews about the lobster rolls have never had a good lobster roll. The Beach Plum uses frozen canned lobster meat for their rolls. This may be okay in other parts of the country, but I prefer a lobster roll made with sweet fresh lobster. Other than the brine that it is packed in, frozen lobster meat lacks taste. You also will not find a lobster tail in your Beach Plumb roll. Shame on a New England seafood restaurant using frozen lobster meat. However, for a time I did enjoy the fried clams and other fried seafood at the Beach Plum. That was until this past weekend. My wife and I decided that we needed a clam roll and traveled to the Beach Plumb. After placing my order for two clam rolls I was informed that they came with potato chips. Sorry, but in New England you need fries with your rolls. I asked for an upgrade to fries and requested extra tartar sauce as well (no drinks). I was shocked when the counter person rang up our purchase and it came to $52.00 and we didn't even have drinks! I figured for this price they would be the best clam rolls we ever had. Because of Covid-19 we had to wait in our car for the order. After an excessive period of time our order was deliver to the parking lot. After opening the container I was very disappointed to see a very small portion of clam (perhaps 11 or 12 clams) and no tartar sauce. Upon digging in to the small portion I was disappointed again when I realized the clams were cold...sorry, but fried clams need to be served hot! I suspect the delay in delivering our food was the cause of the cold clams. Given that I just paid $52 for two bad clam rolls with fries, I decided that the Beach Plum was no longer going to be in my rotation. Unfortunately, this happens so many times when restaurants grow their locations and expand...price goes up and quality goes down. They can get away with this for a while, but eventually end up...