Big Chill Beach Club — Restaurant in Fenwick Island

We just had a very disappointing experience with this restaurant due to the manager. My wife and two young kids came in for lunch around 11:30am today. The weather was hot (approaching 90 degrees) with bright sun. We were seated at one of the few tables that was partially in the sun which led me to ask the hostess if we could move to one of the several open tables that were fully in the shade. The hostess (a younger lady) looked uncomfortable and said they couldn't move us. I must have looked confused (because there were plenty of open tables in the shade) which led the manager to come over. The manager said that "there are people waiting for the tables in the shade" (which there weren't) and that "we are eating outside" (as if I should expect to be in the sun). Both responses were unsatisfying but I went back to our table and continued ordering.

Ten minutes later I noticed that even more tables in the shade had opened up. I looked and noticed no parties were waiting so I decided to ask again if we could move. The manager again said "no" and repeated that there were people waiting (again, not true) and that were were outside (which felt patronizing as it was obvious we are outside).

At this point I'm looking at my four year old and two year old who are in the sun and starting to get upset. I pointed out to the manager that there was no one waiting and it made no sense to have us continue to sit in the sun when there were open tables literally a few feet away. She wouldn't budge implying that we were free to leave. I finally got upset enough going back and forth with her that she gave in and allowed us to move. We sat at the new table, had a $70 lunch but felt upset and shaken from this experience. Making matters worse it was my birthday and this was the place we had chosen to come for lunch.

We love this spot and couldn't wait to come back on vacation. This is probably an example of a bad manager more than a bad restaurant. I'd ask the owners of Big Chill to discuss this scenario with their manager and work to rectify the situation. Whatever seating strategy Big Chill has is probably not worth making customers upset by refusing to get them out of the sun when there is an easy fix (a shade table)...

I want to start this review by saying our server Anna was AMAZING but let me go backward, now. We called before we headed toward Big Chill and let them know we had a party of 9 we were told if we got there in the next 15 minutes there would be no wait. We got there in that time and was told a 20-25 minute wait. No big deal. We have never been here before so no idea where to go next. The hostess was not helpful with this. So we went up by the bar and sat at some empty bar height tables. After we sat at these tables for 20 minutes. A woman (50s-60s, hat with a very short gray/blonde ponytail) came up to us. She could have said hi! We have some people who need these tables. Instead VERY RUDELY said We need these “cocktail tables” for “guests” so you need to find somewhere else to go. We let her know we were waiting for a table and that the hostess never told us where we could wait. She then said well we need these for people “buying drinks”. So we got up and moved. Asked the hostess where to go and she let us k ow our table was ready. She then took us to our table. About a foot from where we were just seated. Anna was amazing. Food was good. Music decent. One member of our party did not get their food with the rest of us. We paid our combined over $200 bill (I guess that doesn’t make us guests) Did I mention that of all the cocktail tables only one was seated in the entirety of our visit. To make it even worse. This rude person who may have been a manager was standing next to an older female bar tender as we left literally watching us leaving and LAUGHING at us. I guess our money was no good since we didn’t buy alcohol. We had hoped to make this a regular stop on our annual vacation but unfortunately first impressions are EVERYTHING and this was...

We have been coming to Delaware Seashore State Park with our camper multiple times a season over the last seven years. Every time we say we’re going to try out the Big Chill. We made that a reality this weekend. Thankfully, there was no wait because it was off-season. Each table was full. The restaurant was busy for late October. It was extremely loud with the way the tables were set up. I could hear all of the conversations from the table behind us since it was bench seating and we were back to back. There was loud music playing. Overall, our food was less than desirable. We had the nacho appetizers for $15 and added pork for an extra nine dollars. That was probably the best thing we had out of everyone’s order. My son had the chicken thigh sandwich breaded. It had absolutely no flavor and we had to ask for barbecue sauce to make it edible. The lobster roll tasted like straight up butter. The hamburger was fully edible and delicious according to my 11-year-old. My husband had the land and sea hamburger and that was also good. Service was mediocre. We had to ask for silverware. We were also never given small plates when the appetizer came so we had to use napkins as plates. They were completely sold out of Dr. Pepper and root beer in their fountain. It can definitely be more than seven years until we go back. If you enjoy alcohol, I’m sure they had many choices for you. If you want a nice view, ask for one of the tables facing the ocean. There seem to be a memorial service going on at those tables and they had all occupied (at-least three). We had one of the tables closer to the parking lot. There are plenty of better food choices than this. Even the...