Matt's Fish Camp Fenwick — Restaurant in Fenwick Island

Had really high hopes but was sorely disappointed. Came for happy hour dinner on 7/19/22 Monday 4pm with my family (including my brother-in-law who spent many years in hospitality management for a large restaurant group similar to Sodel Concepts) for our annual summer vacation to Delaware. Let's start with the service.

Upon arrival, the hostesses were both unwelcoming, unfriendly, and didn't even so much as flash a smile. Their explanation of where we could sit and not sit during happy hour was so complicated it made us feel unwanted. I didn't catch her name but the hostess who was particularly bad had heavier makeup on and a polka dot dress on. We ended up seating ourselves and when the menus were brought to us the hostess slapped down the bundle of menus on our table which I thought was rather rude. This was especially so when I saw her place each menu individually on each person's plate for other tables she was seating. This made me feel particularly disrespected. Normally, hostesses are supposed to be the exemplar of service in any restaurant. Not here.

The waitress on the other hand was good however one of the servers upon bringing our food spilled some hot marinara on my mother-in-law. Luckily she was okay and didn't get any on her clothes but ugh, what a poor experience. Combine that with the initial poor welcome (or lack thereof) and no one even came to "touch" the table. Normally, when a group comes into a restaurant and if it's clear they are unhappy or issues occurred then a manager is supposed to come and check on the group.

The happy hour deal itself is good ($1 oysters, $0.50 clams, $2 off drafts, $8 house cocktails). There's some additional hot food items but of the items we ordered the marinara mussels and sticky icky wings were good. The shrimp po boy you can skip.

At end of the day, the food was not good enough to save the poor overall experience which was kind of surprising since we had such a great experience at the first Sodel Concept restaurant (Thompson Island Brewery) we visited during our vacation coming from PA and NJ/NY. We've already had a lot of friends ask us for recommendations as we've been posting photos and stories to our social media and unfortunately, Matt's Fish Camp will definitely not be on that...

So we just back to our hotel and I wanted to write this review while it was fresh in our minds.

First off, I want preface this review by saying I have a spouse who served in the hospitality industry(served/hosted) and I am also very sympathetic to the current employment situations going on with restaurants and I do not write this review lightly.

We arrived at 6pm tonight and we were told a 20-30 minute wait which was fine and we got in under that time. However I found it unusual that others who arrived after us were seated first despite the website claiming a first come first serve. We ordered our food and half a dozen raw oysters as an appetizer. Shrimp for my daughter, my wife had salmon, and I had the crab mac n cheese. We put the order in at 6:45 and did not get our food until just before 8pm. Our server stopped by twice to tell us the food was coming right up and that they had kitchen staffing issues. However again, we watched other groups with seemingly more attentive servers order after us and get their food before us.

Our food finally arrived just before 8, and I was very disappointed that the $28 crab mac and cheese came out lukewarm at best and even more disappointing had ZERO flavor to the point where I had to add salt and I DO NOT like doing that. I will say that Mike Allen the manager did come by to apologize and comped our drinks, desserts, and the mac and cheese and Jules Frey did also come to apologize. But I was also disappointed that the two hosts at the front of the house did not say goodbye to us ahead of another couple who did get a goodbye.

While I appreciate what the managers did for us, I expected far better from a SODEL Concepts restaurant. We have eaten at Catch 54 at the height of the Summer and received far better service. We have been wanting to try Matt's Fish Camp since it opened and unfortunately it left us with a bad first impression. I really do hope others do not have the experience we had and hope that we can give them a second chance...

Very disappointed with my dinner at Matt's Fish Camp in Fenwick Island DE.

We went to Matt's for the first time a few years ago and loved the Onion Rings and seasonal dishes. This is the third time this year that we tried Matt's and were disappointed on each visit. The final straw was this past weekend. First, they have changed their Onion Rings from the light flaky batter tht was so good to a beer batter that was very doughy and not nearly as good as the original ones. when I asked about the change, the waitress said it took too long to cook the original ones. So, they changed one of the best items on the menu to make it easier for the kitchen? Thought the idea was to make the customer happy. Secondly, I love the IPA drafts they serve. This weekend I ordered a Thompson Island draft and expected the normal 16 oz beer glass. Instead, they served it in a snifter and claimed it was the same size as the normal draft. It is not the same size and I am sure that the reason they serve it in the snifter IS NOT because it helps improve the flavor notes in the beer, haha. The snifter is 12oz. the draft beer glass is 16 oz. The waitress said they serve all drafts that are over 8% alc in a snifter. This was news to me, and was not stated on the menu. I know the restaurant business is tough, but reducing the customer experience in favor of profit is not the answer. SO Del restaurants have relatively small menu's, so you'd think that the items they do serve would be a...