theBoil — Restaurant in Jersey City

Went for a friend’s birthday on a Saturday. I honestly don’t know how this place has lasted this long, probably because they are the only seafood boil place in the area.

We ordered a bunch of appetizers. Shrimp cocktail and calamari were both very gummy and soft. They tasted a bit old. The crabmeat slider, gross. The burger sliders, super basic. And the bread they use for the sliders feel and taste very cheap and low quality. The bang bang shrimp were okay, but the shrimp were too big. Usually bang bang shrimp come with smaller shrimp to balance the flavors.

Regarding the seafood boil, two people at our table ordered them. The potatoes and the corn were extremely hard. The lobster was rubbery, making them hard to open. Needless to say, it was a struggle.

Three of us ordered chicken fingers and French fries thinking it was a safe choice. I’ve never had more overcooked chicken fingers in my life. How can you really mess that up?

One of the chicken finger meals was completely forgotten about by the chef. The waiters didn’t even realize it until we brought it to their attention. By the time it came out the rest of the table had already finished eating. We are a party of five celebrating a birthday and we couldn’t even enjoy a dinner together? Absolutely dreadful experience. Multiple people came by saying 5 minutes which ended up being over 20 minutes of cumulative waiting for a simple chicken fingers and French fries.

This place is a one and done. Not enough napkins. They don’t even give the wet napkin packs to wash your hands. What seafood boil place doesn’t give those?? Disgraceful.

I wanted another round of drinks but I didn’t want to give another penny to this place, especially since they automatically charge you 20% gratuity on parties larger than 4 people.

Did anyone come by to ask if we even needed more drinks, or anything at all? No. Everyone disappeared.

One bus boy came by and tried to clean up the table and dispose of the paper to cover the table while the person was still eating still the food came out late — clearly seeing they were still eating.

The utter incompetence of the people working here is quite astonishing. I’d be surprised if they remain open past their lease renewal. Now we know why this place is never crowded.

With the prices they are charging, you would expect MUCH better service and absolutely much better quality. If only Just BeClaws was still around this whole ordeal could’ve been avoided.

TLDR: Heed this warning, don’t go. Overpriced, bad quality, and poor service. Not worth it. There’s too many places in the area to...

I had a deeply troubling experience involving the general manager, Kwan. As a long-time fan of The Boil, I was shocked by the level of unprofessional and aggressive behavior I encountered.

I placed a to-go order that included a lobster roll. Upon tasting it at home, I immediately noticed it was prepared completely differently than usual—specifically, it was extremely spicy, to the point of being inedible. I called the restaurant multiple times but was repeatedly disconnected before finally reaching someone who identified herself as Kwan.

When I explained the issue, she told me she would need me to send a video to prove the lobster roll was made incorrectly before she could consider remaking it. I expressed that this approach was inappropriate and unhelpful, especially as I had already been trying to resolve the matter for over 40 minutes. My husband’s meal was getting cold while I still had no dinner. I offered to return to the restaurant with the untouched lobster roll so it could be reviewed and remade. Instead of working toward a solution, she abruptly hung up on me.

Wanting to resolve the issue, I brought the lobster roll back in person. What followed was behavior that was nothing short of alarming: Kwan leaned over the counter at me aggressively, screamed in front of staff and customers, and made a shocking and invasive claim that she had called my previous employer, who she said had “never heard of me.” On the phone I had mentioned that I understand things go wrong in kitchens as I had work experience in the restaurant business and I made the mistake of telling her the name of the establishment, when asked. I truly cannot understand what would prompt a restaurant manager to take such an extreme and inappropriate step. Her behavior was completely unhinged and humiliating. I am deeply disturbed and very concerned about what her goal could have been in contacting a customer’s previous employer.

I asked if there was someone above her I could speak with, and she said there was not. Given how uncontrolled and unprofessional her actions were, I felt it was necessary to try every outlet to contact a higher authority.

As someone who has worked in the restaurant industry, I understand that difficult service situations arise. But this went far beyond a miscommunication or even a dispute over food quality—this was a verbal attack by someone in a position of authority who handled the matter in a deeply unacceptable and threatening manner.

I hope this is taken seriously, not only for the sake of future customers but also for the integrity...

This was our first and last time here. It started out fine. We went for Happy Hour and got 12 Oysters, Zucchini chips, and Macaroni and Cheese as well as two drinks. The oysters were tasty, but we did notice they didn't give us all the condiments they gave the table next to us. No problem, it was still tasty. The service was fine at that point, but to be fair, it was us and two other people, so not like they were busy. We got another round of drinks, and not too long after things started going sideways.

While chatting, all of the sudden something hit me hard in the head. I yelled out, "ow!". It actually really hurt (and resulted in a headache). It felt like someone had thrown a ball at my head. For a few seconds I didn't know what had happened, just that it hurt and I held my head. Turns out one of the wait staff had given me an elbow to the had after clearing a different table. I was stunned because I didn't know what was going on, and just knew that my head hurt. The person apologized and asked if I was ok. I did not look at them because I was trying my best not to tear up. I just nodded, while holding my head.

Obviously it was a damper on our night out, but we were sure someone would stop by again or acknowledge that they physically hurt their customer. Nope.

Soon after someone (not our waiter, and not the person who elbowed me in the head) came to our table to give up the check. A check we hadn't requested. How did they know we didn't want something else? It was like they were trying to get us out of there.

Then I looked at the check. They had added a 20% service charge. Seriously? I just looked at other reviews of this place, since this was a spur of the moment first time visit for us, and some say they were aware of this service charge because the waiter alerted them to it. Our waiter didn't tell us a thing.

I could literally see our waiter, who we never saw again after the elbow to the head incident, as well as the elbowerer and the random waiter who gave us the bill, in a chat... which resulted in the same random waiter coming to collect our bill and ask if we wanted any change. After an elbow to the head and a 20% service fee you want an extra 40% tip? Yes, I want my change.

I don't know what sort of alternate universe we are currently residing in, but the fact that our waiter went MIA (even though he wasn't the one that actually hurt me) and nobody double checked I was OK? Was not OK. You don't just ask once when the person is stunned. It's...