Buoy Shack — Restaurant in Kittery

Wait list - via Yelp, very effective. Host - friendly, kind. Management - needs to hire considerate servers. Amanda R is the rudest waitress we have ever encountered. As she approached the table to take drink orders we asked her if she would serve us from the other end of the table as one of our 2 dogs is in socialisation training (he is an adopted rescue we have had for about a year). She said "Is it aggressive"; I said no, he can be fearful and we always manage it fine all we ask is for you to please take the order from the other end of the table. Her reply, "there are other dogs running around everywhere and kids". My reply, "Yes, we know, specifically there are kids that been running and playing right here on the rocks behind our table and you haven't heard a sound from him". She sighed and replied, "well we can try it. We do have a rule". I cut it off with, "we are ready to order". Her ignorance was atrocious; calling it ignorance is being beyond polite. Side note, I didn't think she had the intelligence to comprehend rules; leash laws prohibit dogs from "running around". Rude is uncalled for. We were very respectful, reasonable and responsible pet parents. View - nice Seating at Waterfront tables - have umbrellas, very much appreciated. Food: Lobster Empanadas - 1/3 full, and the cream is watery, don't waste your money until the menu indicates ‘new and improved based on yelp feedback.’ Zero *z Fries - told Amanda the fries were cold, may we have fresh fries. Her reply, "okay". Not an apology. Then when the runner returns he states, "here are the crispier fries you asked for". I said no, "I asked for hot fries the first were cold". The new fries were indeed over cooked. 1 *, because fresh I am sure they would be good. Coleslaw - don't even bother, zero flavour, just plain mayo. 0 *. Spring Salad - fresh, dressing is excellent. I asked several times for extra and received it; kitchen appears worried about wasting dressing as the containers are barely 1/2 full. Four small containers combined almost equaled 2; so essentially one with the salad and one extra with lots of excess plastic waste. If I had only ordered this togo I would give 4.5 stars. Fish - fresh good, if I had only ordered fish as a side - to go - I would give 4.5 stars.

And, my dogs never made a sound. About 1/2 way through the meal we did put them in our running car right in front of our table because Amanda was making it a point to continue to walk by the far end of our table to go across the parking lot to the red chairs; we were uncomfortable that she was attempting to be antagonistic. Needless to say we didn’t order a second round of drinks. And, we weren’t rude - we still tipped her...

I'm staying this when I haven't even eaten yet but I know I won't be back. It ultimately took 1h25min exactly from the time we sat down at 5:30pm when the text came through telling us to be seated until the time the food arrived at 6:55pm. Completely unacceptable. Exact timing. We only ordered burgers, fried food and clam chowder. Nothing that should take very long. We had to be seated outside for a table of 7 and everyone of us was shivering in the cold. They did bring 2 blankets upon request. We were about to just get up and leave at 1h10min waited but didn't want to be rude so we went to talk to them. There was no reason for the delay except the kitchen is backed up. No excuses, no reason or any reason to help understand. COME ON BUOY SHAKE! It's a burger there's only a few people here and they all came after us. What could possibly have happened to take that long? According to the restaurant it was just bad chefs and aren't able to make a cheese burger in less than 1h25min. As far as the food goes, the clam chowder was the WORST clam chowder I've ever consumed and as a New Englander I consumed a lot of Clam Chowder so that should say a lot. It was more of a broth with herbs than a chowder and had huge chunks of potato but not much for actual clam pieces or clam flavoring. The buffalo chicken tenders were just plain freezer frozen and fried chicken tenders with a buffalo dipping sauce. The "Smash" burger was a regular frozen burger patty that was not at all "smashed". Also note that every meal charges extra $3 for fries as a side where only cole slaw or chips are included or you can get a side of chowder for $4. The chowder was not worth it. I wouldn't pay $1 for a cup of that chowder. Sorry, not sorry.

On the positive side the views were nice, the fries were good and the waiter with the massive lip injections was nice. We liked him and he was very kind and brought us blankets. In defense of Buoy Shack they did cut the bill in half but only after saying we had had enough and were about to leave at the 1h10min mark. Overall this dinning experience completely ruined...

I decided this would be a great spot to have my first lobster roll of summer. The location does not disappoint - on the water with a great view of Portsmouth and plenty of boat activity to keep things interesting. The rest of my visit sort of felt like no one was paying attention. Upon entering, the person behind the counter told me I could sit wherever I’d like; I chose a seat at the outdoor counter/bar. They brought water and took my drink order, dropped off my beer but didn’t return to take my food order for what seemed like far too long…10 minutes maybe? (There was another party of two who arrived after me; we were the only customers there from what I could tell.) I ordered the 3oz lobster roll ($28) with coleslaw, which came out in a normal amount of time, another 10-15 minutes. The coleslaw was delicious. The lobster roll was also good flavorwise with a perfectly buttery toasty bun, but 3 separate bites had hard pieces of shell that were large enough to hurt my teeth upon unexpectedly biting into. The seat I was at had a condiment caddy nearby but was out of napkins, so I had to flag down another server a few bites in (as she dropped my neighbors food off) to ask for those. Otherwise, no one checked back for the duration of my stay. I sat for a while after finishing my food and the wind kept trying to toss my empty containers towards my neighbors, so I gave up waiting for someone to come by to clear/leave the check and went inside to cash out. Obviously none of these issues are super major, but overall left me feeling “meh” about the whole thing. Staff were friendly but seemed content to converse amongst themselves indoors rather than checking in or noticing the details, which in my opinion left a...