Pier W — Restaurant in Lakewood

I’ll preface this that we have gone here annually since 2015. Our first time we ever went to this restaurant we got likely the best table at the restaurant in terms of water view and have been chasing that high ever since. Each year we go the food and service has been amazing, but this last time has really fallen short.

Atmosphere: is always great but it’s a bummer some of the tables are so close by to the host stand. This was my least favorite table location we’ve gotten so far. The table felt like a way to squeeze in more patrons rather than being intentional with the seating which for this caliber of restaurant I feel is the wrong way. The piano player created a great ambiance and livelihood to the place.

Service: I felt like our waitress was rehearsed and unpersonable to an extent. They weren’t bad but we’ve had better wait staff. Early on when she had 5 tables including us I felt like we were being left behind a bit but as her tables cleared she got better. She became more personable as she had less tables, which makes me think she was being given too many tables at once and stretched thin. Again, not terrible but not what you want out of this caliber of a restaurant

Food: general comments based on our items

Lobster Bisque: star of the show. The table side presentation of this dish is new (previous years they did not have this) and the bisque seems to have been improved in its preparation. This is a great bisque, able to beat out most if not all other local restaurants. The flavor was insanely good

Scallops: excellent preparation and plating. For 49$ it feels a little pricey for 5 scallops but there’s enough food on the plate that you’re not feeling completely robbed

Delmonico: probably my fault for ordering a steak at a seafood restaurant. Delmonico was overcooked to medium well, trending almost to well. Despite that, no fat rendering was done at all on the steak, leaving the usually great fat cap of the ribeye to taste underdone and unappetizing. A very bizarre tasting steak that no amount of sending back is going to fix. I don’t know how you overcook the steak, but under render the fat cap.

Potato on Crouton: I can’t stress enough how bad this tasted. This usually is my favorite part of the meal but the potatoes were dry dry dry. I have seen other reviews mention this as well which makes me think this is either intentional or the person being asked to prep this is not doing a good job at it.

Crab Cake: the sauce they use for this has changed. I feel like it tastes like a honey mustard. I hated the sauce and thought it took away from their usually great crab cake but my wife thought it was really good.

Desert: the desert here is always great. The pastry chef constantly changes the menu and I feel like their ideas always cause us to look at the desert menu first each year when we come back lol.

Overall: I still enjoy this restaurant quite a bit. 9 times out of 10 I have liked it here so I want to keep that in perspective, but there is enough issues with this trip that my worry is when I come back here next year, I am going to be more worried about this experience repeating than looking forward...

Great food, good atmosphere (if you can get a good table). There is a dress code, but didn't seem like it was enforced when we went for our first anniversary - my first time, her second.

Our server was better suited for a breakfast diner than a seafood restaurant. Sloppy with pouring any liquid, hardly ever visited the table, and admitted to being scatterbrained that night. Thanks for sharing. The table was also way too small to accommodate our plates and glasses, despite it being just us two in a booth... directly facing another couple.

Food was excellent. We had calamari, the snapper special, and the scampi dish (and bread). Two cocktails and two wines. Portion sizes were small at each stage but we left full. Notably, the wine came after the entrees were served by the expediter (odd!). I got the sense the kitchen was slammed, which is fine, but it came at the expense of service and timing. However, these people know how to cook fish. That goes without saying.

Our complimentary dessert was delicious, a red velvet brownie if memory serves. But we quickly realized that every table in the joint got one, meaning that every table was here for a special occasion to get this dessert, with only a white chocolate disk with "Happy Anniversary" printed on it separating ours from the "Happy Birthday"s. It would not surprise me if these were manufactured somewhere.

In fact, the entire meal (while great tasting) all seems to be manufactured and hollow. Pier W claims to be a romantic dining experience, but we could tell that these dishes were prepared as part of a well-oiled machine. The atmosphere is consequently well-oiled, and lacking any intimacy (the only feature that gave us any privacy was how loud the dining area was). No attentiveness to the table or to the occasion, and no sincerity. Hollow and shallow.

Let's be clear: we do not need to be catered to, nor do we want to bothered all night by overattentive staff. But when we show up looking for a romantic seafood dinner and everyone is going through the motions to "imitate" fine dining, it feels touristy. I genuinely felt like we were visiting a tourist attraction with a ship-themed gimmick (like The Slammin' Salmon).

At the end of the meal, we had an outstanding cappucino - still thinking about it. Then we took our obligatory pictures on the overlooking pier, and that was the most fun we had all night. Why? We were the only ones up there! We found the intimacy and sincerity on an empty patio rather than on the plate.

I don't know how to fix the vibes in Pier W. I don't know if it's a function of how busy it was for a Tuesday, or if it's just random chance, or whatever. But I left there thinking - that's it? I'm happy to give 4 stars because it was still a great time despite my underwhelmed POV.

For a final recap, let me just say I am looking forward to trying Pier W again and want to love it as much as I feel like I should. The food is technically excellent and worthy of the praise. But how can the restaurant deliver on its larger-than-life reputation? I'm...

I have been going to Pier W for a decade and the main reason is that it was always consistent. Over the weekend we celebrated an Anniversary at Pier W as we have been doing for a couple years now and had such a disappointing experience that we will not return. The meal started off great - we ordered oysters, shrimp cocktail, and lobster bisque to start. All were great as they typically are. For our entrée we ordered the Delmonico with a Lobster Tail to share. The steak was ordered medium rare and definitely arrived well done. When our server came over to ask us how everything was we were a bit miffed since the steak was way overcooked. She took a look at the steak and agreed there was no pink and it did not look medium rare. She was nice enough to suggest they remake it which was a nice gesture and we took her up on it considering the price we are paying. After taking our plates back to the kitchen, a cook comes to our table with our same plates almost immediately and sets them down in front of us. He then felt prompted to bring out a FLASHLIGHT to shine on the steaks to "prove" it was cooked to our liking... which it was not. Not only was it overcooked but now it was cold. He then said that it's protocol that they shine a flashlight on all steaks to show their doneness because the restaurant lighting tends to mislead this. After years of going here NEVER have we seen someone shine a flashlight on the food. This was obviously a lie to get us to cave so they didn't have to remake the steak. For us this tactic worked, it was not only embarrassing but also we felt extremely insulted and uncomfortable that there was no point in arguing with the chef. We instead had lost our appetite and were ready to leave. When our server returned she agreed with the chef and said they are starting to use flashlights more because of the lighting and steaks being sent back... RED FLAG. The audacity this restaurant had to shame the customer instead of remaking a steak, which was the original offer from our server. This is not the same Pier W I grew to love so much. We ended up not eating our meal at all and told our server we would like the check. She tried to rectify the scenario by offering a Anniversary dessert on the house to which I declined. When our server returned with our bill it was to our surprise that they still charged us for our entrée that we didn't end up eating. The lack of customer service we experienced was so off-putting that it's ruined what was once a special place for us. Instead of making things right they doubled down and made us feel insulted. We spent $300 here on what was supposed to be a celebratory dinner. I'm still so upset and disappointed by how we...