Terrace Tavern — Restaurant in Long Beach Township

Bad food. Abysmal service.

To elaborate, not only are reservations never accepted, partial seating for en- route parties aren't either, even at near 0 occupancy, the mere request was met with a scowl. When the other half of the party arrived 90 seconds later, more resistance was put up when the 3 present hosts couldn't count up to the requested party number; the singular missing person was sitting at the bar, directly in front of them, as requested to less than 2 minutes prior. After convincing the team of hosts that our friend at the bar was indeed eating with us, we were to discovered that the staff were not making sure we were all accounted for to seat us, but rather, to begin to prepare to seat us. Upon completion of the long and difficult task of moving a small table next to a taller and much larger table, along with 2 chairs and several disposable napkin and basic utencil place settings, we were directed to QR codes, as if the year is 2021 and a laminated piece of paper is a bridge too far. The QR codes bring you to the C-tier menu page of their website, which vaguely crams food in between disorganized alcohol sections, with an added merch store appended to the menu. You can look at that yourself. For a restaurant with a static menu and 0 specials, one would imagine a trip to staples 4 times a year would be simple due diligence, especially when the alternative is a website plastered with images of food long removed from the menu.

Moving on to the food, every single sandwich of each variety was served in exactly the same way, aside from the perfectly standard Cuban. Sea or land, you got your undersized portion of protein in a massive bun with lettuce and a tomato slice. And some fries. Nothing more. While the waiter heavily reccomend the miniscule sliver of tuna, precariously present in a massive sandwich bun, to be cooked rare or medium rare, the chef interpeted these instructions to mean low heat for a low period of time, producing what could only be described as non-sushi-grade sashimi with somewhat dark and warmer edges. Food poisoning was anticipated but not experienced. A rare cooked piece of tuna is cooked at high heat for a short period of time, producing a slight gradient of texture and still fully cooked piece of fish, an easy threshold for tuna. A well done piece of tuna is cooked at the same temperature till its stringy charcoal. A medium piece of tuna is generally simply firm and cooked through. What was served is lazy beyond what is acceptable for restaurants, and would get warrant sideye from even one's family. To warm a piece of fish to slightly above room temperature, slowly, and briefly, is insulting not on a culinary level, but also in terms of food safety. It's simply the worst treatment of seafood I've seen at any restaurant, let alone a coastal seafood restaurant.

The waiter himself did nothing wrong, the issues with this restaurant seem lie just about everywhere else. When I refer to a team of hosts, I have a sneaking suspicion I'm talking about management, who clearly does not...

IS THERE AN OPTION FOR NEGATIVE STARS??? 4 LARGE GLASSES OF ICE WATER WAS DUMPED ON OUR INFANT BY OUR WAITRESS, AND WHEN WE CALLED THE OWNER TO SPEAK TO HIM ABOUT THE INCIDENT, HE RAISED HIS VOICE, WOULD NOT LET ME EXPLAIN THE SITUATION, ACCUSED OUR ENTIRE PARTY OF LYING, AND HUNG UP ON ME TWICE!!! WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE ORIENTED ESTABLISHMENT I HAVE EVER BEEN IN MY LIFE. PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE REVIEW BEFORE GOING HERE FOR BARELY PASSABLE FOOD. I have NEVER in my life been so appalled by the owner and management of an establishment. The last night of our much needed vacation was RUINED by this restaurant and the handling of their mistakes. Our waitress (obviously inexperienced) spilled 4 large glasses of ice water all over our infant and his car seat. His clothes and car seat were completely soaked, and the staff immediately proceeded to clean up the floor...NOT even offering a clean, dry towel for the baby. We had to request a towel. Half of our party then had to leave the restaurant before eating to tend for their obviously shaken infant and themselves. We were then told multiple times by our waitress and another employee (I assume the manager) that our meal would be taken care of...yet we were handed a bill for over $70 and expected to pay. There were mistakes on the bill, and the waitress rolled her eyes at me when I asked for them to be corrected...as if we were causing HER too much stress after she poured freezing water all over an infant. After leaving, I phoned the restaurant to speak with the manager about having to pay for our bill EVEN THOUGH we were told by 2 employees that our bill would be taken care of. All in all, the restaurant comped 2 soft drinks, 2 lemonades and a bloody mary on our bill. When the owner called me back I was amazed at his nonchalant attitude toward the incident. His exact words were "At least it wasn't soup." He then proceeded to HANG UP ON ME, stating that he is a good business owner because he called us back. When I finally got through to him again, he accused our entire party of lying about our bill being comped, and hung up on me again. What happened to good, old fashioned courtesy? As a business owner myself, I was SHOCKED by his handling of the situation. No offer of a coupon, a free dessert, a refund...NOTHING. The food was mediocre, at best - and the service would get zero stars. We frequent LBI, and our family owns property here, and we will NEVER set foot in this sub-par establishment again, nor will we recommend it to any of...

We should have left as soon as the hostess gave us an attitude about being a party of 10 (6 adults and 4 children) but much to our dismay, we stayed. The waitress was somewhat friendly, however most of the time she was not available when we needed something. The food was mediocre at best and for the prices, I would have expected something much better. The food is way overpriced for the quality. For a great seafood feast, I would recommend Pinkie's - but it is take out only.

We also had a n issue with our order/check. I am partially to blame, however when my children (ages 7 & 9) order kids meals on their own, I feel it is the responsibility of the waitress to let us know that the kids pasta ($8.95!!!) Doesn't come with a side. Also, this was the smallest bowl of pasta I have ever seen. My daughter who has probably never finished an entire kids meal was asking for more. Anyway, we were charged an additional $5 for a side of fries. So now I am paying $14 for a kids meal comprised is pasta and French fries. Lovely.

I ordered the lobster roll. It was basically lobster meat salad on a (somewhat stale hot dog bun). It had a good amount of lobster meat in it, however it didn't taste fresh. Others in our party ordered salads, clam & shrimp pasta, mahi mahi wrap, wings, buffalo chix sandwich, and a cheeseburger. I can tell you that we all thought the food was not worth a trip to...