5 West Pub — Restaurant in Lower Township

The food is trash. I have made a long and good career working in restaurants, and I would be willing to bet most of this is frozen pre made food. My old boss knew the bar tender and would make us go to this restaurant occasionally as a thank you for our hard work. So all together I been here 5 or 6 times. I also went to the old restaurant before it changed. The only thing all these trips had in common was the food was soggy. Doesn’t matter what I ordered it is always soggy and watery like that froze and defrosted it. Aside from that I don’t understand why people refuse to use spice in any food. Ironically my old employer would constantly complain that this place stole the Italian pork sandwich from him. So I decided to try it on my last visit. The meat itself had absolutely no flavor, neither did the broccoli rabe. Actually it tasted under cooked, and was super bright green with no flavor. Given the fact that the entire bottom of my sandwich was falling apart I’m gonna guess it came right out a pot of water and on to my roll. I have always felt food should taste good enough on its on that you shouldn’t need condiments, I had to dip the sandwich in ketchup, just so it was edible. I also ordered a pizza which was horrible, now I did take that to go but I ordered it that way. The pizza came out at the same time as the food for the table and sat under the warmer until the hostess broke her brain trying to figure out why it was sitting there and moved it from under the warmer only for the waitress to move it back. The head chef at the restaurant I work at always says the most important thing to master in a restaurant is consistency, and the cooks have mastered that because the food is consistently bad. Now this under issue that may seem stupid but in the other 4 times I have been here with co workers I have sat at the bar. I don’t drink so I always get a coke. They have never charged me for this. Not sure if this was because I was driving or I ordered food but I have never paid for a non alcoholic drink. When I received my bill i had drank 2 sodas and the person I was with did as well and right before I left the waitress brought a third I took two sips out of and left on the table. It was more than a surprise to see a 24 dollar charge for drinks. They charge for refills here. So again I have worked in restaurants in 4 different states over the course of 16 years. I once worked for a guy who got caught selling crab cakes that were made from imitation crab cakes, but even that shady dude didn’t charge for refills. It’s not about the money frankly it’s just a way to rip off people. The reason you can go to McDonalds and get any size drink for the same price is because the cup cost more then it does to actually fill that cup with soda. Now if the waitress had told me this from the start I’d probably just drank water, not from the nasty bottle they leave on the table but for the amount they charged for drinks I could have bought five 2 liters of soda. This is my home town I grew up here, I expect that kinda of things in wildwood where people are trying to take advantage of tourists. When I said something to the waitress she said yeah most customers complain when they come in here about this. Well if people constantly complain about something, rather then accept it, change it. Trust me if you losing money it’s not from soda it’s from the horrible food. I actually feel bad, in 35 years I have only refused to tip someone once, but after this i refused to give a tip to the waitress, your tip went to paying for the refills. However by her laughing when I said something about this, it honestly makes the employees just as responsible for for this terrible policy that honestly I have never seen a restaurant do. Then again the fact at 3 pm and the only people there were smashing drinks at the bar should tell you everything you need to know. This isn’t a restaurant it’s a bar that serves food. Go to the pizza place across the street if you want...

Crab bisque was good! As for the rest of our order! Flavorless and greasy! What was once a must menue item being the Lobster Mac, I will never order again. The spinach and garlic Pizza was presented like the chef just didn't care what he sent out! Just a big glob of spinach and garlic in the middle of a Flavorless Pizza. The dirty Shrimp App was as well Flavorless. Lets not forget the soup spoon, which was facing up was Dirty, like unwashed. And the lazy foul attituded Waitress couldn't see it before bringing it to the table? As she set my cup of Bisque down I saw the filth before it even touched down on the table. When I grabbed it and asked for a clean spoon, she huffed and gave me an attitude. No table touches at all, and just trying to get us to leave with any approach to the tabe when setting food down. It was like we were interrupting her conversation time or something. Hostes was as well lazy and full of attitude. From what we saw the other 2 waitresses were just as bad. The only one who seemed pleasant was the bartender who we did not personally interact with. There were 2 other tables that came in well into our meal that our waitress had and she was just as rude to them. And one of those tables had the exact same experience with the soup spoon, and recieved the exact same Huffy attitude I did. I would love to give you the name of our Waitress, however She never once introduced herself throughout the entire meal! So I will just describe her! Big tall Obese lazy Converse wearing Nasty Foul attitude and generally dismissive! You cant miss her! Good luck if you eat here! Ohhhhh and Ps: I woke up this morning with an upset stomach and the runs! Light touch of food...

I came in on a Saturday afternoon, sat at the bar, and ordered the chicken cheesesteak wrap based on the bartenders recommendation. Sandwiches come with a choice of side salad or fries, but I asked if I could sub in mac and cheese instead. I was told there would be an up charge, and because the place is already pretty expensive for a quick lunch, I declined and opted for a side salad with Caesar dressing.

The bartender then asked if I’d prefer an ordinary Caesar salad instead of whatever they call a “side salad” with Caesar dressing; I accepted the offer. The dressing was clearly home made, and while I appreciated the effort (I generally love home made Caesar), it was possibly the worst thing I’ve ever eaten at a restaurant. Seriously, I can’t cook to save my life, but I could make a better salad blindfolded.

I worked in restaurants for years, and consequently NEVER complain about the food, but I was fully prepared to tell the bartender that their Caesar salad sucked hard. Unfortunately, he never asked how my food was at all (despite me being his only customer), and I didn’t feel like making a fuss.

At the end of the day, a bad side salad doesn’t warrant a negative review. HOWEVER, a surprise up charge for something I didn’t even ask for, and didn’t remotely enjoy, does. I’d already declined an up charge for the thing I actually wanted in the first place (the mac and cheese), so getting stuck with one anyway is ultimately what’s driving this review. The fact that the salad was terrible, and the wrap was mediocre just...