Tomatoes — Restaurant in Margate City

So livid tonight!! It's a wonderful calm Tuesday evening. Tomatoes is packed because it's Margate, Ventnor, and Longport. Very limited locally where you can go, let alone take family out come or when vacationers want to stay within the area. My partner and I were in town for a bounce in town adventure. Unfortunately the only seats available at the time was the sushi bar. No conplaints(so far). The menu was what you expected from a town where quality and quantity are forgotten , but wealthy customers with deep pockets keep coming changing the real restaurant reputation and mindset. I'm middle class. But I've eaten food better than what most Americans are willing to explore. So we decided that the sushi was overpriced, the tuna appeared double frozen very light pink in color, the salmon had no fat, and the hamachi( wow it was such low quality). As a simple request when our server asked at 1st request what we wanted I kindly told him if he could put in the curry mussels as we were so undecided on the non-electric menu. Waiter said " you have to put your whole order at once" . Sure, fine, it's busy I get it. So I ordered one cocktail and one appetizer, your curry mussels. After 25 mins the cocktail comes, in watered down. ( I've been drinking tequila/mezcal for years). No hint if your beloved. 5 mins later here comes the mussels. I kid you not it was less than 1/2lbs of mussels. Go to your local grocery story and get a 1lb of mussel at the seafood section. They're usually bagged by the 1b. Cook it at home and it's enough for 2-4 ppl. These mussels from Tomatoes, at best 1/3 lbs. And now here is why I am posting my 1st review in years. More than half the mussels were cracked and broken. Tiny fragments of mussell shells were everywhere in the broth. BTW no toast or crostini to accommodate the sauce/juice/broth. We left with one of worst food experiences of our life. Walked over to the neighboring Sofias and ordered their Moussaka and trio app. Everything was priced appropriately and delicions. I will tell everyone I can to avoid Tomatoes. When you have money, wealth, power, you sometimes compromise what a real traditional meal is. Heck the best foods are from places that you least expect. Tomatoes is not where you want an experience. It is not where you want to take family and friends. Please please 🙏 give your pride and ego a pass and try something different. You will...

Don't get me wrong, the food at this place is really good. They have a huge menu and seem able to pull off sushi and traditional coastal cuisine really well.

My problem is, this place seems to be overhyped. It is virtually impossible to get a reservation here (we ate at 8PM on a Sunday). It just doesn't seem to be worth the effort. There could definitely be more upscale places to eat in this part of the Shore but I will not go out of my way to grab a reservation here again.

With that said, we did have a good meal. The menu is so diverse that it was a struggle to try everything that we wanted and we probably over-ordered. We started with the Parmesan Crusted Asparagus, which was probably my favorite thing we tried. It was kind of a unique spin on a staple and very tasty. It came with a great pesto aioli. We also got the Mozzarella en Croute, which was nothing special, but tasted good on some table bread.

Our second course was sushi. We got a Philadelphia roll and a "Karen" roll. Both were prepared at the sushi counter and really good. It was cool to have such good sushi at the Shore.

For the main course, we split the Cuban Pork Chop with a side of Truffle Mac n' Cheese. Both were also really good. The pork chop was seasoned really well and was bone-in. The Truffle Mac n Cheese was good but a whopping $11.50 for a small side portion.

All-in-all, this place has some good food and enough options that everyone will be happy. However, the high prices and insane difficulty I had getting a reservation means I will probably pass in the future. If you can grab a spot, it's probably worth a visit.

PRO TIP: There is a cool little seating area outside that has food trucks. I couldn't tell whether this was associated with the restaurant or not but it is definitely something...

Had a reservation at Tomatoes in the middle of the week for dinner for a group of 8 including one toddler and one infant. When we arrived, our table wasn't ready and the hostess didn't seem to know that I asked for a high chair in the reservation.

That all would have been fine except when we were ordering food for the kids, the waitress was very unaccommodating to what food they could make for the kids but said they had a pasta side on the menu. When the spaghetti arrived, it was a shape that was hard for the kids to eat and had a spicy sauce on top. When we asked the person who brought the pasta out if they could make a different shaped pasta and have the sauce on the side, they seemed very willing to help out and get us a different dish. Two minutes later the waitress came over and snipped at us saying "what is wrong with the pasta, they're all yelling at me in the kitchen." Hardly something to say to a guest at a restaurant!! When we asked if they had different shaped pasta, all the waitress would offer was that we could order truffle mac and cheese, hardly something for a toddler to eat. Shortly after the person who brought the first pasta out generously brought us something more appropriate for the kids. For the remainder of the meal, the waitress was never to be seen and didn't ask us if we needed anything else, how our meals were, or if we wanted dessert.

Overall the meals we had good but not great, and the service was downright bad. A rude and nasty waitress all because we asked for a different $8 side for the kids. Tomatoes is a great place to go to people watch and be seen but not somewhere I'd ever recommend for a great overall experience...