Skipjack Dining — Restaurant in Newark

I don't usually leave restaurant reviews, but felt compelled to do it this time. The 1st time we ate here, the food was average, but we wanted to give it a 2nd chance. Unfortunately, we will not be back. We had dinner reservations on a Sunday night and were seated right away. The restaurant was 3/4 empty, so we assumed the service would be prompt. We sat at our table for about 15 minutes until a server approached us. She gave us 2 waters, that were actually glasses of weird tasting flat club soda that came from a pitcher she thought was water. Anyway, after that was rectified, we ordered our dinner. My wife ordered a salad with a salmon topper. She said it was ok, but the portion was very small for the price. I ordered appetizers for my dinner - sea-cuterie, crispy brussels sprouts and crispy buttermilk calamari. The sea-cuterie was advertised as BBQ oysters, shrimp cocktail, seafood cake, and prosciutto-wrapped scallops. What I actually received were 2 scallops that were NOT wrapped with anything, shrimp cocktail consisting of 3 medium sized shrimp with weird tasting cocktail sauce, 3 tiny baby crab claws smothered in white aioli that I needed to rub off to get to the miniscule meat, and an inedible dry and black charcoal burned seafood cake shaped like a meatball. My guess is that they ran out of BBQ oysters and chose to substitute them with the tiny crab claws. I asked the waitress if she could get me an unburned seafood cake, which she did without question after looking at what I had in my plate. She came back with another seafood meatball that looked good from the outside, but was cold, hard as a rock, and dry as sand on the inside - again inedible. I gave up at this point on this plate, which was way over priced at $25 for the quality I received. My other 2 appetizers tasted good, but the crispy brussels sprouts were not crispy and they were swimming in loads of oil. The crispy buttermilk calamari tasted good, but was more mushy than crispy and many pieces were fused together. When the check came, the waitress offered to replace my clearly uneaten seafood meatball for another order of shrimp (3) cocktail, so kudos to Crystal! So clearly not a good dining experience. Come on Skipjack Dining, you should and NEED to do...

Environment: Very long day... so long that I came straight away, in uniform. The host was pleasant, and I was seated quickly. I asked to sit off in the corner alone. (We love interacting w the public, but if I'm still in uniform at almost 8 pm, chances are I don't want to shake hands 50 Xs during my dinner... we love you, but we is tirrreeeeed).

Aside from the 3 fruit flies badgering me, [aggressive! Please put out some traps], the ambiance was nice. I just wanted to sit in the corner and enjoy a good meal after a 13hr day.

Service: My server was nice, but I do have notes. She never asked me how I wanted my meat cooked. I'm a med-well kind of girl, and there were definitely a piece or two of tenderloin bleeding. The place wasn't crazy busy, so I would have appreciated being checked on more. I was starving, so I wanted a small salad. By the time I finally flagged another server down to get her attention, my food was already about to come out. I asked for S&P but never received it. (That honestly should just be a staple on the table). Also, she didn't really check on me after I got my food. She was attending more to a large party, but they were finishing up. I kind of just felt like she was trying to hurry up and get out of dodge every time she came over. Might be intimidating to some, uniform and all, but I'm 5'2" and as sweet as pie as long as I eat. I am huge on quality service and don't mind paying for it. Don't get me wrong, she wasn't bad. She did become more attentive after the place cleared out. I just expect a certain level of service if my ticket for just me is $50 or more. I put a lot of work into research before I will even try a new place; I enjoy fine dining.

Food: I ordered diver scallops w/beef tips and finished with caramel apple cheesecake.

The portion size was very decent. The food was flavorful. The meat wasn't skimped on. The risotto, however, was equal to pilaf, and I was disappointed with the amount of asparagus. The cheesecake was cool. Overall, it was a decent meal.

They did give a military discount as well.

I'd give it...

Went for dinner after a date day at Winterthur. It was only a 20 min drive or so. The dining room is very elegant and nicely decorated with the marine theme… linen on the tables and cloth napkins. (Also eco-friendly.) We walked in at 6 pm on a Saturday and were seated immediately. Food came out very quickly, so quickly that she told us to let us know when we were ready for our entrees bc she didn’t want to bombard us.

We got turnip and parsnip bisque (SO delicious), and for appetizers the Brussels sprouts and calamari. I typically don’t like marinara on my calamari, but I have absolutely no notes on the calamari (and I’m admittedly a bit of a calamari snob). My husband got the sirloin and I got the roast chicken. The sirloin was actually cooked rare, and it was done incredibly well (just not well done). Everything was positively delicious and amazing. At first, we thought the portion size for dinner was kinda small, but honestly it was just the right size, and I didn’t even finish all of my risotto.

The only thing I was sad about… they were out of the crème brûlée, and it was the only dessert either of us wanted.

The menu isn’t extensive, but I always think of what Gordon Ramsay would say in that restaurant show… “Jack of all trades, master of none.” It’s not a bloated menu, and the quality of the food shows.

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I want garbage, mediocre, American diner food. This place is NOT that, and it won’t break the bank. (Only $100 for two people with two entrees, two appetizers AND soup, and WAYYYY better quality than any chain restaurant.) Next time, I probably won’t wear jeans and a hoodie...