M.C. Perkins Cove — Restaurant in Ogunquit

A GOOD NIGHT SPOILED!

Is this the place whose founders Mark and Clark opened the world famous Arrows? Wasnt MC Perkins supposed to be just as good or better? The truth is MC Perhaps today has become just a hair better than average as the standards of its owners and staff have badly slipped.

Let me rewind my story to the beginning of my meal that night., which took place on the upper deck with a nice ocean view. I spoke to the Bar Person who called herself Cheetah, who was attractive and had a good personality and was pleasantly flirtatious.

I asked about the Kobe Beef Burgher on the bar menu, which sells for $22? "Does it really taste much better than a regular hamburger. She said and I quote, "I am stunned that you asked that. Of course it does."

I also asked about the Shrimp and Sweet Potatoe Croquette, with dipping sauce. She said it was a wonderful dish that came with lettuce on the side that you could use as something akin to a Taco wrapper.

When the first dish, the Shrimp and Sweet Potato Croquettes came for about $18 I was surprised by how miniscule the portion was.The single croquette which much have been made from a mushy paste of ground shrimp sweet potato flakes fried with an egg batter was rubbery and tasteless.There were two pieces of lettuce that were no more than a speck on the plate and could never qualify as a Taco wrapper.

Cheetah came and asked us how we liked the dish probaby expecting a nice compliment and I said it was really mediocre. She said she wasnt going to take it personally as she didnt cook it. She said your Burgher was on its way, and this was the last we saw of her. I'm sure she wanted to avoid me.

When the Kobe Beef Burgher came it has a very suspicious wilted look. The bun was not grilled properly to make it crisp and had a very doughey consistency that was very unappetizingThe Kobe Burgher came with a translucent slice of cheap American cheese on top, the Kraft variety, as well as a wilted tomato and red onion.

After one bite of the burgher I wanted to take it and fling it into the ocean, “what a rip off”. It didn’t compare to the explosion of flabor you get from a BIg Mac at Macdonalds for about $6 bucks, and the quality of the meat was indistinguishable from what you can buy at Market Basket for $3.50 a pound. What made matters worse is we had to chase the various waitresses and busboys every time we wanted something whether it was salt, a diet coke, or more Ketchup for the fries (pretty good)

When I left MC Perkins I told the blond Slavic host with curly long hair “The food was terrible? He responded by saying an inexplicable “Thank you.” I said “I said why are you saying thank you?” He said “We know the food is amazing. I said “But I didn’t say it was amazing, I said it was terrible.” He did apologize but deferred when I asked to speak to the manager

I got the impression from this incident, that the owners of MC Perkis Mark and Clark have read too many five star reviews about their own cooking, and think that the food is actually much better than it really is. That’s what leads me to conclude this once great place I heading toward a long slow decline heading toward irrelevance.

I spent about $50 bucks that night for a totally disappointing experience, and I wish I had that $50 bucks back in my pocket. Its not that I am cheap, or have excessively high standards, I just felt cheated. I will try the place again and if I have a better experience I will revise this review.

I went to MC Perkins with a client of mine after writing this review and had a great dinner with great service. Lobster Mac & Cheese,...

Absolutely horrible experience. Check reviews on other sites.

Beautiful views. Horrible management. Fishy, Undercooked salmon served to a pregnant woman and refused to exchange. Managers on duty refused to give their names. A quick google search reveals it was in fact the owner Javier who refused to give his name, and was part of the decision to refuse the exchange.

Someone has now responded with a false representation of our assessment of the seafood. The first time it was sent back it was undercooked in the thinner portion. Certainly not "medium" as requested. The second time it was undercooked in the thicker portion. In addition, it tasted fishy. Your farm raised fish that was "brought in this morning" was fishy. Own it Javier. Don't leave us sitting at the table for an excessive period of time with no service from wait staff to order a replacement dish, or receive the check.

We very rarely request an exchange. Probably 5 times in the past 20 years. Your assessment of the situation is way off and I'm sorry that you missed the mark on this one. From talking to wait staff at other restaurants in the immediate area, it may be a systemic issue.

Another update! Medium cooked Salmon is, at every other restaurant, cooked through. I never berated you or the manager. I went looking for the manager after we sat at the table for a very long period of time with no contact from anyone. The check was given to us after we asked for it. My wife was in tears while leaving your restaurant after the way she was treated. Your team missed the mark.

Javier/Dana - you served bad undercooked fish twice. That's the bottom line. Additionally, the food was taken away and picked apart. Even if we wanted to, we couldn't even eat the meal you charged us for at that point. If you weren't going to refund the meal, don't pick it apart. Your attitude towards customer satisfaction is deplorable and the reviews on other sites support this.

Just to add what was ultimately the icing on the cake - this whole matter took an hour to resolve (based on timestamps of photos). We sat there for about a half hour after the manager refused to credit the item, to when we finally got the check after walking the restaurant to find someone to allow us to pay and leave. 6:15 reservation and a woman who is 8 months pregnant left with only a salad at 8pm. Your description of swearing and yelling is an exaggeration to try to discredit our account of this awful dining experience. By the way - it was also her birthday. We had a great experience at the next restaurant we went to after yours, as we do at most restaurants.

Javier/Dana - you returned to us a dish that was taken apart to show that it was cooked. It was then taken away leaving her nothing to eat, not even the quinoa. Your treatment of a pregnant woman on her birthday was absolutely deplorable. Last - my reviews are mixed based on the quality of the experience. We had a fantastic experience at our hotel and gave positive feedback to the reception desk, and will be leaving a positive review. Your attempts to discredit our story are symptomatic of the unfortunate customer service we...

Such a disappointing dining experience. We brought our out-of-town guest to MC Perkins Cove because of the reported fine dining experience and views. We have been to MC Perkins a number of times before but not since the former manager became the owner. The views are spectacular, but the service, attitude and management is the worst I have ever had. My partner ordered the chef's special, our guest and I both ordered the grilled sword fish over couscous. Within a couple of minutes after our order was placed, dinners were put on our table, problem was it was not our food. It belonged to the adjacent table. The manager realized the mistake and quickly scooped the plates up and put them on the table they belonged to. One of the plates was handed to the waiter by a person seated at our table. Ok, that happens sometimes but I thought to myself if a guest at a table handed a plate to a waiter and then they placed it in front of me I would not have accepted it.

It gets worse, I ordered a glass of wine which was very nice. Our food arrived and the sword fish was topped with a red sauce. I tasted it with the fish and the couscous, and I thought to myself, "that taste like catsup and is the couscous supposed to be served chilled under the hot grilled swordfish". The guest across from me who ordered the same thing said to me, "is that catsup on top of the fish?"

I completely stopped eating and thought within a couple of minutes, the waiter or someone would stop by to see if everything was prepared properly. After our waiter made at least 20 trips by our table totally ignoring us, I finally stopped him and asked if the couscous was supposed to be served chilled and was informed no but should be room temperature. The waiter stormed off and went to tell the manager/owner. The manager approached our table aggressively and asked if there was a problem. I told him the waiter passed by 20 times while I sat there no touching my food and an empty wine glass and told him the couscous was cold. The manager/owner told me it was supposed to be cold and asked me, "so, is the problem the cold couscous or because your glass of wine is empty?" I was floored by his reaction. He scooped up the plate of food that I had only taken one bite of and said as he walked away, "I will bring your check so you can get out of the restaurant". He walked over with the check and charged for my plate without even offering to prepare another one, would I like something else etc. My partner said let's just pay it and leave and I said absolutely not. Several minutes passed, and I guess they realized I was not leaving and they brought another check with the one meal removed. I paid the $110 bill and left the waiter a $20 tip which probably should not have done.

We will stick to truly excellent restaurants such as The Crooked Pine, The Front Porch, Jackie's Too and...