Pepper's Seafood Co — Restaurant in Ogunquit

Would not recommend. This is not a seafood restaurant. This is a tourist trap. The service was terrible and the food even worse. These have to be fake reviews. There is no way all these people actually enjoyed this place.

Maybe we caught them on an off night but we did check trip advisor and google reviews after our experience and realized we were not alone. This place would probably be OK if you were only drinking at the bar.

Service: Terrible service. It was a Monday and not packed. We were the first customers inside just before 6pm. They have a deck outside with probably about five 4top tables and 10 bar seats. The deck was full but they had 3-4 waiters and runners helping and it’s not huge inside (maybe like 7 tables and 4 booths. We were a table of two. More people slowly came in over the next 20 mins.

We had Sophia L as a waiter and she was nice enough but just really seemed to not care. When we sat down she came over within 10 mins. We ordered oysters, a diet coke and a mocktail. We needed a little more time to decide on other apps and food. The diet coke and oysters came quick (in 10-15 mins and delivered by a runner so we couldn’t put in our order), the mocktail took about 20 mins after the oysters came (maybe more). When she delivered the mocktail is when she took our order (there were at-least 3 other tables that got sat after us that ordered before us). We ordered appetizers (Clam Chowder and Calamari) and entrees (Lobster Stew with a side salad and the Seared Tuna w/ Basmati). We waited for almost 45 mins for our food to come and they gave us our appetizers and entrees at the same time. Within that 45mins no one came over to us to check on us. Once the food came it was not worth the wait.

Food: Drinks: We were there for almost two hours and our waiter never asked us if we wanted more drinks. I ordered a mocktail at first but was hoping to order a cocktail at some point but never got the chance. The mocktail was delicious.

Oysters: Ordered 6 oysters and all 6 were completely scrambled with shell shrapnel in each. It was odd, the shells were also filled with water, not brine…water. I had to pour it out of each shell.

Calamari: We ordered the Pepper’s style calamari (includes cherry pepper’s garlic and herbs) but we received the traditional kind instead. It was way too rubbery and the breading was falling off. Also, the marinara that came with the plate was ice cold.

Clam Chowder: Decent. Tasted like canned soup but comparing it to the other items it was acceptable.

Lobster Stew: No flavor, watery and the lobster chunks tasted like they were old or sitting in the freezer for a week, tasted like plastic. They did give a good amount of lobster but couldn’t even finish the chucks. To be in Maine and have terrible lobster in a town like Ogunquit was extremely disappointing.

Side Salad: Ordered a side salad and pointed to the menu when I ordered because there was a big garden salad ($11) and small side garden salad ($6). Specifically wanted the small one, but they brought me the large one instead and charged me for it. Honestly, I’m happy they did end up bringing me the big one because it was the only thing I could eat.

Seared Tuna: The tuna was dry and cooked all the way through. Should have been a little pink but was grey the whole way through. The basmati rice was not cooked long enough.

My boyfriend and I love and are obsessed with food it was a shame because we couldn’t even finish our meal. We’ve never had a bad experience like this before. We were only in town for one night so this really bummed us out.

We probably should have but we didn’t say anything to management because we just didn’t want to deal with it. We paid our bill and gave a 20% tip....

We come up to Ongunquit about 3-4 time ayear for years and have eaten at just about every restaurant here. We came into Pepper's tonight for my wife's birthday. She ordered the stuffed haddock. The haddock was dam near raw and the potatoes were cold. Haddock is a great fish that "when cooked" is firm and flakey. This was grayish and mushy. Obviously my wife wasn't going to eat it. Now she was not interested in seafood, so she ordered a chicken sandwich. That took another 20 minutes, and they forgot her sides. By now, I had eaten my meal, with my wife waiting on hers.... Mine was OK, at best. We just wanted to get out of there. Her birthday dinner was already a flop. We should have gone to one of our regular favorites. So to top it off, it took the girl 3 times to get the bill correct. "3 TIMES TO GET THE BILL CORRECT "!!!! The entire time we were there, the manager never came over to talk to us, knowing of the issues. But when we went to leave, she came over and said the cook said your fish was cooked perfect????? You would think she would have came by earlier to ask what was the problem???? Then she said she you again soon, come give us another try! Really!!!!! Most of the time you have a bad meal, you give them another try..... Not Pepper's. It was a terrible birthday dinner for my wife and we wouldn't go back if the meal was free. We stopped by a place down the street for a drink and told them about our dinner. Seams they have heard others mention similar complaints. It's so sad that a restaurant can be that bad and the management be even worse....... To many great places to eat in this town. This one won't...

Nice place, waitress was friendly, place was clean but the food was okay at best. I'm shocked the rating is so high. Mussels were decent and they give you a good portion. Crab roll was mid. But what really got us was the lobster saute. It's basically stuffed lobster with a corn on the cob, nothing special, tasted okay albeit a little soggy and super salty. But here's the kicker, listed as market price so I didn't ask thinking 30-35 tops. 60 f'n dollars!!!! What?????????? On what planet is any lobster dish anywhere worth $60??? I get that it's all knuckle and claw meat but still, absolutely absurd. Go get 2 bomb-ass lobster rolls from the Lobster Connection in my hometown for that kind of money. I do everything I can to not give poor reviews but I was completely flabbergasted when I saw that check come out. Oh and my basic IPA was the price of a 4 pack of Boom Sauce. I understand we're suffering through inflationary times, but if you're going to charge that much you better knock my damn socks off. Oh and I split the bill with my girl but I put the whole 20% of the entire total on my half for a tip and she crossed hers out. Well they automatically charged her half 20% also and it doesn't say anywhere on the receipts that they auto charge which I'm pretty sure is illegal. So we paid 30% on top!...