Stemie's 1818 Tavern — Restaurant in Palmer Township

Let me lead with the fact that this would be a 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 review were it not for one issue with the crab cakes. As you will see on the photo of the menu their crab cakes are supposed to be made with ONLY lump crab meat. I normally double check with the wait staff, but because only was underlined I did not. I was sorely dissatisfied when I got the crab cake and as you will also see in my photo it was 100% shredded crab meat. This is not unlike going to a steakhouse and ordering a filet mignon only to have it brought out as ground beef. Please be warned to confirm beforehand if the crab cakes are truly lump or shredded even though the menu insists they are lump. The remainder of the review is all very positive. The atmosphere was quaint. The service was excellent. The food was exceptional. The shredded crab was fresh and had no filler. We will definitely eat here again, but I will always confirm before ordering with wait staff if the crab cakes are really lump.

2023: Went again and had the Brisket on a Kaiser roll with a side salad and it was excellent.

2025: I tried the crab cakes again but asked the waitress who said it was lump but the processing shreds it so there are not many lumps. I found no lumps of crab meat again, but it was very good crab 🦀. I have added a star to the review so now it is 5 🌟.

I do want to warn anyone who goes here and orders the crab cakes that in my experience there is NO lump meat in the cakes, I wish they would change the emphasized lump on their menu or start making them from lump and not shredded or shredding it...

I had high hopes for this dinner, but unfortunately, it fell flat of those expectations.

While cute and warm, not loud for a bar type environment, the food was a downer.

It started strong with some wonderful coconut shrimp, but that's about where it ended.

Presentation wise, I really enjoyed the triangle plate, and thought it was a nice unique to most places touch. The food was set nice enough, and the lighting helped to show it off as well.

Something I found weird was the no substitutions. We didn't want salad, but you couldn't request a dif side, even though they had Soups etc. I've never had that at a restsraunt.

My grandmother who took it off her to recommend list had a spinach and chicken dish that she literally couldn't finish. The spinach was in weird chewy chunks and the chicken was so dry that it ended up from mouth to napkin.

The marsala's chicken was not over cooked, but the wine sauce tasted like it was from a jar from the super market. Edible, but not the restaurant quality level that I expect.

All food except the shrimp was served around room temperature. We took a rice pudding to go, and that was good. Still standard, not setting itself apart from anything else, but good. It did not go to waste.

The waitstaff was kind...

Food (Buffalo chicken cheesesteak ' honestly not sure if I even had cheese in it', chicken club wrap, wings, and crab soup - soup was actually really good, only reason I'd go back if someone desired to go there) and the couple martinis we had were average to just above average (price wise) I've paid the same amount, roughly $12/ea., for better and worse. Nothing to write home about. Called Friday to have reservations for Saturday, apparently someone at the establishment messed up and we had to wait well over 30 minutes with a toddler, spoke with a manager and nothing was done to resolve the error on their part. Not even coming over to the table to apologize once again. Kind words go a long way to people who are completely understanding given such trying times. A genuine apology, or a free drink, or even a dessert for the table, go a long way. Otherwise the service, once we got to the table, was average /above average. Would have went 4 stars, being a foodie, and preferring to support local, I find it hard to review places liberally that can't atleast make even the smallest attempt to fix an error...