The Mews Restaurant & Cafe — Restaurant in Provincetown

Our recent visit to this restaurant's pop-up location was nothing short of a disaster. Let me preface this by saying we booked a 7:30 PM reservation with the understanding that we'd need to leave by 8:50 PM to catch a performance. Based on our week-long experiences at other fine dining establishments in town (shout out to Victor’s and The Red Inn for getting it so so right), we believed this would be feasible.

The evening started decently with prompt delivery of drinks and appetizers. However, the drinks were bland, and the appetizer was tasteless to the point that we had to request balsamic vinegar to make it remotely interesting.

Then, the service came to a grinding halt. Empty dishes and glasses sat on our table for 30 minutes. A second round of beverages was ordered but never arrived. This was on a Thursday evening, mind you. Concerned about our timing, we ordered pasta, cod, and a salad and asked for updates, only to be misled repeatedly. After being assured that our food was being plated, another 10 minutes passed, and it became clear we wouldn’t have time to eat.

We talked through our options as a group and considered simply taking the meal to go, only to be reminded that the theater didn't allow outside food, especially a fish dish. When we requested the manager remove the meals from our bill so we could settle our bill and leave, the situation escalated horrendously.

The manager arrived and instead of understanding our plight, he berated us. He insulted our intelligence for making a 7:30 PM reservation before a 9:00 PM show and went as far as suggesting we belonged at Denny’s. In our experience, anyone would be annoyed waiting over a hour for food to arrive. The insults didn't stop there; he continued to mock our intelligence and affluence. When we stated we would simply like to leave after his unacceptable and unprofessional behavior, he threatened to call law enforcement. After some back-and-forth, he begrudgingly removed the meals but continued his tirade, recommending we stick to Denny’s.

We have never experienced such unprofessionalism and hostility in any dining establishment. We weren’t looking to cheat the restaurant out of a free meal - we simply didn’t want to pay for food we couldn’t eat because the kitchen could not produce the meal in the time previously promised. Even if they couldn’t comp the meal for a technical reason, a simple offer of a gift card for a future meal would have sufficed. An offer to hold our meals for later pickup would have also been acceptable and we would have been happy to pay. Instead, we were met with outright disrespect.

The food and drink we did get to try was far below other establishments in town (see our recommendations above). The pop up location provides no real ambiance either (it’s very dark and cramped) and the service was absolutely awful. Avoid this place at all costs. We certainly will, and we'll make sure...

Major disappointment. We ate at the bar a few days earlier and had a pretty good experience both in service and food. Tonight was the opposite. There were 2 of us and we were seated at a table in the middle of the dining room, right next to the service area. The first and ongoing issue was, anyone walking by (and the servers running around) made the floor bounce and our table shake - like a herd of elephants - the entire time. With all of the renovations that were done to make it feel like a more upscale experience, it seems the floor wasn’t reinforced, so the experience was uncomfortable, at best. The food came out and I got the asparagus carbonara - it looked wrong to begin with, it was heavy, gooey, and thick like an Alfredo that was sitting around for an hour. It had a brownish yellow tint, not the bright orange of egg yolks - think hamburger helper - it tasted more like chicken bullion than the eggy richness of carbonara. It was salty and the asparagus was woody, not tender. I couldn’t eat it - they removed it from the check. What I learned - eat at the bar, it’s a better all-around experience and order something simple and straightforward. We used to love the intimate interior before the reno and we like the contemporary update that was done (seems like it’s a work in progress), but it is not to the caliber of other similarly priced...

I have been going to Ptown for many years and have had a tradition of dinning at Edwige when in town, unfortunately they permanently closed in 2020. Looking for a new place, someone recommended The Mews. I went in early without a reservation and asked if I could sit at the bar as I was alone, the host was frankly a little bit snotty, but agreed to let me sit at the bar (I was literally the only one at the bar). The bartender was super nice and very attentive. The place is cozy enough with a great view, but also dated, feels very 1980s, and with dishes like Lobster Risotto, Caesar Salads, and Vindaloo... the menu also felt dated and in need of updating. The bartender recommended a fish dish but I was done with seafood and ordered the Duck Leg Confit. The dish came out very quickly, a little too quickly, I thought. The duck was somewhat dry and not at all succulent like I would expect a confit to be, the sauce helped (I think it was raspberry), The truffle mash tasted overly of "truffle oil", and I don't know what candied walnuts were doing on the plate, they related to nothing. Over all it was not an unpleasant experience, but it was also pretty forgettable, for those kind of prices (over $90 with 2 glasses of wine+ tip) I expected more. Would I eat there again? Maybe, but maybe listen to the server and try...