The Cultured Pearl Restaurant & Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Rehoboth Beach

We’ve been regular Cultured Pearl customers for over 20 years and have always thoroughly enjoyed our dining experience. Last night’s experience was sub-par to disappointing for the following reasons:

(1) Our server seemed tired and indifferent (not rude, just tired and indifferent). He didn’t stop by our table to check in and when it came time to close out the check, we waited over 30 minutes after saying we were ready for the check before he came back with the check. The restaurant wasn’t busy at all and the other two tables near us in his station were sharing similar concerns about how long it took him to bring their checks and how little he seemed to stop by our tables.

The food was pretty disappointing and this is saying a lot because it’s always been a favorite of ours in Rehoboth. If this had been our first experience we would not be returning. We ordered the Asian Vegetable Medley (which we were told by our server is a “pre-mix” — and that was another disappointment… made it sound like and tasted like a pre-mix of frozen veggies, and that’s exactly how it tasted. The texture and lack of variety in the “medley” was squishy and bland — there were only green bell peppers and onions (think Chipotle “Fajita Mix” and this tasted much worse than that). The “Brussels appetizer” was way over-drenched in a salty sauce that overwhelmed the dish… couldn’t taste the vegetable at all. What was particularly disappointing was that when asked about the dish, our server said it was a lightly sautéed pan seered Brussels dish. It was more of a salty mosh of soupy Asian sauce drowning out soggy Brussels cut in half… maybe the kitchen was having a particularly bad day?

The sushi was below average (Cultured Pearl and Delaware Rolls). We’ve always loved their such I so this was both a surprise and disappointment. The Cultured Pearl didn’t taste as fresh as usual and we experienced bad stomach cramps all night soon after eating it. The Avocado seemed past its prime and the veggies in the Delaware roll included scarce ‘micro slivers’ veggies — much more rice than veggies.

Overall, the service and food this one evening was barely a 2-star and the atmosphere was what pulled it up to 2-stars. We’re hoping this was a one-time bad day for the restaurant which has been historically one of our favorites at Rehoboth...

We had a reservation for the outdoor deck for 8 for my father’s 90th birthday. We frequent The Cultured Pearl multiple times a year for the last 20+ years starting at the old location. Let me say this might be our last meal there. The reservation was for 7pm on a Tuesday night. I called ahead about the milestone birthday and my food allergy and was told it was no issue to accommodate me. We were seated within 15 mins of our arrival at 7pm. When I asked about foods that were safe the server was clueless and had to go back to ask the kitchen for each and every dish. I ended up ordered the sashimi platter to be safe. I ordered a bottle of champagne to celebrate the occasion and we were bought out dirty glasses including once with lip stick. They didn’t provide an ice bucket nor knew how to pour so my husband had to step in. We put in appetizers with the drinks when we sat down and our dinner entrees when the drinks came out. The tempura was soaked in grease. The other appetizers (Korean fried chicken and the chicken robato) were just okay from the rest of the table then we waited. The server came around one time to let us know the kitchen was working on our meals after an hour. We ended up waiting over 90 minutes for our entrees. By the time we got our food it was so dark since our table was not fully under a pergola had no lights so no one able to see what they were eating. We had to ask for the server to bring out some tea lights to see the food. We had multiple sushi combos, sashimi combos, the cultured combos, multiple assorted rolls, 2 kids meals and the kids even ordered additional rolls so not a cheap meal. The food was mediocre at best and some of it was just not good. Anything with spicy tuna were bitter and some of the rolls were just odd tasting, but we didn’t want to wait another hour for things to be remade or complain since it was supposed to be a celebration. Except there was no acknowledgement of the birthday except for the lady checking us in who gave my dad a birthday hat and when the cake we provided was brought out. The scenery was the best part of the restaurant, but the food and service were less than desirable. Definitely not a place for celebrations. Way over priced for below average sushi and...

TLDR; Agreed with others — very overpriced mediocre sushi. If you have a seating preference, go to the Resy link on their website instead of using the “Reserve a Table” widget that comes up on Google when you search the establishment.

Made a reservation through the “reserve a table” button that comes up on Google when you search for this restaurant. Through that link, Resy did not give an option to choose to reserve indoor or outdoor seating so I made a comment requesting rooftop seating, assuming that was our best shot. When we arrived, we were told they saw our comment requesting rooftop seating but we were automatically reserved an indoor table through Resy. They told us they could seat us outside at an uncovered table which we agreed to — it was our first time here and we were looking forward to enjoying the atmosphere from the rooftop to get the full experience. The table we sat at was a bit uncomfortable due to the sun shining down on us on a hot day. I understand certain things are out of their control, but we saw many open 2-person tables that were covered/shaded that were unoccupied during our entire meal. Just would have made the overall experience a little bit better, considering the food left a lot to be desired. We shared the gyoza ($12 for 5 pieces), I got the “Cultured Pearl” signature roll ($14), and my partner got a classic tempura shrimp roll ($9). When the rolls came out, I almost laughed out loud because they looked like appetizers. I believe they were 6 pieces each. Typically when you order a signature sushi roll for $14, you get a decent sized roll…. not here, though. There was a tiny piece of scallop in each piece of the roll, which to me felt like such a rip off considering the price. Overall, I’m glad we tried the Cultured Pearl. Our server was attentive and kind. My partner really enjoyed seeing the koi fish; but now, we can say we know it’s over-hyped and save our money for something else more worth...