Amelia's By the Sea — Restaurant in Spring Lake

If I could I would leave a zero rating. I saw some bad reviews and told my husband, but he only read the good reviews and had made reservations for my Birthday so I didn’t want to upset him. We drove 45 minutes each way just so we could rush home to a toilet. We arrived at 8:30 and were seated Immediately. We weren’t served our dinner until 10pm. We left at 11:30.

Let’s start with the appetizers, the meatballs were flavorless tasting hamburger meat. The ceasar salad was hot lettuce with oil and a funky, bad anchovy flavor. They didn’t offer pepper or parmigiana cheese. Had to ask for it and constantly had to ask for utensils to eat with. My husband ordered the veal parmigiana for $52.00. It was dry, overcooked, and tasted like shoe leather. I ordered the sea bass encrusted with pistachio nuts, for $46.00. The plating was beautiful, but did not match what was on the plate. The fish was thin and overcooked with soggy nuts on top. The broccolini was strange tasting and the mashed potatoes were a watery, (I’m not sure what to say), because I don’t even know if they were potatoes.

The food certainly does not justify the price. We are willing to pay top dollar for a good meal out. The food was inedible.

The waiter was kind and immediately offered to give us a new meal. The owner came over and said that he tasted the veal and it was dried out but he didn’t acknowledge me or my meal. My husband asked for shrimp cocktail which was $18.00 as his replacement meal. The owner told my husband that he makes a fantastic shrimp dish over risotto, I chimed in and said I’ll try that because as I said he only adressed my husband and not me. My husband stuck with the shrimp cocktail, which he said was as tender and very good. The shrimp risotto dish was terrible. The shrimp was surprisingly over cooked. You would think that the owner would have made sure it was perfect.

The clencher of the night was that the waiter was going to charge us the price for the original meals which was way more money than our second choices! I had to tell him to adjust the bill accordingly. He acted as if he was doing us a favor by giving us a different meal. It was inexplicably deceptive.

We paid cash because there is a surcharge to pay with a credit card.

We feel like we were robbed. My birthday night out turned into a disaster and we are now both left with stomach pain, bathroom visits and “dry mouth” for some reason.

One thing I would recommend at this establishment is The Frank Sinatra singer. He is without question a considerable talent.

Other than that, in our opinion, we are both shocked and dismayed that this restaurant is full and still in business. Maybe the owner should highly consider hiring a new cook and changing his...

Was looking for a waterside dining spot and after a google search landed at Barelli's in beautiful Spring Lake. The menu's shown in google search and at open table seem to be outdated, showing lower prices. If I had opened the Barelli website, I would have seen the real prices and maybe chosen a different restaurant. The location, decor and wait staff were all top notch. The food was at best, mixed. We were two couples. The girls split a Caesar Salad ($17) which they said was fine. I had the baked clams ($19) which were also fine. My buddy had the Avocado and crab salad ($33) which did have a good amount of crab meat, he enjoyed it. The entrees were overpriced, and the quality was poor. My wife ordered the Vodka sauce ($26) with peas and mushrooms. Bone dry, and if there were peas and mushrooms in that plate they must have been hiding. She was smart, she asked for some additional sauce peas and mushrooms still hiding. 15 minutes later she ate her Pasta. My buddy's wife and I each ordered from the special's menu. Ricotta Cavatelli Pasta, ($38) our plates came out and immediately I said something is wrong with this picture. My dish, seemed to have a good amount of broccoli, sausage and sun-dried Tomatoes while the other plate seemed to be missing the sausage and sun-dried tomatoes. There was some broccoli. Both dishes were bone dry and tasteless. To have a restaurant serve a bowl of Pasta like that and charge ($38) is just plain shocking. Lastly my buddy ordered the shrimp oreganata ($39) The dish came with only 4 jumbo shrimp, were not talking Prawns or colossal size, just 4 jumbo's. The next time you're at a fish market look at what is considered jumbo shrimp. They are big but nothing warranting a $39 price tag. He claimed it was so-so. Having been extorted enough We decided to blow off dessert and travel to Del Ponte's Bakery in Bradley for a snack and coffee. Unbeknownst to us the couple sitting next to us overheard me suggesting a trip for dessert and decided to do the same. They arrived at Del Ponte's shortly after us and approached us, we all agreed that Barelli's by the sea treats itself as an upscale eatery with exquisite food but when it comes to the food is a far cry from being that. Our bill including tax should have been $228, the actual bill was $246. I've since read in a couple reviews that there is a surcharge for using a credit card. Nowhere did I see this posted, and we were never made aware of this charge. Next to the restroom there is a Filli Ponte poster hanging on the wall. This place isn't a tenth as good as that...

I can't give this restaurant any stars because I never got to eat there. I personally made a reservation for 6:45 on Friday for four. I dutifully arrived on time, my wife lagging behind and the other couple just walking down the street toward the restaurant. I was greeted by 3 hostesses and introduced myself, spelling my name. I joked with Lisa to gain facial recognition as they searched and found the reservation in the computer. It was suggested that we go to the garden area and have a cocktail while waiting. Maeve was our waitress and served us well but as time went by, we questioned her about our reservations and asked for the check. The check was brought but no news about our reservations. An hour had passed and we approached the desk to inquire only to be told that someone had taken our reservation. We had waited as a group for an hour and nobody had ever approached us. I had even asked Maeve if it was part of the protocol to shelve the guests to squeeze them for extra drinks. The hostesses had no answer as to why or how our reservation was given away. Lisa tried to claim that she came to the area to get us, but since there were only two groups in the garden area, we know that's not the case. We made a reservation elsewhere and left. The general manager did call us on the phone to apologize but by that time we were on our way to another restaurant. I had personally introduced myself to three hostesses and yet we languished for an hour. Fortunately there are other top tiered restaurants...