Black Pearl Seafood Chophouse — Restaurant in Town of Brookhaven

A Scenic Setting Spoiled by Service Missteps

The service was terrible. Our waiter was unfriendly and unattentive, forgetting our drink order and mixing up our entrees. We felt invisible and unappreciated, so we took our entrees to go and left.

The restaurant’s ambiance was terrific, with great harbor views, though flies during indoor dining were a constant annoyance. Even so, the restaurant’s harbor views could easily set the stage for a memorable dining experience, were it not for the service, which was abysmal.

We ordered appetizers and a drink; however, a server delivered our appetizers without our drink order. When our waiter arrived, I asked about our drink order, and he replied simply that “it was coming.” Frankly, his curt response—“It’s coming”—did little to inspire confidence.

When our entrees arrived, the plating was incorrect: the filet mignon appeared with the lobster tail meant to accompany the New York strip, while the strip was served bare. The plates were whisked back to the kitchen to correct the mistake when we mentioned this to our server who apologized for the mixup.

When the corrected plates were brought out, our waiter’s only reaction was a flat “Oh,” briefly checked if our steaks were cooked to the right temperature (they were), before walking away. Moreover, when we expressed that the evening had been unpleasant, the waiter’s response was silence, followed by walking off without acknowledgment.

Even something as basic as water service was neglected. It took about 15 minutes to get our waiter’s attention to ask for water. While we watched other tables receive attentive refills from their servers, ours remained empty until we repeatedly flagged our waiter down.

By that point, the frustration had overshadowed the meal entirely. We requested takeout containers for our steaks and left, feeling invisible and unappreciated.

It’s worth noting that other servers appeared to be far more attentive, suggesting that our unfortunate experience was not reflective of the entire staff. Still, one disengaged waiter was all it took to turn a meal with a view into an evening we couldn’t wait to end.

Addendum The owner reached out and apologized for our experience with genuine concern and professionalism. Their acknowledgment felt sincere, and they expressed a clear commitment to addressing the service shortfalls we encountered. Timely responsiveness like this goes a long way in restoring goodwill, reminding us that while missteps may occur, how a restaurant chooses to respond can make all...

We went to The Pearl for an impromptu birthday dinner - just four of us. We made a reservation earlier in the day for dinner around 7pm.

The experience was simply odd.

When we arrived, we approached the hostess and let her know the name and that we were 4 people (we were all present). She seemed confused at first then confirmed and said they were just cleaning up a table for us. Fine!

About 5 minutes later, a different hostess comes to the front and asks us if we need help… we said the other girl was cleaning up a table for us and we’ve just been waiting. This new hostess then offers us to hang out at the bar while we wait. We wait maybe 10 more minutes at the bar and despite multiple bartenders and it not being a very busy night, no one comes to help us. At one point the bartenders strike up a conversation right in front of us, totally oblivious to us waiting for them. We had to speak up to get their attention! At this point the original hostess comes back up and asks to confirm that we are a party of FOURTEEN! 14?! We were so confused, and said: no, we’re four people and we’re all present waiting! This was frustrating as we’re surrounded by empty clean tables that we could sit at, but no one seems to be able to get their act together.

After 15-20 minutes waiting, we finally get seated. We order east coast oysters to start, and the guy spills the garlic butter all over the table. We ask for a napkin and he never comes back. We look at the oysters and everyone was a little thrown off to see that they are completely dry. No brine at all, they look like they’ve been sitting out for hours. We’re experienced with oysters so we know this is a bad sign and send them back.

We finally get our waiter to wipe up the butter that’s all over the table, and order different appetizers and our entrees. Food is fine, nothing particularly special but not bad either.

I also want to mention that we included in the reservation that this was for a birthday, and the hostess even verbally confirmed that to us, but they didn’t do or offer anything to celebrate. Why ask this if you have nothing planned? Even the waiter saying “happy birthday” would’ve been nice enough.

Overall, very odd experience. They bill themselves as more of an upscale restaurant but it’s a little rowdy and has an off putting vibe. I would not go back here nor would I recommend it. If you want an upscale dinner in PJ, go across the street to...

In Aug 2025, my wife and I dined at the Black Pearl Seafood Chophouse and thought it was pretty good. We sat outside & listened to the music from the band playing in the gazebo. The food was much better than when Danford's owned and operated the restaurant, so we went back Sat September 13, 2025, with two family members we invited. The waiter this night was an unexperienced amateur and the manager was not much better. The waiter asked for a drink order early on, but we were not ready so he disappeared for 20 minutes. When we ordered drinks and they came, we ordered two salads and told him the main courses we wanted. When the waiter served the salads, he told us he messed because he placed the salad order and main course order at the same time and the main course dishes were ready to be served. We did not want our main dishes with salad we stated newly made main courses should be made for us. Shortly after, the manager stepped over to our table checking how everything was going, we told him about the waiter's mess up and he assured us fresh plates will be prepared when we were ready for them. When the dinners were served, my filet mignon was only warm and the mashed potatoes and asparagus on the dish were cold. This meal was not fresh nor was it under a heater because it might overcook. The 2 branzino dinners were fair not good and the swordfish was probably the best of the four.The manager offered a complementary round of drinks for the screw up. Two of those complementary drinks served were poorly made & tasting and lacked the garnishments on the like the first paid round had. The manager tried to convince me that my filet mignon was freshly cooked,but I knew it was not. Also, there was a wedding upstairs above us. All night we heard the blasting music from the DJ. Boom Boom Boom shaking the ceiling during our whole meal. One of our guests had missing dishes on their menu, we asked the waiter and the waiter said he gave us a wrong menu. What an idiot. No need to say we will not be returning. Going back to the Scotto Brothers restaurants where dining satisfaction is...