Captain Marden's Seafoods — Restaurant in Wellesley

One incident is not a reflection of a trend nor is one bad customer service experience indicative of larger issue.

However, I wanted to bring to light an incident that was poorly handled in my opinion. I purchased 8 lobsters and 2 dozen oysters 2 weeks ago. Two hours after I purchased the lobsters, I cooked them as I normally do - steamed - and served them for a birthday dinner. One of the lobsters was bitter. I've never had that and frankly could not understand why.

The next day I went back to Captain Marden’s and recounted my story to one of the managers there. Perplexed as to why that may have happened, he turned to another manager who said that this can happen and asked me a few questions around whether the lobster was alive etc. But, in the end, the attitude was, it’s produce, it goes bad, who knows why.

End of story.

My expectation was for a refund for the lobster. All of $8. It's not the money, it’s the principle. As a business that stands for quality and service, that should have been the default response. "I'm sorry the product I sold you did not meet your satisfaction, and I will happily refund your $8 or give you another lobster." Done. That would have been the right thing to do.

Instead, I was left irritated. Now it was my problem. If I wanted to do something about it, I would have to call back another day and speak to the owner. Really? I went back to your store. I had dinner next door with my family, and I have to now remember to call a certain day.

So I rate it 1 star (hate is too strong a word) for one experience that was poorly handled. And worse, Iended up telling my friends who live in Wellesley who told their friends.I relayed the poor experience. An $8 mistake that left more than one person with a bitter taste in...

Ordered the Captains Platter. The meal I received looked like the only seafood was fried clams. I thought maybe the shrimp & scallops (broiled now with new menu) were under the fried clams. So I ate a clam or 2 & still saw no shrimp or scallops. The young man who had delivered my dinner came over and said I had the wrong plate. He took the plate from in front of me & placed a Captains Platter down. I watched as he brought the plate, I had sampled, to a patron (seated at the bar) and placed it in front of her. I was shocked. This poor woman was getting a fried clam plate I had eaten from!! I let the waitress (Sara) know what had occured. She apologized but focused on me identifying just who had delivered the meals. Sara called it a "learning moment" and said it would be discussed at the next staff meeting. BTW, the couple at the next table said they witnessed the whole thing and were also shocked. I believe my days of visiting Mardins are over. Without this unacceptable issue the food...

If i could give zero stars I would. I was there with my family, and the lady who was greeting customers was so rude and unfriendly. Not sure if she was the manager or not, but i felt so unwelcomed. I asked what the wait time was and she told me 30 minutes. I told her sure we will wait, can i give you my name? she said just sit there with a very weird tone like she was hoping we would walk out. Did not say anything to her and walked away with my family. She saw that her behavior was so wrong, and came outside to ask us "if she should put our name down" when she told us the opposite in the restaurant. Anyway, first and last time they see us there. But, some free advice, if you want your restaurant to thrive and succeed, you need friendly staff to greet your customers. No one will allow to be treated unfairly or feel unwelcomed. The restaurant is the one who needs the customers to survive, not us. There is plenty of...