DeckSide Boteco — Restaurant in West Cape May

*I posted my review on their Instagram but they deleted^^^

I’m sorry - just went today and the food isn’t really good. Loud ambience, and no boteco vibes at all, service is fine. I ordered the fritter basket and they were very small and oily, the one that was supposed to be with calabresa there’s barely any. - just memories of calabresa- . I also ordered the picanha plate with a side of rice and beans - at first my rice came out raw - but that was corrected quickly, even though flavor wise nothing was really reminding me of Brasil. The farofa that comes with the picanha taste like pre made Yoki farofa that I can buy myself at the grocery store. I asked for Diet Coke as they described on their menu and they gave me Pepsi 🤡 and lastly extremely pricey for the food quality- product that you can find very easily and cheaper in any Brazilian market. I’m sorry I can see this is a new place in town but do not deliver as described, as my American husband - that always have Brazilian food - said you can’t just hangout Brazilian flags in your establishment and title yourself as a Brazilian restaurant. I understand why nobody was there. It’s a shame you call that authentic Brazilian food.

**EDIT1

Okay, I didn’t mention your self motivation for work or whatever, good for you - you work 6am to 10pm, you should take some of these hours and learn how to cook your own fritters since you need to catering (????) If you are not a boteco don’t sell yourself as a boteco, or add something like American style (????) because your concept is very far from a typical boteco. Song was so loud, that a couple that arrived 20 minutes after us had to change their table because of that and when my husband and I were about to leave another couple arrived and someone need to move the speaker- and it was right in our direction that LOUD MUSIC, lucky we were leaving.

Food still pricey only typical ingredients from Brasil you have is picanha, catering fritters 🤡, hot sauce, farofa Yoki, guarana and feijoada meat but you only sell this dish on Saturday all the others ingredients you can easily buy at any other American grocery, nothing trying to put a price in your service, just saying.

I didn’t mean to offend you or anything but you came with this damn attitude- instead of saying sorry for the raw rice or the PEPSI or the PRE MADE FAROFA DONT YOU EVEN NEED TO COOK THAT- yes, that was PEPSI, let’s be frank here - that would be way better!!!!

Don’t come with this conversation of vibes 🍃🍃 I’m not trying to disrespect or discourage your business - just saying food don’t taste good...

I think they just opened and had a few tables of friends and family in the restaurant. Luke showed us to our table in the covered patio. It was a gorgeous night- not too hot or muggy and the patio space is really nice. Everyone was really friendly. You fill out a piece of paper to order. You have to ask for glasses of water. They had some really interesting limonades and the like but i didn't feel like paying $14 for a drink that night. Though I'm a sucker for condensed milk and I'm going to go back to purposefully get the Swiss Lemonade. We got a pack of Uno cards after we ordered and that helped pass the time away. Maybe we were really hungry but the popcorn to start was really good. We got a lot of dishes for our party of 5 and I was concerned it would be expensive but everything was meant to be shared so it turned out to be about $30/pp. We all were pretty happy trying all the dishes. Everything was served in lined plastic baskets. Which I think lends itself to the Boteca theme. Here's what we got: Pastel Basket: 2 large fried pastries. 1 cheese and 1 beef. Good, but hard to share with 5 people. Fritters and croquettes basket: 2 each of cod, cheese and chicken, and sausage. They all looked the same in the basket but were tasty. Grilled skewers: one beef, one chicken- plenty of meat on each skewer for each adult to have at 2 pieces. Nicely salted and seasoned and grilled to perfection. Picanha prato: if you only get one thing, get this. It's the most expensive thing on the menu, but so good. Comes on a sizzling plate. Torresmo a Pururuca: crunchy little pork belly bites. Deep fried until all sides were crunchy. Surprising hit of lime. Yucca fries, bread, tomato vinaigrette, and farofa were accompaniments that came with some of the entrees. The yucca fries were a little hard. The vinaigrette was unexpectedly perfect with the meat. Not sure what to make of the farofa but it added a layer of texture to anything you put it on and I didn't mind it. All in all, food was good. If you have to choose only a few dishes, go for the grilled meats Maybe a little pricey for what's basically street food, but you gotta keep in mind that it's Cape May, where most restaurants are $$$... go with a good sized party and cost per person is reasonable. To me, Service was slightly slow, but I go through a lot of water. I'd love to see some Pão de Queijo on the menu if they're taking...

Had a great meal last night in Cape May thanks to Boteco. The inside of the restaurant is charming and rustic, giving off a relaxed vibe with board games. Kid friendly, but we were on a date night to check out the Brazilian bites.

Overall, the food was great, the service extraordinarily friendly, and the ambiance fits Cape Mays relaxed beach environment.

Ordering was interesting, by marking your own table number and quantities. Not the biggest fan of this method, but not a huge deterrent either.

BYOB with some very appetizing looking non-alcoholic drinks, but we both decided to go for a classic Guaraná. To start we ordered croquette basket, which was chicken coxinha with catupiry, bacalhau, and beef croquette. These were all excellent and possibly the best chicken coxinha I’ve eaten in the states. We also got the sliced bread, similar to garlic bread, but with some other spices, and the fried mandioca. The mandioca was cooked perfectly with a crispy exterior and a creamy smooth inside. Paired with some of the brazilian hot sauce on the table it was a great match.

For our main course we ordered 2 portions of the Saturday special, Feijoada. Served with a modern take on Brazilian vinaigrette on the side. The couve (kale), was not the traditional version sautéed with garlic, but flavored with something like lemon. I am partial to the traditional couve, but this was good too.

To finish off the experience we shared a brigadeiro. Unlike the traditional rolled ball with sprinkles, it was also a modern take, served in a bowl with cream and fruit. The texture was more akin to pudding than a thick brigadeiro, but delicious nonetheless.

Will definitely be returning with friends and our kids...