Faster, better…

My wife and I visited Harrison’s Chesapeake House while spending a B&B weekend on Tilghman Island, MD the weekend of August 17. We rated Harrison’s a 3 – These folks are having a bad day and we might choose to go back again someday. Eileen truly enjoyed her meal but as for me I intend to steer clear.

We arrived between 1:00 o’clock and 1:30 PM on a Saturday afternoon to have lunch. The first thing I saw was an entertaining sign about service just outside the front door. Maybe they believe it. We went inside and were greeted by five employees all sitting down enjoying a smoke. The ash trays were (yuk) full, and the place wreaked. One asked, “Would you like inside or out.” We asked for outside. The employee pointed – “Go that way.” What’s with the pointing thing? This is the second place we have been to where staff point.

We pointed ourselves in the same direction and walked around a hall corner finding ourselves in a maintenance corridor. At the end of the corridor near the exterior door we were apparently supposed to exit were two non-uniformed employees. The one to the right was holding up the wall behind him and the one on the left was reclining in a dirty linen basket just outside the washroom. Honestly it was like running customer-no-service gauntlet. Pushing open the door we found ourselves outside. It was not immediately clear where we were or where we were supposed to go. At this point I was ready to leave. I had a suspicion I was going to pay a premium for lunch but I really didn’t want to pay these people.

We came to the back of the structure and lo and behold there was the outdoor seafood-crab porch alongside the harbor that we had heard about. We walked up to the entrance and waited. There was no response to our presence so we assumed it was informal and found a place to sit. We then waited, and waited some more. About ten minutes went buy and someone finally said they would be with us in a few minutes. About ten minutes later sure enough. A drink order was taken and about ten minutes later we had our drinks and ordered a meal. About fifteen or twenty minutes later our meal was served.

My wife loved her shrimp. I ordered the Maui Fish Sandwich which was two pieces of fried fish on a white hamburger bun served with french fries. Nothing special and not worth the wait or the price. I had also ordered cheese and pickles as a side. The side dish didn’t show up until I had eaten the fish. The clincher for me was when the drink refill never came. As the waitress gave us the check she suddenly remembered the drink. “Don’t bother,” I said.

Now my wife is much more forgiving. In her view the two waitresses were very busy and the long wait for food was forgivable. She tipped the waitress after I had paid the exact amount of the bill. When “to insure promptness” doesn’t happen I believe in no tipping. Appreciate my predicament. We’re here celebrating our anniversary. The waitress got her tip and I paid sixteen dollars each for a lunch one might expect to purchase from a sidewalk vendor at a fisherman’s wharf. Pricey and not worth my time.

This outdoor facility is a very small part of the total business at Harrisons. I might go back some evening to see if formal dining is better than informal dining. My spouse certainly will. I did write the owner an email before I wrote the review and I would be very interested in hearing the experience of others.

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