Dinner at the Lobster Pound
 

My wife and I had dinner at the LP Thursday night. It was an experience, to say the least. We arrived at 7:45. Were seated at 8:00 p.m. That began a comedy of errors. The drink order was taken promptly, and everything fell apart after that. Atfter our waitress returned with the drinks, she took our order. I had the lobster roll dinner and my wife had the scallop dinner. About a half hour later (yes a half hour) salads arrived at the table. I don't know whether they came with the meal or not. We figured what the heck. After that, another forty-five minutes goes by (yes forty-five minutes) and a waitress from another table brings us some cornbread and rolls. Another twenty or thirty minutes goes by -- my wife and I get up to leave because we've had it, and our dinner miraculously appears! We boxed things up because we were pretty tired of the whole place. One of the owners did apologize profusely, told us dinner was "on the house" and he'd take care of us the next time we came to the restaurant. That probably won't be happening again. When we got back, it was finally time for dinner at 10:00 p.m. The lobster roll was actually okay, but the scallops were dreadful. Two at the most. They were actualy sliced into halves! They're going to make a lot of money there because of the size of the bar, but they have a long long way to go regarding the food. They were trying to blame most of it on the cook, but there were enough things wrong to spread the blame around pretty evenly. The waitress appeared lost. People were waiting for food for long periods of time. A man at another table told us it was his first visit and it would be his last visit. Kind of a sad experience all around. Hopefully things will improve, because they couldn't sink much lower. Hope those of you out there who've either been or are considering going have a better experience than we did.

The Lobster Pound used to be one of our favorites for years. We noticed it going downhill three years ago. Our last meal there was last year -- and we vowed never to return. Too bad, because it used to be good food at a moderate price. Now it's worse than dogfood served in prison.

New Lobster pound
 

While I understand your frustrations with how long it took and the food good/bad..
The only point I will make is that ,unless you own a restaurant [ not worked at one or have a brother who works at a restaurant ] you could not begin to believe how complex it is...
It is very important that we don't pass judgement on this place for at the VERY LEAST 2 months.
They opened with a limited menu ,which says " we want to be open but we are not quite ready ,but we will open in a limited capacity now and please give us a little time and we will work out all the kinks in our new place.
It is my guess that these new people probably have about 3.5mil invested here and they deserve a little break here .
Restaurants are a lot like a new car . If you buy a new car and when it went through assemly line ,EVEREYONE did their very best ,,their best work ever and the car went out of the building 99.9 percent perfect, your new car will still have 13 things wrong with it.. That is how many parts there are in todays cars and restaurants are quite similar ,believe me .
I will wait until july 4th and try them a week later ....by then the kinks will be mostly worked out .
I went passed them last nite,Friday nite around 9:00 and there were at least 75 cars there. Again ,tonight at 9:45 at least 100 cars. Your right , they will make a lot on the booze and because of the location ...these people have deep pockets and there is no way that they will acceppt anything less than 100 % from their employees ,,lets give them some time ,K?

I'm sorry you had a bad time there....but God, give it a month or two. They just opened up on a limited basis. They seemed to do everything possible to address your concerns. I don't get the rage ?

I have exactly the opposite opinion of the old place. My wife and I went there for the first time last year and we've been living in and visiting the area for 15 years, and had never been before. We had a very good meal, service was great and I loved the idea of waiting under the canopy at the picninc tables because they had that little bar window :)

I agree, the new owners may have 3.5 mil into this project, but I'm sure the kids working the tables don't. Their vested interest is just a paycheck and sadly they're the front line and that is always a double edged sword. They "represent" the business and they have the least to gain or lose. It takes a long time to learn how to waitress/wait and so I think the dining experience will take a bit to perc. I wish them a lot of success, the building is beautiful and it's nice to see someone investing in the area to improve the landscape.

Won't Return Either
 

My wife and I went there last summer and ordered crab legs. What we recieved were various broken crab leg pieces and not many of them. Entirely disappointing.

Unless we hear from numerous sources that this place has turned around, we won't be going back.

Gotta Give it a chance
 

To even compare this restaurant with the " old " Lobster pound is unfair. New owners deserve a fair chance. Not having eaten there yet you really have to give some time to work out the kinks. Yes these people have lots of money invested, the area certainly needs new blood. Let's all give them a chance, I can't wait to try it a little later in the summer.

You went last year under the old mangement. it's new people & a new building now.

OK, you should give them a chance. But nobody forced them to put out the "Open" sign. If they say they're open and are willing to take peoples money, then I think it's reasonable to expect that you will at least get a halfway decent dining experience with a good portion of food.

Sure, the restaurant business may be hard, many of us here likely work at jobs or in industries that are "hard" or "unforgiving". Still, our customers expect to get a good product and service for their money. If you can't hack it, find a different profession.

my two cents...
 

Before stating my opinion on this subject, I want to say that I docked at the Weirs last week, and took a walk up just to check the place out. And I must say, I am looking forward to many a beer out on one of their two decks (looked like two levels, anyway). Certainly looks like it will be a great place to hang for a couple hours, and I'm sure it will be at capacity plus plus during motorcycle week. That being said...
I am closely connected to the restaurant business, and, in fact this restaurant recently opened a location in the lakes region. What they did to minimize the "kinks" (and this may be standard in the industry, I'm not sure) was this...they had two "mock" openings. All managers, owners, and certain employees were encouraged to invite up to 6 people at a ceratin time to come to a soft opening....the only thing different between the real opening and the soft opening was at the soft opening, noone got a bill...everything was comped. Free. Even booze. (which would violate state laws, so a tab was actually run for all drinks, the the head C.E.O. payed at the end of the night). The goal was to have a full house, with a full staff, on two separate occasions. It was explained to me, that, although it is very costly, the fact that you only get one shot at a first impression is the only thing that matters. So, when they opened to the public they were well prepared (and, of course brought some experienced help in from other locations). It would seem to me, that in a location where you have to make the bulk of your income in a three to four month span, your margin of error is tiny. Let's face it..the Lobster Trap's location will keep it busy all summer all by itself. But in less than peak times, they will need to have a reputation of a place that is worth the drive.
I feel for them, as a certain number of kinks in normal, but you really should be well prepared for an on slaught of customers at that location if you open in the summer time. And that, actually, was another point I just remembered about the other restarant I spoke of...they were certain to be open by late winter/very early spring, so when the crowds arrived, all employees knew their roll, and played it well.
I'm sure things will get better for The Lobster Pound, and look forward to going there myself...hopefully they will not disappoint too many people before things are running smoothly.

We will give it a shot, but...
 

I clearly understand that a new undertaking might involve a little debugging, however, it should be pointed out that this is an unforgiving economy and this type of restaurant relies on a very discretionary expenditure. In addition, the market appears quite seasonal. So, my sense is that they better sort things out quick; there are still a number of restaurant choices in the area. I would love to see a quality lobster restaurant at the Weirs rather than having to hoof down to Sandy Point when the urge presents. So, we will give it a shot, but hopefully we hear some positive postings in the future.

Jetskier:cool:

Drink Prices
 

I agree that the Lobster Pound needs to be given a limited amount of time to get the "kinks" out. We will certainly give them a try this season. In fact, we stopped by on Friday and picked up their menu in anticipation of our visit.

The wine by the glass prices took me my surprise though with prices in the $9-$15 dollar a glass range. :eek: Beer is priced $3.50.

Lets give them a chance.

The reality is I am hoping and PRAYING that these people succeed. Weirs needs this place and as a long timer I really wish them success. I will most definitely visiting this place over the summer even after reading this negative post. Please don't get me wrong, I sincerely appreciate the post and information from vmartino and I think we should all feel the same. It sets a level of expectation that we can all use to our advantage when visiting this establishment. If we feel things are going "wrong" we can use the info here to nip it in the bud hopefully. Anyway, I applaud the owners for the renovations to the property and I hope the work out the kinks this summer. We all have a limited resource of restaurants to visit by boat and I was hoping this could be a new choice.

Good Luck to the owners and I hope they are smart enough to read this forum! ;)

Won't be back
 

A friend was visiting and I thought it would be a good time to try out the Lobster Pound. We were told when we entered that it would be a 30 minute wait. That's not unreasonable so we waited inside the door for our table. After about 15 minutes I noticed that four nearby tables were open so I asked the hostess about it. She told me that the were not seating people as the kitchen was running behind. About 10 minutes later she called our name and the other hostess came over to say the kitchen was an hour behind. They were going to seat us and drag us on for an hour. Luckily for us the hostess was honest about it and we chose to find somewhere else to eat. While I understand that it takes time to get a restaurant running the season is not that long and you better not take two months to get it right. There are too many restaurants looking for your business. We won't be back this year. Maybe if the forum feedback improves we'll try them next year.

Rick

Not surprised
 

Not shocked 1 bit I remember eatting at Nadia's ( same chef) and the kitchen was always slow on busy days and same thing tables empty that were not used because they were falling behind. Its been an issue before and its an issue again hmmm not blaming the chef some the evidence shows something towards that the issue could be the kitchen and the same person who ran Nadia's kitchen is in charge hmmmmm.

This is disappointing, but not surprising....they clearly have some kinks to work out. I will not ruin things for myself by going there in there in the first month, since I have high expectation and wish them to succeed.

Bike Week is going to be a real problem by the sounds of it.

If someones foolish enough to spend 3.5 million ( a guess as read here ) then run the place as posted I say tuff! First day or 3 months into the season. With that kind of investment you need to be ready to run right outta the gate.

I showed up at the Lobster Pound on Saturday night around 7:30pm and was told that there was a 2.5 hour wait in the kitchen. For a business that just opened, I feel they need to work out the bugs.

holy cow!
 

Wow...all these negative posts...it's too bad. Although I would guess it will get better quickly, I can't help but think: Did they not realize that summer was here, and they would be swamped with customers instantly??? Everyone always wants to "check out the new place". And, aside from that, with the season so short, they are wasting prime time.
I'm wondering if they are new to the business, or have they owned a restaurant before..

We will go back..hope it gets better
 

I went Sat nite with a large group(12), was told a 30min wait. No problem we went to the bar, after 30 min we were told it would be another 30 mins....long story short it ended up being over an hour and a half wait to be seated...then another 45 min to eat. Mike the manager was sorry and tried to help, he gave us a table out side, but it was no the best of nights. I pray they get their act together befor bike...it won't be pretty. I will go back bc their steamers were great.

Someone mentioned that this is being run by the former owners of Nadias. If so it makes sense, as the experiences described here pretty much mirror my limited (2) dining experiences at Nadias, and the stories from friends who went there.

Not same owners but same chef
 

I read this as the same chef as Nadia's not the same owners

Houston.....
 

I think they have a problem.....!:( But not to worry....at $9 to $15 a glass for house chardonnay....sell enough of that and the place will survive...very well, thank you. Can't wait to spend 3 or 4 hours waiting for a dinner...

Thats why we found another place to have dinner.

Nadia's always had good food, but it was never anywhere near fast. Hopefully that's not the model that the Lobster pound plans to use. I won't visit until they work out the kinks and get some positive reviews here. Given their location, they may survive off the drink menu forever, like their neighbors. But Patrick's has proven that you can have a good restaurant and a good bar business.

the lobster pound
 

I will say it again ....give them a little time,,,they will work it all out ...these people earned their money the hard way...they worked for it ! and anyone smart enough to come up with that amount of cash and credit rating isn't stupid.
they see the problems and i bet 20 % are already gone...all done ..It may not even take the 6-8 weeks I first mentioned......might be mostly fixed in the first 3-4 weeks.
Now there is another situation : pricing with chic lobsters costing $7.00 a pound and 1 1/2 -2lb up around $8.00 -$8.25 cost ya just can't tell ...the lobster boats are still only being paid between $2.50 -$2.75 a pound so that huge mark up is dealers/wholesalers and diesal fuel...
There is not a glass of Chardonay on earth that i would pay $9.00 for ..
A really nice new zealand pinot grigio would be a different story

So they face a number of obstacles: I am sure that there has not been a minute go by that they were not thinking of ways to solve these "challenges" I don't have problems, I have challenges.. Some of them they can control,,,,and control they will with an iron fist..some things ,such as food cost ,ya just have to wiggle with it
6 months ago oil for the friolaters was $18.00 ...now its $30.00
Mark my words...pockets this deep know how to survive...and they will ,,,and they will prosper...:)

The world is littered with formerly-rich restaurateurs, many of which who got too far ahead of their finances in locations far less seasonal than this.

You are argue their experience is in their favor. I argue that if they were so experienced and cash-flush they would have delayed opening until these problems were worked out, or they would have been able to open on schedule with a smoother operation.

I hope they make it, it sounds like a good recipe for success (pun intended).

After all these messages, I thought I'd jot down a couple of things. I will be giving the Lobster Pound a second chance -- although I'll really have to work on my wife going there again. Everyone deserves a second chance. It's very important in my opinion that the establishment succeed. It would be a great loss to the area if they aren't able to make it. It's in all our interests to see that they do well. I do hope, however, that the owners are reading these comments. Kinks do have to be worked out, however it doesn't take a lot of thought to recognize that there are significant problems when orders were being delivered to the wrong table, people were leaving in a huff, and for some of us who did hang in there for two hours no one from the wait staff even approached us for a significant period of time. Those aren't kinks, at least not in my experience. So here's hoping on our second visit things go a little bit more smoothly.

This may be somewhat off topic. We are in Lenox, MA for 2 days. We stopped at a restaurant called Alta and had a wonderful meal with great service. The owner came to our table to ask how the food and service was and what he could do to improve things. I told him to just keep up the good work then asked him how long he had been opened. He said just a week. I asked if he did a trial run before opening and he said he did one full house with friends.

And this is now bike week (10 days!).

change...
 

So, I'm wondering if anyone has been recently, and if things are changing???
I imagine that, by now, some progress must have been made.

GREAT QUESTION!

I too am wondering as I am so hopeful that they succeed. The Weirs needs this place so bad. I think it is a positive thing and I just feel like things are on the upswing for the Weirs. Maybe I am ever the optimist but the whole look of the new "Pound" is kind of like a crowning jewel at the entrance to the Weirs.

Updates would be welcome.

Crowds all week....
 

I was in the Weirs area last Saturday and I must say ....there were literally thousands of people congregating in front of the Pound..... probably waiting to get one of those beautiful crustaceans......as far as the eye could see hundreds of motorcycles up and down the streets all waiting I'm sure to get into this newly re-opened Weirs landmark.....what? Bike Week? Oh..... NEVER MIND......

and Michael C . . .

I know that these don't even compare, but if your investor was "new" and he/she invested your capital and lost a majority of it, you wouldn't be happy either. The poster was just wanting a nice relaxing dinner and they didn't get it.

Give those sharing a break. This backwards thinking is becoming the demise of this country. "lets give them some slack since they just opened". These are just excuses. Not holding a service oriented industry to some sort of standard is ridiculous. . . A good chef doesn't put out a plate that they're not proud of and if you're the owner and you're working the front end, there is no excuse. The manager made the right decision to comp, though I would have paid the bill. Poor and soft management is my guess. More people should plan their work and work their plan. p.s. I DO understand the in's and out's of running a successful restaurant. Hampton Beach (20 years ago).

Also, in a lower post I see that you stated that these people have a deep pockets aka in my business "skin in the game" and they'll make it work. Throwing money at it shouldn't be the strategy. You need a good chef, a stern but consistently,pleasant front end manager and good wait staff. They're lucking they're in a transient, seasonal town with repeat business if they can get it together. The kinks should have been worked out in the first week they were opened. It appeared that the construction crew was behind, and their opening was probably planned a few weeks before Memorial day . . . and I feel for them. No one should have a hard opening on a major holiday weekend, but you do what you need to do.

I hope they work it out, it's a fabulous location, the ambiance is nice and it's the perfect Friday night restaurant before taking in a drive in movie.

My sister and her husband and friends have been there twice this year and they weren't very impressed, they have one last shot but I think we'll wait to August and some time mid week to try them again.

All the best, really. :D

I have given the Lobster pound a try 3 times. This last time our entire table of 7 vowed we will never return. I have NEVER been treated so poorly in my life at a restaurant. Not only did we feel like we were overcharged for our drinks and appetizers, but a person at our table ordered Fried scallops for $15.95. On our bill they charged us for baked stuffed scallops for $21.40, we asked if they could take care of it considering we didn't order that. The manager came over, laughed, and said "are you really complaining about $5? Sorry there is nothing I can do". We were astonished. The food and drinks are overpriced and that manager was absolutely beyond rude. Where do they get off charging people for something they didn't order and then saying "too bad". Appalling.

This sounds like pure BULL !!!

I can't believe they wouldn't fix a bill, that's the craziest thing I've heard since last night. I agree it has to be bull.

This is not "bull". I wouldn't waste my time complaining about somthing if it wasn't serious. I am a huge believer in supporting local business, and actually never have complained or posted anything negative about anyone, but this blew me out of the water. I have never been treated so poorly in my life. I have 7 others that will agree, actually 8 including the poor waitress that offered to pay for the wrong meal herself after her manager refused to help us.