On December 6, 2023, my husband and I took two of our closest frineds to the Boathouse at Short Pump for a pre-holiday dinner. Rick and I had been to the Boathouse many times and had always found it to be expensive, but to consistently...have good food, wine, and service. Boy, were we in for a rude awakening this time! So, here's a list of the most annoying things that happened that night.
Bear in mind that our bill was about $460, including the new "20% service fee" which they charge in lieu of a tip. Prior to this visit, I was all for this new system, because it eliminates inconsistent tipping and allows servers to receive a reliable living wage.
This new system is plastered all over the Boathouse site on Open Table and when you make your reservations, the policy is also plastered all over the confirmation email and text. Then, when you get to the restaurant, the servers also make a big point of telling you about it in front of your guests. But that's not the biggest problem with it.
When you take the decisions on whether and how much to tip away from the customers, any incentive for the server to render good or better service evaporates. That's what happened to us. Our server was either smothering us, trying to speed us along, or disappeared entirely. Reasonable requests for additional salad dressing, a second cocktail, a glass of wine with the entrees, or other routine items were seriously delayed or not acted upon. It's not like the place was packed that evening. It was seriously dead.
Now, about the food. It was expensive and meh, except for the appetizers and the Caesar salad. The crab/artichoke dip with baguette slices drizzled with olive oil was to die for, as well as the lightly battered calimari and aioli. Out of this world!
BUT!
I ordered the grilled seafood combo entree, which I think was the most expensive meal on the menu at $45 (remember my husband and I are hosting). I expected a pretty nice spread of crabcake, scallops, and shrimp, all lightly grilled with mashed potatoes and asparagus. What I got was one 2 1/2 inch crabcake (not jumbo lump), three blackened (not lightly grilled), two shrimp, four pieces of asparagus (they were good), and some mashed potatoes that were stale and unappetizing.
Our female friend ordered a burger. The server asked her how she wanted it cooked. She said medium. It came to her well-done. She said it was tasteless. Nothing was said about all burgers having to be cooked well-done.
My husband ordered shrimp and grits. There was a very thin layer of grits with 6 or 8 shrimp lying in it, and the gravy was overpowering - dominating the whole dish. Rick said he couldn't even taste the shrimp.
The other friend ordered shrimp tacos. Apparently, they were satisfactory, but his wife asked to eat one of the three tacos because her burger was inedible, so her husband only got to eat two, and there were no sides with the tacos.
Rick and I were so embarrassed to have brought our friends in for such an expensive mediocre meal and poor service. We won't make the mistake again.More