Shame On You Pete's Fishery in Matawan NJ!!!

This is my first restaurant review on Food Newsy and I'm sad to say it's not a good one. We chose Pete's Fishery in Matawan, NJ because it was quite the restaurant back in the day... EXACTLY... back in the day! 

I was all too excited to order the Fried Oyster Platter with a baked Sweet Potato and cornbread. Hubby ordered Fried Flounder and number 2 son ordered the Buffalo Shrimp. The waitress was friendly enough and service was fine until...

Our food came. My first bite of an oyster was an ok experience, nothing to write home about. They were dull, with very little seasoning besides not being hot. I glanced over to my husband who tried his flounder and he pretty much had that same lack luster expression as me. Son ate with enjoyment, although he would eat fried shoe leather on a plate if you gave it to him. Let's just take him out of the equation for now.

I noticed that the prices went up considerably so I guess I was anticipating the quality of food to go up as well. We were hungry and continued to eat. Second oyster and I bit into a huge piece of shell. I quietly and discreetly removed it from my mouth. Third oyster, another shell, fifth oyster ANOTHER shell that practically broke my tooth!

I called our waitress over and told her about these events and she said "you are bound to get shells because of the way they are shucked". No apology, no replacement, nothing. She walked away and I was fuming at this point. I called her back and asked her to remove my plate from the table and that I was not going to finish my meal. I saw her go over to the manager and whisper something and I was hoping they were going to make it up to us, but nothing.

The bill came and she announced that they took off 25% because of the shells. ARE YOU KIDDING ME! The chef had come out of the kitchen and was speaking to another patron. I went over to him and politely said how we have enjoyed the restaurant so much in the past, however this visit was a bit of a disappointment. I repeated the story to him and got the same reaction!  "You are bound to get shells because of the way they are shucked". Now, not so politely I said, "sir, with all due respect, I have shucked oysters at home and served them to guests without any shells, maybe you need to take a refresher course on how to shuck an oyster."

The waitress, the chef and even the manager all had very bad attitudes, they were rude and condescending. The kicker here is the final blow... my husband went to pay and the manager asked, "how was everything". Hubby replied, "not to good this evening, I'm afraid". The manager says "Oh good, thanks for coming" WHAT!!!! He didn't even listen or hear what my husband said. "

Well, hear this! We will NEVER, EVER, EVER eat at your restaurant again, and every chance I get, I will make sure to relay this story over and over again and I will attempt to go on every food review website and make sure I tell this to everyone; until I feel better anyway.

I should have mentioned to the chef that I have a food blog with over 2,000 viewers! 

Anyway, I am cooking a lovely dinner for some guest tomorrow and if I decide to make oysters, you can rest assure I will be serving mine without shells!