Ebbitt Room

Barry Franklin

Our first time here, supposedly one of the very best restaurants in Cape May. I was very disappointed. My appetizer, grilled oysters, was virtually inedible. They were covered with huge chunks of some type of rocky salt and peppercorns. It was like 20x too salty and 20x too peppery. I then had the mussels as my main course. These too were way too peppery. I can’t recall ever having mussels that were not at least pretty good. These get a 1 on a scale of 10. As do the grilled oysters. I sent the mussels back and they brought me a new order of them but without the pepper. The new order tasted good. If you go there consider this a warning, do not order either of these dishes unless you specifically tell them to leave the salt and pepper off the oysters, and the pepper off the mussels. I am very surprised, given the rave reviews this place gets.

Mitchell Nagy

Overall fantastic meal. Great staff, excellent cocktails, incredible food.

PC Chilek

I’ve been there many times over the years but last nights dinner was truly magnificent. From refreshing drinks on the porch to the Keylime pie for dessert, everything was so tasty. The farm salad, Miso Halibut, shishedo peppers rounded out the evening. Server Jill was professional and a credit to the organization.

Stephen Bloshuk

This restaurant was recommended to my fiancée- and, by extension, myself- by a coworker of hers who has repeatedly vacationed in Cape May with his family and his wife's. He urged us to try this restaurant and, as it seemed to be a high-quality restaurant, we made a reservation for dinner last Wednesday evening. Words cannot describe the quality of service and fare at The Ebbitt Room. Even "exemplary" and "exceptional" seem woefully insufficient. Even from the outside, this restaurant appealed to me as a lover of history. (It is situated in the Virginia Hotel in downtown Cape May, an area known for stunning Victorian architecture.) The interior was equally stunning. The sitting room was vibrant, yet still welcoming, and the dining space, despite being slightly packed in regards to table spacing, was exquisitely designed and decorated. The food continued our amazement and sincere appreciation of this restaurant. For our appetizer, we chose a seasonal favorite: the Beach Plum Farm Deviled Eggs. The fact that there were three eggs per portion was not a bother to me, even before I tasted them. The presentation alone provided the dish with an aura of excellent taste and high quality. And, soon after, it was time for dinner. My fiancée selected the Twelve-Ounce Prime New York Strip steak. Every morsel was succulent and moist, perfectly cooked, and impeccably seasoned. The accompanying sides- a portion each of sprouting cauliflower and roasted potatoes- each added exquisite flavor after exquisite flavor to the meal as a whole. As I enjoy seafood far more than my fiancée, I was ambitious and ordered the Cape May Scallops, which promises six ounces of scallops, resting atop a summer corn risotto containing bacon and peas. Those who know food well, as well as those who have seen "Hell's Kitchen", will be extremely aware that scallops are difficult to cook, and that risotto must be carefully balanced in order to not be bland or overcooked. (That is, if Chef Gordon Ramsay's expletive-laden tirades against those who err in the cooking of either or both foods is to be believed.) I wholeheartedly assure you that The Ebbitt Room's chefs are far from amateurs, in terms of scallop and risotto preparation skills. Each scallop was perfectly seared, consistently cooked, and had a consistent, proper internal color. They were, by far, better than any scallops I had previously eaten. While a small number of these were well-cooked (albeit not to this institution's high quality), many fell to the opposite extremes of being rubbery (undercooked) or chewy (overcooked), with an improper searing occurring in both aberrant directions. The risotto, true to form, was bursting with flavor. It, much like the scallops, was also perfectly cooked. The subtle flavoring of the bacon, as well as the peas' flavor, mixed perfectly with the risotto itself, forming a divine combination of flavors. I strongly believe that every component of my meal- and even my fiancée's- would have made even Gordon Ramsay weep ten times over, even amid his highest point of consternation at chefs who prepared meat, risotto, or seafood poorly. I highly anticipate my next visit to Cape May, and certainly intend to make another reservation at The Ebbitt Room well in advance. If you are looking for an establishment that perfectly mixes incredible food, stunning service, and excellent ambiance, I urge you to look no further than The Ebbitt Room- I assure you that you will not regret it.