Rehoboth Foodie

I know: You never see anyone in there, and often they're just plain closed. Do they cater to a late crowd? Wazzup?

To tell you the truth, I have no idea. But I AM working on it. Keep an eye on the front page.

We are always on the lookout for fake "comments" or comments that are based on hearsay, rumor, or ridiculous agendas. If you want to read stuff like that, you can go to Yelp, UrbanSpoon or TripAdvisor.

We will not publish a comment that is just plain nasty or overly insulting. We have learned that many of these come from competitors, or disgruntled / fired employees.

We will not publish a comment that goes waaaayy overboard singing the praises of an obviously mediocre restaurant. We have learned that many of these come from restaurant owners, their families or friends.

We will not publish comments based on criteria that don't make sense. Examples include (I am not making these up):

(1) "We don't like so-and-so because the portions are too big." Ridiculous. Stay home and eat a salad.

(2) "We hate that restaurant because we had to wait 45 minutes to get in." Who are you, the Queen of England? There are lots of mediocre places where you can get a seat right away. Go there and leave room for the people who obviously know a good thing when they taste it.

(3) "I'm never going back there because they had the nerve to charge me for a side order of beans." No, the world does not owe you a living. Food service is a business and must make a profit to survive. And in spite of what you might hear from Washington, D.C., you are NOT entitled to anything you aren't willing to pay for.

(4) "Your reviews are too kind," or, "You like everything." When I respond to comments like this and ask for specifics, I never get an answer, other than the obvious fact that they certainly didn't read my review(s) all the way through. Restaurants are fair game for chronic complainers and people whose only power in life is to victimize waitrons, managers and others whose jobs involve serving people. I call 'em as I see 'em, and, in fact, most places are pretty much OK, or they wouldn't be here. And it's a rare review here that doesn't contain at least one criticism. If you don't like a place, don't go. And, in fact, if enough people agree with you, the business will disappear.

And of course, all of this is meant in the most loving way.

This is the beach. And they don't call it "slower lower Delaware" for nothing. If you live here or are a local, you understand what this means. If you are visiting or are new to the area, take the advice published at the top of the off-season specials list and printed in every review: CALL FIRST. That's why I provide the phone numbers in the list and in the reviews.

As I state at the top of the page under "Only the Strong Survive," most of the restaurants here at the beach are pretty much OK. If they weren't, they would be out of business. Of course some are better than others, but most places still in business have at least some refeeming features.

Given the state of the economy, local patrons (at least those who care about what they eat) will pick and choose the best food for their dollar. These patrons are the holy grail for successful resort restaurants. However, there are those among us who shop ONLY price and will eat pretty much anything if it's cheap. Those people are not our target audience. In fact, we don't even publish review comments that harp only on price and ignore quality. Regular visitors to RehobothFoodie.com know that there are several local restaurants that survive only on very low prices; providing mediocre or worse food to people who will eat it if it's cheap. Even these people are a viable market. But the fact remains that you get what you pay for. I'd rather stay home.

In short, bad restaurants (other than those who charge so little for their bad food that they attract enough customers who will eat anything that's cheap), or restaurants without sufficient working capital most often fail. Those that survive do so because they are providing a product that people will pay for. Any rating for "food" or "overall" better than 6.5 - 7 indicates a restaurant that is at least OK and has some redeeming features. They can't all be home runs.