Rusty Nail

Address:	205 Beach Ave, Cape May, NJ 08204, USA
Phone:	+1 609-884-0017
Site:	caperesorts.com
Rating:	3.7

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 11

Felix Salazar

We were looking for a place to eat seafood in Cape May and somebody recommended us this place. As soon as we arrived, we saw a huge venue with multiple ambiances, and full of people. Seemed like a cool place to have beer and cocktails next to the beach. We asked the host for a table and got one surprinsingly quckly, given how crowded it was. Ordered the Broiled seafood special platter ($39) to share with my wife. The description on the menu was appealing but when the dish arrived, we were extremely dissapointed. It looked like hospital food, no color at all, and the texture of the fish, scalops and shrimp was way off. You could tell the fish was plated on the metal tray and frozen, and then put inside the broiler to thaw and reheat. All the pieces were stuck together. Definitely not worth the money. We had better food experience in fast food chains. It was an awful closure of a wonderful Cape May first visit. The beer was good though.

Tyler Lund

The Rusty Nail has won awards for best beach bar for good reason. Though it is technically separated by the beach by a road, it manages to still feed like a beach outside due to sand and an open airy feel. The big fire pit and a stage where live performers play add to the ambiance as well. It would be a good place just to go for drinks outside. The food is pretty good as well though. Focused mostly on seafood, it’s typical American fair. The strawberry jalapeño wings were quite tasty with a very unique strawberry dip that was almost like cream cheese. They could have been a little spicier for my taste but were still good. The seafood was even better though. The fish tacos were quite delicious though the cheese was a bit odd, but not bad. Service was pretty good as well, though we did end up waiting for a long time when there were tons of empty tables. Rusty Nail is a place you need to visit as part of the Cape May experience.

Dee A

We visit Cape May 3 times yearly and stopping by The Nail has always been a tradition. Sadly, each visit has become more and more disappointing. Our most recent visit was last week oh boy not a good food experience! Our Strawberry wings were under cooked, my clams on the 1/2 shell order had 2 that were bad as in rancid bad (out of 6 thats pretty bad), my husband had the same issue with one of the clams in his raw sampler and our friends fried seafood platter was dried out and basically tasteless. On a good note, my daughter had an order of steamed clams which she enjoyed and our drinks were cold and very good. Our server was very sweet but when we explained about the food issues she just said " OH OK". The atmosphere here is just wonderful and whether it is in season or not we would still come by for drinks. I wouldnt risk eating here again after the last few times:(

Dominique Deglas

my problem was with service. My fiancé and I drove 3 hours to get here because we wanted to go to the beach with our dog. We saw they were dog friendly so we drove and extra 30 minutes to come here. Lunch was good. Had 2 drinks then our server, Michael, kept asking if we wanted our check. We definitely werent done ordering. We told him that we wanted to hang out. Then we felt pressured to leave. We are both bartenders so had he said his shift was ending we gladly would have closed out and tipped generously. We told him a second time we werent ready to go and asked if his shift was ending. He said, yeah why what do you need? So by then I was just super annoyed and wanted to run out of there. And that we did.

Daniel Roehm

The manager is unwilling to take reservations or move tables together. We went as a family and they would not let us sit together, even with a room of empty tables. The bar tender took my phone claiming that he thought we left when I went to look at the fire pit. He didnt bother to ask anyone at the surrounding tables that I had obviously came with. The waiter took 15 min to take out orders even though no other tables were occupied in the outdoor area. Very poor service from every employee except the one bar tender who seemed understanding and was up to her neck with customers. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone I like. Very dissapointed and confused on the ratings given by others.

Jason Manelli

Waited almost 2 hours for a table and then the food was just ok. There was rain that knocked out all of their outdoor seating, but really after 90 minutes the management took no steps to accommodate or ameliorate the situation. There were many open tables that they refused to push togetehr for us, instead insisting that we wait for our table. No offer was made to buy us a round of drinks or offer a dessert on the house, something, anything to reward customers who literally sat on the floor and waited for hours. Sorry to say, after singing their praises from a prior visit, my experience last week has turned me from a promoter to a detractor and Ill no longer be recommending the Rusty Nail.

A Private User

Ive had lots of bowls of New England clam chowder & this ranks way up there. Not too thick & a great clam flavor. I also ordered their appetizer chicken wings & dont remember them described as HOT, as I hate hot wings, but they were quite "warm" so beware. My boyfriend absolutely loved their hamburger with cooper cheese; said the meat was first rate & probably one of the best burgers hes ever had. This is all we ordered but were quite satisfied.

A Private User

Glad to see the restaurant is open this year. My sister, her children, & her grandschildren were down last weekend and we decided to go over. There were 8 of us total. We ate outside at the picnic benches. The food was great. Two of us had flounder, one had ribs, the kids menu had all popular kids dishes & two had seafood tacos. Great beach atmosphere. We will be back again.

Terry Wagner

I have been going their for about 15 years now. Started out with visiting my parents for a couple of days on their vacation then my step dad went into nursing home so every year now I take mom down for 3 nights and the Rusty Nail is such a cool place to relax, listen to live music and sit back at the fire pit. Food is very good and just a warm friendly atmosphere. LOVE IT.

Mark ~

Good food. Nice atmosphere. But... dog friendly and restaurants do not always mix. It is really cool that the kids can play in the sand. Not so cool that at least two dogs relieved themselves in exactly the same area. And as if on cue, within 2 minutes, a little boy ran up and sat down right on the wet spot. Who wants to eat in a kennel?

Matthew Failla

Ive been here 3 times and have had 3 different experiences. The last time I went our waitress didnt really seem like she wanted to be there or cared about what we ordered and ended up getting our order wrong, but Ill chalk it up to her having a bad day. Their food is ok, drinks are really good and so is the fire pit area with live music.