Beach Cafe

The perch was mediocre. Salads were good. Steak was decent. Crab cakes tasted like they were out of a box at Gordon Foods. Waitress was a bit scattered. I can’t imagine if they would’ve been extremely busy. I will not go back here. There was also a male using the female restroom when I walked in to the restroom. Strange!

Geez Unilocalers, you are in Gary, Indiana for sake! Are you expecting canary tongues on brioche toast points???
This is a bit of a divey, beach style restie. Some reviewer sad some mean things about the clientele. Excuse me but the patrons of the place make this place! Yep, some of the them might have long hair, some may utter a swear word and some may hug you on your way out. I got no problem with any of that!
You want your perch? They got your perch done up two different ways. They offer prime rib every night of the week. Their veggie burger is delish and for $ 6 with fries, you can call that a screaming deal! They have frog legs on their appetizer AND entrée menus (Indiana seems to have a thing for frog legs… go figure) and they have fried clams as a appetizer. You can get any of their seafood broiled, fried or sautéed. Their soft drinks are only $ 2 with free refills for all of you teatotaler cheap asses.
They have a kids menu but I wouldn’t describe this as a family or super kid friendly place. Nope, come here with your hubs, boyfriend, girlfriend and prepare to have a great, laid back time in the town that was once knows at the steel capital of the Midwest!

First time my wife and I came here was at a bed and breakfast next door. We first went here last week and got dessert. It was amazing chocolate cake and everything about it was perfect. We sat next to the fireplace and enjoyed it with hot tea. Simply perfect.
4 days later we went back and got dessert again, but this time the waitress never took our order for drinks and when we got our dessert my wife’s ice cream was melting and she couldn’t wait for her coffee to go with it because the waitress said it was going to take some time. I got a cheesecake which was supposed to be chocolate and cheesecake but turned out to be a very potent raspberry cheesecake with a hint of chocolate. The waitress never came to check on us and we has to track her down to ask for a manager. The owner came out and was very very kind and apologized for the lack of quality in the service. We took the food to go but just couldn’t eat it. It tasted bad.
Last night we used a 20% off coupon the owner gave us and we tried multiple dishes in order to leave a positive review. We tried ribs, crab cakes, perch, scallops, shrimp, and frog legs. Everything but the ribs were deep fried. Sadly, I am not a fan of anything we tried. The ribs were over done and tough like jerky, and all the seafood tasted the same except the crab cakes which I give a 3. If you are a foodie and expect a certain level of service and quality, then I recommend the bar only, or dessert. Other then that don’t waste your time.
I will update this review if I look into this place again. They are close so I may give them a fourth shot just because the owner seems to hold herself to high standards and I can see this place becoming great.

Great staff, solid food and reasonable prices.
Booths, tables and outside seating available. TVs visible from just about every seat. Old time posters decorate the walls. Overall not a bad atmosphere for the area.
No wait on a Friday night and they are very family friendly. The beer cheese that came with the bread was creamy and tasty. My spouse ordered the coconut shrimp and I had the boned and butter perch, both were cooked perfectly and filled our bellies. You get to pick three sides, she had the house creamy garlic dressing which was sweat and tasty. The rice pilaf, steamed veggies and baked potato were as good as expected but the double (Twice baked) potato was worth the extra dollar. Too full to try the deserts but they sounded good.
Would come back again for sure.

Ate here after a nice evening watching the sunset on the beach. I had the beach burger which was huge and delicious. My fiancé had the panko breaded crab cakes which she said were excellent. Very good service and reasonable prices. It’s a cute place as well and we’ll definitely be back!

I did not like this restaurant. I almost think I didn’t come here because of the reviews.
The food is mediocre at best. While my mom enjoyed her dinner, I really disliked mine. The service was not that great. She was not very attendative and we had to ask our server for bread when we saw the table next to us (served after us) was given bread.
I had shrimp fettuccine alfredo. It tasted as if it came out of the box. It was the worst I’ve ever had in my life. Likewsie, the crab cakes were horrible. My mom had ultimate feast. When I tasted some of her dish, I felt everything was over fried. She was happy, so that was col with me. She took her left over and my dish home with her.
I was too cold for patio seating. Its not like they are on the beach, but is a close walk from the beach.
I definitely will not be coming back here for any reason.

Had to update my review from two years ago because the Beach Café has actually stepped up their menu. Still not my favorite place in Miller for dining, but I have to admit they are making improvements in the kitchen. The hubs and I had the gyro special a few weeks ago, and it was great. The meat was slow roasted on a rotisserie and very tender; the tzatziki sauce was tangy and delish; the pita was fluffy and soft… Opa! Honestly, I was really surprised how good it was. I also enjoy the buffalo chicken wings and chicken fingers, the chicken Philly, or a burger. I’m not really a fan of much else on the menu, but friends of mine regularly order the prime rib, cevapis, or skewered shrimp.
But as I’ve said in my previous review, the reason to go to the Beach Café is because it’s a chill spot for smoke-​free drinking. Michelle knows how to mix amazing cocktails… you call it, she’ll make it. She’s one of the most knowledgeable bartenders in Miller Beach. Also, the patio has just been completely redone this spring, so there is actually a viable option for outdoor dining when the weather cooperates.
So c’mon, y’all, quit hating on the Beach Café. Give the menu another try. Or just drink your dinner and hush your mouth.

I went here with a friend of mine who recommended we try it out. The place is a bit divey when you come in though they have some higher price items on their menu. We both ordered their $ 15 surf and turf special. I was thinking that was actually cheap if that included a lobster but then I realized it was shrimp.
I ordered my steak medium well and that came out fine. They didn’t provide a steak knife though and I struggled to cut it with a butter knife. My friend had a slightly sharper dinner knife that cut better though it still was not a steak knife. The shrimp was a lot smaller than I would’ve liked but it was ok. It came with three sides of which only one of them was satisfactory. The first side came before the steak, which was a cup of clam chowder. That was the one satisfactory item though it’s hard to go wrong with clam chowder. The second side I ordered was their rice pilaf. The rice was sitting in a small pond of water (almost like they scraped it from the bottom of the rice barrel). I only ate about half the rice. The mashed potatoes would’ve been ok if I didn’t order the gravy. I don’t know what that gravy was made of but it had a strange consistency that I didn’t like. So I only ate a little bit of the potatoes.
My friend likes this place so I will probably return at some point. And it’s thanks to him that I had a nice time but I wasn’t overly wowed. It’s another case of enjoying the company more than the food.
The server was nice though.

Love this place. They tailor the menu to me whenever I want, which is frequent since I eat there at least once a week.
I have yet to have a bad meal. Try the chicken marsala with extra mushrooms. And think about getting double servings of veggies as your side. They even make a salad just for me, without lettuce!
Be nice to the servers, and they’ll be amazing to you. We are lucky to have this dependable spot in our community. Good wine. Good food. Good people.

We came to the Beach Café for open mic night and ate dinner while we watched the entertainment. I would recommend going to check out the open mic night, but skipping the food.
I ordered the seafood platter with lemon rice soup, rice pilaf, and fries. The best thing about the entire meal was the lemon rice soup. The seafood was fried, which was fine by me, but it was not flavorful and the batter was soggy. If I were to eat there again I would just order a bowl of soup.
The open mic night was fun. I’m not sure how often it happens though. It was mostly people singing cover songs and the emcee skills of Midwest Mike.
There was a super aggressive, drunk, old, sea-​faring type man who yelled things at the performers and randomly into the air the entire time we were there. I am including this in the review because I thought it was strange that no employee told him to be quiet or asked him to leave once during the two hours that he yelled. He added some entertainment value to the open mic, but seemed unstable.

So the place is dead… It’s lunchtime and I should have taken that as a hint! It took a long time for our food but to be fair it was a group of 10. I ordered a salad and it was really nice. Good mix of greens, tomatoes and red pepper with croutons. I then ordered a bacon cheeseburger well done. WELL DONE!!! I love my steaks rare but not a hamburger patty.
I had to go find the girl to let her know my burger was rare. Once I got it back, it was time for our group to go back to work. We were here for an hour and a half. I’m a little bummed that I’m not getting a chance to eat my burger hot. From the rare one I tasted (the corners were cooked) it was pretty delicious.
The lemonade was NOT good! Avoid it. I asked for an Arnold Palmer and it was not good.
Having a hard time getting me a to go box which has upset me more… So that is why it’s only one star for my almost 15.00 meal!!!

what a poop hole! I’ve had better food from lakefront hospital cafeterias.
1. Mixed real potatoes w/​instant.
2. Red potatoes were the main stay, but they were out of those ?!?
3. Place is very out-​dated, dark, and not very welcoming.
4. You get the feeling that your plates/​silverware wont be clean and your afraid to ask for lemon with your water because your not sure it will be cut with a clean knife.
5. Food took 35 mins. to come out.
6. Lemonade is, and I quote, from the server, «its just Minute-​made, I can add cherry flavoring.»
7. Its a hang out joint for «beach bums» that swear, belch, and are very loud.
We decided to get our ordered food to go. This just wasn’t the type of place to dine in and enjoy. Needless to say, they got our order wrong. Food wasn’t warm.
Who runs this place? Oh, that’s right, we met her on our way out. Now I understand why this place is such an utter crap hole. I was really hoping that the Beach Café would put a little shine to Gary… nope, just another little stain.
And this place just opened, how about closing and trying again.

Ok food for a small beach town. Beer selection is better and prices are reasonable. Go for the convenience.

My girlfriends and I hit up the Beach Café for a nice dinner and drinks.
We were all expecting an upscale, hip, foodie restaurant, but when we arrived in our pumps and suits– we were surprised to find the atmosphere of a greasy-​spoon diner.
Atmosphere isn’t everything though, so we settled in for some good brews and tasty vittles.
Unfortunately, the food wasn’t where it was at, either. The prices seemed unfairly incongruous with the quality and ingredients.
They did have friendly staff and a good bar selection, so if I were in the area I might stop in for a drink. But make no mistake, if you do this, there are families with babies in highchairs, bright lighting, dated décor– overall, kind of a sterile, cafeteria/​diner feeling.

Miller Beach fine dining.

This place has been around for over 10 years. But from what I hear it closed once or twice and has new owners. Food is good but the owner is so unorganized. And it right down the street from the beach.

Visited the Beach Café with a dear friend who owns a beach house in the neighborhood.
From what I understand, the Beach Café is a relatively new business.
We visited late in the evening on a Sunday & the place was near-​empty save for a few diners & people seated at the bar area (which looked very nice.)
We were seated in a booth in the dining room & we had the whole place to ourselves.
Our waitress was kind & her service was great. She kept us hydrated with water & beer after a long day beach-​side in the sun.
We ordered:
Baked clams appetizer
Fried cauliflower appetizer
Blue gill entrée (Blue gill! So unique!)
Buttered perch entrée
Maryland crab cakes entrée (I had the crab cakes… they were excellent.)
All entrees came with your choice of potato (I had a baked potato…) soup or salad (I had a great salad with a raspberry vinaigrette…) & steamed veggies of the day.
I was STUFFED post-​dinner.
I would certainly recommend the Beach Café as their portions are huge, the service was wonderful & I especially enjoyed the local atmosphere.

Good prices, but not worth it for the quality of the food, service, or décor. The restaurant feels cheap. We came in with a group of eight, and although there were a lot of empty tables the waiters seemed distressed and shaken by our request for a table.
Our waiter was terrible. He didn’t know what wine or beers the restaurant sold, and was unable to capably deal with our request for multiple checks (annoying, I know, but he was very rude about it).
The busing and other table service was awful as well — our waters were never refilled, and our plates were taken away either too late or too early.
The food was fine. Our burgers were all very well done (they don’t ask how you want it cooked).