Hawthorne By the Sea

Their restaurants are from another time — you really feel that old service. Their food is wonderful. I have never had anything less than amazing — and their mushrooms and popovers to start are heaven. I highly recommend their creamed spinach and also ordering the soufflé for desert (though you should do that at the start).

I had 6 Oysters Rockefella and a drink at the bar last evening ($ 24.56 plus $ 4.00 tip for the bartender). The oyster shells were tiny; however; there were no oysters (except only a piece of oyster in one shell). I showed the bartender and he spoke with the host who glanced over at us from his position in the dining room and just laughed. I was amazed at the lack of attention! I paid my bill and left still hungry, so my friend and I went across the street to China Bistro and got a healthy, steamed dinner to take home ($ 8.00).

We hosted my mom’s surprise 70^th bday luncheon here today. There were nearly 30 guests who travelled from all over the East Coast to attend. It was perfect! Beautiful views, lots of light, delicious food. Service was fantastic. The staff really got into making it a memorable and fun day for everyone. The restaurant was quiet for lunch time and they let us spend hours socializing, taking plenty of time between courses. I would highly recommend Hawthorne by the Sea for any big fun and relaxed but classy event.

Spectacular view. One of the best views you’re going to find anywhere. But seriously, the menu could have been printed in 1967. What this place needs is updating across the board — interior, menu, everything. It’s 2015. This place has so much potential, it drives me crazy…

Went there for dinner last night. Cant wait to go back. So nice to get good old fashion service!
View Amazing! Right on the ocean.
Food Delicious: We had Oysters Rockfeller, Filet, Shrimp, a few different salads, Eggplant appetizer. Pricing was very reasonable.
Tip: Try the Baked Alaska for Dessert

I always loved Hawthorne by the Sea until today.
Had a great server, but the manager was beyond rude.
With hardly anyone else there, you’d think he’d go above and beyond.
He went way below my standards to even have such a title.
Thumbs down, you won’t see me back.
What happened to good old customer service.

Boston Fish Chowder (served lukewarm), Glover Salad (that had too much dressing on wilted lettuce), Popover (what was the purpose of this — I do not know), Scrod (which was cold), Green beans (which were freezer burned), a Russet Baked Potato (which was also cold) and lastly Chocolate Mouse (which was yummy). Oh and lackluster service.
If it wasn’t for the gorgeous location, this restaurant would fail miserably in less than a month.

This place is a dream… myself, husband, sister and my Mom went there yesterday for lunch… we sat outside (which I had asked for)…our waiter was Manny who was wonderful… very attentive and we wanted for nothing… the entire staff is very professional… the lobster bisque is the best I have ever had… brought it home so I could enjoy it today… clams, scrod and baked stuff shrimp were ordered and they were cooked to perfection… I cannot wait to go back… if you go, ask for Manny… he is the Best!

The place is beautiful. The look is amazing the bartender Andre accommodating, great thing is he is a mixologist not a bartender so he can make you anything just tell him what you pallet likes. Peter I met was a delight. Satich & George go above and beyond!!! GREAT PEOPLE! The atmosphere romantic just all around fabulous. Only BAD THING!!! We got seated waited, waited, and waited some more I was unaware that if you are people of color light color that you will wait 20 min for even a cup of water. Now let me be clear I do not put this on any way shape or form on The Hawthorne or any of the wonderful staff I interacted with. This was solely based on the one waitress who obviously had her decades crossed. I just made it easy an requested very nicely for my waitress to be changed and they were here accommodating and apologetic. With that being said, we proceeded to have immaculate service and I gave the new waitress an obscene tip just because us light skin folk can. HAPPY EATING!

Yes… Location, Location Location… but would not go back again. Live a few towns over and love coming over to the ocean. Sat at the bar, as I was by myself and ordered a $ 15 glass of wine and a «Glover» salad… which was a Caesar salad DRENCHED in dressing and soggy. I asked the bartenders, who were extremely courteous and polite, for some bread… the two bartenders looked at each other as if I just asked for their first born… he said if you don’t order a dinner (it was 4:30 on a Saturday afternoon) they could not give bread, but he would go check to see if it was ok… HONESTLY… I just ordered an over price glass of wine and soggy salad and they needed to ask if I could have a piece of bread! I’m not sure how they are still in business after all these years. Its too bad, such a pretty view.

Though the restaurant is staffed by waiters straight out of a mausoleum, and the demographic is for sure older, I love Hawthorne. The food is very good – the fish is fresh, the vegetables crisp, the menu quite adventurous. And you can’t beat the view: the shore is right below, and the Boston skyline hovers in the distance.
However, it is pricey. It’s a throwback of fine dining in a casual age. I like the deck in good weather, and appreciate the «white glove» service and the fresh and imaginative food,
Lori

The food is not good, feels like a mausoleum. I want to like this place because the location is epic but it needs new everything– chef, interior design, atmosphere.

I have to start with saying the view from the restaurant is hands down one of the best in New England. Add to that the best clam chowder, Legal Seafood move over. The seafood is awesome and that’s difficult to say in the Boston area, because there is a lot of competition. The prime rib is very good in spite of this is basically a seafood place. I think there has been a lot of bad rap from past experience and owners have updated their past policies to handle what people want. The service was fine, no issues. This is an old school restaurant and could certainly use a little interior updates. But, sitting on the deck in summer with the breeze and sound of waves under foot is a great experience. We never want to leave when we are there. One thing, this is a quiet place you can actually have a conversation in. Older crowd, but younger people should not miss out on this food! I almost forgot those popovers! I could make a meal out of those alone. Where can you get those anymore? I honestly don’t understand issues others have had. We go at least 2x a month. There’s many regulars we see every week. We love this place.

This place is definitely not for everyone-​very old school and not trying to be anything else. I like that sort of thing sometimes but if you are looking for trendy this is not your place.
Sat at the bar, can’t remember the bartender’s name but he was quite tall and seemed like a cool guy and was a very good bartender.
The bread (or popovers I guess might be the correct word) are absolutely delicious. Sooooo good. Then I got the raw oysters-​also good, abd the lobster roll-​tons of lobster. Definitely not skimpy and also awesome.
Again-​not overly trendy and definitely an older crowd but nothings wrong with a more traditional restaurant sometimes and also is right on the ocean so the view is fantastic. Definitely want to go back.

I’ve never written a review, much less a bad one, but needed to say this: My husband, father, and mother decided to go here for lunch. We have an 11 month old who was falling asleep in the stroller as it was his nap time. He is a very well behaved baby who would have slept most, if not all of the time. (Otherwise, I would not have brought him out)
When we walked in, there was a total of about seven people in the whole restaurant which has a huge dining room (lots of space). The manager said that he could provide us with a high chair, but that we could not bring the stroller in. I mentioned that the baby was sleeping, and needs his stroller, so maybe he could choose a table out of the way. The dining room was practically empty, so any table would have no one around us.
With a smirk, and arms crossed, he unapologetically said no, and walked away. What a jerk. I’ve heard bad things about the Hawthorne over the years, but have been there many times with my family anyway. Neither myself nor my family will ever go back. The kicker is that I’ve been there with my mother in law for lunch and have brought the stroller in. Oh well… They have lost a good family of customers. I’ve heard they don’t care about their business from a lot of people, now I can agree.

Let me preference this by saying if you are a fan of customer service then please do not go here!
On 7÷26÷14 my partner, her kids and her sister who was in from out of town decided to have dinner at the Tavern. When we arrived I specifically asked if there is a dress code. We did not look like slobs at all but were out all day with the kids having fun. We all were dressed very casual. The kids had on t-​shirts and shorts.
We were seated outside which was a bit windy but nice to be near the ocean. We ordered drinks and a few appetizers. Shortly thereafter the waiter came back to take our dinner order. The kids ordered pasta and butter and the adults ordered fish entries. I’m not exaggerating when I say this, the waiter never returned, not once. We waited well over 45 minutes no waiter or food. When we inquired with the host she said the waiter would be right over. He never showed up. Needless to say the poor kids were so hungry we decided to leave. I told the host I would pay for the drinks and appetizers which I shouldn’t had to do. As I’m paying the bill the host tried to convince us to stay saying our food is coming right out. I wanted no part of this place any longer. He was right though as we were leaving I finally saw our waiter with our food.
We left and raced to the nearest Bertuccis where the waitress was so attentive and arrived back at our table within 3 minutes with two plates of pasta for the kids.
I am a huge fan of customer service and this place certainly judges a book by their cover.
For the owners of this establishment you should re-​train your staff to teach them not to be so pretentious. Your business is not the only establishment on the water. You have no idea who is walking thru your front door. I’m sorry to say if your employees continue to treat your customers like our experience then you’ll certainly be out of business soon.
I will never ever go back to this restaurant again in my entire life.

This is a second generation business. It was here when I was a kid and I am 60 years old. No question, the food is very good, the fish is fresh and the prime rib is as rare as you want. The ocean view is unmatched as far as I am concerned.
My wife decided to throw me a bday party for my sixtieth, We called and spoke with the maitre de. We asked for a specific area in the restaurant, he said OK. We told them their would be between 12 and 18 people and we wanted to do it at 3PM on a Sunday, he said OK. That we wanted to hire a Harp Player, he said OK. We explained what we wanted on seafood platers for appetizers, he said, OK. We wanted a fixed menu of a fish and their prime rib, he said OK. My wife wanted to have a friend do a roast, (no microphone, just his voice, they said OK. We sent out the invitations, received the RSVP’s and had a final count of 18.
Now that the date is approaching, I paid a visit to the restaurant last night and was told…
We will have to charge you $ 500.00 for that area of the restaurant.
They will not allow us to have any entertainment, NO HARP PLAYER. I have already paid her; $ 350.00
The contents of the seafood platter needs to change and they must be on the dinner table not on a side table like we asked as everyone arrived.
We are not allowed to have anyone do a roast or speak loudly.
My wife asked them for a contract, we were given a fixed price per person. She was told the owner told them they could not do that. How do we know they are not going to change the prices?
Last year a waiter dumped a tray of drinks across the table and onto us. The food was swimming in liquid and my shirt was soaked through… We received a «Thank You for your business» not even a free desert. Then we heard this waiter had been doing this a lot…
I am afraid I will need tot take this restaurant off of my favorites list.
Buyer… BEWARE !!!