Cottage Cafe

I visited Cottage Cafe in Bethany Beach after a recommendation from a foodie friend, but unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to the hype for me. The decor is definitely charming—true to its name, it has a cozy cottage feel that’s warm and inviting. That said, the food was just okay. The menu felt a bit limited and uninspired, and the cocktails didn’t really stand out. I appreciated that they had a separate gluten-free menu, but the options on it were pretty minimal. On a positive note, our waitress was lovely—friendly, attentive, and helpful throughout the meal. Overall, it wasn’t a bad experience, just not one that would bring me back again.

Came for an early dinner for my first time ever at this sodel concepts. Location the Wednesday before Labor Day weekend 2024. A friend who drove down from his place in downtown Rehoboth, picked me up & drove to cottage Cafe. We did not have to wait more than a minute to be seated. With a degree in hotel, restaurant MGMT myself, & over 30 yrs in the business, I'm always aware of how important it is, whether front of the house or back of the house, when it comes to the importance of first & last impressions. My normal very calm friend concerned me when after 10 minutes of us seated, me w/ my gluten-free menu, him w/ his regular menu, began to show a little bit of impatience on his face. An urgent look that I knew I needed to take action upon. B/c after more than 10 mins, we had yet to even be greeted by a single server or employee saying or acknowledging our presence, or anything like "we'll be with you shortly." Worse, 2 other tables in that far back room each were attended to w/ servers, 1 in what appeared to have a sort of server in training scenario. (In this time, they had not only given their drink orders but received their drinks & were now giving the servers their food orders.) I got up, rushed as quickly as I could to the front door where I found 3 employees, 2 young girls and one older, possibly sat us originally - not sure- but who immediately after listening to me, asked me to take her to our table, where she immediately did everything correctly to diffuse the situation & made everything worthwhile for the rest of our stay at that establishment. It's my thought that this woman more likely than not was the mgr on duty that night. I could be incorrect but I believe her to have either a reddish or Auburn style color hair.(Not blonde, not dark). Very excellent demeanor. Not defensive whatsoever. Completely wonderfully attentive & apologetic. Was able to take our drink orders and our somewhat complex food order with no issues whatsoever of forgetting a thing . When our server who was assigned to us did come to greet us: she did apologize very genuinely. And to let me know the french fries, although listed on my Gluten-Free menu, that it's in fact a menu error/ cross-contamination issue. Was very happy with the side choice that I went with- Your coleslaw. Which was/is just slightly better than the batch I tried when I had food delivered the night before from Northeast seafood and kitchen. I was really wanting to have salmon. But unfortunately that was not on the gluten-free menu. Your kitchen went above & beyond, Pan searing the jerk salmon entree to perfection except without the jerk seasoning per my request. My friend absolutely raved about his scallops entree- also raving about the seasonal vegetables, & happy that he could take home a little bit of each as he was unable to finish his entire entree! Always enjoy your homemade sodas- root beer is excellent! Wished that they were still available by the bottle but that's being nitpicky. It was a little disappointing, however that both at Blue Coast and at cottage Cafe stock was down significantly on the four options that were normally available. You were completely out of at least two of the options at both places. I guess I would have thought that the Wednesday leading up to a Labor Day weekend you would have had a full stock of all of the sodas. Looking forward to a time when I can try the...it was either black cherry vanilla or cherry vanilla soda.

We stopped her for lunch on the July 4th weekend and were impressed with the service, food, and overall atmosphere of this place. If you are looking for restaurant that isn't fussy and gets it right, stop here. I'm gluten-free and they had a separate menu with plenty of options. Everything we ordered was fresh and the portion sizes made sense (not too big and not too small). I can't stress enough how nice this place was. The bathrooms were immaculate too. The music wasn't too loud, and they played great songs. Basically everything a person could want in a restaurant. We'll be back next time we visit the beach!