"Note: My review is not about the food or atmosphere only the service. An unfortunate low point on an otherwise fun visit to Ocean Grove. My father, mother, and I wanted to eat there for dinner a few nights ago to celebrate my mom 's 70th birthday and got there a few minutes 8PM. We had been told earlier that their dine in was closed by that point and only take out was available (I presume because closing is at 9PM). However, we were not sure whether this rule was only in place because they didn 't have the staff to wait on new customers after 8PM (there were still plenty of customers who presumably had arrived before 8PM who were still eating there inside and out), or if, in fact, the tables were closed altogether regardless of wait staff availability. So, my father asked an employee if they were fine with us ordering takeout and sitting at one of their outdoor tables on the sidewalk, but we would otherwise take care of ourselves (no wait staff needed whatsoever). The employee said she didn 't know, but a second waitress (I didn 't get her name, but she was Caucasian, about 20 30 years old, and had brown hair) interrupted and said No and said that we should sit at a nearby restaurant instead. My dad started to explain that we wouldn 't need anyone to wait on us all we needed was a place to sit down, we 'd be out within half an hour, would clean up after ourselves, and we 'd prefer to be at Tino 's since we were hoping to order from there but before he could fully explain all of this, the second waitress interrupted him and snapped I don 't care what you think with a sardonic smile. We were baffled as this was fully unpromoted and the first waitress and my father had otherwise started to have a polite conversation until the second waitress joined in. We promptly left. To give the restaurant their due credit: There 's nothing wrong with saying that we can 't sit at the tables it 's their restaurant and their property and there 's nothing wrong with saying no again to my dad 's explanation, as there may of course be other reasons to not want customers to sit at their tables past 8PM. However, there 's ALSO nothing wrong with him asking a simple clarifying question in case the restaurant can accommodate it 's a question, NOT a demand. And there IS something wrong with saying I don 't care what you think in that scenario. I 'm guessing the second waitress was having a bad day or has had bad experiences with customers in the past, but she should know better than to project that onto others. Service: 1"
