The Boathouse: 46 Westerly Rd, Ossining, NY

Even just looking at this meal again makes me lose my appetite. How a chef could let this go out to a table (at $24, no less) is beyond me. When I see soft shelled crabs on a menu, I almost always get them as they are a short-seasoned favorite. The options were either fried or sauteed, so I ordered them sauteed- but asked the waitress to make sure it was with very little butter. They came out drenched in a pool of some kind of oily, buttery, thick, viscous gravy that tasted horrible. The delicate fresh crabs were so overpowered by the sludge they were sitting in that they may as well have been previously frozen, out of season and tasteless. On the side was a piece of greasy, overcooked potato that reminded me of cafeteria food. I asked my waitress for a steak knife since cutting crab with a butter knife wasn't going so well, and I had to ask 2 more times before she actually remembered to bring one out for me. I understand they were busy, but that seems a little ridiculous to me. By the time the knife arrived, the crabs were cold. Luckily, the bread that came with the meal was fresh and hot out of the oven, so I was able to fill up on that and a salad. My salad was fine, but that was only because I asked for the dressing on the side. Both of my parent's were served severely over-dressed salads that were almost inedible. I should mention that we also had to wait over an hour to get seated...so MAYBE the fact that they were extremely busy that night was an explanation for the terrible food. MAYBE it was an explanation, but as far as I'm concerned it was NOT an excuse. My family and I joked (though we really weren't joking) that we should have just gone to the local diner instead. The one positive thing I will say is that the setting is lovely. It's right on the water with boats all around. You can pretty much look past the parking lot and just focus on the pretty sights. Also, the hostess DID come over to apologize (but only after I gave the waitress my card with this blog address on it) and tried to say whatever she could to make it right. She even suggested that we give the restaurant another try on a less busy night. Unfortunately, my parents also strongly disliked their meals (my mother ordered pasta with clam sauce and the clams were out of shells- so probably not actually fresh, HUGE and grey. Ew. They didn't even look like clams at all) and I doubt we will ever return. When you live in New York, and incredible dining experiences are a dime a dozen, why go back after strike one? I can't find a reason.