Is There Any Unpretensious, Delicious Non-Chain Restaurant Food on the Upper Cape? (Plymouth: house, buy)

[wannamove99]

We live in a small town in Western Mass and are thinking of possibly moving to the Upper Cape. There's a lot we like about the region, but when we visit the thing that makes us wonder if we can hack it is the food.

We have never in our lives eaten so many bad meals as we have on the Cape. The Chinese restaurants we saw didn't serve any duck dishes, but we saw one menu with Chop Suey on it. We ate what was supposed to be oriental food in another restaurant which had no seasoning at all except for chopped scallions.

We couldn't find places that sold pizza by the slice. The bagels we ate were soft and gummy. Bread with a real crust seems unknown. And the prices for lobster rolls were twice what we are used to seeing on the North Shore. The one decent thing I ate over three full days was an excellent slice of coffee cake from a place in Sandwich.

We assume that the problem is that we are coming in as tourists without knowing anyone. I used Yelp extensively, only to be led to a restaurant I won't name where we paid an obscene amount for one of the worst meals we've ever eaten: A baked chicken wing appetizer that tasted like it had been sitting, cooked, in the fridge for a week and freezer burned frozen veg served with a $19.00 entree. The rest of our meals were mediocre rather than wretched, but nothing we'd ever want to dine on again.

So are there restaurants serving affordable unpretentious but delicious home-cooked food on the Upper Cape for people who don't want to eat fig, prosciutto, goat cheese and arugula Pizza? (That's something I saw on not one but two menus, this past week, which made me wonder, What Is The World Coming To?)

Though we aren't foodies, we eat out a couple times a week every week and are very loyal to restaurants that treat us well. (And we tip well too!) Dining out is one of the pleasures of life we aren't willing to give up and we hesitate to move somewhere where we might end up eating only what we cook for ourselves (we both cook.) If we could find even five non-chain restaurants where we could get a nice lunch for no more than $12 per person we'd be very happy. Are they out there, and if so, how do we find them?

[Beachcomber4]

Truth is, there aren't many. I'm surprised you couldn't find pizza by the slice.

Places for lunch under $12 are not easy to find. A couple very good ones are Cafe Chew and Beth's Special Teas in Sandwich. Both are counter service where you order and food is delivered to your table. Both have excellent soups, salads and quiche. The Chew has a bigger menu and has wonderful seasonal lunches like heirloom tomato tart in summer and stews in fall and winter. The only other good, non chain under $12 place I could suggest in town is Fiddle Stix. It is actually a food trolley that has fabulous food. You can eat it where she is parked for the day or take it to go down by the water.

I expect lunch out with friends is going to cost $20-$25 with tip if we don't have a glass of wine. Some of my favorite, locally owned spots are: Barnstable Tavern in Barnstable (probably the least expensive of those I will mention), Aqua Grille in Sandwich (a nice salad will run you about $17- fish tacos $15 but it's more dinner size than lunch), Siena (3 restaurant chain)in Mashpee, Colombo's in Hyannis and Anejo in Falmouth.

If you are okay with small chains like Siena, Bobby Byrnes is very good and reasonable. BBC is okay but I prefer Bobby Byrnes. They have locations in Hyannis, Sandwich and Mashpee.


Bon Apetit!

[GMarcan920]

Also, you might want to try Asia in Mashpee Commons. Food tastes fresher than most chinese restaurants; also has wonderful sushi and Asia Lunch Box which is delicious.

I second the recommendation for Bobby Byrnes and Siena, both are good values for the money but also gooooooooooooooood food (we like lunch rather than dinner).

[wannamove99]

Thanks!

We stopped by the Chew for breakfast and that was where we found the really good coffee cake. We ordered a baked haddock lunch Special at Bobby Byrnes which was disappointing as it was just a naked piece of baked fish without the breadcrumbs and butter we were expecting. Their burger and fries were okay, but the roll was very squashy and the fries not hand cut which we usually get when we eat at that price point, but just standard restaurant fries.

We had lunch at Sienna, another day, and liked the soup. We had sandwiches with different sides which were okay, but not great. They also gave us huge portions which sounds like a plus, but really isn't as I find it hard to eat only a portion of what is served, but don't need to eat 1500 calories for lunch. One reason I like to eat out at lunch is the smaller portions.

I'll check out some of the other places you mentioned when we go back next month. Any idea why the Chinese food is so surprisingly retro? I wouldn't have expected to find better Chinese (and Thai) food in Greenfield, MA than a high population center like the Cape. Is it the high rents the restaurants must pay?

[Beachcomber4]

I've heard great things about the Thai place over on Main Street in Buzzards Bay. I'm sure someone else will chime in with the name. It's right over by the RR Bridge. I haven't been in ages but Stir Crazy, a Cambodian restaurant on MacArthur BLVD in Bourne has been in business for over 20 years. The "Chinese" food is definitely retro. There are a couple of Teppanyaki places but you can expect to pay over $30 for lunch. I've gone by Asia but never tried it. I will put it on my list.

I agree with the portion sizes. Usually we will go for late lunch and forego dinner. There was another thread where this was all discussed but I can't find it.

One place I forgot to mention was Sea Street Cafe in Hyannis. Excellent lunch and breakfast but not cheap either. Maybe a little more expensive than Cafe Chew. I'm not a big french fry eater but for a great burger, hand cut fries and home made onion rings, Flynns in Sagamore is good. They are served on a crusty pretzel roll. However a plain old unadulterated burger is over $10. They do have a 2/$12 night once a week. They have over 100 beers on tap and it has a cool vibe.

For good bread, just go to Pain D'Avignon and buy a loaf...Oh My!

It took me a while to realize but when we vacation in the Caribbean we were always surprised when people complained about the cost of dining out. Then I realized it was just because we were used to overpaying on Cape so it didn't seem crazy to us. We definitely pay a lot for mediocrity.

[Cape Cod Todd]

Finding good food at a reasonable price on the Cape can be tough. I live in Brewster and though it is a Summer time staple one can only take so much fried food from a fish shack. The other end of the spectrum is the higher priced eateries that try to hard where my wife and I are tired of spending $20 for a burger, or $30+ for something better but still not all that impressive. We are not foodies. What we do like is value.
So we are left with not much in the middle but we do like these places if you ever get down to the Brewster area. Squires in downtown Chatham.
The Lost Dog in Dennis for Pizza and its offshoot The Lost Dog 2. Or as I call it the Lost Pup in Orleans
also in Orleans is The Land Ho, which is a real local hotspot.
There are a few more but these pop out in my mind.
I don't know why so many restaurants try to hard down here, it should be a easy formula. Good food at a good price equals happy folks.

[lrfox]

It's not necessarily a value, to but lunch at the Brazilian Grill in Hyannis isn't unreasonable and it's so good. You certainly won't leave hungry.

[bigfatturkey]

You meant krua Thai on main st buzzards bay? Honestly I don't know why people say its good....it tastes nothing like Thai food which happens to me one of my most fav kind of Asian food. There's a Chen's Kitchen at sagamore beach in meeting house Ln that's pretty good. I'm Asian Chinese and I regularly do takeouts from there. for Indian food, golden swan at Falmouth main st is one of the best. For good authentic Thai food, there's one which is quite far from the cape in Fairhaven called Sivalai Thai Cuisine. It's one of the few places that serve more authentic Thai food. There's lunch buffet on Sundays which is good if you wanna try a little of everything including desserts.

[bigfatturkey]

Actually I thought market basket is a nice inexpensive place to grab a quick bite. I had one of the chicken meals the last time I was there and it was quite yummy and it was really inexpensive.

[tamiznluv]

There's a nice little place in Manomet, a small village south of Plymouth, called Marshlands. It's right on Rt. 3A. It has grown into a "chain" but it's privately owned and run. There are 4 of them now, I think.

The food is all homecooked and is delicious. Reasonably priced. Specials every day. Home made desserts too. Open year 'round.

Just realized OP said "upper Cape". I still would recommend Marshlands down there too.