Etta's has a special place in my heart. I first ate here when it was in a cinder block building 25 years ago. Stick with the basics, oysters, crabs and hush puppies. The new location is picturesque but the expanded menu has challenged and compromised the essence of this restaraunt. Stick with the classic Chincoteague fresh food choices and you will be extremely satisfied.
Review Source:Nice view...nice decor....and small portions of bland food. Â The Island shrimp appetizer was a dissapointment because the shrimp were frozen and in a tasteless batter and the shrimp for some reason were flat...yes flat shrimp....they were supposed to come with an advertised " spicy not for the feint of heart" sauce and even that was very bland. Â Next came the special...a duo of crab cakes and crab imperial...they arrived....very small crab cakes and a very small portion of crab imperial...both of which lacked any seasoning although they did taste fresh...I will not make a return trip.
Review Source:My wife and I went here on our honeymoon. It was a first restaurant on the island, we it was not a very good experience. The service wasn't good, and I was really unhappy with the seafood. This is a seafood, ocean side restaurant, and therefore should be pretty good for it. I ordered steamed peel-and-eat shrimp. They were small, way-overcooked, rubbery, and not fresh. My coffee was cold, and even when I politely asked them to warm it up, it came back to me lukewarm and was stale-tasting. I ate what I was given, which was my mistake as I was told by the house cashier. I wanted to be polite and not make a big deal so everything would go nice and smoothly on my honeymoon for my wife and I. But when the manager asked me how everything was and I give her the honest answer, she basically told me " you ate it, you buy it." She offered me no consolation or even an apology for the poorly cooked meal and sub-par service from her teenage waitstaff.
My recommendation for eating on the island is the outside BBQ joint on the main strip called Woody's! It's not cheap, but the food (and SEAFOOD) is amazing. Get your ocean view from the beach, NOT ETTA'S. As Chincoteague Island is where my wife and I spent our honeymoon, we plan to return and try other restaurants. We won't be back unless it's for just a beer.
This place was such a disappointment. Â The food was marginal at best and the service reminded me of being at a hockey banquet. Â We tried many dishes including the broiled crab cakes, island shrimp and calamari, and all were overcooked or soggy (in the case of the crabcakes). Â I think the clam chowder came from a can! Â I don't think you could do worse, and the view isn't that great anyway.
Review Source:A recent visit to the Island found us dining at Etta's based upon a recommendation we received. Â Etta's is somewhat off the beaten path but worth a visit. Â We enjoyed the view over the water and our dinners were good but nothing exceptional. Â With other restaurant's on the island that we have not as yet tries, we will reserve further comment on Etta's until we have more experience with the local restaurant scene.
Review Source:The view from Etta's dinning room is picturesque -- a lovely seaside channel, with small fishing boats gently bumping against a nearby dock and a working lighthouse in the distance. If a good view is all you want when you dine out, then Etta's should be at the top of your list of places to visit in Chincoteague. But if you desire quality food when you dine out, not just a lovely view, you may want to skip Etta's. Other than the hush puppies, the food we ate on a weeknight was fair to bad.
I ordered flounder stuffed with crab. While the crab chunks were a nice size, the dish was doused in Old Bay seasoning. By doused, I mean like spray from a fire-hose. I like Old Bay seasoning, but too much can overpower a dish, as it did my flounder. I assumed the flounder would be served in a nice lemon-butter sauce, but no. Old Bay was the only flavor added. The scallops my wife ordered were no better. Again, Old Bay seasoning dominated, but worse than that the scallops were chewy. Chewy, overcooked scallops are a scallop lovers nightmare. My wife also thought the scallops visited a freezer on their trip from the sea to her plate.
Our pre-dinner salads were fine, but nothing to get excited about. The hushpuppies, which are served as a standard appetizer just before the meal arrives, were quite good; better than any others we had in Chincoteague (hush puppies are pervasive at the restaurants in Chincoteague). But their quality hardly made-up for the rest of the meal.
I should also note that Etta's serves Dogfish Head beer (Shelter Pale Ale), for the deliciously low price of $3.50, which almost led me to give Etta's three stars. But Etta's also charges $3.00 for a Shirley Temple, and refills are not free, as we learned when we received our bill. So we spent $3.50 for me to enjoy a fine beer with my dinner, and $6.00 for my six-year old daughter to get her fill of Sprite and maraschino cherry juice.
While there are food options for the kids, Etta doesn't seem to be too fond of kids. The menu says that kids must stay in their seats (along with several other "rules" Â listed on the menu). Fries are a mandatory side dish, but the fries served at Etta's aren't just regular fries, but smiley face fries. Literally. Fries in the shape of a smiley face. My kids weren't impressed by the smiley faces, but they didn't dislike them either. I, on the other hand, was scared of them. They looked like something Jason from Friday the 13th would have designed if he were in the food processing business.
Among the main dishes we ordered, the popcorn shrimp my three-year old son ordered, but did not eat, was probably the best one. The shrimp were butterflied and a decent size, not what I would call popcorn size, and though I'm not fond of fried shrimp his were not that bad. My daughter turned her nose up at the fish sticks she ordered (which looked like they came out of a box), but she polished off her brother's shrimp.
There may be good dishes at Etta's, but we're not going to return to find out. If they had a bar where one could sit for a beer or two and enjoy the view, I'd say go. But even that's not an option, so I can't commend Etta's as a place to visit while staying in Chincoteague.
We stopped at Etta's after a wonderful morning and afternoon at the beach. The kids were ready to refuel on carbs and I was jonesing something meaty and fried.
Etta's primarily a seafood restaurant, so non-fish options aren't really their top priority, as you'd expect. But they had some specials that looked great for our yearnings -- mac and cheese for the kids, and southern-fried chicken for moi. But! Disaster! Out of Mac and cheese - oh no! Out of southern fried chicken! Oh no no no! Not a good start...
The kids all ended up with other kinds of pasta, though, and ended up enjoying them very much. I had a chicken alfredo dish that was very acceptable indeed.
The waitress was delightful and super-helpful (and apologetic about the kitchen having, you know, SOLD ALL THE FOOD WE REALLY WANTED. *ahem*), and kept our drinks full and hearts aglow with her good cheer.
Everything else worked out just fine. We'd definitely return to Etta's, especially if we wanted to try some of their (quite yummy-sounding) seafood.
Visited for a late dinner after sunset, but this place does have a nice location.
Ordered Mahi, believe it was on special, had good/average flavor. The cream of crab soup was not very good. Calamari was good.
They aren't big on fancy, the wine glasses look like champagne flutes and the silverware is wrapped in a napkin.
Service was good though, very prompt and funny.
Etta's was just *ok*. The location was beautiful, but the service was pretty poor and the food was just ok. Â This is the kind of place that has disclaimers on the menu about not letting children run around, and silencing your cell phone, and other little rules and notes that seem more grouchy than laid-back seafood joint. Â If given the choice, head over to The Village Restaurant instead.
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