Coral Reef Cafe - Ocean City

My family and I made a reservation for our Thanksgiving dinner, but unfortunately, the food was terrible. I ordered blackened scallops and asked the server about their size. He indicated they were about the size of half a quarter, so I decided to go ahead and order them. However, when the scallops arrived at our table, they were only the size of nickels. At $34, I expected something more, and they weren't even blackened. The scallops were so overly salted that they were inedible. My husband's dish was swimming in oil, and my son's burger had no flavor at all. The photos online do not accurately represent their food.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at the Coral Reef RESTAURANT on November 23rd, and we were very pleased with both the service and the food (with the exception of the fried oysters, which were not at all like what we're used to in Southern Maryland). On Tuesday, November 21st, we dined at the Coral Reef CAFE; while the food was decent, the atmosphere was quite unpleasant. How is it acceptable to have a cafe situated alongside an indoor pool? Surely there has been some oversight from the local health department? The strong smell of chlorine, children running around and wetting the dining area floor created a hazardous situation for both diners and staff, not to mention the excessive noise. I would only recommend the Coral Reef RESTAURANT for its dining experience.

Excellent experience! I was unaware that it was located next to the indoor pool, but we still had a wonderful dinner.

This restaurant is literally in the same room as the hotel indoor pool which you cannot tell from the pictures. It’s misleading and a very weird atmosphere. Smelled like chlorine at brunch which was awful.

Coral Reef Cafe came up with a pretty decent rating among restaurants in the southern 1/3 of Ocean City, MD. I've tried a number of good OC restaurants and was optimistic. It is located in a hotel, basically in the lobby. Part of the dining room was in the swimming pool area. That was fine with me as long as the food was good. It was not. I had baby back ribs. $28 or so. They were like leather with bones and slathered with sauce. My wife had salmon, which was better than the ribs, slathered with butter. We both had double sides of green beans, which may or may not have come out of a can and drenched with butter. The waitress was sweet and did a good job. But the food is a hard pass, even if it wasn't way over priced.