The Beacon Room

23 West Road, Orleans, MA 02653, 508-255-2211 www.beaconroom.com

While vacationing on Cape Cod, we stopped in for dinner one evening at The Beacon Room in Orleans. It had a nice homey feel with lots of wood and green plants - the kind of place where you might find good upscale comfort food. We settled in at a nice table, nibbled on bread and scanned the beverage menu for some interesting cocktails.  las, none were noted so we just ordered some red wine and looked at our menus. Our waitress immediately gave the impression of being overly busy, flustered and not that sure of what's going on. Later in the evening, we chatted with the owner and asked if she was new but were told she'd been there for a few years. Hmm.

The food itself was quite good. We started with panko and herb encrusted goat cheese served on a grilled crostini over greens and a dollop of apricot chutney. Delicious! Equally tasty was blackened shrimp and sea scallops served over an Asian slaw. For entrees we both ordered the 8 ounce filets which were decadently topped with a blue cheese compound butter and finished with a rosemary and port wine demi glace.

It was indeed upscale comfort food and we were happy to be presented with the desert menu but annoyed to suddenly see on it the specialty cocktail list we'd wanted when we first arrived. We asked the flustered waitress why, at the end of our meal, we're now seeing the cocktail list and she sent the owner over to speak to us. The owner actually admitted that she didn't know where to include that list so she just stuck it on the dessert menu. Huh?

Quite frankly, we lost our appetite for dessert after that and chose to head back to our inn. The following morning over breakfast, we mentioned the evening to our innkeeper and he immediately told us that he quite dislikes The Beacon Room because it's poorly run. Oh, well. The place has quite a lot of potential both in decor and food but needs much stronger management and customer service.