Last night we decided to go to the new Old Causeway Steak & Oyster house located on Bay Ave. in Mud City. Now I remember going to the Old Old Causeway Inn before it burned down in the 80’s. This outing was a treat as this was one of the big first days it was open for dinner.
We arrived early expecting a huge rush of people knowing the reputation of the sister restaurant next door, the Mud City Crab House. We walked in and there were a few scattered people at the bar. The barmaid Brianna and Patrick were friendly but inattentive as they seemed to be distracted with the flurry of activity and being new to the bar.
We enjoyed the ice cold draft craft beers and the décor of local mementos and the beer can collection. The bar where we sat was wonderful. The craftsmanship and care shows as the steel top and timber bar cap. The bar even has a bar step keeping the tradition alive. The dining room set up so people would not be sitting on top of other diners with good views of the Barnegat Bay wetlands. The men’s room was clean and it was good to see the old time full length urinals. Many of the bar and restaurant decorations came from Recycle the Past in Barnegat. Good choice as Matt from RTP knows his stuff.
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As the late afternoon crept on us, a flood of people arrived and the bar became a flurry of activity. We decided to have appetizers from the raw bar and the scallop ceviche was fresh and presented in a bowl lined with iceberg lettuce and served with fresh made corn chips. (There could have been a few more chips, we ran out of them). I then sampled the oysters and my wife had the tuna poko Both were good and cold. The oysters were served with a champagne vinegar and shallot sauce that was unbelievable. We ended up using this as our primary dipping sauce.
Dinner was next and I ordered the 14oz rib eye, baked potato and creamed spinach. My wife had the famous crab cakes and was not disappointed. My meal was ahh OK. The steak was cooked right, but the cut was too thin. The truffle butter on top was great and I ended up using it on my hot baked potato. My creamed spinach was luke warm. All in all the food was a 3 star out of five with the service a 2 star out of five. Both I expect to rise as time goes on. We will be back!
