theBoil

"TLDR: great food, potentially off-putting rules depending on your preferences. Had a great experience at the boil - we made it in time for HH oysters and drinks on a Friday afternoon. For food we ordered oysters, soft shell crab, Mac & cheese and crawfish. Everything food wise was great. The rules: card only and 20% hospitality applied to all bills above $20. Card only is a little strange because the other boils accept cash-only and typically businesses in my experience prefer cash to avoid the credit card processing fees. The mandatory gratuity isn’t a problem for me, but could be off putting for some that may be worried about service times etc."

"Good food. Great service. Unusual tip requirement. Unreasonable tax. Suspicious charges. We had dinner here for the first time. The food was delicious and had decent serving size. Servers and managers were polite and attentive. Everything about the food and service was great. They have a mandatory 20% tip requirement. They informed us when we came in. The service we received was good so we have no complaints about it. But I can imagine customers who don’t receive good service won’t be happy about it. This requirement is quite unusual for a southern restaurant. They charge customers tax on the 20% tips. But I remember the revised NJ restaurant tax specified that charges made for tips and gratuities are not subject to tax when: 1. The charge is separately stated on the bill or guest check given to the customer; and 2. The charge is specifically designated as a gratuity or tip. So I believe they wrongfully charge customers on tax, and may choose not to report this to the government. They also charge more tax than legally required 6.625%. See my 2nd pic. We had $77 food, paid $15.4 tip, but on the itemized bill, the 6.625% tax is $6.60. The math is wrong. (77+15.4)*6.625%=$6.12. So they charge about $0.5 more on tax. The explanation given by the manager is that they round up the tax so the final amount is $93.00. I don’t understand the motive behind this rounding up, since many people nowadays pay digitally. They are charging more tax than state required is quite suspicious. In fact, I’m not sure it even sounds legal to me."

"I like the sea food they cook. But everything is spicy sous or seasoned, you need to mention even for fries that you don't need spicy seasoning! Tips are included in the bill as 20%"

"Too many weird rules for me personally, but the food is good. They want your name and phone number when you walk up, so I gave it thinking I’d be texted when a table is ready but there was no wait, did I just sign up for telemarketing? Secondly you have to pay with a card, which to me is fine but still pretty weird, I mean who doesn’t take cash. Third, no matter if you are with another couple or person the whole table gets one bill, they will not split it up, again that makes no sense to me. Fourth, a fountain soda is $3 and comes in a small mason jar. At first I was like ok that’s fine but then you find out there is no refills, cmon, who doesn’t have free refills on FOUNTAIN soda. Fifth, although I am a good tipper they automatically put a 20% gratuity on the bill no matter how many people are dining. I guess that’s great for dirtbags but if the service is very good I’d give you more than 20%, but I’d feel odd about adding a few bucks or a five on the table it looks cheap even if it is extra. I find that preloaded tips allow waitstaff to slow walk and not be as attentive, so I personally am not a fan of it. The workers wanted to clear our table and we had to move our drinks, phones and be interrupted for no reason, then you left a huge pool of butter drippings all over the table. Regarding the food alone it was tasty, well presented and fresh and hot. Portion size was not small or large it was average. Seating is comfortable outside and inside appeared nice also. Just too many weird rules for me, I don’t give my personal information out for no reason, I want to pay how I want, anywhere in the world gives free refills on fountain drinks and I want to decide what I tip but I feel I’m compensating for the deadbeats out there."