The Shanty Dover/rollinsford

We have been to Alexanders a few times for dinner for a pleasant experience at a white linen restaurant. The staff has in the past been borderline UNPLEASANT. This time I called four days in advance to make a 6 PM reservation for four. I gave my name and was given verbal confirmation for a 6 PM seating. When my wife, our two guests and I arrived the hostess had no record of the reservation, getting mad at me for insisting that I made one. We were not seated. I quietly left and vowed to never return to never return. Anyone can mistake a mistake but the bad attitude compounded the experience. The food is good if you want to take your chances.

One of our favorite places for dinner. We have been going there for years and I finally tried the shrimp parm and it was wonderful. Their eggplant is exceptional. Need reservations.

I thought it was a little too dark inside. The bread was good but I would have preferred it was warm. The meal was excellent and the portions were large. Veal parmasean was very good.

Wow, terribly disappointed. We expected to have a decent meal, but that certainly did not happen. My wife had a tasteless chicken parm meal. The shrimp fra Diablo tasted like Ragu spaghetti sauce and not spicey at all), and the shrimp was very very tasteless and rubbery tough. I set it aside in my bread dish. I do have to say that the restaurant treated me right by removing my “meal” from my bill, but I am all set with this place. Time to move on.

We went with a party of 19. The service was fine and the meals all came hot. The food was just OK and a little bit pricey.