We tossed together a cape cod trip and are up here now. Covid wise people are taking this super seriously. Everyone wears masks. Sanitizer everywhere. Just used a portable hand washing station! Food wise I’ve been mostly cooking but did our first meal here as takeout from sir crickets in Orleans. Awesome as I remember but they now take credit cards which I don’t recall from prior trips.
We are hoping to do dinner outdoors (no kid!) Somewhere near eastham if anyone has any newer recommendations. I looked into that 7 course dinner mentioned at the start of this chain but to go only.
We like Rock Harbor Grill in Orleans but not sure what the outside availability might be. We aren’t going
for another couple of weeks. These are some recommendations from my chowhound post. I have not been to any so can’t speak to the quality.
Moby DIcks
*The Beachcomber. I was there recently and all guidelines were being followed and the food is actually quite good. Tough to beat that view.
We live in Eastham. We tend to eat out for lunch, not dinner - even when we’re on vacation somewhere else. Some restaurants that have outdoor venues for an evening meal are CShore on Rte 6 in Wellfleet, Mahoney’s, & Beacon Room in Orleans. We have been to them all and they are good. We love restaurants in Provincetown, but we’re not going there this summer. Bookstore in Wellfleet is also one of our favorites. Local Break in Eastham for casual fare. Blackfish in Truro (not sure about outdoor dining, though). A new Italian restaurant in Orleans with outdoor dining, La Bella Vita, gets good reviews but we have not tried it yet. They moved into a former favorite restaurant of ours.
Are you talking about the academy that’s no longer there? I loved them. Thanks for all these ideas. My grandma lived in Orleans for 25ish years and I spent 25ish summers here. Haven’t been back in at least 6.
i just read that the Lobster Claw in Orleans is closing for good. I haven’t been to the Cape in a long time, but I sure went here in the 80’s when I used to go down that way all the time.
We are still here and have had some delicious highlights and some odd lows. The fish market at rock harbor in Orleans is still putting out kick-ass lobster rolls for $13 each (cash only). Super limited menu besides that.
We tried two places for dinner in Brewster last night. I won’t mention names here as not to put small businesses on blast. One told us twice that a table wouldn’t be an issue if we called ahead. Call ahead and they say no problem see you in 20 minutes. We arrived and they say oh sorry we just seated the whole place so it will be 45 minutes and we can’t offer you a drink while you wait because the bar is too backed up. Then went to another place down the road. The host and bartender weren’t wearing masks. There was a horrible smell. We left. But! It all ended well. Ended up at the barley inn (enroute to nauset beach). Was able to sit outside under a huge tent. very covid aware with lots of space between tables, masked servers, obvious attention to sanitary details. And the food, drinks and service was all great! Whew! Dinner saved! We split this beautiful tomato, peach salad. Entrees were cod and clam stew. Dessert a custard. Delicious!
Last update (I swear!). We went to the bookstore in Wellfleet for lunch one day and was a bit underwhelmed. It took forever and everything was just OK. BUT, it is right next door to a great playground and we were able to get 3 new books for $1 for the kiddo. Had an easy, outdoor dinner here: at Van Rensselaer’s Restaurant and Raw Bar in Wellfleet. Also had a delicious to go lunch from Joey’s Joint. Very fresh but smaller portions. Our last night’s dinner was to go from Arnold’s and I was SHOCKED. I feel like it was nearly a full pound of scallops in my scallop platter (broiled not fried) and a very fresh salad, baked potato and roll. I think it was $25? The scallops were perfect. I ate them cold and they were STILL delicious.
Other non-food related tips. If you have a 4 wheel drive truck or SUV getting an offroad permit to drive on the beach is the BEST. You get huge areas of basically private beaches. You can get it at Race Point at the end of the Cape. If you have kids, the playground behind the Orleans Elementary School is incredible and huge. I played there when I was a kid and they redid it and it is 1000% better. No splinters anymore! Feel free to PM me for more specific info on any of my posts!
I’m glad you enjoyed your visit to Cape Cod, overall. Dining out in summer can be hit or miss because of the influx of people and, especially this year, with limited waitstaff because of J1 restrictions. I hope you give the Bookstore another chance. This summer, we always go when they first open. Many restaurants are serving limited menus, and choosing not to serve lunch at all. Some will go out of business because of the virus.
We had oversand permits for years at Race Point and also at Nauset beach in Orleans. Those were the days!! You could stay overnight if you were “actively fishing” so we had poles in the sand. Cheap beachfront property!!
We absolutely will give the Bookstore another shot. It wasn’t bad, just took a while for what seemed like an empty restaurant. Yes, we were a bit surprised about who was/wasn’t doing lunch. I really feel for all restaurants trying to make it work in this Covid environment.
The oversand permits are really fun. We never went out on Nauset. I vaguely recall my husband saying that it was a different permit than the one we had. We went out 3 times in Truro and once to Race Point. Race Point is so convenient to fill your tires up again with the air stations right there!
@gracieggg Never apologize for trip reports. They’re among my favorite category of posts to read. You hit a mostly places that were new-to-me and I appreciate your honesty. We were in Orleans over this last New Year’s and I’m sorry I didn’t have time to respond to your original inquiry but I knew you would do just fine during these strange times.
Thank you for the info and please keep them coming. I enjoy reading road trip reports very much!
That playground in Orleans was a god send a million years ago! We would get our coffee, juices and donuts at Fancy’s and then take the kids there for their wake up wildness.
And we always ate at least one dinner at Kadies across from Fancy’s. Loved the little B&B they ran.
We are looking forward to our trip in a couple of weeks and I appreciate everyone’s suggestions!
Be Well-GP
