The Parkway
For almost as long as the Dead Sea was merely ill, Parkway has presented diners with a mostly beef and chicken inspired menu peppered with a few staple seafood dishes, including the venerable crab cake, a requirement at any Delmarva coastal restaurant. While new owners have recently tried to expand the decades-old limited menu, including adding more fish specials, Parkway’s look, feel, and décor bleeds 1980s, and the cooking style remains from the same decade. That doesn’t mean the cooking is stale; to the contrary, Parkway is inconsistently steady, which is disappointing at the menu price points. For instance, steaks (which cuts change frequently) are decent for a beach restaurant, but not steakhouse quality; crab cakes have too much filler, are boring in presentation, and not worth the market+ price given better availability elsewhere; fish dishes tend to be over-sauced, and not memorable. Parkway has a kids’ menu but caters to an older crowd that is more likely to order a Manhattan over an innovative cocktail. The service is often professional and warm, but nothing about Parkway excites an ambitious diner, and you depart hoping to liven the evening’s experience by absorbing the energy of downtown Bethany Beach. Nothing about Parkway screams that it is a beach restaurant, and that perhaps is the point: visit for classic American food prepared as if you’re dining in ‘anytown’ USA, and depart feeling, well, satisfied because you had no greater expectation.