Wheelhouse at Fisherman’s Wharf
In a culinary sense, there is something rewarding about ordering fish while sitting waterfront on an active canal in an historic former fishing town, especially when the warm weather invites porch dining. And plenty of dockside restaurants in fishing villages find that unique sweet spot of preparing fresh fish dishes and their usual sides delivered in an authentic setting, making you feel as if the meal was just brought to the docks from the arriving trawlers. Wheelhouse delivers on the look-and-feel of that desired dining feng shui, but the food and service reflect the frequent changes of management/owners over the years; it is uneven and less than seasoned. Wheelhouse is not in the wheelhouse of quality Lewes dining, but has a great dockside location when drinking outdoors and enjoying pub-style food is all that your party requires. The service is often late and flustered, certainly less than knowledgeable about the menu, and the offerings lean toward the fried and pub fast casual side. Nobody confuses Wheelhouse with quality food and service, and for good measure, because Lewes is no longer the whaling and trading post that Dutch settlers envisioned in 1631 when they first arrived, and dockside dining has long given way to the industrial food service trucks which populate a kitchen with everything except fish caught in or around the Delaware Bay, which waters drift along aimlessly below the docks where you dine, similar to the attention servers give new diners when they arrive – aimlessly drifting by.