The Cultured Pearl

Delicious food and drinks. I highly recommend going. Can’t wait to go back. It’s a little pricey but it’s worth it. I sent to stingrays down the street once and they aren’t ½ as good.

Excellent sushi! My mother and I went here for the happy hour and we had a great time. The happy hour menu wasnt terribly big, i would have like more of a selection bit that wasnt a huge deal. The sushi was fresh and very good! This is a mist visit if you like sushi.

Very good sushi with lots of options for all sorts of different rolls. I got the ahi tuna appetizer which came with seaweed salad and a nice portion of pea shoots. My father in law loves the firecracker roll so if you like spicy I would recommend that for sure. Another good option is the green curry chicken, which was a bit spicy. The only complaint is it was a bit pricey, but it 8s at the beach so most places are!

Stopped in here for a few appetizers. Started off with the Cultured Pearl Martini which had wasabi stuffed olives with ginger. Really nice. Wasabi was very light and not to overpowering. We shared the clams which were outstanding but not enough broth in the bottom for my likings. Came with a really good crusty baguette too. Also had the pork dumplings. These were just okay. A little skimpy for the price. I think 10.00 for 5 tiny ones. Also had the chicken satay which was pretty tasty. I will come back when it’s nicer and would like to try and sit out on the deck.

I do appreciate for Susan reaching out to me. I realize my comment seemed somewhat snotty (I posted it around 4am) and was not meant to come out that way. My two stars are for the loud music and wait times for food. Cultured pearl does offer a quality product, high quality ingredients, but the speciality rolls just don’t stand out as ‘special’. Overall they deserve more like a four star review than a two star, I think the music is just what bothers me the most just because it is quite loud and is probably the only real ‘quality’ issue. The scenery is one of a kind, and if it were more affordable I would probably be there more often. I will, however, give this place another shot for their specialty rolls. Thank you Susan for your reply, and I’m sorry for my snotty and somewhat rude comment from the previous night. The fact the owner reaches out and replies to comments shows that there is care being put into the business and it’s not just about the money, but also the experience. Which means a lot to me. Thank you Susan, I will be coming back because of you!

Everyone talks about how great this is but I’ve yet to be convinced with two trips. Our server was not very attentive, the food was average and overpriced, the décor is a mismatch of weird fake plants and lights and stuff… I’m not saying it’s bad, but I definitely would not enthusiastically recommend it to anyone either.
Edit: I have read other reviews and it seems my sentiments are echoed… And whatever woman is responding on behalf of the restaurant on here needs to stop making excuses for everything and she also needs to stop being sarcastic with reviews. If one person says the service is bad, it could be a one off… If 30+ reviews are mentioning it, retrain your staff.

This is the best place ever! You’ll be amazed at how authentic the food is. I personally have been to Japan twice and the food at the Cultured Pearl tastes no different from food served in Japan. The owners and managers are some of the most pleasant and friendly people I have ever met. The outdoor seating is amazing in the summer and in the winter the indoor seating is cozy and fabulous. You won’t get any better experience. Maybe people should view how hard the staff must work to run the success that is the Cultured Pearl other than what small bad experiences they had. Constructive criticism is helpful, but it doesn’t allow you to be rude.

Absolutely amazing food. Not a single thing on the menu that I’ve tried that I didn’t like. Service is good but the best part of this place is the outdoor patio. It’s a deck built over a koi pond. We sat out there for my graduation dinner on a good summer’s night and it was amazing. Great soups, hot meals, and great sushi too!

Very cool experience at the cultured pearl! We went on a Friday night and the performer was very entertaining and wasn’t too loud to the point you couldn’t hear the person (s) you are dining with. The restaurant was decorated elaborately for the holiday season.
The sushi was delicious and the entrees were even better with very generous portions. Ovi was our waiter and did a great job making us feel welcome. Will definitely be visiting again soon.

Ok, I’m not a restauranteur, but I would think a basic tenet of Restaurant Management 101 would be… Don’t Offend the Customers. And, yet, we walked into The Cultured Pearl at 5 p.m. on a Saturday — well before peak dining time — and received disapproving looks and tones from the hostess stand when we said we didn’t have a reservation. Our party of five was told that, yes, we could be seated, but ONLY if we committed to finishing our meals in no more than 90 minutes.
(This dining stop-​watch approach was entirely new to me. What were they going to do at the 91^st minute? Send beefy bouncers out to physically lift us away from our unfinished fried rice?)
That said, the dinner was a good one. The Korean Flatiron BBQ steak was cooked to perfection. Few kitchens get it right when you ask for «extremely» rare, but Cultured Pearl does. Beautiful flavor and the accompanying kimchi had a nice bite to it. Mixing cultures, I ordered the jalapeño cheese bread on the side and ate every bite of the miniloaf. My wife said the chicken teriyaki was a bit on the dry side but the salad with ginger dressing was outstanding.
Oh, and our server, Vladimir — in complete contrast to the people at the front desk — could not have been more pleasant.
The good news: We were finished with dinner in well under the prescribed 90 minutes, although we did skip dessert.
The bad news: Cultured Pearl could have had a five-​star review if they made their customers feel a little more welcome.
Postscript: When we left, the majority of the tables in the restaurant were not filled.

Stopped by after we couldn’t get into Dogfish Head, they looked at screens for a few minutes and then decided they could fit us in, so I was expecting a packed house. The dining room wasn’t more than half full the whole meal, and they sat us along a wall next to the exit, almost like a punishment not having a reservation. The balcony seems cool for a date — covered patios over koi ponds, and it was packed.
For the amount of people in the dining room on a busy summer Friday night in Rehoboth, our service was very slow. It took a while for anyone to speak to us, for our salads to come out, to be cleared, and then for our sushi platter. The sushi was good, but not spectacular. With the poor service and long waits, I probably won’t be back.
Food — 4 stars
Service — 1 star
TOTAL — 2.5 stars

Stopped by for some sake and a snack. We ordered the scallops which were sliiightly overcooked, but otherwise very good. The outdoor seating is really beautiful, especially at night. I can’t wait to come back and try more of the food because I picked out about 8 things on the menu I would happily nosh on!

We have eaten here many times, Arrived with another person to have dinner. Asked for a table other than the teensy ones. Was totally ignored and directed to a table along the window where the tables on either side did not allow for the chairs to be moved. The greeter darted away. Returned to the desk and asked for an alternate and was directed to a similar table along a wall where the chair was placed by the employee so one of us would be seated and looking directly AT the wall. The restaurant was not busy. We left, since our requests were ignored.
We went a few doors down to a new to us excellent sushi place where we were greeted and had an amazing meal. They now have new customers.
Listening is an essential piece of customer service. The experience was unbelievable and shocking.
Cultured Pearl employees really did not listen to the request nor care. Ditto. This is no way to treat customers.

Wow. Amazing. The look. The food. Seriously this is the perfect date spot.
Service was impeccable. We ordered sushi — highly recommend it. I would also recommend asking to sit outside — you won’t regret it.

Party of 11, waited 1 hr 30 mins for our food. We only order sushi and 2 – 3 entrees, one of which was forgotten so no idea how it took so long. We got no update as to how long the food would take were only told 5 – 10 more mins after an hour of waiting (and only because we asked the waiter.) Even tables around us were coming and going. No real apology for the waiter other than «your party is big.» If you can’t serve a large party then don’t seat a large party. This is consistent with some other reviews about the ridiculous wait times.
Everything else was nice about the place though. Food was decent. But I expected way more in service. How can you have a large party wait that long, and never once tell them why the wait is so long. Never again.
…
Update 8÷9÷15 (in response to Susan’s comment):
You mention of protocols you have in place to run your business efficiently. However, this is at the expense of customer hospitality and overall experience which apparently are not of priority to you. Still no real apology. Nor an explanation for the forgotten entrée.
«We hope you will will join us again when you have ‘more time’ to dine with us.»
Guess it was our fault for not having «more time» to wait 90 minutes for sushi and a few entrées.

We were here Saturday night for a bachelorette dinner party and had a mixed experience. On the one hand, the restaurant was quite stunning, the food was amazing, the live music was great and everyone we interacted with were pleasant. On the other hand, once our waitress came by to greet us, take our drink orders and then food orders she basically disappeared for 3 hours. She forgot a couple of things (coffee and a specialty roll) that we had to remind her about and seemed shocked that after being there so long we didn’t want dessert… But honestly, after it took an hour and a half for our appetizer (oyster shooters) to come out, with no visit to see if we wanted more cocktails or water refills, AND we had to flag down the busboy to ask to grab her (twice!), I was pretty much over the whole experience and just wanted to get out of there. It sucks too, we were primed to have a great night out with lots of sushi and lots of drinks among girlfriends; but the experience really missed the mark for me.
If I ever come back, I will try to get a seat at the sushi bar or the outside patio and hope not to have the same experience.

I believe this restaurant is rated «Vegetarian Friendly».
Nothing could be farther from the truth. Even if you like vegetarian rolls, reading on the menu that it is possible to order LIVE scallops — for table-​side shucking — you could lose your appetite.
Go to The Falafel Hut instead.

By far and away the best Sushi we have ever had! Nice atmosphere, great and helpful staff! Will be a yearly visit in our trip to Dewey Beach

Let me start by saying that in my 25 years I have never had a more horrific dining experience. Over an hour wait for miso soup warrants an explanation. Not to mention the fact that half the food which our table ordered never came. The manager which we requested to speak to was quite possibly the rudest most pathetic excuse for a manager that I’ve ever seen. As a manager of a restaurant you are the main advocate for the restaurant and should be held accountable for the successes and failures alike.
There was no ownership taken for the major faults and a half ass apology on all counts. Customer service is EVERYTHING in the service industry. If you are a business and do not take this most serious of practices into account, your establishment will suffer and customers will start to notice. On top of the horrible management the sushi was sub par at best. There are many great restaurants in Rehoboth and the nearby beaches in general. Take advantage of the great seafood available to you not an over rated sushi joint with terrible management.

Amazing food, service, and roof top. Definitely a place you should try at least once in RB. It is a pretty pricey restaurant, but the food is of very high quality. I hear Richard Gere eats here every year in July as well!!!
Overall the customer service is amazing, drinks are great, sushi is amazing, lot of different unique asian and seafood entrée options. The rooftop is great during a nice summer evening.