The Studio Restaurant & Bar

closed for the season
Has been closed for a while

There’s a sandwich board when you turn from East Main St to Rocky Neck Ave. that reads «½ price meals at The Rudder and The Studio.» We arrived at The Studio to open tables throughout the restaurant. The host apologized and said he could not seat us for 20 – 25 minutes because he was «understaffed.» With consideration to being turned away; the past few times we’ve been here the wait time between ordering food and receiving it has been immense. Without much choice, I said we’ll go to The Rudder; but the host told us we can’t because «It’s closed for the season.» We just saw the sign on Rocky Neck Ave. that it’s open, and he replied, «I know, I know.» This place used to be good but around midsummer it went right down the tubes.

Great afternoon at the studio. end of season — ½ price food — sunny day, great seats. No complaints. Crabmeat Guac was tatsy as were the twin lobster rolls.

Painfully poorly managed and unprofessional. The food is OK, the service is abysmal. We should have known when the hostess struggled to figure out if she could seat us. The waiter badmouthed the place the place the whole time, constantly calling it a «disaster», «I hate working here», the food took an hour to appear, he apologized but said the kitchen and the management were «awful», and «yelling at him». As we left, the hostess was yelling at the people at the podium over the din of the over-​amplified piano player «We can seat you but the kitchen is way backed up, you’ll never get your food». We were just happy to escape. We noticed outside, there were waiters running to get more plates from the Rudder, and so one can assume it’s all part of the same disaster. Too bad, they have a great view of Rocky Neck harbor!

We’ve really enjoyed The Studio the past few summers, and this year has not disappointed us. Great dock & dine and exceptional sushi. In mid-​season the service can be a littler strapped, but you have to go in understanding that. We always go with a group and everyone always comes-​away pleased.

We had a very enjoyable lunch over Labor Day w/​e. The kale salad was fresh & delicious. Our service was very good. My only concern was observing the prepared sushi waiting a while to be picked up by the servers. If you order sushi, tell them you want it as soon as it’s ready.

I’m not quite sure what the low rating for service reviews are all about… this place was amazing! My wife and I spent the day at Good Harbor Beach and were recommended this restaurant for dinner by a friend. Of course I checked Unilocal,read the poor service reviews and was a bit concerned. However, Ruslan their Manager sat us outside per our reservation request. Romy was our waitress and recommended unbelievable mussels (rudder style). Ruslan, Romy and all staff on site were very friendly and always available for questions. We look forward to returning soon!

The view is fantastic! You can park your boat on the doc. The drinks were good @ the Bolognese was the best I’ve had!

It really pains me to write this review. The view and the sushi are incredible. The best sushi around! Unfortunately, that’s where the good ends.
The service is catastrophically horrible. One bartender took 15 minutes to notice us and the other was either totally drunk or on drugs. How sad.
I wish the sushi station had its own sitting station outside, I’d be all over that! Oh well, I’m sure I’ll be back and hopefully they can train their servers to be more attentive.

We have eaten here for the last two years on our «adult night» out. It is a great place to sit on the deck and enjoy a good dinner. This year we only ordered sushi for dinner and it was fantastic. We also had the same server for the last twi years — Jodie — and she was great. I highly recommend this place as long as you go early to try and find a parking spot.
Why don’t I give it five stars? Well, the drink list at the bar is a little thin as there was nothing that I found that interesting. And secondly, although we had two very nice bottles of white wine with our dinner, the wine selection is definitely overpriced for the quality of wine. I know it is a beach town in the middle of summer so everyplace is over priced, but I think they could do better with their selections and pricing.
Still highly recommend you try it for yourself… the sushi rolls are delicious.

The food was great and the view was better. The staff was not friendly. We were asked if we had reservations and sighed at when we said no. The restaurant was almost empty. Other than the cold staff, the drinks were great and the food was delicious.

A friend suggested going to The Studio today. Being that it’s on the water, it sounded good. When we entered, a hostess greeted us. We requested a table outside with an umbrella. Unfortunatley, there wasn’t one. I noticed the huge outside bar was in the shade so I said I didn’t mind sitting there.
The bartender was very friendly and greeted us when we were seated. I appreciated that he was so helpful and courteous. I asked him about a Newburyport ale and he offered me a taste. He brought two different beers for me to try. I ended up liking the one I hadn’t asked about.
I ordered The Railways Burger, medium rare. He said it came with fries and I asked if there were different kinds of fries (sweet potato). There weren’t, but he mentioned other possible sides. I chose roasted asparagus and requested that it have no salt or seasoning. I got exactly what I requested! The burger was juicy and yummy. Definitely needed extra napkins. My friend ordered a chicken wrap. She whispered to me that it was dry and chewy. So, you have one person who thought it was great and one who thought it was so so.
I will definitely go back. It has a nice atmosphere and the people who served us were really pleasant. I also learned while I was there that there is a water shuttle that comes over from downtown Gloucester. That sounds like fun!
I don’t understand all of the bad reviews. Maybe it’s owners/​friends of the competition. :-)

We revisited this restaurant last week thinking that now that they have a full year under their belt things might have improved. They’ve gotten worse.
First off don’t ever order anything from the ‘raw bar’ here … 1 of the 2 guys manning that station sometimes wore gloves but most often did not. I witnessed one of them running his hands through his hair and then preparing raw shellfish and plating it up. Watching these 2 try to shuck oysters was painful. We also saw them bring out a foam seafood shipping container, fill it with something from the floor behind the raw bar, and hustle it to the kitchen. Not sure what was going on but it looked shady.
The sushi guys were facile and created beautiful plates, all whilst wearing gloves and observing proper sanitation procedures.
Secondly, the service is AWFUL. We were seated promptly but waited 10 minutes before our waitress appeared. It was obvious she wasn’t interested in actually talking to us, but rather getting in and out from each table as fast as possible. In the course of our considerable time there she perhaps spend a cumulative total of 60 seconds at our table. Our drink orders were eventually taken [Greenhead IPA for the dining partner and Melt Away Session IPA from Newburyport Brewery] and when they arrived, we ordered our food [Lobster Mac & Cheese and the Haddock ‘fish shack’]. We waited over 30 minutes with no one coming to check on us, which gave us plenty of time to observe the health department violations going on at the raw bar and watch all the waitresses running at full tilt giving everyone bad service. Yes, this place is busy but rather than give the waitresses tables in a contiguous section, they have some tables inside, some outside, and it’s a madhouse. The service station is still inconveniently located in the main walkway from the front door to the restaurant and front door to the deck. They have a bank of ventilation outlets running the length of the restaurant that was blasting very cold air at right at us. We were finally able to flag down another waitress and have it turned off. Since the restaurant is open to the water on one side and it was a cool evening, this didn’t make a lot of sense.
When our food eventually arrived we ordered 2 more beers and were brought the wrong ones. She brought new ones and said we could have the other ones free. The lobster mac and cheese had a lot of lobster in it but it was a watery mess. The addition of a béchamel sauce to this dish, as opposed to just tossing some cheese in, would benefit it greatly. The haddock ‘fish shack’ was one piece of haddock breaded in panko and lightly fried atop of a mess of food service french fries and a large portion of tasteless coleslaw served in an aluminum cake pan. They use these cake pans a lot and it’s not the greatest vehicle for nice presentation. At no time did the waitress return to see how we were doing.
So for $ 75 and too much time, I’ve learned my lesson and shall never return again. Their location is superb — right on Smith Cove in the Rocky Neck area of Gloucester. The food is not that great but their biggest downfall is a total lack of management and service. Hospitable it ain’t. As the other two restaurants on Rocky Neck are owned by the same person who owns The Studio, I shan’t be visiting them.
Original Review: Pricey & Lackluster. I had the breaded haddock with basmati rice and dressed greens. The haddock portion was very small, but delicious. The basmati rice was just plain [no butter or sauce] and the dressed greens were a pile of arugula with olive oil. For the price I was expecting more. My partner had the burger which was missing the promised onion. The hamburger itself was good but the side salad was weak — a pile of greens that looked like they came from Costco. Service was too laid back. The server didn’t check on how we were doing until we were finished. The service station is awkwardly located between the front door and the door to the deck so we had to wend our way through the 3 servers standing and talking there to leave.

This place is awful. Waited an hour or longer for our food to come, then another hour for the waiter to come back. I really needed water and the waiter must have forgot so we had to ask another server to get us water. I felt like I was a prisoner to this place and that id never get to leave and I’d have to live there. It’s so loud too and the food was meh. Lobster rolls had only claws and like 5 pieces of meat on grilled cold rolls. Fries were fine but how can you mess up a fry?! So lame

Don’t eat here unless you have no other choice! Boiling your own hot dog and eating it by the side of the road would be preferable to this dining experience.
Great location. Mediocre food at not inexpensive prices. Terrible service.
We all want this place to succeed. We want tourists to like Rocky Neck and come back. The Studio management and employees are not doing their part to make that happen.
We sat at the bar. It was a Tuesday. Not really crowded. I can’t imagine how much more horrible Bloody Marys could be. Everyone around us was served in a haphazard fashion – fries arrived after the meal was completed; chowder arrived half-​way through the lobster rolls being eaten – but at least they were served. Our sushi and oysters were fetched after I asked to cancel the order because two parties who came in after us had already eaten, paid their bill and left. Our order apparently had been sitting on the sushi bar. Oysters sitting in a puddle of water, not ice. I ate most of the sushi because I was so hungry and I’m lucky I wasn’t poisoned.
Told the bartender everything was sub-​par. «Sorry.» Told the manager, and he took a few $$ off the bill.
I can’t believe this place is now associated with The Rudder? Really? That makes me think twice about eating at, or recommending, The Rudder.

As a neighbor and a weekly visitor to The Studio, I felt the need to voice my continued disappointment in all aspects of this place. My friend and I went in for lunch, sat at the bar outside and basically had the Worst experience and service from the bartender. Totally understaffed and no training is consistently the problem. We waited almost an hour for our lunch, which had to be returned because it was cold. We know what to order. Pretty pathetic that you go knowing what to expect. The bartender was being sketchy and gave us a full price bill and it was supposed to be half price !!! Train the staff and have more than one bartender and at least a runner for outside. Just don’t get whats going on. You have a captive audience and an unbelievable location, its frustrating that you can’t get it together !!! On a positive note, everyone loves the sushi !!!

Hey Chief, want some more water Chief, What do you want to order Chief …
Not only was the service horrible, but I was called Chief by the waiter like 20 times. Which I found to be extremly rude. We’ve been here about a dozen times and they don’t seem to be even trying to improve. Every time we’ve waited by the hostess station to be recognized while we watch the hosteses gab or talk with friend and act annoyed we’re there. The last time we went, it was slow and the waiter, along with calling me Chief, everytime he came to the table was constinly appologizing for the slow service, even before we put our orders in.
The Sushi was good, but the the main courses are bland. The Clam chowder is very bland and for Gloucester lousy chowda is unforgivable.
To the owner, Step it up Chief …

Poor management. First time we tried to eat here, the hostess sat us. And we waited. And waited. 10 minutes first, all I wanted was some water. I got myself menus. After 20 minutes we just decided to leave. The hostess was sitting chatting with the ‘manager’ (I put that in quotes because he’s the worst I’ve seen). The restraunt was not busy, it was 330 on a Tuesday.
Second time around, service still sucked though was a little more existent than last time. They pulled a bartender from the sister restaurant, the rudder, he was a great bartender but had just been thrown into the job had no idea what anything was in the restaurant. Crazy disorganized. Both stars goes to the food, which I only ordered because it was half off. $ 16 for a small plate of calamari? Really? Kudos to the kitchen, the rest of you get it together.

Ate the sushi yesterday… big mistake. I have food poisoning now. Also could have been the rotten mint in my drink but that’s less likely with all the alcohol I was given.
I wanted to like this place as its a very nice looking place with an incredible outdoor patio, but it’s dangerous there…

This is 2.5 stars. Went to this place on a Friday night. Has a nice ambiance and has a great location! Ordered sushi from the sushi bar which was good (not great but I’m new to town so I dunno how it compares to other sushi places).
My biggest problem with this place is their service, which is horrid! Our waitress just disappeared! To the point where I had to actually go upto the sushi bar and get my sushi order and serve myself! The sushi was sitting on the counter for 10 mins and the waitress was nowhere to be seen! (Please keep in mind the place was pretty empty)
Yea, she didn’t get tipped well! You are in a service industry and you didn’t even do your job! Maybe I should have given the tip directly to the sushi chef.