Pilot House Bbq Restaurant & Caterer

Reviews

• Kyleen K.

  star star star star star 2 July 2026

  Look, if you're not from here, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GET IT.  This place is a G-town treasure.
  
  The Chinese food is still Dragon Lite -- decent, cheap, best consumed when drunk.  And on that note, if you are on a mission for self-destruction, try the scorpion bowl.  It sneaks up on you and does the job.  To this day, I cannot even smell pineapple juice without the taste of Bacardi rising in the back of my throat.  I see an extra long neon straw and acutely break out in shakes, spinning and a cold sweat in what I can only describe as a phantom hangover.  Like I said, it does the job.  The lovely couple who owns the restaurant have been at this for years and are local heroes.  I implore you to cut them a break; they've been dealing with drunken millennial shenanigans for longer than I care to remember.  Sure, sometimes Winnie gets a little prickly and flustered when you're six mai tai's deep and trying to communicate to her in unintelligible slurs that yes, that is correct, you need MORE duck sauce because you were too liberal with the mustard and now your freshly mixed/slopped over bowl of Chinese fancy sauce is giving your mouth what you suspect may be actual chemical burns, but you know what?  She will bring you that duck sauce -- ALL THE DUCK SAUCE -- along with mai tai number seven, because deep down we all share a warm, special place in her heart.  That woman is a goddam saint, and her husband Tony is a precious, precious man.
  
  I've heard rumors that the American chefs remained the same after the merger.  I have yet to confirm as I am just moving back to the area, but if that is the case, I will be quite pleased. (I owed at least a solid 3 of my freshman 15 to Pilot House clam chowder back in the day.  Better than Legal's, no contest.).
  
  If that is not the case, they just need to rename the joint Dragon Lite 2, go back to the old rolls and therefore make everyone happy and significantly less-confused.
  
  Oh, and order the seaweed salad.

• Lindsey G.

  star star star star star 2 July 2026

  This is one of my favorite restaurant's  in gloucester.  The food is always good and the prices are too. All of the people that work at the pilot house are nice and very professional. I recommend the pilot house to any and everyone.

• Diane W.

  star star star star_border star_border 29 June 2026

  My husband and I had dinner, for the first time, in this restaurant.
  We had no idea they serve traditional cuisine and also Chinese food,
  and we were surprised to be given both types of menus.  The woman who waited on us turned out to be he owner.  She is high-strung and rushes you when you are ordering. She does not give you enough tie to read the vast menus.
  On our first visit, my husband ordered the terrace chicken and it was good.  I ordered shrimp with mixed vegetable from the Chinese menu.
  I asked no MSG be added to my food, and the owner was accommodating to my need.  She said all the appetizers have MSG in them and for me not to order any of them.  I appreciated her honesty.
  My dinner was good.  The shrimp and vegetables were fresh. But the chicken fired rice was not good.  Too much soy sauce in it and the
  chicken did not taste fresh.
  On our second visit, did not go as well as our first.  My husband ordered one of the specials that said it came with "long fries".
  The owner-waitress, said it was a mistake on the written menu.  The chicken parmesan did not come with french fries but with garlic bread which we thought was strange because it was a chicken parmesan sandwich--with garlic bread?  He had difficulty communicating with the owner because she spoke too quickly and did not understand us very well.  Since my shrimp with mixed vegetables was a success the first time, I reordered it because I especially enjoyed the Bok Choy mixed into the vegetable and no MSG.  She said no problem and the food served was good.
  I decided to order a take away  and order Chicken Kung Pao.  Big mistake.  When we got home, I tasted it.  As I normally do, I ordered it with no MSG because I have an allergic reaction to it.  When I tasted it, I immediately identified that MSG was added to it.  The chicken did not taste fresh.  As if they had some chicken that was already cooked and then added it to the rest of ingredients.  There was no flavor to the dish as well.  
  When I called and spoke to the owner, she never apogee and instead said do not order that again.  She argued I was "picky" and I said,
  not true, I just know good Chinese, and I must be careful about MSG and other allergic food for me.  She was unapologetic and ungracious. In fact, she is not a very gracious restaurant owner.
  In summary, we think some of their food is good, but not all. I imagine their fish and seafood dishes are fresh and good, but I can only speak to the shrimp dish I ordered and it was good.  I would be very careful, though, about their other Chinese offerings. If you order Chinese and you do to like it, they will not take it off of you bill.  The owner called the police on an elderly couple who said the egg rolls were inedible
  and they refused to pay for them.  The owner-waitress said she would take them off of the bill, but when they went to pay, the egg rolls were still on the bill and they refused to pay for them.  The owner called the police on them.
  Bottom Line:  The Anglo food is good, but be careful when ordering
  from the Chinese Menu.  The total experience was good to bad.
  
  Diane W.

• Kay S.

  star star star star star 27 June 2026

  Great Chinese and great sushi! I am looking forward to trying more. They also have a nice bar and friendly staff. I will definitely be trying them again.

• Peter C.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 24 June 2026

  If I could give this place zero stars I would. It was late on a Sunday, and it I called several restaurants only to find their kitchens closed. This place was still serving food, and when my friend and I arrived at about 10:30 they were only serving Chinese food. The hot and sour was inedible and the crab rangoons and scallion pancakes were barely edible. Walked out actually feeling slightly ill. In hindsight I would have chosen McDonald's over this place.