Shrimpy’s Bar and Grill opens at Midway

Shrimpy’s Bar & Grill has been opened since the first week of December, and owner Ron Zseltvay said things are going better than expected.

The restaurant is doing 60 percent better than anticipated, Zseltvay said recently, in the restaurant’s fire side sitting area with co-owners Jim Clarke and Ray Sonderfan.

This the second Shrimpy’s the three have opened. Five years ago, they opened Shrimpy’s Snack Shack near the Boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach.

It’s been a successful five years of land food, seafood and fun food, said Clarke. The new restaurant will build on that success and then incorporate fine dining, he said.

Located in Midway Shopping Center off Route 1 in Rehoboth, the new restaurant is at the same location as Hooked Seafood & Martini Bar.

Zseltvay said the dining area has been renovated – new paint job, new artwork, a custom railing separating the bar and dining tables – but he said most of the renovation budget went into the kitchen. That’s where a restaurant is successful, he said

“You can have the nicest place in the world, but if the food isn’t good, it’s not going to work,” he said.

Sonderfan said the menu features fresh seafood, market to table ingredients and baked goods from the Delmarva Peninsula. Besides a fresh selection, he said the goal is put out consistently good food. It’s what the customer wants, and that’s what is most important, he said.

The location also used to be home to Adriatico Italian Restaurant, and Sonderfan said it was his mother’s favorite. The two would eat here at least once a week, he said, acknowledging it is hard to believe he now runs his own restaurant in the same place.

Zseltvay said the trio opened in December on purpose. The goal is to build a solid base of local customers. “No business can survive around here without the loyalty of the locals,” he said.

Zseltvay said business neighbors have been welcoming thus far, and he said it’s appreciated. “We’re all peers in this industry,” he said. “It’s not a competition. We’re all going to do better if we help each other out.”

The hours for Shrimpy’s Bar and Grill are 11:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., seven days a week. Zseltvay said the restaurant will be adding a Sunday brunch at the end of January.

Sonderfan said a website is on the way. The phone number is 302-313-5124.