Bull On the Beach

Meh. I suppose it’s a BARELY adequate, loud sports bar /​restaurant, if that’s what you want. We wandered in on a recommendation from friends, looking for a moderate dinner and a few beers — overall, we were unimpressed. Went back one night when we got to OC late, in winter, and nothing else was open … that time, I wish we’d just ordered a pizza and stayed in, since my dinner was inedible.
Atmosphere: When the bar isn’t so screamingly loud as to overwhelm the dining room, it’s a fine, if kitschy, aesthetic. If the dining room would turn off the dreary dance pop music station that’s often being drowned out by the ear-​splittingly loud country music in the bar, that would help! And if there’s a sporting even, forget about it … it’s unbearable, sonically.
(SIDE NOTE: On our first visit here, the atmosphere was made a bit more interesting by the small kitchen fire that broke out! Didn’t last long — I think it may actually have been just outside the kitchen — I couldn’t see it directly. They didn’t close the restaurant, or evacuate … there was just a lot of hubbub.)
Drinks /​bar: The beer list Is fine, with some nice local craft brews available in bottles. Limited wine list, full basic bar. On our second visit, we dined in the bar, and the bartender was great — friendly, funny, and welcoming.
Dinner: I’ve dined there twice (the second time, reluctantly). On the first occasion, the service was a little sluggish but not terribly so, and was friendly. My husband and I both ordered variations on the pit beef sandwiches, which seemed the house specialty. The beef was fair, for this sort of restaurant … tender if a little bland … and the sandwiches were huge. Mine was topped with a crabcake, which was pretty dreadful … small and mushy, almost the texture of a crab spread. It was accompanied by a fairly tragic tarter sauce. My husband’s was topped with a portobello and seemed basic but decent. Sides were fine, if you don’t expect anything special. The second time, I tried the basic pit beef sandwich, and it was AWFUL. I couldn’t eat it. Meat was tough, dry, and tasted like cardboard. Fries were good … fortunately, since that’s all of my dinner I could eat.
Overall, unremarkable at what it’s trying to be. Likely a better bar experience than dinner, and better for 20-​somethings and partiers than for 40-​something couples looking for an edible dinner.

Shrimp salad, seafood potato skins, and crab soup are all winners! Take out is very quick but you cannot order on the phone or online. Meals are all very large and can feed two. All in all yummy place with nice staff!

Being a chilly rainy November Monday evening in Ocean City, it wasn’t very busy that night, so we were easily seated in the dining room. We ordered a special pit beef sandwich that came with crab cake and bacon on top. We actually took the crab cake off and ate that separately, but the pit beef was really yummy with their tiger sauce and the fresh bun! My favorite part was truly the crock of French onion soup… perfection. Just right for a chilly night. Service was not as good as I would have expected for how empty the place was.

Crab cakes were broiled too much on the outside and complete mush on the inside. No lump meat at all. Coleslaw had no taste. Our server was extremely rude to us, probably since she knew her tip was added on to the bill regardless (for parties 7 & up). Awful service, below average crab cakes, no thanks.

Awful awful awful. The food was awful the restaurant was filthy the only thing this place has going for it is its location and friendly staff.

The meal was absolutely terrible, the wife and I ordered steaks, they were tough and extremely fatty. My wife asked the waitress if this was bull meat they were serving and sent it back for the ribs. The ribs were not much better. I certainly would not go back to this place

Whenever we’re in OCMD, this is our #1 stop for happy hour and raw bar! The beef and seafood menu is terrific! Fast, friendly service and reasonably priced food and libations make the Bull a must go to pub here!

Not the BOTB I recall from the mid eighties. (Or maybe I wasn’t as picky back then.)
This is essentially a loud dive bar with some extra seating.
Disappointed.

Fun place to hang out! Food is wonderful — great menu selection. Great place to meet new friends.

We were pretty disappointed with the bull last night. The pit beef was so tough and grisly. The waitress was obviously overworked and underpaid. She was not interested in waiting on our party of 6. I was sooo looking forward to a pit beef sandwich. I didn’t stop for any snacks on the drive from southern Maryland
There are better places for pit beef, with much better service.
The corona’s were cold. There, I didn’t want to end a review on a bad note. So 2 stars for cold beer.

Cool place, stopped here by recommendation from a few locals we met on the bus. Fast and friendly service. Delicious food.
We had the nachos which was sooo good. Perfect size and full of toppings. Delicious!
I had the ahi tuna salad which was awesome and as for my friends, I dont remember what they had. But they all loved their meals.
Another great restaurant during our trip to OC.

Have to update this review as the first time I was here, I did not try any of the open pit beef sandwiches and now that I have, this place deserves 5 stars. It is one of the best sandwiches I have ever had. It’s also a great sports bar too as they has the mlb package on.

Long wait to get drinks and our order taken.
My wife got fried shrimp and oyster dinner. I got the open pit beef and added a crab cake. I was told I could not add the crab cakes because I didn’t get a dinner. I pointed out that my wife got a dinner and asked if I could add it to hers. Yes, I could do that. I’m not sure what the issue was then.
My wife loved her dinner. My open pit beef was outstanding… always is. The crab cake was undercooked.
Service was poor, three of us ran out of drinks before we were offered refills. The prices are pretty reasonable for Ocean City.

We always stay close to The Bull but this was our first visit. It was busy but the wait was shorter then expected. We sat on the deck and were told they would move us if the rain they were tracking moved in. They were prepared.

The food was excellent. I had a steak, medium well, cooked perfect. My wife had a pit beef sandwich, their specialty and my daughter had the ribs which fell off the bone. Service was great. The only negative was that the portions were a little small for the price, but I guess thats expected at the beach. Will return.

Got here at 2pm, so it wasn’t too busy. We were seated immediately and the waiter was around frequently to get our drinks and orders, so the service was great. I ordered the Barn and Bay (roast beef with a crab cake) with fries and my girlfriend ordered an open face meatloaf sandwich with mashed potatoes. The food arrived in a reasonable amount of time and it was hot.
The reason for the four stars had to do with the quality of the ingredients. My girlfriend’s meatloaf sandwich had a very generic/​SYSCO/​not homemade gravy on it. Just thought it was strange that everything else seemed to be made on site.

So after not finding ANY space to park anywhere on Fourth of July in OC we decided to throw in the towel and get some lunch. We sat at a high top table in the bar area and were greeted by Lindsay, a bartender. We ordered some drinks and then food. Everyone around us was getting their food but us so we asked about ours. The kitchen had never received our order, we were kinda bummed but even more hungry, so we waited. During our brief wait Lindsay offered up a free round of drinks for us which was AWESOME! I love bull on the beach to begin with but Lindsay’s customer service was great! We’ll be back to see her!

SO… After a great day on the board walk, we wondered into Bull on the Beach. WE were promptly seated and our server Brittany took our drink orders.
We started with appetizers Crab Dip (delicious) Seafood Potato Skins (very cheesy with different seafood in it. it was ok).
The menu was full of fried and smothered with gravy or cheese items… it was a hard choose… everything on the menu was a guilty pleasure.
I decided on a side salad and ½ pound of steam shrimp and he has the loaded cheese fries with onions (as I looked at him like… babe thats alot of potatoes) he loved it.
Britney was a very good waitress and deserved her 10%, which we gladly gave. Nice place to eat.

Bull on the Beach is a resounding mediocre. Definitely edible but not great by any means. I ordered the chicken dinner which was two chicken breasts and I ordered mashed potatoes and veggies as my two sides. My friend got the crab cake dinner with a baked potato and veggies.
I noticed when the food came that we had different amounts of vegetables on our plates. His wound up being a bit undercooked while mine were a bit overcooked. My friend did like his crab cakes and potato.
My mashed potatoes were good but my chicken while moist was very fatty. The first breast was edible but the second was not due to its rubbery texture and burnt outer skin.
I also was not a fan of the styrofoam bowl to serve my potatoes in nor the plastic cups they use for their drinks.

Food: I had the ribs, my husband the Cajun chicken. While my ribs were delicious and fell off the bone, my husbands chicken was dry and salty. He ended up adding BBQ sauce to it to give it a little moisture. I ordered gravy to go with my potatoes, and it was quite salty for my liking.
Service: We didn’t have to wait at all to be seated when we arrived, however it took 20 minutes or more for our server to make any sort of contact with us. When she finally did get our order, our food came out to us at a respectable time.

I have to admit, their happy hour is pretty stellar… I might even say the best in OC. So my 5 star rating is for the happy hour only… cannot speak for dining.
I uploaded a pic of their happy hour menu (see pictures). But something like $ 4 for half a dozen oysters is ridiculously, insanely cheap! Mussels are $ 6 and you get a mountain of them! Fries with gravy is the bomb and only like $ 3.50, again you get a mountain… enough for a table of 4!
After we stuffed our faces with food and beer we were about to leave and we discovered a ping pong table on the covered patio out back. No one was out there and they paddles and balls were anxiously awaiting us to play with them.
We ordered more beer and played ping pong for probably another hour… it was perfect! Especially since they had a TV playing the O’s game out there too!
Only complaint… when you are at the beach, you want to be outside. They do have outdoor seating for the restaurant, but not for the bar, where you need to be for happy hour deals. I feel like I am in a dungeon when I am there, yes they have windows, but it is like your typical bar you would find in Baltimore. I wish it was more beachy.