That the Bridgwaye has a familiar feel is no accident. Owner Tony Polcari bought the well-known Marshfield landmark at the foot of the Humarock Bridge in 2007 and completely renovated the inside. Tony's father, Francis, and uncle John had operated the Bridgwaye for 30 years, but the family sold it in 2001 after Francis' death.
"I grew up vacuuming this place," Tony says with obvious pride as he looked around his 134-seat restaurant. Today his mother, Debbie, works a few days a week as a hostess, and many of his father's former employees now work for him.
We went the Saturday night before Mother's Day, a busy night for restaurants, and there was a line out the door. We were happy to get a drink at the bar and bring it into the enclosed waiting area as we waited our turn. Big windows along two sides of the restaurant overlook a picturesque marina and North River; a huge wrap-around bar anchors the room.
The menu is large, and each person in our party of six (including a couple of picky eaters) quickly made choices from the wide variety offered.
For starters, we shared an order of baby back ribs ($9), scallops wrapped in bacon ($8), and the Caprese salad ($7), which was one of the day's specials. The kids loved the tangy sauce on the ribs, and the scallops were generously sized and positively succulent in their crispy bacon wrapping. The tomato, basil, and buffalo mozzarella in the Caprese salad was fresh and beautifully complemented by the drizzled balsamic reduction.
Two of our children each ordered a small brick oven pizza, though one of the oversized smalls would have been more than adequate to feed them. We ended up with plenty of leftover Hawaiian ($8) and pepperoni pizza ($8) for the next day's lunch. Both pizzas had a thin crust and were generously loaded with toppings.
Another child made a meal of the super nachos appetizer ($7), an enormous heap of the classic blend of tortilla chips, cheese, beef, tomatoes, sour cream, and guacamole, and ended up bringing more than half of it home.
