I have to agree with the other people posting on this issue. I used to live near Swampscott, and went to Hawthorne by the Sea several times, just because it is on the water and sometimes people want to go there or have business meals there. It was uniformly lousy. Mediocre food and almost incredibly bad service. I would never have gone back even the second time if it was up to me. It's also the only place I was ever served a bottle of actually spoiled wine. No issue of refined taste -- no one could have thought you would drink this bottle -- but they argued about it anyway. Save your money! Go to Papa John's in Swampscott instead. Good Italian food and the service (at least when I lived there a couple of years ago) was always good.
Massachusetts