If you like to eat out, you might even have a favorite restaurant. Perhaps it’s your go-to spot for special occasions or even your regular spot where you eat all the time. Maybe the restaurant is even so special to you that you remember the very first time you ate there.

Michael and Maria Spressler ate at The Lobster House Restaurant in Cape May, New Jersey, for the very first time back in 1987, but they actually remember the exact weekend they ate there. According to Maria, “We first came here Presidents’ Day weekend in 1987.” 

Over the past 34 years, the Spresslers have enjoyed multiple meals at The Lobster House Restaurant. They even have certain items on the menu that are their go-to orders. For Michael, his go-to appetizer is an order of a dozen clams on the half shell.

The Spresslers decided to celebrate their 34th anniversary of visiting the The Lobster House Restaurant for the very first time by eating there once again. They had no idea it was going to be such a special celebration.

The meal started out normally enough. Michael ordered the clams on the half shell and started to eat. When he got down to the very last clam, he felt something in his mouth and thought that perhaps he had lost one of his teeth. When he pulled it out, he realized that it was actually a pearl.

Watch the video below to hear the Spresslers describe how the found the pearl and what they plan to do with this surprise addition to their meal that could be worth thousands of dollars.

The Lobster House Restaurant has been a family-run restaurant for the past 100 years. The restaurant’s owner, Keith Laudeman, told TODAY that finding a pearl is extremely rare. He explained, “We’ve seen small ones that aren’t really pearls but nothing like this.”

The Lobster House Restaurant shared the story of the pearl discovery on their Facebook page, and several other people shared stories of finding pearls in clams and oysters. One person wrote, “I found one in my Oyster there at the Coffee Shop. The waitress acted like it happens all the time. So I didn’t say anymore about it.”

Another comment reads, “My mom found a perfect purple pearl in a clam she had cooked. Unfortunately it cracked when she cooked it, it would have been worth thousands. She was able to get 4k for it. It can definitely happen.”

Have you ever found a pearl? What would you do if you did? Would you sell it or keep it?