Greg Sha

Review of Surf Seafood Portsmouth

A very nice seafood and sushi restaurant located a...

A very nice seafood and sushi restaurant located above the old Harbor with views of the Piscataqua River. when you walk in you would go to the left for the restaurant but they also have a banquet hall, that is used for large events.

This was a Monday evening after work, and I was really surprised how full this place was. The hostess very nicely guided in coming guests to the bar that is located in the center of the restaurant for drinks while we waited for our river views table.

The service was honestly first class. We had a little incident when our meals arrived, but the waitress handled it excellent.

They had a great selection of local micro-brews on tap, which is something that you do not find very often.

Now for the food, which is the whole point why I came here. After reading five star reviews all over the internet, I wanted to order everything on the menu, however financially that would not be possible I am not #GordonRamsey. So after going back-and-forth between the Raw Bar and different Entrees we settled on (1) Parmesan Fried Calamari (2)New England Baked Seafood Trio (3)Roast Atlantic Haddock (4)Shrimp Punta Gorda.

(1) The Parmesan Fried Calamari, was amazing. Nicely battered with just the right amount of spice and zest, from the cherry-pepper vinaigrette. The calamari themselves also tasted fresh, which is usually not something that one would point out as a positive when dinning in a coastal restaurant, but I have visited other venues in Portsmouth where all of there seafood was frozen, yes even there Raw Bar.

(2)The New England Baked Seafood Trio, was not how should I say something you would write back home about. The haddock, was well cooked but everything else like the scallops, and shrimp were overcooked and dry, which was very upsetting. The vegetables that it was served with (bitter greens / dandelion greens and chicory Puntarelle ) also did not mix very well with the taste of the whole dish. To the point, were the server came by and said yes, that is a bad pairing why dont I get you some asparagus. Now I was going to give this restaurant a 2.5 stars because of this dish. However, the server because of how nice she was and how well she handled the situation brought this place back to a 4.5

(3)Roast Atlantic Haddock, was the best of the three entree dishes that I tasted. Although, it had a little too much butter for my taste the fish was cooked perfectly and the vegetables that the chef paired with the Haddock complemented the dish perfectly. I also, like the plating there was just the right amount of color to standout against the sauce. The fresh bacon bites also added a nice contrast when combined with the Haddock.

(4)Shrimp Punta Gorda, sadly this was a dish that I did not photograph as it honestly looked as poor as it tasted. The
squire of grilled shrimp, looked like something a 5 year old would plate, and the shrimp themselves were so over cooked, that they dried onto the squire itself. The one highlight of this dish was the perfectly cooked jasmine rice. I would stay away from ordering another Shrimp Punta Gorda for the rest of my life.

In conclusion even on a raining NH evening the views from #SurfPortmouth are amazing. However, the food consistency is a bit of hit or miss, with some of the dishes tasting amazing while others fall short. If you have an extra $80 bucks in your pocket that you are looking to burn and have dinner over looking the beautiful Piscataqua River go to Surf, just don't order Shrimp Punta Gorda.