Legal Sea Foods, Inc. Review

They had some of the best seafood I've had but I'm from west coast so..

food was dry, rice wasn't fresh , staff looked tired ..will never go back, I tried to enter no stars but I couldn't ..

Pretty good food and great service. The shrimp and scallops were delightful! The quality of food seemed great, but I personally don't have the most experience with quality seafood since I'm from Utah...

The Lobster was great. I also like their clam chowder and salad

It was a bit pricey for lunch ($14 for poke bowl), and not what I would have called poke having eaten it in often in Hawaii/CA, but it was delicious nonetheless. Service was fast and friendly, and the small dining area attached was very nice. The portion of fish in the bowl was a good size. The croutons could have been skipped.

Nothing to complain about. Really like the mussels. Just like how they do them in Quebec!

Terrible service. They forgot my order until when I was asked to pay.

Nice selection of food. Great dessert. Good service. Expensive.

Ok food, too expensive, kinda boring, but great service.

Disappointing... Heard a lot about this place. The food is ordinary nothing new.

Great Boston Seafood. Huge American portions. Happy eat.

Always good food. Roll of the dice as regards how friendly the staff are...

A Boston must visit and try. This city fixture is what has made Boston seafood internationally famous. We always go here for the Lobster Bisque, Oyster Tasting Platter and the Mussels.

Of the many visits my family and I have made, ww have never been disappointed. Everything on their menu is delicious.

I now understand why this place is a Boston classic.

Excellent service and generous portion. Only drawback is that it gets a little crowded.

Good service good quality of the food but a little bit costly for the quantity served

Good food. Very busy but good efficient service. Would agree with other reviews that your paying a little more for the name/popularity.

I love this place. I visit it every time i conne to town. Warning.. The airport versions menu is severely limited.

A terrible measly 4oz salt-fest of a swordfish steak for $30 thanks to an annoyed chef...Never going back.

A work party of 14 went to Legal Kendal Square tonight for a dinner. Everyone got drinks, appetizers, main courses, desserts. We're talking a very big check for the restaurant.

For the main course I order a swordfish steak, blackened. Several people in my party hear it. The waitress hears it, too, because she repeats "swordfish steak, blackened..." Fine.

Well, the food comes, and my swordfish steak is not blackened. It's just a broiled swordfish steak. It's a decent sized steak. I note that the steak is not as I ordered. The server takes it back. No apology, mind you. But he takes it back.

3-4 minutes later a replacement arrives. This time the steak is a joke. If it weighs 4 oz I'd be shocked. It's about half the size, maybe less, of the first steak they brought me. And it's thinner as well. For $30. Sorry, but there is no swordfish steak worth $30 for 4oz. Clearly, the cook was pissed off I returned the steak that he messed up and he was going to punish me by sending me a really small serving.

On top of that, it was almost inedible. It was not so much blackened but covered in a bit of a blackened glaze and a HUGE amount of salt. I am not "allergic" to salt, but this was off the scale ridiculous.

I didn't want to create a scene, so I ate it. But it was both horrible and such a small portion, as the joke goes.

I'll tell you this: I've worked in the kitchen before. I know sometimes customers can be a PITA. I'm not that kind of customer (clearly; I didn't even bother returning the second steak, when I should have). I only return things that are grossly different than what I order. This was one of those cases. But also clearly the chef was pissed. Or maybe the waiter was pissed and did it in cahoots with the chef. He certainly didn't apologize for the messup in the first place. But in any event: They made a mistake, then got pissed that it was brought to their attention, and decided to make a point.

Well, let me make a point: I will never go back to this restaurant (and they've taken plenty of my money over the years). And I'll make sure my company doesn't either.

Prey that when you go, they don't make a mistake.

Usually good portion on seafood platter...but almost lacking whitefish. Too many fries. More fish needed. Tartar sauce served heated...likely sat next to.a plate waiting for pickup. Waiter was good.
Usually 5. Not today.

Very good food. Definitely expensive, but you get what you pay for. Many of the entrees are in the $20-40 range, but you also pay for great service and a beautiful restaurant.

Loved it there. The menu was really nice. A little bit pricy but I guess you can't have it all.

Delicious food & great service, especially if you need to adjust the ingredients for allergies or sensitivities. The food at Legal Seafoods is wonderful & they have a big selection. A lot of their meals have wonderful buttery or creamy More

How this became a huge seafood chain is beyond me. Every time I decide to give them the benefit of the doubt and try again, I wish I had just stuck with my instinct. My most recent debacle there involved the hostess losing our reservation. We were told they could squeeze us in I we waited five minutes. After 32 mins( not exaggerating by a second,) she finally came over and stuck us in this tiny, wobbly table. The food was slow to come and had clearly been sitting under the heat lamp for a while. The manager bought our dessert, which was quite nice, and managed to save a little face for his restaurant.

Poke was ok, but as it turns out, all of their tables are over 34" in height and can't accommodate someone who wants to eat a quick lunch who happens to use a wheelchair. Staff was apologetic, but no moves to correct or acknowledge a solution to their issue.

Decent seafood, especially the tuna sashimi appetiser

The New England Clam Chowder was great, but the fish and chips was just so so for its price. The portion was good, but the fish tasted dull and a little stale. My waiter was friendly and professional. Overall, 4 star for me.

The restaurant is a little dated and looked very empty when we had dinner here. The clam chowder was delicious, the mojito unfortunately tasted bitter and the mint leaves weren't fresh.
Unfortunately, we were not satisfied with the service. The lady was rude and you can't tell whether she didn't like the fact that two of us only drank water (which is probably free) or that we were tourists. The group at the next table was treated very kindly, so it was unusual to experience such cool treatment.
The prices are too high for bad cocktails and unfriendly service. We would therefore not visit Legal Sea Food again.

Great food and atmosphere. I had the baked stuffed shrimp casserole.

Horrible service...everything past not asking us for drinks for 30 minutes before I was so rude to ask for a drink doesn't matter.

Nice food, good choice of wine, big portions good enough to share and try new things with that way

Haha... I can not review it for there sea food. But I enjoyed some veg. food there.

Had such a tasteless lobster roll here. Unnessecary huge portions and the lobster roll came with a pile of sad potato chips. My expectations were much higher.

It was just kinda like...an overpriced, slightly fancier red lobster. The food was good but honestly there are plenty of dives in boston with better and way cheaper food. Still good for a more formal dinner, though.

Our waiter Tanner was awesome. The food was quite delicious. The prices were high, but it's to be expected.

Definitely worth the price! Must visit when you're in Boston.

A Boston tradition, well loved and well deserved. Truly the creamiest, most flavorful chowder around. They do not skimp on the portions. Very nice cocktail and dessert selections as well. I prefer the older locations for the ambience. "If it isn't fresh, it isn't Legal's." Go and enjoy!

lunch recently, nice looking place with neat fish tank as you head toward the bar, services was ok, drinks were smallish but ok, food was ok.....it was ok, nothing special!!

Visited this location December 2019, great service I love that they ask if you'd like distilled water or sparkling it was served out of the biggest Voss bottle, server was attentive and apologetic and replaced my scallops with fried immediately, I have been going to Legal Seafood since I was a kid, it was one of the last places that I took my father before he passed away Great old school establishment.

The food is generally good. The service is consistently decent. They do a good job on their specials. The trick though is that the atmosphere is fairly stodgy. Prices aren't great but for seafood that's to be expected.

Some of the best clam chowder I have ever had! Great oysters. Excellent service!

I used to live in Boston, now live in NC and there are many things I miss about Boston. One of them is Legal Seafood. I normally don't love chain restaurants, but Legals is reliable, delicious, fresh seafood, so I'm a fan of that. I had grilled swordfish with brown rice and broccoli and it was great. My younger son had fish sticks, broccoli, and jasmine rice and enjoyed it... lots of food for kids, so the slightly pricey kids meals ($9.95 for fish, different prices for other things) work even for big kids. My husband also had swordfish and loved it. Can't go wrong with Legal Seafood!

Food is between average to good.
The temperature of service is moderate... not so warm not not so cold!
^_^

The fish is made like tape, and fried fish is like drinking oil

Very high-quality sea-food, reasonably sized portions. Good variety for a healthy eater.

Service could have been better. If you do not mind interacting with a completely bored serviceman too lazy to be disturbed by a Sunday customer, than the place is for you!

Honest chain of seafood restaurants, average quality and prices perhaps a little expensive, but you can go and eat there quietly for a change from steaks and burgers.

In Kendall Square, on weekends, there aren't a lot of sit down lunch options (most everything targets the business lunch crowd weekdays only) so this is a nice option.

This is the worst Legal Sea food i have ever been! Service is below zero!

Nothing exemplary about my meal; Salmon with house salad. I heard raves about Legal Sea Foods, so was expecting great food. It was decent but not super.

My high expectation from previous visits crashed. Swordfish over cooked, starch served cold, salad over dressed, waiter forgetful, and table stained.

Food was delicious wait staff attentive. Full bar moderate to expensive.

Terrible! Over priced and extremely bland food. Service was a C- at best. Server never even came and asked how my food was for me to tell him I didn't like it. Drove all the way from Buffalo for fresh Boston seafood and I got this junk!

You guys have to be fluffing these reviews. I imagine you have an employee being paid to create gmail accounts and write reviews because this place is terrible. I don't know what you were trying to accomplish here but you failed. Obviously trying to jump on the bowl craze but it is not uniquely legal. You tried to merge Dig in and Chinatown and you failed. I mean, that idea doesn't even sound good to begin with. I would have been better off setting $15 on fire and eating the ashes. Terrible flavor.

Excellent seafood, and they're very good about allergies. Perhaps don't bring a non-fish-eating vegetarian, though.

Food is usually very good, they've started trying new offerings from typical seafood dishes

Relaxed atmosphere, clean, and staff was very friendly

The atmosphere and menu are reliable, but the food is just not great. This is the second time I've been there with a group in a month when the majority of the table wasn't too happy with their choice. I was happier with the vegetables than the chowder or fish. The shrimp was tough and flavorless amongst dry crab, the daily catch wet and drowned in a lobster sauce. The fried platter was enjoyed, but not what I would choose Legal to fulfill.

Service very slow. Had to wait a long time for a drink. Had to ask for bread. Took a long time to come. I had the sole, overcooked and lacking in flavor. Same for my 2 friendd. Will not come back. Not worth it.

First class seafood. Upscale place. Wonderful staff. They have a long history in Boston.

Ok. The food wasn't impressive. But was ok. Ambience was nice