We came back to Washington State to visit with family. We are staying with my sister-in-law and her family. They wanted to take out to dinner. They first suggested a Chinese place. But I am not real big on Chinese. Then they suggested a fish and chips place. Now we’re talking! Being in the Seattle area, fish and chips is a great idea.
So we went off to their favorite fish and chips seafood place named Wally’s Chowder House. They were raving about the clam chowder. My wife and I both love a good clam chowder. It’s located right in the main business area of Des Moines. The parking lot was pretty full, but there were a few spots available. Inside, they were pretty busy. There was a family waiting to be seated before us. But there were seated, and we were seated pretty quickly. The menu was full of seafood choices. They have an all you can eat thing which in retrospect might have been a great deal. They have both New England clam chowde and Manhatten clam chowder. The chowder comes in cups, bowls and quarts. My wife and I shared a bowl of the New England clam chowder. The chowder is one of the best I have had. It was fantastic.
We both ordered cod fingers and chips. Apparently cod fingers are just cut smaller than the cod filets. The fish and chips themselves were good, nothing special. I don’t like tartar sauce, but I was informed by others in our group that the tartar sauce is not great. I didn’t care for the ketchup that they served.
My nephew had the steamers which was a plate full of steamed clams. He said the were very good, but I didn’t have any, but they looked good.
If you like good clam chowder and are in the area, you should give this place a try.
Wally’s Chowder House is located at 22531 Marine View Dr S Des Moines, WA 98198. Their phone number is (206) 878-8140.
Having been driving all day, once we checked into our room at the Clarion Hotel in Albany, NY, we didn’t really want to go out anywhere for dinner. So we decided to check out the restaurant at the hotel. The name of the restaurant is Scenarios.
The menu is impressive and has a lot of interesting looking things. But they had a separate sheet with specials, and one of the dishes sounded interesting. It was called Honolulu Dreamin’ Surf And Turf which included an 8oz sirloin steak topped with coconut shrimp. My wife ordered the small cut of prime rib.
We got a bowl of rolls that were good and warm, and came with a cup of whipped butter. Yummy. Then came our salads. What can I say? They were salads. Then our entrees came. I tried the coconut shrimp, and they were okay. Not great. The streak was just okay as well. My wife’s prime rib was pretty good sized considering it was the smallest cut. But I thought it is was maybe just a touch overcooked for medium-rare. It was also not a great cut of meat. I would compare it to the prime ribs I get out in Las Vegas for $6.95.
Not that we will be in the area again anytime soon, but I would probably go out and look for a different restaurant next time.
Scenarios is located in the Clarion Hotel at 3 Watervliet Ave, Albany, NY 12206. (518) 438-8431.
We had eaten very well at Captain Carlos Seafood Restaurant for lunch, and had gotten pretty full. We didn’t know if we would have room for dinner. But when it got to be about 8pm, we decided that we should find at least something to eat, or we would be starving in the morning. We were concerned about how late things would be open, and were reassured when we saw online that some places were supposed to be open till 11pm.
So we drove down to the Gloucester waterfront, and parked. We walked along the road for a bit looking for seafood restaurants. There was a big one that we were advised against. We found a few other non-seafood restaurants as well. But we didn’t come to Gloucester to eat Chinese food. LOL! We found a map, and found there were only a few seafood restaurants down here at all. We got back in to car to hunt down The Cupboard, a restaurant in the nearby park. We found a sort walk up style place, that almost looked like a concession stand. Was that The Cupboard? We didn’t see a sign. We decided to head back to Capt. Carlo’s.
We found parking right in front. There were a lot more people here tonight, but we were seated quickly. They brought us some rolls. They were made with a lot of dill. I tried one, and really didn’t care for it. My wife seemed to like them.
Since my wife and I were not overly hungry, we decided to split an entrée. We debated about which one. We were going to ask the waitress, but it took forever for her to come over. I started to tell her about how we weren’t sure what to order, and she asked if we needed more time, and that she could go fill another table’s drink orders. We told her go ahead. While she was gone, we decided on our own to try the Seafood Casserole. It came with a salad and a potato, so we decided to order a second salad. We also decided to split another bowl of clam chowder. When the waitress came over, we ordered our food. For the potato we ordered roasted potatoes.
The clam chowder came out quickly, and was even better than what we had there for lunch. Then the salads came. Eventually the entrée came out. The Seafood Casserole was excellent. The roasted potatoes were also very good.
When were done eating, we waited and waited for our check. The waitress would pass right by us to process other people’s orders. Finally, my wife asked the hostess if we could get our bill. He hostess went in search of the waitress. About three or four minutes the waitress showed up with our bill, we paid and left.
The food was great. Our service tonight kind of sucked though. But it seemed to be just our waitress. Other people who came in about the same time we did got there food before we did, and were gone long before we got out of there. I think our waitress may have been relatively new. At least I hope she was new, because she needs to learn to be more efficient.
With the excellent food, and knowing that service isn’t all like what we had tonight, I
Capt. Carlo’s Seafood Restaurant is located on Harbor Loop in Gloucester, Mass.
Having just arrived in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and set up our tent, I inquired of the campground manager of any good restaurants in the area. She mentioned a couple, and gave me a list of all the restaurants in the area. Then instead of recommending any restaurants, she crossed a couple off the list and said to avoid those as she had gotten poor reports about them.
One of the initial restaurants she named was Captain Carlo’s Restaurant. To tell you the truth, I think we might haven’t eaten there many years ago, but I am not sure.
So we drove down to the waterfront, and found the restaurant. It was on Harbor Loop right next the whale watch place that cancelled our whale watching cruise 12 years ago due to bad weather. Anyway, I digress.
We walked into Capt. Carlo’s and were greeted by a young lady (actually they seem to keep all the women out front, and keep the men back in the kitchen). She seated us. We were kind of lobster’d out from the three nights in Bar Harbor, so we wanted just simple fish and chips. Another young lady came to take our order. We ordered a couple diet cokes, which were quickly brought. Then she took our order. We ordered a bowl of clam chowder (the bowl was big enough to feed both of us, and only a couple bucks more than the cups). And we both ordered the fish and chips. The clam chowder came out first with a couple packets of oyster crackers. I like oyster crackers, my doesn’t, so I only put crackers in my half of the bowl! LOL! The clam chowder was very good, Not the best we have ever had, but it was better than most. We were scraping the bowl for the last drop. Then our waitress brought out our fish and chips. She also brought us extra tartar sauce, actually more than we needed. The fish was very tender, and delicious. The fries were good. The serving portions were pretty big. My wife was only able to eat able to eat about half of hers. I ate my whole meal and was stuffed. That was about 1:30ish. It is now about 6:30, and neither of us is very hungry. We are not sure about dinner yet. Everything might be closed by the time we are hungry again.
The prices were reasonable too. The fish and chips each cost $7.50, and the bowl of chowder about $6. We enjoyed our meal, and would happily eat here again.
Captain Carlo’s Restaurant is located on the Harbor Loop, Gloucester, MA. (978) 283-6342.
Tonight was our last opportunity to eat dinner in Bar Harbor during this trip. We have had wonderful dinners the last two nights in restaurants that we picked just walking down the street. Tonight I decided to do some research on the internet. I did a search for bar harbor and best lobster. I came up with some interesting results. One place that popped up was named Stewman’s Lobster Pound. It sounded really interesting. But I found another page that had customer reviews of different Bar Harbor restaurants. The most popular was Geddy’s Pub where we ate last night, and loved. It got 4.5 out of 5 stars. The second most popular was West Street Cafe and Grill. It got 5 out of 5 stars. Wow. Stewman’s was a little ways down the list. We decided to try West Street Cafe.
We showed up just after 6pm missing the early bird specials. Oh well. We were quickly seated at a table, but offered a booth when one opened up. We took the booth. I thought the seats were uncomfortable, but my wife said they were okay. We ordered a couple Old Soaker Root Beers. They are brew locally. They taste like A&W but more expensive. I ordered the Downeast Special which comes with a cup of New England clam chowder, a Maine lobster, French fries, cole slaw and a slice of blueberry pie. I asked a they substituted some sautéed vegetable medley for the cole slaw. My wife ordered the Baked Stuffed Shrimp which are large shrimp packed a seafood stuffing and baked. It also came with a potato side, and cole slaw or vegetables. My wife chose the fries, and cole slaw. She also ordered a cup of clam chowder for herself.
The clam chowder came out first. It was okay, but not as good as what we had at Geddy’s. It was on par with what we had at the Fish House Grill on Monday night.
Then they brought out our entrees. The lobster was a little smaller than what I had at Fish House Grill. I broke into the tail first. The meat was also a little tough. Then noticed I didn’t get any lobster tools (bib, crackers, etc). I asked the waitress, and she apologized, and brought some out for me. The fries were just okay. The sautéed vegetables were good.
My wife liked the baked stuffed shrimp. I tried them, and they were good.
After eating my lobster, I headed to the restroom to wash my hands. The cold water didn’t work. The hot water came out fine, but when you turned on the cold water, it just dribbled. So I washed my hands in hot water, which fortunately wasn’t too hot! I mentioned this to the waitress, but she was unaware of this, and would report it.
Then she brought out the blueberry pie with ice cream. I am not a huge blueberry fan, but my wife likes them. I sampled the pie, and it was okay. My wife liked the blueberries, but didn’t like the crust. The pie was left unfinished.
The total cost for the meal was higher than either of the other two places we ate at. And of the three, this was my least favorite. I would not eat here again. My recommendation is to skip this place, and go to Geddy’s Pub and Grill. There are probably some other great places in town also, but we only had three nights in town.
West Street Cafe & Grill is located at 76 West Street, Bar Harbor, ME. (207) 288-5242